Finally, relaxing among the sardines at the Orland Park pool

Even if the weather destroyed the annual Memorial Day family picnic plans, Monday's burst of heat and sun sure made the Orland Park pool opening so appealing.

My wife and son got to the pool when it opened at 12 noon and there was already a huge line to get in. And when I got there at 1 pm, there were even more, some 200 people waiting in the pay-to-pool line and about 40 residents lined up to purchase annual passes.

I have an annual pass and walked through the entrance with no delays.

But the pool was a zoo. It was jam-packed. Every seat and inflatable for the Lazy River already claimed. Then, something happened and they had to close the deep end at the main pool -- Orland has two pools, one zero depth which is beautiful and one nearby that has a diving board and slide, and racing swim lanes -- I don't know what they call them, I can barely swim.

The problem with the pool is that it is so packed, but mostly with non-residents, its seems. And the non-residents don't care about anything. You get up from your lounge chair and they'll sit on it and your towel. It's like you can only spend about half your time enjoying the pool and the other half of your time eyeballing your possessions, so no one steals them. The deep end of the pool looked very murky, but at least it didn't have blue spots. (Do they use blue die? I hope so.)

And wars get started over the chase lounge chairs, too. People get very possessive and confrontational, too. You get up for one second to stretch and if you don't have something on the chair while you are standing right next to it, someone will come up and grab it. Why not. Half the people won't confront the morons and inconsiderate oafs.

There was one accident. A woman fell and hurt herself near the lazy river entrance on the blue paint. I wonder why they didn't use that grainy blue paint that makes it hard to slip on. I slipped there and dozens of other people slipped there, too, but one woman tragically fell so hard they needed an ambulance to take her to the hospital. (We hope she is doing okay.)

But overall, it sure was relaxing at the pool under that 92 degree heat. Orland Park has one of the best public pools in the region. I'd just like to see more residents join and make it harder for people outside of Orland Park wade through there.

-- Ray Hanania