Well, that's not

exactly true - I loved swimming and spent almost every day during my

young summers in the water at our local pool, and was part of the swim

team. Wrinkly skin, and a persistent smell of chlorine - it was a

wonderful way to spend a good part of your summer's day. Besides, when

your town had an outdoor pool that was only open for 3-4 months out of

the year, you made the most of it. The rest of the year it was either

too cold, or just plain closed, as the pool was left drained for 6

months of the year while the temperatures plummeted from freezing down

to -40 degrees Celsius in the coldest months.

In the winter,

starting sometime in November, the outdoor ice rinks were getting into

full swing. I spent a few winters trying to perfect long, graceful

glides around the temporary oval of a Speed Skating rink on our

Elementary school field, while my younger brothers were just starting

getting into ice hockey at the PeeWee level.

I think I managed

two or three years of Speed Skating before I stopped going, while my

brothers went on to play hockey with a passion - and still do today,

over thirty years later.

My favourite sport fell back to swimming, which I pursued through to Bronze Medallion, and still enjoy today.

The key thing about swimming is that it is very much a solo sport,

even if you are on a swim team. Separate swim lanes, individual

competitors - even when they held "team" races like a relay, you were

still the only person in your lane at one time.

I did not enjoy team sports at all - not even Hockey, which is close to sacrilege for anyone born in Canada.

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