I quite liked PE by 5th and 6th form, but I managed to get myself on the list for canoeing on Wednesday afternoons, on the river at the bottom of the school field in my 5th form. With practice in the swimming pool in bats beforehand. Which avoided all the nasty hockey sticks that were at my head height when legal.
Having gone to secondary school a year early and being small anyway, I was permanently the smallest in my school year, which made most PE really unfunny. I didn't ever achieve any of the AAA Athletics certificates, although I would have if I'd been scored for the right year group. Fortunately, I wasn't seen as hating PE as I loved swimming and gymnastics.
In my sixth form, different school, we pretty much did what we wanted in PE, which meant I swam or gymnastics. One lad played golf, practised driving.
We had to do cross-country through the local park. Fortunately, one of my friends had a grandmother who lived just the other side and could be prevailed upon to provide tea and cake to a gaggle of teenage girls.
When I was at a boarding school beside a large lake, I avoided all sport by working for a helmsman certificate so that I could take out a dinghy by myself; I would then drop anchor on the far side of an island and read for the whole afternoon.
I avoided PE by taking archery in its place. My intent was to simply avoid changing into gym clothes and getting hot and showering in rooms that never seemed very clean to me. The result was I was on the city-wide girl's archery championship team.
I WISH I could have avoided PE, as they made me do sports my body was wholly unfit for, because of a combination of EDS and asthma. Lucky I didn't croak on them.
When I was at a boarding school beside a large lake, I avoided all sport by working for a helmsman certificate so that I could take out a dinghy by myself; I would then drop anchor on the far side of an island and read for the whole afternoon.
TICTH the memory of playing field hockey in the chilly, muddy, wet winter months on what, during spring, was the baseball field. Of course the guys got the field when it was warm and dry.
But things looked up when the weather heated up and I got to do synchronized swimming last period in the afternoon. The only drawback to that was that several times during the day they added more pool chemicals to keep the pool germ free and my eyes got so inflamed that I could hardly see to walk home. I let them know the problem and I think they actually adjusted it, since my walk home got better. Good on them!
Oh boy, those devisings make my leaving my field hockey boots back home in the next town seem inadequate. We used to have to run around in shorts while the teacher wore a track suit, and refused us the option. I had legs which went purple and orange. When I had no boots, I was sent to walk around the field. The field had a depression in one part of the boundary, and when down there we were out of sight, and could climb over the fence and go down into the neighbouring valley - more of a gulch, really, later known to developers as Happy Valley. There one could pick and eat blackberries.
My friend used to build large mathematical models during his PE, since his school did not offer athletics.
On Friday my boys kicked a football around and fell over repeatedly in very sloppy mud. There was much giggling, so I let them have fun, and they got plastered up to the eyeballs in mud!
On Saturday we went for a walk which we knew to be muddy. Wellies were worn, but that gave me more pairs of muddy trousers to wash.
Yesterday we went for a walk which I didn't expect to be muddy, and we were out so short a time that the cleaning up will take longer than the walk! We didn't wear wellies, so I now have trousers, shoes and at least one coat to deal with (youngest slipped over).
I hate cleaning muddy stuff. When will it be spring?
In my day the pool was outdoor and unheated, and the "swimming term" began as soon as we went back after Easter, regardless of date or weather, and continued up to the autumn half-term. I still shudder at the memory of having to dive into a pool with a surrounded salted against ice.
We had lots of snow predicted and have actually had a pathetic sprinkling.
My suspicion is that they purposely over-predict what they think of as "bad" weather to avoid complaints about "over optimistic" forecasts. To some of us, however, a prediction of heavy snow when we then don't get it is the very definition of an "over optimistic" forecast.
They annoy me in Summer as well, always referring to high temperatures (torture for me) as "nice weather".
I suspect that after the 1987 hurricane debacle, they're inclined to err on the side of caution!
But they're doing the opposite. They said it would snow and it didn't. Youngest child is devastated. Caution would have been to predict light snow flurries then we could have been pleasantly surprised if we got more instead of feeling disappointed and cheated.
I suspect that after the 1987 hurricane debacle, they're inclined to err on the side of caution!
But they're doing the opposite. They said it would snow and it didn't ...
That's sort of what I meant - in 1987 Michael Fish assured someone who'd written in that there wouldn't be a hurricane but there was, so I suppose they want to predict bad* weather just in case.
* depending on your viewpoint - I can understand why your son was disappointed.
But I suspect if they actually gave an honest forecast (it will probably snow tomorrow. There's an 80% chance of there being somewhere between flurries and 3 inches. We can't really say better than that.) then everyone would complain about the useless forecast.
Then there's the folks who happily tell us we'll have gorgeous weather (meaning: sunshine, no rain) when we're in the middle of a drought and everyone's praying for rain for the crops or just so as not to have to spend hours watering the gardens... Clearly they've not considered the matter from the viewpoint of anyone but a person wanting a nice picnic.
