Mission accomplished! I have finally acquired a six-month pass for the local pool. I only have to swim once every four or five days to make it worth the investment, and, of course, I plan to swim quite a bit more often than that!
What I really need is an adult stroke-correction course. But in the meantime, I'll brush up on the fantastic tips that I found a while back at this (Swiss) website, featuring photos and footage from some great (Aussie) swimmers! There's a lot of interesting stuff about front quadrant swimming and efficient freestyle technique. And some simple but alarmingly effective strategies such as 'swimming downhill'.
And while on matters Swiss...
I've also recently come across a nice set of podcasts containing Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement lessons that have been developed specifically for musicians — those of us who make a sound using the breath or even just have to sit and stand in awkward positions for hours at a time. The practitioner is an American trombonist, John Tarr, living in Basel. You can visit the Dynamic Musician Series website or pick up the podcasts from iTunes (search Feldenkrais) or directly here. Do listen to the short introductory podcast if you've not done Feldenkrais before.
SBB CFF FFS: Swiss Rail in German, French and Italian respectively. If you go to their site, there are some deliciously nerdy screensavers, as well as a Mac widget, all featuring the classic (and infallible) Swiss railway clock.