Pool Etiquette

As the old woman snarls at me "I've been coming here for over 20 years and never had to share a lane, not even once!". That's what she said to me when we were n00bs at the local pool here in Brantford. All lanes were taken, and she was the only one doing my speed so I THOUGHT I could share a lane with her. I don't know what surprised me more - the fact that she was such an ignorant old prune, or the fact that she was right about NOBODY ever shares a lane at our pool. Ever. Growing up in the city and working as a lifeguard I've swam at many pools over the years and everybody automatically swims in a circle within a lane. It's expected. However, out here the pool is so under-used in this city that everyone gets a lane to themselves. And if all the lanes are used - you still don't share. You suck in your gut on the pass and swim BETWEEN the lanes. No circles, just a back and forth 'between' lanes. I've never seen this before.
So everytime I get to the pool, this woman is here and the first thing we 'jokingly' say is "Get outta mah lane!". Then my wife and I find a lane to ourselves and SHARE the lane together. The days when all lanes are taken are interesting - instead of a half of a between lane, we're down to a 1/4 of a half of a between lane. Just dont have a head on colision with the Mrs.
This was long swim night. 2KM give or take warmup, cool down. I tend to lose count after 1000meteres. So I just go by time. I swim non-stop freestyle for 45 minutes no matter what the distance is in the end (cuz I dont know how far I really went). I am certain its at least 2000m as I swim well under 2min/100m. I never push off the wall, I refuse to do flip turns. I just touch the wall and turn around. Pushing off the wall is not what you get in open water so I don't do it in practice. I see people doing 'drills' and such but I'll reserve those for one day when I get bored of just going back and forth non-stop. If I feel my technique getting sloppy due to fatigue, I'll rest a minute. This doesn't happen anymore though.