Swimming Pools

I cleaned leaves and scrubbing the bottom of my swimming pool with a pool brush today. Swimming pools are not fun for me, and if not for Jane I would never have one. In the past 2 years or so I have been in that pool twice, and only briefly. Though I swim well, I do not like the water and abhor being in the sun. My skin cancer problems in the past make it unwise to do so anyway. Another bad thing about a pool is the expense. Pools are made to malfunction and require expensive chemicals. The pool motor, the pool lining, the pool lighting, and pool cleaning system have all broken down in my pool (and eventually will in everyone else's pool).
Too, the maintenance is specialized. If one who is not knowledgeable about pools tries to maintain it him or herself the result is even bigger and more expensive problems when there is a problem with the pool. At the moment my pool may have a small leak as it loses water. Ha! The cost to have equipment check for the leak is outrageous in itself. then if a leak is found the pool has to be drained before being repaired. I have spent many thousands of dollars on this pool in the past few years....and more is to come. But Jane and her friends have fun with the pool, so I can not complain. Anyway....what do you think? Is having a swimming pool desirable or undesirable?
I have the ultimate school grade obsession story and it comes from the most school obsessed nation of all Japan. A 16 year old boy from Nara burned down his home the other day, killing his stepmother and two siblings, all in fear that his parents would find out he had lied about a score on an English test he took in school. The teen's parents had been scheduled to meet with his teachers about his exam result and allegedly the father had put extreme pressure on him to make better grades in his classes.
Hmmmmmmmm Let's see..In Japan they throw themselves off bridges when they make bad grades, lie in front of trains when failing to get in the "best" schools, hang themselves when classmates have higher test scores....burning down the house to hide an English grade isn't so bad after all. Long live "education" in Japan!