… in West Roxbury, no less. The Community Center was the place to be. It was due to open at 9, and I’m told the line started forming at 2:30. Now, the Center is pretty cool, with its own Facebook page and all, but what made people wait for over six hours in the rain?
It was enrollment for courses. I arrived at the official opening time of 9am, hoping to be able to get my kids into a swimming class. It was convieniently timed and very reasonably priced. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the only person who thought that. Someone I know emerged from the center just after I arrived: she’d arrived at 3:30, and hadn’t been first in line. She wanted to make sure her kids got into their swim classes, since there are only 5 kids per class.
At that point, I called back to base and we decided that it would be silly to wait in a long line, with a significant chance that the kids swim classes would be full by the time I got to the front of it. I went back at 11 to find the place almost empty, save for a few people and some signs showing which classes were full. Swim classes were at the top of the list.
There are many consoling thoughts. I didn’t spend the rainy night in line, or waste much time in line at all. There are other swim classes in the area. I like some of the photos I got, such as the one of the chairs of the determined (see above), the one of the wet spot on the wall that looks like a dog (see Flickr), and the one of the sign that told me I could have purchased a ticket in a “jump the line” raffle for $10 (not posted).
Ah, the joys of Roche line waiting (I used to try to get there by 7 …). Might be too late, but see if you can get on the waiting list. You never know (it worked a couple times for us, although for drama, not swimming).