Anyone for swimming?

Today I took my 8 year old nephew Matthew to the swimming baths in Kingstanding. It's not one of those boring pools where you merely splash about or plough doggedly* up and down the lane - it's much more fun! Matty and I swooshed down the chute, sharing theories as to how to go fastest and jumped the waves from the wave machine. We dived for swim sticks and had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon!

This evening, we have packed ready for our hols tomorrow; not to be outdone, I found Eric in the packing case practicing his front-crawl! A bear with many talents!

* This phrase was on the recent Level 6 reading paper as part of a first person recount about swimming training and flummoxed the best of my 11 year old pupils. In response to the question "What do you understand by the phrase 'ploughing doggedly'? one child suggested the girl was doing doggy-paddle while another proposed the swimmer had to dodge out of the way of others using the swimming baths. No marks for accuracy I am afraid, but full marks for inventiveness and creativity!