I'm in a bit of a quandary and since I figure I value the opinion of almost all the people that frequent this forum I might as well ask, so here goes.....

Background: As a sort of new years resolution I decided that I'd start swimming again. I'd not really done any in over 10 years. So now I go to the local council run sports centre at least twice a week and swim a couple of miles. It's pretty cheap (£3 a visit), no contract and less than a mile from my home. All has been well, up until recently. I've now noticed that there seems to be a lot more people attending, interestingly though they do seem to be at the 'idiot' end of the spectrum (groups of lads and girls congregating in groups at either end of the lanes nattering incessantly and getting pissy when you want to swim a whole length and push off from the side, and groups of old dears who can only swim side by side taking up the whole width of a lane).

Question: Should I join a proper gym/health club? I'm already resigned to the fact it's going to cost more money. But could the cost be worth it just to avoid the proletariat shit munchers that like to clog up my local baths with their own annoying existence?

I've not got to the point where it's truly annoying, but the increase in people has been quite noticeable in the last couple of months and if the trend continues it could become impossible to get a good session in. SWMBO thinks the reason more people are attending is because they're giving up gym memberships to save money, so maybe these gyms are chock full of idiots already?

The only other downside to the public pool is the times that I can swim. I'm not a morning person and I'm usually at work until gone 7. So currently I have to wait until 9PM before I can go. Ideally I'd like go straight from work so I suppose going to a gym would mean I could swim whenever I want. I'm not interested in any of the other facilities, I don't want to shouted at in the gym by some 20 year old fitness Nazi personal trainer. I want to turn up, swim a bit, then go home. I have entertained the option of just trying another, less local, public baths but it could be just as much of a problem there as well.