The quality of the flights carried out in a professional manner and the disappointing lack of respect for the place and our work leaves us sad and speechless.
“Over the past few weeks, we have discovered that several violent break-ins have taken place at Flow,” laments Pool is Cool, whose all-wood basin opened for its second summer at Marchant Bridge in 2022. “Although the area of bathing area is still intact and the structure around the pool is very solid, we have seen a lot of damage to the fence and gate, to the doors and in the small kitchen Some of our containers have been opened with force and tools and essential machinery have been stolen or deliberately damaged”. Doors forced open, fuses torn out and stolen, washbasins carried away, ladder torn off, partitions smashed in: the following-effects are visible everywhere along the canal.
Chill in the sauna
This isn’t the first time Flow has been vandalized. “The damage was repairable,” continues Pool is Cool. Hence the collective’s desire to repeat this winter season the recipe for 2021: an unsupervised swimming pool. “We don’t mind that the roof of the kiosk becomes a shelter so that locals can meet even when it rains. It can even be seen as proof of the quality of our infrastructure as a public space…). We also don’t mind that our caravan is used as a shelter for the homeless, even if, without sanitation and electricity, it is not suitable for accommodation in winter,” admits the team. Unfortunately, the recent break-ins are not the same: “the quality of the thefts carried out in a professional manner and the disappointing lack of respect for the place and our work leave us sad and speechless”.
The prospect of having to knock on a hundred doors once more in the coming weeks to find ways to resurrect Flow in 2023 leaves one feeling depressed
These thefts and this vandalism are more than a pebble in the shoe for Pool is Cool. The sauna planned for this winter will be delayed. “It would not be responsible to invest money and time in a sauna whose safety we cannot guarantee”. More: it will be necessary to dig an already limited budget to repair the damage.
The collective therefore confides its disappointment: “open-air swimming in Brussels depends solely on Pool is Cool (…) Recent events and the prospect of having to knock on a hundred doors once more in the coming weeks to find the means to resuscitate Flow in 2023 leave a feeling of depression”. And the activists who have been fighting for several years to generalize outdoor swimming in Brussels to appeal to the generosity of swimmers: a pop-up store is open at bvd Anspach 178 to support the project with, why not, great 100% brusseleirs Christmas gifts: bath towels, t-shirts, sweatshirts, posters and even exclusive beers.