Then there's the folks who happily tell us we'll have gorgeous weather (meaning: sunshine, no rain) when we're in the middle of a drought and everyone's praying for rain for the crops or just so as not to have to spend hours watering the gardens... Clearly they've not considered the matter from the viewpoint of anyone but a person wanting a nice picnic.
But I suspect if they actually gave an honest forecast (it will probably snow tomorrow. There's an 80% chance of there being somewhere between flurries and 3 inches. We can't really say better than that.) then everyone would complain about the useless forecast.
I have hated snow since the mid-70s when I worked in a north-facing office in Luton. I had to sit and watch the flakes coming down out of a sunless sky, while I dreaded the thought of driving home to Leighton Buzzard.
At the time I was driving an Arkley SS, a kit car which resembled nothing so much as an overpowered motorised roller skate on excessively wide tyres, and you can imagine how that handled on a snowy surface. One morning I spun and found myself facing completely the wrong way, but I didn't dare try and turn round so simply drove off in the wrong direction.
Eventually a friend with a company car took pity on me and started giving me lifts (thank you Eric!)
I had to grow out of it when I had two children - having one in a child seat in the front, and putting the other in the back (with its feet in what would have been the boot if the car had had one) even if packed round with a week's shopping from Sainz Breez was definitely not a good idea. One of my friends was rear-ended on the bypass (I know that sounds dodgy, but how else can I phrase it?) in a Triumph Dolomite, and they all survived where we wouldn't have done, so I had to put it away temporarily.
Boilers, the spawn of Satan. Ours, installed two and a half years ago, has decided to die on us on what's supposed to be the coldest day of the year.
Is it a condensing boiler? If so, the trouble may be with the condensate pipe leading outside. They can often freeze up (yes, I know that sounds bonkers) and shut the system down. Warming it with hot rags etc may well help.
Miraculously my husband managed to get through to the man who installed it, who's coming at about four - and it sounds from what he said that @Baptist Trainfan is right. He suggested a hair dryer, and though we haven't got one of those we're trying a fan heater, so with any luck we might not need him after all.
And @Heavenlyannie I hope your new heating system is doing a great job!
Boilers, the spawn of Satan. Ours, installed two and a half years ago, has decided to die on us on what's supposed to be the coldest day of the year.
Is it a condensing boiler? If so, the trouble may be with the condensate pipe leading outside. They can often freeze up (yes, I know that sounds bonkers) and shut the system down. Warming it with hot rags etc may well help.
Our Place had problems with a new boiler a while back, and it was as Baptist Trainfan has said - once the condensate pipe was freed up, all was well.
I wanna consign the freaking virus to Hell again, as we've just heard that my husband tested positive for virus-up-the-nose at the end of last month--the lab didn't get back to us till today, and so we're frantically looking back over our calendars to see if we exposed anybody. We've both been vaccinated, and Mr. Lamb is asymptomatic (there's even a chance of a lab mixup), so probably not, but... Truthfully, I'm the most likely to have caught it, but I had my second shot today (before getting the call) and got swabbed up the nose, so I suppose I'll just have to wait (at home) and see if I get a call from my own lab. Hey ho, I'm not going to see my friend this weekend.
I'm under about ten blankets after I complained of chills and Mr Lamb got mischievous. He is out of earshot so I just called his phone and asked him to bring me vanilla icecream. Threats ensued.
I'm under about ten blankets after I complained of chills and Mr Lamb got mischievous. He is out of earshot so I just called his phone and asked him to bring me vanilla icecream. Threats ensued.
Well, I'm negative by rapid test (so not completely infallible, but I'm going nowhere anyway). But the arm from the second shot has a big red splotch and hurts like crap. But hey, two more weeks and I'll be immune. And Mr. Lamb is considering the error of his ways--I don't think the danger really hit home until his swab turned up positive. Heh. Perennial optimist.
My mother was a great believer in the efficacy of vest-wearing to keep your kidneys warm.
She visited me not long after I went to university. I was reaching up to take my coffee jar from a high shelf, revealing a glimpse of bare flesh between jeans and sweatshirt when she said, in the hearing of my cool new university friends "Quine! You're not wearing a vest!"
She visited me not long after I went to university. I was reaching up to take my coffee jar from a high shelf, revealing a glimpse of bare flesh between jeans and sweatshirt when she said, in the hearing of my cool new university friends "Quine! You're not wearing a vest!"
Oh, the shame!!!
And when you're young and trying to impress cool friends you never think that their mothers would probably say the same thing.
Comments
Having gone to secondary school a year early and being small anyway, I was permanently the smallest in my school year, which made most PE really unfunny. I didn't ever achieve any of the AAA Athletics certificates, although I would have if I'd been scored for the right year group. Fortunately, I wasn't seen as hating PE as I loved swimming and gymnastics.
