Sticking At It

I've never been much of one for joining things or doing any particular pastime too actively. It may stem back to my childhood. My parents had encouraged and supported my older siblings in worthy pursuits such as St John's, hockey, soccer, ballet and Brownies. Thankfully, by the time I came along their interest and energy for such things had waned. I never showed a glimmer of interest in sports or clubs and they never suggested I should join any, with one exception. An after school organisation called Busy Bees was held each Wednesday at our church. As my mother was active in the church and on the management board, my participation was required.

At Busy Bees we started each session completing crafts which would be sold to support the overseas missions of the church. I can only hope that my cross-stitched hessian oven cloths went some way towards improving the lives of those with leprosy in The New Hebrides. I always looked forward to Wednesday afternoons, but sadly not because of the opportunity to do good works in a cosy Christian environment. My mother gave me sixpence each week for the collection, and that allowed me to call at the dairy on the way for threepence worth of lollies and still have a coin to drop in the plate. Numbers were dwindling in our inner city church and soon Busy Bees was no more. I never sought a replacement. I have tried a few things over the years, but the reality is I really don't like committing to anything on a regular basis or being a member of an organisation. A walk, a book, a movie, a coffee - when and if I can be bothered - is quite enough to keep me content.

They made you choose a sport at High School - I chose this one because it involves standing in one place, once a year, on athletics day.

That whole getting sweaty thing just wasn't me, and far too much enthusiasm to be natural.

A bit of a personal best - I lasted half a season!

Like all sports much trickier than it looks, and really cold. Much more fun to be had just going up and down on the chairlifts and drinking hot chocolates.

Surprisingly unlike being a mermaid and very tiring, with an unnerving closeness to drowning. 

The clay can be really wobbly and they make you cut your fingernails.