Summer in the City
“Hot town, summer in the city, back of my neck getting dirty and gritty” – just as the famous song, ‘Summer in the city’s lyrics start, we all know the feeling of being overheated in the concrete jungle. At such moments we wish we could just leave downtown and have a swim at the Balaton, chill at one of the local thermal baths, or slide down to the water at an exciting aqua park. Here in Budapest we look around and the closest thing we find to these options, are the new architecture elements that contain water. As human creativity is limitless, some people even use them for hygienic and swimming purposes.
There is not a single summer night when I go out and I don’t see a drunk fellow running around in Akvárium Klub’s water pool at Erzsébet tér whilst being chased by the security staff. Another newly experienced thing for me is the newly opened II. János Pál Pápa tér’s metro station design which looks just like as if it was part of an open air swimming pool. Of course people have already out how much it resembles in practice too.
However, these fountains, pools and ponds really should not be used by anyone for swimming or cooling down for several reasons. Considering not only the fee that you might get if a pair of policemen pass by, these places are at the same time dangerous. First of all, as they are not for swimming, most of them are not properly disinfected and therefore several bacteria might be found in them which can cause dermatologic problems and virus infection. Also, as they weren’t built for swimming, the material used might not be safe enough and the slippery tiles might cause injuries.
Obviously no one wants to spend their summer holidays in hospital with a twisted ankle or lying in bed at home with high fever, so it’s really not worth risking.
So what’s my suggestion to cool yourself down on hot summer days when you can’t make it to the Balaton? Call your friends and take an ice cold fröccs…!
Well I know, you are right. Even the song’s lyrics finish like this:
“And babe, don’t you know it’s a pity
That the days can’t be like the nights”.
by Adam Reszegi
Photo: reader of INDEX.hu
Source: http://dailynewshungary.com/
