Sauna Nostalgia and the Pandemic.

And so, we're at the tail end of the Coronavirus pandemic. As I look back over nearly two years, how could I ever forget the need to queue up outside a grocery superstore? Back then, beginning around Easter of 2020 and into the summer months following, how could I ever believe that the time had come that I had to queue up to get into a shop and a large one at that? Indeed, had we entered the apocalyptic age of human history and the whole world is about to blow?

Superstore queue during a lockdown. Stock photo.

Added to that, our local Leisure Centre had shut down, all the so-called "non-essential" shops were closed, along with all the pubs, bars, restaurants, coffee houses...not to mention offices of all kinds empty of their City employees and their bosses...

The town centre was deserted, the streets were quiet, there was little traffic. Even London's busiest streets, such as Regent Street, Oxford Street, Piccadilly Circus, and Hyde Park Corner were all deserted, empty of traffic. It was as if the planet had rid itself of all people - every single individual alive had suddenly vanished - very much like in our home video documentary, Life After People, where the world population was zero, and featuring how the natural elements of sun, wind and rain continued in their destructive work unhindered by any human restorative activity. 

Within a few days after all people have vanished and the population is down to zero, every electric bulb and bar lighting blinks off, along with all neon street adverts, every fan stops rotating, every refrigerator shuts down, all industrial water pumps and power generators cease functioning - every form of power-driven machinery, both domestic and industrial, small and large, shuts down and draws to an eternal standstill - creating a deep, haunting, global silence.

In a course of time, every skyscraper in an advanced state of dereliction collapses into a huge cloud of dust, very much like how the World Trade Center collapsed into a massive cloud of smoke and dust after the 9/11 New York attack in 2001. London's Tower Bridge falls into the River Thames, the Elizabeth Tower housing Big Ben, already a few degrees off vertical at present, falls headlong onto Parliament Square, all the Underground tube and cut-and-cover lines and their stations become flooded, and unless also flooded by the river, all the streets would turn into wild garden strips, with an occasional shell of a car consumed by rust remain to be seen and ignored by any passing wild beast.

And wild beasts would wander through deserted streets overgrown with greenery, even trees, with derelict buildings on each side, collapsing into rubble piling on what used to be sidewalks. The domesticated characteristic of dogs that escaped from their man-made confinements, would breed out over the generations and wander around the streets as wolverine packs, always in search of escaped cattle that had grazed through the streets into town.

Hundreds of thousand years after people, anyone landing on our planet from an alien world would never guess that mankind once inhabited our planet, as all human constructions would have disappeared entirely - with thick forests with all its abundant wildlife inhabiting the tropical, the subtropical and the temperate climate zones of our planet, with the two Polar icecaps restored to their original size, and the oceans teeming with marine life, including species once threatened with extinction now thriving.

Perhaps, the sight of some stones piled in some odd manner might be an indication of long-past intelligent design, but such a theory remains debatable among these aliens - in much the same way we humans debate whether the undersea "Bimini Road" in the Atlantic Ocean is a natural formation or an ancient construction. That is until they wander across Egypt and notice three pyramids buried in the sand, with just their pinnacles showing. But the catch-all surety of intelligent design is the gigantic head of the Sphinx, not far from the Pyramids, also sticking out of the desert sand.

And so, I ponder as I stood in the queue whilst waiting to enter Sainsbury's superstore. The first lockdown caused by the Coronavirus had brought the world to a standstill - all by a minute virus! I guess my thoughts also go back to a TV drama series where almost the entire world population was wiped out by a virus, but unlike Life After People, a remnant of humanity had immune systems which resisted and fought the virus, enabling them to repopulate the Earth after the demise of its former civilisation - rather like Noah's family after the Deluge.

I find it amazing how a minute virus can halt civilisation in a dramatic manner no politician could ever achieve! Before then, I recall the freedom we so much took for granted. The sauna was one example.

I recall 1976, not long after having flown the nest when I was talking to a work colleague who spoke much about the sauna and its benefits. Being an avid fan of Queen's Park Rangers FC, Tony was one of several working-class men who frequented the facility, all of them older than me and therefore, rather intimidating for a skinny sauna neophyte who, once again, had to accept their culture of coarse language and crude toilet jokes. Therefore, for my accountant friend and graduate to refer to all sauna bathers as "sissies" - or as he often refers to as "woofters" - would have put his own safety in serious jeopardy in their presence! 

However, my accountant friend might also have a point. During those early days, the customer changed out of his day clothes in a large single room, lined with individual lockers. The changing room was shared by all. Then, the facility had two sauna cabins, one right next to each other, a steam room housed in a plastic cabin, and a very cold plunge pool. At its reception, manned by elderly Fred who was respected by everyone, lemon tea was purchased and consumed at the large resting room, itself furnished with reclining beds, adjoining the main sauna suite through a door. The larger sauna was used by "straights" - heterosexual working-class men, and it was the one I always sat in. But the other was frequented by gay men, attracted to the facility by an advert posted on their magazine by a staff member. Some of these gay men, after talking with several of them, turned out to be better educated and holding down professional careers. Amazing it was when two different cultures dwelt side by side, yet, as I soon found, each kept themselves apart from the other and there was no trouble.

A Sauna cabin. Stock photo.

