Topic for debate.

Tonight was my first time swimming at the Y since coming back from Thanksgiving, and after two delightful days in the clear, balmy, placid, and almost drinkable waters of the Braddock Road rec center, the Y was a depressing wake-up call. It was like coming back to Long Island Sound after vacationing in the Caribbean. As I did my first few laps, shivering wretchedly, I was inspired to conduct a little informal analysis as to which is more unpleasant: Nerdy Fashionista's Y Pool, or the Schuylkill River? Let's see how they stack up against each other.

Current: Okay, the Schuylkill wins this one easily (although the frequency with which I beach some part of my anatomy on the lane rope at the Y without being aware of having moved over suggests that there is, somehow, a mysterious current at work).

Waves and chop: This is probably a toss-up. I got slapped in the face with water more times than I could count tonight.

Temperature: The Schuylkill, but only by a narrow margin. The Y water is COLD. Plus, maybe some of those rotting corpses and industrial petrochemicals in the Schuylkill help keep things warm?

Water quality: Again, another toss-up. The Y is the cloudiest pool I have ever swum in, as well as the most aggressively chlorinated; and I think over the Thanksgiving weekend they may have dumped in some Lysol for good measure, because tonight I thought I detected a soupcon of disinfectant mixed in with the usual outright bleach. And everyone seemed to be trailing more bubbles than usual.

Microbes and wildlife: Well, the Y is pretty frickin' gross, but I think I've got to give this one to the Schuylkill.

Debris: Yeah, Schuylkill takes it again, although I did swim past a discarded band-aid tonight.

Crowding: There were twelve people in the pool while I was there tonight--mind you this is a tiny four-lane pool--whereas one of the advantages of swimming in a river has got to be personal space. The Y wins here, no contest.

So where does that leave us? The Schuylkill has four points, and the Y has one, plus two toss-ups... so it looks like the Schuylkill is grosser, but not by too awfully much. Man, I wish I could afford and/or lived closer to Asphalt Green.