Russian Boys Turned a Living Room into a Swimming Pool

Heat waves have made plenty of people do strange things in an attempt to escape the scalding sun oppressive humidity. A few teenage boys from the Russian town of Oryol did something that may have taken the cake.

These Russian boys turned a living room into a swimming pool.

According to the Daily Mail, armed with nothing more than some polyethylene film, tape, and a lot of water, the boys transformed a carpeted and fully furnished living room into a swimming pool at least a few feet deep in an attempt to escape the 90° heat wave the area has been experiencing. A camera captured a few shots of the teenagers enjoying their new indoor aquatic feature that went viral on a few Russian-language social media sites overnight.

It’s not clear how they got the water into the living room, nor is it apparent how they plan on getting the water out once they’ve tired of their indoor pool.

The posts on several social media sites elicited quite a few responses from commenters. In a translated comment, one person said, “Dry this up before your mother gets home!”

In fact, the identity and the exact location of the boys were not given on the social media sites, likely in the hopes that the boys could avoid getting into any trouble.

Other people who chimed in were more concerned for the safety of the boys and the home than they were about them get in trouble. One said “I hope the electric plugs are way above the water level” while another said they hope the swimmers all cut their nails before jumping in.

Some thought they were geniuses for their ingenuity. Others cursed their stupidity.
To bring a practical perspective to it, one commenter said, “The water is about half a metre high, which means it is about half a ton for every square metre. I wonder if their neighbours will gather all together to [teach] them a good lesson?”

It’s unlikely the boys got permission from the property owners because there were definitely some risks involved in this indoor swimming pool experiment. First of all, the thin polyethylene film certainly ran the risk of splitting or catching on any number of items in the room (like a table or the radiator). Secondly, the sheer weight of that much water likely put a good deal of strain on the floor beneath it.

Since the pictures don’t give a lot of context, we’re left to wonder how they got the water out when they were done enjoying themselves. It’s unlikely they had the forethought to get a water pump, although it may be unfair to judge them using my pre-existing knowledge of the decision making abilities of teenage boys. Still, any other method of removing the water would be problematic.

Hopefully Russian social media will keep us updated on the results* of this experiment. Until then, I think I’ll just close with the most popular comment on the photos: “Please, no one else try this at home.”

*How many eons these boys were grounded, or whatever the Russian equivalent to grounding is.