But above all that, each bather in both groups knew each other well, thus creating a club atmosphere, and I was accepted into their "club", so to speak. This sense of "being part of the family" was certainly felt among the straight working classes, more so than in the gay group. In addition, I would have felt an oddity had I worn shorts or swimwear at the sauna. All the men there were starkers, like a nudist beach camp. However, I quickly got used to it and within days, being nude in company with others was never an issue.

Also, the men's session and the women's session alternated each evening. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday were assigned for the men, while Tuesdays, Thursdays, and I think, Sundays, were assigned for the women. It's these single-sex sessions, patterned after the ancient Roman culture, that had allowed nudity to flourish. Not any more.

Those were the days I look upon with fondness, a hot room smelling of pine and eucalyptus, a fragrant oil poured with the water onto the hot coals, located at the corner by the door. Anyone can ladle the mixture onto the coals, and as often as needed. There always was that sense of adult freedom that seemed to fade over time, with the fading accelerated by the recent pandemic.

How the facility had changed over the years! The whole spa suite is now refurbished with individual changing cubicles, two luxury bubble baths and both of them are rich in aesthetics. The steam room is of much better quality, and one of the sauna cabins is now replaced by a saunarium, a cooler room with higher moisture content in the air. But gone is the cold plunge pool. Instead, a cold shower had taken its place, which, to my mind, doesn't hold a candle to the old plunge pool. Gone too, is the old resting room. Instead, the wall that separated it from the sauna facility was demolished, leaving a smaller space within the facility with fewer reclining beds.

But the big difference is the lack of the "club atmosphere" created by the old regulars. Instead, its patrons tend to be strangers who keep themselves to themselves, although before the onset of Coronavirus, there were a few regulars who kept a remnant of a club atmosphere, even that was wiped out by the pandemic. No longer hosting single-gender sessions, swimwear is now compulsory for all bathers, with even a wall notice reminding us of it.

Then came the pandemic. And with it, the national lockdown. This included the closing down of the entire Leisure Centre. The sauna facility remained out of use for around 18 months. It was also when we all had to queue to get into a superstore such as Sainsbury's. I remember the first time we all had to queue. At first, it looked very long and daunting. But each person or couple stood more than two metres apart, the newly-initiated social distancing which made the queue appear longer than it really was.

But it took up to an hour between joining the queue and actually passing through the doors, with a marshall monitoring each person entering, to ensure that the people inside the store didn't exceed the maximum number. Over time, the queue got shorter, and with the shop encouraging its customers to shop alone rather than as a couple, the waiting time became considerably quicker.

By the Summer of 2020, the pandemic began to wane, and I thought that life will return to a resemblance of normality. But with new variants of the virus, first, the Kent variant followed by the Delta variant, by Autumn of that year, our Government made mask-wearing compulsory. And here is the twist. As soon as mask-wearing became mandatory, cases of new infections began to rise again. But at least there was one issue in its favour - the doing away with shopping queues altogether, thus, the normalisation of daily shopping trips. 

Whether there's any connection between mandatory mask-wearing and the rise of the third wave, in particular, I can't be sure, but there are many who argue in favour of the facecloth. But the scientists who had worked hard to develop the vaccine deserve my praise! As I see it, the vaccines are a mercy from God. And as the rollout took off with vigour at the start of 2021, the effects of the pandemic began to wane, with far fewer hospitalisations and deaths after a positive test.

And the rate of hospitalisations and deaths remained at a roughly flat rate. By the Summer, I was able to swim again every week. But it's no longer the case of just walking in at any minute of the day and swimming as long as I desire, as it was pre-pandemic. Now I have to book in advance, and I'm allowed a maximum of one hour to swim. Although I dislike the restriction, yet I find it's enough for me. The sauna is different. Fortunately, I can make two sixty-minute bookings back-to-back, therefore giving me two hours of bathing time which again, I have found to be adequate enough.

And so, I sit alone in the sauna cabin with no one to start a proper conversation with. What a difference from what it was 45 years previously! At least I'm no longer buffeted with swear words, the teasing and the criticising of others, and toilet jokes. But that "family atmosphere" is forever gone.

And then another phenomenon which never occurred back in the old "club" days - the admission of the severely disabled. Only yesterday, some carers brought in two mentally disabled women. Both were in wheelchairs. But one of them, plump but quite facially pretty with long dark hair, kept roaring like a lion. The loud noise was quite daunting, yet I looked upon her with my heart longing to give her an embrace, a tight hug. If I had the love of Christ for her, that was it. I would have done anything to enhance her welfare. 

And just as I was, in all, beginning to settle into this new way of living and enjoying the facilities, news comes in of a new, more dangerous variant of the virus. Named Omicron, after a Greek letter for "o", the Government is at present trying to reassure us that there is no need to panic. At least not yet, as further research is needed to establish the power of Omicron, whether if it spreads quicker and if so, would it intensify illness of its human host? Is it resistant to the vaccines? Would hospitalisation rise again to the levels back in January? And would deaths follow suit? And so our Government, having learned their lessons from previous variants, quickly banned flights from the affected countries. Good on them!

Vaccines for Coronavirus was a wonder in themselves.

Another lockdown? No, please, no! If our beloved Leisure Centre with our sauna facilities (paid for by us members) was to close down again, who knows, it could be permanent. New homes built on the site after demolition? No thank you! After all, who wants such wonderful memories swept away forever by a virus? 

Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear...

Isaiah 59:1 AV.

The real cure for this global pandemic is to fall on God's mercy and call upon his name. No one can go wrong there.