Well I won that bet. I did learn to swim as was confirmed by the swimming teacher but the Head was caught smoking behind the bike sheds which was naughty on two fronts. Firstly being caught smoking and secondly doing it where youngsters are famously accused of smoking.
We also found a number of dog ends outside his study window. He did pay up on the bet but I can't remember which charity I gave the money to.
But back to my swimming. Today I can swim but not very well. I still stiffen up in the water (steady on missus) and struggle to complete a length of any swimming pool. The problem is you see that I cannot swim with my head above the water. Neither will I swim anywhere that is out of my depth.
I told you that the day I could put my face under the water would be the day I realised I could swim. Problem is I learnt to swim with my head under the water and so now can't swim any other way. I have tried everything I know to get my head above water but it just doesn't work. So I swim as far as I can by holding my breath and then have to stop and come up for air. Pathetic isn't it.
My initial hatred of swimming comes from a day at Great Yarmouth when I ran into the sea. I wasn't very old and at that point had no particular fear of the water. A family were quiet a way out (well it seemed like quite a way out to me) and beckoned for me to join them. I ran towards them, not knowing that the sea at Yarmouth shelves down quite steeply. I lost my footing and went under and shipped in quite a lot of salty water.
Obviously this happened very quickly and I probably panicked although I was in no real danger but I still remember swallowing all that horrible salty water and it scarred me for life as far as swimming goes. That is until that 40th birthday auction when I watched in horror as I was bought those swimming lessons - probably in retrospect one of the best presents ever given to me.
I would love to hear from any of my readers who have had a similar fear of water and managed to conquer that fear.