A post from a friend on Facebook prompted me to write and warn everyone that there's a shark in the diving well at the pool in Burn Brae. When I was a kid on the Columbia swim team back in the 70s we practiced a few days a week at the 50 meter pool in Burn Brae during the summer months. There was a huge, deep, dark diving well we had to swim past and every single one of us scooted by as fast as we could due to the shark. We never saw the shark of course, we just knew it was there. Well, turns out the Turf Valley pool also has a shark in it's diving well according to my friend. Smaller diving wells like the ones on most pools in Columbia do not have sharks, thankfully. At least, I never received any reports on them if they do. Swimming quickly past the diving well remains the safest option for not being chomped by the shark.
Also, at night if you're asked to take out the trash or walk the dog you should note that there are poisonous snakes in your driveway just waiting to get you. So, hop around a bit to avoid them and get yourself back inside the house as quickly as you can. My sister confirmed for me that yes, she was also avoiding snakes in the driveway.
When you're a kid there are all kinds of things lurking in the shadows waiting to get you. I don't know how to warn toddlers, but I do recall when I was very little a tiger lived in my closet. Luckily my Mom was prepared and all you had to do was say "Go Away Tiger!" and you were safe. Dodged a bullet there with an educated Mom.
Even as you get older things with large arms are waiting under your bed to grab you by the ankles should you need to get up and go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. In this instance use the same defense that you used for avoiding the snakes in your driveway. A lot of hopping around and finally leaping in to your bed seems to do the trick.
Our house also had a ghost or two in the basement. Light is the best way to scatter the ghosts. Of course, leaving the basement is tricky depending on where the light switch is. As soon as the light goes out, get yourself out quickly to avoid all ghost encounters.
I don't know how many of you know this, but driving in the car you can carry a very long (at least 50 yards), very sharp knife or sword and use it to cut down all trees along the road as you ride along and the trees will remain standing. It's a huge mystery about how this one works, but a lot of kids have reported this to be true.
Having grown safely in to adulthood after avoiding all these hazards I'm sure there are things I've totally forgotten about but definitely deserve a mention. Feel free to include those in comments.
Finally, remember, here in the USA everyone has remained safe, but those daring kids down under have taken the Shark in the diving well to a new level. Probably don't share this story with anyone under the age of 18 or you'll never get them into a pool again: Shark in the Pool.
