A trip down memory lane

[Donald the Great]

Re: A trip down memory lane

I actually became quite an accomplished swimmer at school and was regularly chosen as part of the school team, i favoured freestyle or "the crawl" as it was known.
Swimming was compulsory and part of the curriculum and i really enjoyed it, there were four levels of achievement third class, second class, first class and advanced, you would get a certificate for passing each level

Wou are aware the "crawl" is short for the Australia Crawl swimming style first used professionally by the Australian champion swimmer, Richmond "Dick" Cavill and later perfected and popularised by another Aussie swim champ /film siren Annette Kellerman. (below)

[staffslad]

Re: A trip down memory lane

We got swimming lessons at junior school at our local baths and I learned to swim there. I say local but it wasn't that near, but the closest at the time.

[tex]

Re: A trip down memory lane

I actually became quite an accomplished swimmer at school and was regularly chosen as part of the school team, i favoured freestyle or "the crawl" as it was known.
Swimming was compulsory and part of the curriculum and i really enjoyed it, there were four levels of achievement third class, second class, first class and advanced, you would get a certificate for passing each level

[tex]

Re: A trip down memory lane

Here...Regent road swimming pool, Salford, probably aged about 10. victorian built complete with wall to wall cockroaches high on the whiff of carbolic

[zabadak]

Re: A trip down memory lane

I had a new topic come to mind while lying in bed trying to get some sleep. I have suffered from Insomnia for much of my life. It can be a curse.

Where did you learn to swim. This was where I took my first strokes under the tutilage of my father. This beautiful place was almost in the country when I was a kid. Today I live no more than 5km from it.


This is how the area looks today after the weir was decommissioned in 1982 and a dam built.

Nothing so exotic for me - local baths, with school or my brother unable to resist the urge to scare me witless by dragging me under when I wasn't ready!

[George 1978]

Re: A trip down memory lane

If writing keeps you occupied then surely that makes it an occupation?

There are differences between occupations and hobbies - I would hardly say that Jimmy Tarbuck or the late Sir Bruce Forsyth were just as much golfers as Nick Faldo is for example - there are those who do it for a living, and those who do it as a hobby. I wouldn't even say that Tommy Cooper was a magician as much as Paul Daniels was, and so on.

Point taken though.

[Mulletino]

Re: A trip down memory lane

If writing keeps you occupied then surely that makes it an occupation?

I remember at junior school we read White Fang, another kid in the class who always mucked around really attached to it and wrote himself a long story (in book form) for the adventures to continue. This surprised me at the time as he was never really into learning yet writing seemed to come naturally to him and the teacher enjoyed reading the new chapters as they came. I guess he had a great imagination and was able to capture that in pen, I don't know what he's doing now or if he chose that path, but it was something that, for some reason, lingers in my head from those times. It doesn't really have much to do with this thread but I was thinking it so thought I may as well type it out too. Maybe it's the fact that writers don't have to be academics, just passionate people with the ability to share.

[George 1978]

Re: A trip down memory lane

You have this George?
Asperger's syndrome is a condition on the autism spectrum, with generally higher functioning.
People with this condition may be socially awkward and have an all-absorbing interest in specific topics.

Your specific topic writing?You seem to be coping well if this is what you have. All the best for the furyte. You are now 40.. double that mate.
Donald.

Yes I have. There are people who can write very well and have severe difficulties in life - have a look at some of the books written by those diagnosed, a lot of them are published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers - indeed I have contacted them on more than one occasion myself. Just because someone can express themselves from a written perspective, it doesn't necessarily mean that they are capable of doing everything else in life. Even if I did get something officially published, would it help me get into a serious relationship and solve all my problems? I very much doubt it.

[George 1978]

Re: A trip down memory lane

Feel i know you better George, keep up with the writing and who knows where it may lead one day, my son Simon has writen a novel and has tried many different avenues to publication but as you point out just getting it read is the first hurdle.They say everybody has a book in them and i'm sure when you reach a certain age that's true

I always say that its easy to write it but difficult to publish it - people talk about self-publishing but I actually thought that one needed their own publishing company and be an entrepreneur like Richard Branson or Sir Alan Sugar or someone like that. I have always said that you cannot build a house with just one brick, and starting a career in writing, publishing or anything else is like that.

[Donald the Great]

Re: A trip down memory lane

I had a new topic come to mind while lying in bed trying to get some sleep. I have suffered from Insomnia for much of my life. It can be a curse.

Where did you learn to swim. This was where I took my first strokes under the tutilage of my father. This beautiful place was almost in the country when I was a kid. Today I live no more than 5km from it.


