Frustration with public swimming pools

I thought given California had a pretty good climate, and people like to swim that finding good pools would be easy. Not the case!

For a start, all the pools are 25m (or worse 25 yards, which is about 22m), and there really isn't many of them. I finally found a couple nearby, and they're all outdoors, so not very pleasant in winter and you have to wear lots of sunscreen in summer.

So I finally got time to go to the pool, with the plan to go a couple of times a week during the day. I looked up the address of the pool that looked the nicest, and noticed the public swimming times - 10am - 2pm, then 6-8pm. Bummer, it was about 9am and I had to be at the shelter by 11, so wouldn't get time. It's at a school, so I understand they have some restrictions.

I looked at the 2 public pools in Mountain View, and they are ALSO only open from about 10:30-1:30, then 6-8pm. I called up to see if those hours were just for lap swimming, or if they were the opening hours. They are the only hours they are open. The pool is used for nothing else, why the hell is it closed for most of the day???

I next tried the Stanford University Pool, and once again 10-2, 6-8pm.

So apparently anyone who wants to swim has to all go at the same time during that couple of hour window. Anyone who works can only go for those 2 hours in the evening. I generally have stuff on in the middle of the day.

Every pool in Australia that I've been to is a nice, usually indoor 50m and generally open from 6am - 9pm so everyone can go when it's convenient to them.

In Canberra (population 300,000 or so) within a 10 minute drive of where we lived, I had the option of 4 different good quality pools that were open all day (except AIS which was still open more them pools here despite catering to Olympic swimmer schedules).

I can't believe that with such a big population there is not one pool that is open the entire day. The water at the beach is way too cold to swim in, so there really isn't any options.

Rant over.