To be honest I have always been rubbish at sports. I wasn't always the last picked for teams as I was this height when I was 12 so I was often chosen as goalie in netball where I just stood in the way impressively. However, other than that it was never good. My PE teacher, Miss Tucker (who was lovely and a realist) once remarked that if only I could run as quickly on the tennis court as I did for the dinner queue I might have the makings of an athlete!
Out of the 5 of us siblings. The boys were quite sporty. Helen wasn't but 2 of her children are. But by the time it got to me there was nothing left in the gene pool for me and mine. It was a proud day in the Martin family when our children were put in the bottom set for PE at their High School. As Kieran remarked the bottom set was full of people who were too fat or too clever to be good at Sport. They seemed to spend their PE lessons being smart arses.
My school was far too small to have sets for PE. However by the fourth year (Yr10) we were allowed to choose which sport we did. The table tennis table was in a different room to the gym. So all the people who were too clever or too lazy to be good at sport (I can't really remember any fat girls and I admit I was lazy rather than clever) used to choose ping pong. Somebody would be lookout and we would simply sit round chatting for an hour or so unless Miss Tucker felt the need to look in on us.
Anyway, that is not to say that I don't do any exercise. I walk regularly and I go to Pilates once a week. I have done Pilates for several years and I think it keeps my stiff back moving. My Pilates teacher, Vicki, is lovely and has an excellent sense of humour. During Tuesday's class we were on the floor waving our legs around in some tortuous manner. Vicki said. "if you find this hard then you can lower your leg a little" I didn't need to be told twice and my raised leg was quickly a millimetre above the floor. Unfortunately Vicki was passing and said. "Choosing the lazy way,Frances?" and hoicked it higher again. Later in the class we were doing some complicated stretch during which I had entirely lost the plot. Vicki happened to be passing then. "Arm straight Frances! Ah your such a challenge to me!"
See nothing changes! She would get on well with Miss Tucker!
Here we are in the pub, after the lovely tea at Fortum and Mason.
Here we are in Fortum and Mason having our tea
Here we are in Green Park on our way to tea
just try and be like my friend Lyndsey who takes great pleasure in cleaning?
Here are some Pharoah hounds who are very intent on the lady preparing their dinner which is why they are so fixed on the same thing - they got chicken for dinner, which is better than what was on offer for the humans.
Here is a collie who is clearly interested in something going on down the aisle.
And finally here is the new love of Nicky's life. When we got to the corgis she was astonished that she had never met one before, and was totally smitten with the Pembrokeshire ones, like this one below. The are very fox like in the face, with huge bat ears and very bright, alert eyes. They have stopped docking their tails now, and they have lovely long bushy tails. Nic wants one. They are very cute, and as they were cattle dogs, will run and run for hours and can do agility courses and all sorts, which is a bit surprising as they have such short legs. We saw other Heelers (cattle dogs which nip the heels of the cattle, but are so low to the ground that if the cow kicks the kick goes over the top of them) from other countries and they are all the same basic shape, which was interesting.
It was interesting to see so many different breeds, a few of which I had never heard of. There were also loads of stalls selling all sorts of things. They had collars and leads covered with different colour diamante so you could have the ultimate bling dog if you wanted. Nic managed to get a fitted waxed jacket that she has been looking for for a while as well as a really nice waistcoat/bodywarmer and 2 shirts. When she goes racing and is leading the horse round the parade ring they have to dress smartly, and these will fit the bill admirably. They were all greatly reduced as well, so she had a very successful day indeed.