This is how the area looks today after the weir was decommissioned in 1982 and a dam built.

[Donald the Great]

Re: A trip down memory lane

You have this George?
Asperger's syndrome is a condition on the autism spectrum, with generally higher functioning.
People with this condition may be socially awkward and have an all-absorbing interest in specific topics.

Your specific topic writing?You seem to be coping well if this is what you have. All the best for the furyte. You are now 40.. double that mate.
Donald.

[tex]

Re: A trip down memory lane

Feel i know you better George, keep up with the writing and who knows where it may lead one day, my son Simon has writen a novel and has tried many different avenues to publication but as you point out just getting it read is the first hurdle.They say everybody has a book in them and i'm sure when you reach a certain age that's true

[George 1978]

Re: A trip down memory lane

When you mentioned writing for the School Magazine, I had early Grange Hill episodes in my mind when you said that, Donald! Just like when you mentioned writing about James Bond I thought you were Ian Fleming!

Seriously, I know that when I was at school they did notice my talents as a writer - we had a Writer in Residence visit the school on Monday afternoons and I was part of one of the groups, and I have to say that it really helped to express myself. I loved it and wished that I had more of those.

In recent years apart from using what amount of website territory that I have, I do like think that I am a "Henry Root" person and write a lot of letters, some of them are the "Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells" type which makes me feel good after writing it. I have been published in newspapers, Asperger United - the newspaper for people with Asperger Syndrome, and also around six years ago I did a magazine interview for the West Midlands Autism Society when I answered questions about Asperger Syndrome and relationships - something that means so much to me. I would love to do more of these sorts of things, spending a couple of hours on my computer putting the answers together.

Yes, I have put "writing" as an "occupation" in my profile because I thought that it would sound better than referring it to just a hobby, although I also did that because I am optimistic that one day I may get my big break and see my name on the front cover of a book, who knows? I might even autograph a copy for you if that ever happens...

[Donald the Great]

Re: A trip down memory lane

The writing is a hobby and not an occupation, although I would like to branch out so that I could do that for a living - I have put on my online pages a lot of things I have written about and I have approached a few publishers in the past with some of my work and not heard from them - finding a publisher which is relevant and would take an interest is a job in itself. However, last week I emailed around three or four publishers with something that I have done on and off over the past four years - they responded and took an interest. I am not going to expect it to be published (in fact I would be amazed and shocked if they said that they would), but I do feel that I am articulate enough and talented to be recognised by someone - it's just the case of "right place, right time". I am sure that as you can see on this forum (especially the opening gambits on the threads that I start on here) that the way I write is unique to myself as a DYR member, I am sure you would agree. I have always said that to a good writer, a dictionary is a writer's toybox with so many words to use and play around with. Sometimes I do think "why bother?" if no one expresses an interest at the end of the day .

I would like to write things as a living, in other words a way of paying the bills instead of the way that it happens at the moment, but it is difficult making people realise that one exists. I was even thinking of writing a retrospective of my life as it was my 40th birthday recently, but the question that I always came up with is "where does one begin with something like that? - one has to start somewhere". When I was younger, I always thought that if one knew their ABCs and found their way around the pages of a dictionary then one would be more than halfway there. Even in my English reports at school the teacher said that "he expresses himself as a free writer" which is true - I knew that the difference between English Language and English Literature was more than apparent back then even though I didn't originally. It may look easy but it isn't.

I have always had an interest in writing since my boarding school days. I used to write for the school magazine. I took creative writing course when I left school. But nothing came of it. I did pen a James Bond like story over several years. Never bothered to see about having it published. Doubt it would have been. I had the manuscrift for many years until I lost it in a house move. I did take my writing to another step by becomng a print journalist up till my early retirement.

[George 1978]

Re: A trip down memory lane

Also, you are quite correct that writing can be a lonely thing to do where the writer can invent his own world in their mind without being part of the real world. The fact of the matter is that I have always been a recluse throughout my adult life, which stems from my school days in a way (I did have a few friends but from a class perspective I did not fit in too well). I have never really got on socially with people especially when it comes to relationships - it can be impossible from what I have found out. I know that a lot of writers are like that as it is often their way of getting around life and the world that they happen to see from their own perspective. I can easily write about my experiences and what I want to do, but when it comes to doing what I want, which of course is a different matter. I was looking at a website which mentioned about job descriptions and it did mention on there that writing was indeed a lonely occupation - all one needs is a computer or typewriter, a room, and someone with an imagination - I certainly have most of those things.

And I am certain that even famous writers have had to wait for years before getting their big break - I suppose that I am not unique in that respect but I do see things differently to most other people. It cannot really be helped I am afraid.