In my sixth form, different school, we pretty much did what we wanted in PE, which meant I swam or gymnastics. One lad played golf, practised driving.
MMM
Brilliant! :notworthy:
But things looked up when the weather heated up and I got to do synchronized swimming last period in the afternoon. The only drawback to that was that several times during the day they added more pool chemicals to keep the pool germ free and my eyes got so inflamed that I could hardly see to walk home. I let them know the problem and I think they actually adjusted it, since my walk home got better. Good on them!
My friend used to build large mathematical models during his PE, since his school did not offer athletics.
On Friday my boys kicked a football around and fell over repeatedly in very sloppy mud. There was much giggling, so I let them have fun, and they got plastered up to the eyeballs in mud!
On Saturday we went for a walk which we knew to be muddy. Wellies were worn, but that gave me more pairs of muddy trousers to wash.
Yesterday we went for a walk which I didn't expect to be muddy, and we were out so short a time that the cleaning up will take longer than the walk! We didn't wear wellies, so I now have trousers, shoes and at least one coat to deal with (youngest slipped over).
I hate cleaning muddy stuff. When will it be spring?
In my day the pool was outdoor and unheated, and the "swimming term" began as soon as we went back after Easter, regardless of date or weather, and continued up to the autumn half-term. I still shudder at the memory of having to dive into a pool with a surrounded salted against ice.
I think it Must have been so-called heated , but I happily CTH
((Shudder))
We had lots of snow predicted and have actually had a pathetic sprinkling.
My suspicion is that they purposely over-predict what they think of as "bad" weather to avoid complaints about "over optimistic" forecasts. To some of us, however, a prediction of heavy snow when we then don't get it is the very definition of an "over optimistic" forecast.
They annoy me in Summer as well, always referring to high temperatures (torture for me) as "nice weather".
But they're doing the opposite. They said it would snow and it didn't. Youngest child is devastated. Caution would have been to predict light snow flurries then we could have been pleasantly surprised if we got more instead of feeling disappointed and cheated.
I wish they wouldn't assume what weather we want.
* depending on your viewpoint - I can understand why your son was disappointed.
But I suspect if they actually gave an honest forecast (it will probably snow tomorrow. There's an 80% chance of there being somewhere between flurries and 3 inches. We can't really say better than that.) then everyone would complain about the useless forecast.
Or just someone who likes the heat. I hate it.
I wouldn't
At the time I was driving an Arkley SS, a kit car which resembled nothing so much as an overpowered motorised roller skate on excessively wide tyres, and you can imagine how that handled on a snowy surface. One morning I spun and found myself facing completely the wrong way, but I didn't dare try and turn round so simply drove off in the wrong direction.
Eventually a friend with a company car took pity on me and started giving me lifts (thank you Eric!)
BUT
I had to grow out of it when I had two children - having one in a child seat in the front, and putting the other in the back (with its feet in what would have been the boot if the car had had one) even if packed round with a week's shopping from Sainz Breez was definitely not a good idea. One of my friends was rear-ended on the bypass (I know that sounds dodgy, but how else can I phrase it?) in a Triumph Dolomite, and they all survived where we wouldn't have done, so I had to put it away temporarily.
True - Leighton Buzzard was actually really nice
Is it a condensing boiler? If so, the trouble may be with the condensate pipe leading outside. They can often freeze up (yes, I know that sounds bonkers) and shut the system down. Warming it with hot rags etc may well help.
Oh dear, ours died last Monday but it was ancient and we needed a complete new heating system installed. My sympathies.
And @Heavenlyannie I hope your new heating system is doing a great job!
Our Place had problems with a new boiler a while back, and it was as Baptist Trainfan has said - once the condensate pipe was freed up, all was well.
I'll get me Cap.
And your hairshirt, surely, with these low temps?
My Old Mum was always very pertickler about me wearing a warm woolly Vest in cold weather, though.
Then it was the sixties and those stretch nylon vest/pants combos in lurid colours/patterns.
Well, I'm negative by rapid test (so not completely infallible, but I'm going nowhere anyway). But the arm from the second shot has a big red splotch and hurts like crap. But hey, two more weeks and I'll be immune. And Mr. Lamb is considering the error of his ways--I don't think the danger really hit home until his swab turned up positive. Heh. Perennial optimist.
My mother was a great believer in the efficacy of vest-wearing to keep your kidneys warm.
She visited me not long after I went to university. I was reaching up to take my coffee jar from a high shelf, revealing a glimpse of bare flesh between jeans and sweatshirt when she said, in the hearing of my cool new university friends "Quine! You're not wearing a vest!"
Oh, the shame!!!
My Old Mum didn't seem to realise that, in the event of such a mishap, I might have other things to worry about...
And when you're young and trying to impress cool friends you never think that their mothers would probably say the same thing.
(I’m hearing my father, from the heavens, mutter about shopping on the Sabbath)