Fish out of Water

Today

Yesterday I actually managed to kick myself along unaided in the water for a few feet, albeit with a huge polystyrene tube wrapped around my middle and holding a float in my hands. This was on my 3rd swimming lesson.

I'd put in the "Please Santa" blog that I wanted to have swimming lessons for Christmas and Lizzie obliged by buying me 5 session with her swimming instructor friend Ben.

And I must say, he's very good and reassuring. Don't think that 5 sessions will quite do the trick, tho'

In My Day

As I may have said in earlier blogs, we were not a sporty family, so swimming didn't really feature on the family menu, so to speak. Mamma occasionally went swimming, usually in Summer, to the Brockwell Park Lido. She sometimes took me and attempted to teach me, but I was too frightened and physically awkward.

We also went swimming with the school to Thornton Heath Baths. This experience was quite frightful. The teacher, who never got in the water, was a very elderly lady called Miss Brockhurst. (I mainly remember jokes made about the fact that she clearly wore no type of bra)

She didn't get in the water. There were 35 girls in the group, the baths were old and cold with green tiles that reminded you of a public toilet. and had a strange echoing, hollow quality. Changing rooms were shared between about 5 girls and I remember my embarrassment at the fact that, at age 12 I was wearing a bra. I took as long as possible over getting changed and nervously got into the water.

Teaching me how to swim took the form of yelling imprecations at me because I wouldn't let go of the sides. Girls were splashing and yelling all around me. Some tried to get me to join in, which resulted in the ingestion of a good deal of vile smelling water.

I decided that I was a very talented person who just didn't need to add this one to the list

Synchronised Swimming champion in the making?