Spa Talk.

Those who have followed my stories know I am a frequent visitor at a San Diego YMCA gym adjacent to the condo complex where I live. Besides exercising on the weight room machines, shooting hoops at the basketball court, and doing cardio on the exercise bikes and treadmills, I’m also an avid fan of the aquatic facilities, which include an indoor pool where I take aquafit classes and an outdoor pool where I do most of my swim workouts.

Not to forget the two small spas or jacuzzis where the Y participants relax before, after, and in between gym activities. So today, after an aquafit class and subsequent swim, I descended into one of the spa pools to get nice and warm after the cool outdoor pool. The outdoor pool is 80⁰F, while the spa temperature is about 100⁰F. The latter ensures a comfortable and relaxing experience.

The people that congregate in the spa are a mix of gym members. I got to know some because we take the same aquafit classes, but others I hadn’t met before. Several people descended into the warm water after one of the aquafit classes ended. Ms. B is a regular, and we often talk about things happening in our part of town. We discussed a recent road closure affecting how Ms. B drove to the Y and back home.

Like my condo complex, the Y is on Friars Road, a four-lane city street in Mission Valley, a mixed residential-commercial neighborhood. Over the past four years, the westernmost end of Friars Road has been undergoing construction to accommodate a large sewage reconstruction project. The work involved closing the lanes for westward traffic and rerouting them. Eastward traffic could still proceed, albeit on a single lane.

While driving home last week, I found the eastbound lane of Friars Road closed, and for the first time in four years, westward traffic had resumed. B elaborated on how the roadwork had altered her route to the Y and back. It took me a while to understand how she navigated the recent road closure and reopened. The discussion was not unlike the skit ‘The Californians,’ which was on the popular comedy program Saturday Night Live (SNL). In the skit, friends at a social get-together discuss how they navigate the complex highway system in Los Angeles to get to their destination. After listening to her for 10 minutes, I saw how Ms. B went to the gym and back home.

Her route: “I used to get on the 5 (Hwy 5) south from Clairemont Drive and get off at the Sea World Drive exit, going west and turn on Friars Road east. The one-lane takes me to the Y. Going back, I follow Friars Road west and turn right at the trolley tracks on Napa Street, beyond which Friars Road is closed. I turn right on Morena Boulevard north till I reach Sea World Drive, going a few hundred yards west, where I get on Five north, follow the right-most lane, and get off at the next city street, Clairemont Drive. It is obvious if you know the layout of Mission Valley and adjacent Bay Park neighborhoods. However, the reconstruction project brings frequent rerouting and, sometimes, when you set out in your car, you may not know which route you will take.”

I mused over a recent mess-up in traffic I ran into when I set out on a doctor’s appointment in the Hillcrest district on Monday, March 3. The appointment was for 10:05 am, and I left the condo at 9:40 am, thinking it would take me 15 minutes to get to the family clinic of UCSD on Lewis Street. The route is straightforward (see Figure). Get on 8 (Highway 8) east and immediately turn on 163 (Hwy 163) south, take a left turn on University Ave, followed by a right turn on Fifth Avenue, and after a block, turn left on Washington Street east. Then a right turn on Fourth Avenue, and after 200 yards, you can turn into the underground parking of the clinic.

The trouble began when I tried to get onto 8 east. The onramp was blocked, which forced me to go one mile further west to take the next onramp. After getting on eight, taking the exit to 163 south was straightforward, just past the blocked onramp. However, when I turned 163, I realized something was wrong. Traffic was moving slowly on the rightmost four lanes of 163 south. My estimated 15-minute travel time would be more like 30 minutes or longer. I stayed in the rightmost lane and eventually reached the right turn on University Avenue.

The traffic on this city street was equally slow. After one block, I was able to turn on Fifth Avenue. It usually does not take more than one go to reach the traffic light at the corner of Fifth Avenue and turn west on Washington Street, but that day was not typical. Every time the lights changed to green, one or two cars could make the left turn. It took almost fifteen minutes on Fifth Avenue before I finally arrived at the light. As I tried to turn, a city bus started to move into my lane. A second city bus followed, and I had to move into the leftmost turning lane, where I did not want to be. In the meantime, traffic moving west on Washington Street had resumed, and I was stuck between two buses in the intersection while the light was turning red. Evidently, traffic in both directions on Washington Street was plugged up.

I finally made my turn and moved ahead of the first bus, which had come to a halt at a scheduled stop. I arrived at the clinic at 10:10 am, five minutes late, which was no big deal. When I talked to the receptionist, I was informed that my appointment was canceled because my GP, Dr. M, had been on pregnancy leave. They had called me at 7:30 am that morning to tell me to reschedule. However, I was sitting in my office at the computer while the cell phone was in the bedroom. Fortunately, I got another appointment for the next day with another doctor. It made me wonder why I needed to wait three months for my first appointment with my regular GP if a substitute doctor was available at such short notice.

As I was recounting my trip to the doctor that day, a man in his fifties entered the spa. It so happened that he had been on Washington Street while I was on my way. He told us that there had been a suicide attempt at the time. A man tried to jump over the railing of an overpass onto 163. There were numerous marked and unmarked police cars at the place of the incident, and traffic going east on Washington Street had been rerouted. This accounted for the heavy traffic flow going west and the bottleneck at the corner with Fifth Avenue.

After I came home, I looked at the online edition of the San Diego Union-Tribune, the local newspaper. However, I saw no reference to the incident in the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday issues. I then went online and found a discussion on Reddit regarding the incident. A man had attempted to jump off the bridge near the Sixth Avenue and University exit of 163. Traffic on 163 had stopped moving. Cops were on the scene. They talked the individual down at around 2:30 pm, after which the freeway was back open.

So, you get news on local happenings in the spa at your local YMCA.

MvR, March 8, 2025. ✍️