Let's face it; it's hot in the summertime. Just accept it. So one has to find ways to keep cool. Usually we would just spray each other with the water hose. This was actually the norm. There were people that had in-ground swimming pools in Compton. Unfortunately, we only knew one person who had an in-ground swimming pool in Compton but he stayed on Pearl Ave and we lived on Cliveden. Regardless, his parents were total assholes about their swimming pool. I can't remember the guys name but who cares he was an asshole. We had to make our own summer fun with what we had.
Once or twice a summer, my mom would buy us one of those snapset swimming pools. You know those above ground pools that come in a box you could buy from J.J. Newberry or PIC-N-SAVE. They usually cost around $20. These round shaped pools were usually 8 feet wide and about 2 feet in depth. You could only really wade in it because it was too small to actually swim in. Usually, we brought our action figures in the pool with us to fight with them in a different element. We had a love hate relationship with our snapset pools. You'd like to think that you could go head and fill up the pool, play in it, and then store it for another summer. Not those cheap pieces of shit. Im gonna cover some of the snapset swimming pool rules we used to have and common annoyances. Im already getting pissed just thinking about what I'm about to write!!!
Proper set up
Do not, and i mean DO NOT, set up a snap set pool on unlevel ground. It took us a few times to learn this. Our backyard was always messed up so we could never use it back there. Unfortunately that was the best place for it. Although dirty as hell, the ground was balanced. We were forced to use it in the front yard. Front yards in general are made at a slant. Possibly to support the house? I don't know. So what you would get was a snapset pool with all the water leaning to one side. Over time this will wear on the sides making them unstable and sometimes causing spillage. We would try our best to set the pools up on the most even parts of the front yard. A few times we thought we had it right but the pool has its way of showing you that you fucked up. Somehow the water would end up leaning to one side anyway even though you thought you picked a good place. I used to feel like the pool was laughing at us behind our backs. Did it not want us to have a good time? Did it care about the embarrassment we suffered when we would tell our friends to come over for a swim and only to hear them say "What the fuck is this shit?" when they got there? Probably not.
Holes
Snapset pools and holes are like lips and herpes simplex 1: random, inevitable, and annoying. It seemed like no matter how careful we were, there was always gonna be hole somewhere. We'd notice the water level getting lower and lower. I know you're like, "Hey slapass, just put more water in the pool." Not at a old black person's house. We had a hard enough time maintaining the pool but actually filling it up with water was a challenge too. We lived with my great grandmother back in those days. I guess water was just like $50 a quart because she would complain about her water bill so much when we filled up that pool. Due to that, we could not refill it. So if a hole found our pool, we were out of luck. There is no repairing those holes because the pool itself is made out of cheap material. It was just a $20 piece of blue and white garbage after that. Just face it; if you buy a snapset pool, you might as well call yourself a pimp because you are gonna get holes. Teehee.
Grass and Mud
I can't stress this enough. Wipe your feet very well before putting them inside one of these things. So much effort was put into keeping these things grass and dirt free. Depending on how anal we were and what company we had, we did a decent job of enforcing this. We learned to keep a towel and a piece of card board at the entrance of the pool. This would work well at times. I mean, no one wants to dunk their head in the pool and come back up with grass in the corner of their eyes. It’s not a pleasant experience. The issues would arise when folks would still get in the pool with grassy and muddy feet.
One summer day, we invited our friends Charlie and Derrick over to swim. We cleaned and set up the pool with extra care so we could impress them. Charlie was excited but his brother Derrick was low key about it. I don’t know where Charlie and Derrick were born but they both had accents. Charlie had a weird way of saying the word “pool”. For some reason he would pronounce it as “pua” (poo-uuh). It took me a few minutes to digest this as the first few times he said it, I couldn’t help but laugh. We filled the pool up almost to the point where it overflowed. We had our cardboard and towel out for our feet and everything. Everything was going great. Until other kids in the neighborhood say how much fun we were having.
A few kids that I had seen in the neighborhood came over to ask if they could swim too. I told them it was ok as long as they kept their feet clean and didn’t mess up the pool. Next thing I know, there are 6 other kids in the pool and a few outside chasing each other. My plan was going to hell. Then one of the stupid kids decided to throw dirt at people. Dirt is a ridiculous choice to be used as a projectile. The dirt was flying all over and eventually made its way to the pool. Once they saw the pool already dirty, I guess they said “fuck it”. The pool was a mess now. One kid had his feet and legs completely covered in mud and jumped in the pool to clean himself off. He did this several times. I’m thinking to myself, “Really dude? This is just your bath tub huh?” Those kids were straight up users. I never heard from them again.
Snapset pools were fun. We always enjoyed them. When you think back sometimes, you see things from a different perspective. Even though they were cheap pieces of junk, we would never turn one down. You make do with what you have.
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