‘Okay,’ Sandra agreed. At least she wouldn’t be recognisable with her swimming goggles and snorkel. Besides it was only a bit of fun.
‘I’ll do it, dear, if you want.’ A woman of about their age, dressed in a lilac costume, her silver hair pinned up in a bun, offered. Another woman, in a plain black costume, was with her. ‘Are you both here for the “learn to swim” class?’
‘We are. Thanks so much.’ Patti passed her phone over. ‘Just give us a sec to get ready.’
Sandra couldn’t help but giggle as they pulled on their goggles and now-inflated floats. The woman was smiling too. ‘Are you going in the water with those?’
‘No it’s just to make the photo look fun for our Insta account,’ Patti explained. ‘We’re documenting our attempts to do everything on our bucket list. Learning to swim is one of them.’
‘Actually, Patti can already swim, it’s me that can’t,’ Sandra added.
‘I can’t either. I’m going on holiday with my son and his family this year and I want to surprise my grandchildren by diving into the pool and swimming to the other side. I’m tired of sitting and watching them all have fun. I’m Beryl, by the way. And this is Madge.’
‘I’m Sandra, and this is Patti. That’s why I want to be able to swim too. I want to visit my daughter in Australia and be able to swim in their pool.’
A few others had come out of the changing cubicles and had heard what Sandra said so all started sharing their reasons for wanting to learn to swim. They introduced themselves and were delighted when Patti asked if they were happy to be in the photo too. As they all posed together, Sandra felt her anxiety fade away. They seemed a friendly bunch and were all around the same age as her and Patti. This might be fun.
They made their way to the pool, chatting together, where some more wannabe swimmers were waiting. There were ten other seniors in the class, two of them men, and three of them over eighty, most of them a bit anxious but all of them determined. Tess, the friendly instructor, who looked like she was just out of school – didn’t everyone now? – asked them all to introduce themselves and checked that they had all filled in the medical form. Then she got them started with some stretching exercises to warm up before they went into the pool. Madge was so nervous that she didn’t even want to get into the water at first. Sandra’s trepidation eased when she saw that the others were just as nervous as she was. Tess was a patient and inspiring instructor. By the end of the lesson, Sandra had actually managed to keep her legs up whilst she swam holding on to a float. Patti,meanwhile, had soon found her sea legs again and swam swiftly across the pool.
‘Take your time, Patti, don’t push yourself,’ Tess called.
But Patti carried on swimming.
Sandra watched her enviously. ‘I wish I could swim like that,’ she said when Patti completed a width and pulled herself up onto the side to sit down and catch her breath.
‘It was hard work,’ Patti puffed.
‘Are you all right?’ Sandra asked, concerned for her friend.
‘I will be… once I’ve caught my breath.’
Tess came over to check on her. ‘Well done, Patti but I think you need to take it a bit slower,’ she said.
Patti nodded. ‘I will. I haven’t got the stamina I used to have.’
‘That was hard work, but fun,’ Sandra said when the lesson was over and they all climbed out of the pool.
‘We’re going for a coffee. Anyone want to join us?’ Beryl asked.
Patti shot Sandra a questioning glance and she nodded. So they all agreed to meet in the café once they were dry and dressed.
They spent an enjoyable hour chatting to everyone, and by the time they left the café Sandra felt invigorated. Why had she never taken swimming lessons before? Brian had suggested it a couple of times when the children were young because she always stopped in the shallow end of the pool whilst he and the kids swam off when they were on holiday, but she had been too embarrassed. It had seemed ridiculous that she couldn’t swim, now she knew that lots of people couldn’t and it was nothing to be ashamed of.
‘You did great today, I bet you’ll be streaking across the pool in a couple of weeks,’ Patti told her.
‘I think it’s going to take longer than that,’ Sandra said. Shehad to admit though, she felt a lot more confident than she had when they set out this morning.
They went back to Patti’s house and Patti mixed them a mojito while they selected a photo to put onto their Instagram page, breaking into hysterics as they looked at them all. Finally, they chose the funniest one, where Patti’s goggles had slipped down and Sandra was posing, orange floats on her arms, hands on her hips. They posted it onto Insta and captioned it:
Another one off the Bucket List. Learning to swim. Wish us luck.
‘We should put one of you wearing that beret, you look great in it! And it’s another thing off your bucket list,’ Patti said. She grabbed her phone and took a quick snap, then uploaded it.
‘Hey, there’s already loads of comments about the swimming photo. And we’re getting a bit of a following now,’ Sandra said. ‘Look, lots of people are saying that they’re going to learn to swim too. They thought they were too old until they saw our posts.’
‘You’re never too old to do anything!’ Patti said firmly. ‘Remember,’ she pointed to the tattoo at the top of her arm. ‘Grab life by the horns!’
14
