Swimming For Pleasure - Part Three
Sylvia Watkins, a lady with a keen sense of humour, concludes her three-part series by telling of Christmassy fun and games in the swimming pool.
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Sylvia Watkins, a lady with a keen sense of humour, concludes her three-part series by telling of Christmassy fun and games in the swimming pool.
…Apart from James, who is very blonde, and his redheaded mate Ginger, I hadn't a hope of keeping track of my group once their heads got wet. When a boy is wearing only Speedos (or budgie smugglers as they naughtily informed me) one wet boy looks much like another…
Sylvia Watkins takes to the water to help out at the school’s swimming week.
The third and final part of Sylvia’s delightful Swimming for Pleasure series will appear in Sunday’s Open Writing.
When an opportunity to try water aerobics came her way Sylvia Watkins jumped in with both feet. Her account of her experiences is a most refreshing read.
This is Part One of a three-part series. Parts Two and Three will appear in Open Writing on Friday and Sunday this week.
...I looked, and what I saw made me feel ten times worse. At the southern end of the Channel there was a big pillar of purplish cloud, looking like a 200 feet tornado such as I had viewed on TV. Behind that cloud the sky had a greenish tinge and fear struck deep inside me...
Bev tells of the drama of weathering a storm while sailing off Tasmania.
Rita tells a story which involves a dramatic rescue, and an arrest.
Those fairies are not as cute as you might think. They're enough to make you shiver, as Alison reveals.
Frank Brown writes about brush possums, Tasmania’s outstanding wildlife characters.
..8..9..10..11.12..13 Oh no! Graeme's prized grandfather clock has struck 13! But what month is this?
In this 10-line poem Honour paints an appealing portrait of a place of quiet.
....Grandfather kept chickens - lots of them. He was also a bit of a rogue; clever really, liked a good joke, a smart idea, or a problem needing to be solved. When us grand kids called around he'd wet himself laughing when he asked us all the schoolboy jokes....
Colin tells of the puzling rhyme in his grandfather's will.
...Scene: The Cradle-St.Clair Overland Track, just south of Cradle Mt at the head of "The Cirque". I am reclining on the ground with head resting on my pack, waiting for the rest of the party to catch up. As I am lying there, a Wedge Tailed Eagle comes swooping across the valley and then hovers only a few feet directly above where I am lying...
Frank writes of an encounter with a regal bird.
It was there I saw a wondrous sight
A blooming great big feather.
Ellen has a surprise when she picks up the feather.
In 1966, the Welsh village of Aberfan attained world wide publicity when a vast tip of colliery waste became unstable and slid downhill, engulfing several buildings including the local school. Over a hundred children and their teachers were killed. The following poem by Alison, which includes quotations frorn Robert Browning's The Pied Piper of Hamelin, was a protest against the practices which may have contributed to this disaster.
Elsa recalls a teenage school friend from her days in Haifa.
Colin tells a tall tale about a fox and an extra-large chicken.
...Gradually everyone began to relax and fall asleep. This eventually caused a disaster as the young mother had the baby on her lap and when she fell asleep the baby fell on the floor under the seat in front of her... Bev tells of a nightmare of a bus trip in Turkey.
An encounter with an Englishman at St Peter’s, Rome, compels Frank Brown to consider his accent.
Graeme advocates the benefits of simple manual work - and presents a poem to drive home his message.
Wendy's poem recalls childhood games.
"I wrapped young Keith in wet towels and tried to escape from the fires but I could not. I had to return inside to the home and wait. By this time the garden and all around the home was engulfed in flames. I ran the bath and Keith and I sat in the water, I would rather drown than burn to death...'' Elsie recalls a horrifying day in 1967.
Frank Brown’s splendid tale will ensure that you never again to take TV for granted.
Graeme tells an astonishing tale about a highly superstitious gambling man.
Bev is delighted when the little wallaby ventures into her back garden.
Jimmy was born with a disfigured arm and a lame leg, but he found someone who put him on the road to a happy life, as Elsa's poem reaveals.
David imagines what the poet John Donne would have made of road rage.
Ellen writes an ode to the mountain sentinel which watches over Hobart, Tasmania.
Why does Mrs Zonaben always make a grab for the bread rolls when dining aboard the ocean liner? Mary tells a story to break the heart.
Where went that fine vessel, the Celeste? Graeme's poem reflects on a great mystery.
Avis has doubts about the wisdom in holding the Targa car race.
David faces the challenge of telling a story in one hundred words.
A little nip, a little tuck,
A little bit off here for luck...
Movie stars require no persuasion to consult a plastic surgeon, as Bob's poem reveals.
Rita's poem pays homage to a mighty mountain.
"Such is the spell of Venice,'' says Jim in this poem "who am I to tell the truth!''
Colin writes an ode incelebration of fantastic plastic.
Yet still I always watch the sky... Bob writes a poem about drought and rain.
As Avis wrestles with her vacuum cleaner she reflects that only a man could have invented such a troublesome thing.
So when is a fellah fit to work in a mine? Bob tells a funny tale about about a safety test which resulted in acute embarrassment for the man who set it.
Continue reading "Tales From The Crib Room - The Challenge" »
A couple of letters can convey a variety of meanings, as Bob's witty poem reveals.
Continue reading "Agonising About Acronyms - PC Or Not PC" »
Peter, who was formerly the executive officer and second in command of an Australian warship, tells the hilarious story of the day a new captain first took his ship to sea,
<strong>Graeme tells a classic Western story in verse.
In this tuneful poem Frank tells us of some of his least favoured things.
Avis struggles to master a mobile phone. Be prepared to laugh out loud!
Avis writes very movingly about a pet dog, Jenny, who filled a house with love, knowing instinctively what so-called learned human beings never learn in a lifetime.
Colin's poem tells of the larrikins, wild and drunk and young, who drive their way to disaster.
Colin enjoyed every minute of his affair with Trudy, but his wife had her suspicions...
Avis's mathematical brain is overwhelmed by the illogical nature of spelling.
Bob is moved by the haunting cry of the Bush Stone Curlew.
A canny Scot who ran a hotel in a small New Zealand town used to buy gold from itinerant prospectors. When he died, the locals waited a couple of weeks then ransacked the hotel, searching for hidden treasure. Jim tells a fascinating story about one of his forebears.
Colin writes a sad poem about a vigorous young dog who likes to run - a dog locked up for the day.