Council paddling poolsLiving in a fourth floor flat and with the temperature rising we’ve been spending increasing amounts of time at our local public cess paddling pool (pictured – the goggles never fail to make me laugh).

BB loves it – she splashes, she wades, she orders me to clap while does laps around the perimeter in the shallows and she fills up her watering can to ‘water’ my feet.

As she approaches three this is the first summer we’ve used the pool on a daily and weekly basis, and as the water trickles from the watering can over my toes I can’t help but wonder what’s actually in the stuff.

It’s probably best not to think about it. Being on the seafront, as we are, I know the first visitors of the day are seagulls who happily splash and preen their feathers. Then there’s a constant stream of pre-schoolers up until 3 o’clock, after which they’re joined by the bigger kids too.

Last summer a nearby pool was closed after high levels of an unnamed ‘bacteria’ was found in the water but we were helpfully reassured by the council ‘you can’t get anything from the pool that you cannot pick up anywhere else’. What on earth is that supposed to mean? I guess it depends where ‘anywhere else’ actually is.

Like I said, it’s probably best not to think about it…