Hello and welcome to my latest blog raising awareness of the
disability Dyspraxia. I’m sorry there has been such a large gap between this one
and the previous one in the series it really has been a busy and stressful time
at university recently. As always I hope you enjoy the blog and feel free to
give feedback.
A day on the slopes.
The winter Olympics were pretty amazing weren’t they ? The phenomenal
talent on display was just incredible. Watching all of this took me back to a
school trip many years previously to a dry ski slope as part of activities week,
an annual end of year programme which allowed students to the pupils to be
unleashed on a series of days out of their choice. I knew from the start the
option I had picked would mean a trip to the slopes and was just as certain
that snowboarding and skiing would not be my forte but remained determined to
give it a go. When the day arrived I was optimistic that after trial and error I
would be able to get the hang of it. The sun was high in the sky with barely a
cloud in sight and already at only mid morning the temperatures were rising rapidly
and the forecast was only for them to continue to soar. Not ideal then when
shortly after arriving we were presented with ski suits, heavily padded and necessarily
so; the artificial slopes would surely inflict terrible damage on anyone foolish
enough to attempt to use them without the protective gear on. After a safety
briefing we were away with our tutor, first up snowboarding and soon it was
confirmed that my fears of a clumsy, frantic day were about to become reality.
The nature of the snowboard meant just getting around was difficult forcing me
to adapt some sort of waddle. My memory of this is hazy, however I can clearly remember
tumbling back down the slope having got halfway up to the top after yet another
slightly unorthodox run which surely left the tutor and fellow students bemused.
It would have been funnier, had the day not rapidly begun to turn into one of
the hottest of the year, draining energy and making each little incident all
the more frustrating I hadn’t particularly enjoyed my snowboarding experience
and wasn’t sorry when we took a break for lunch. Skiing was next it could only
get better couldn’t it?
Skiing brought a reason for new optimism, snowboarding had
gone as well or as badly as most people myself included probably expected but
here was another opportunity to try something new and I was keen to grab it. All
kitted out once more confidently trying on my skis I had no idea what was in
store. Wisely, our new guide had only taken us onto a flat part of the course a
group of mainly first time skiers could have been cause for pandemonium on the
slopes. My lasting memories are not particularly fond ones of skiing either.
Cones had been laid out on for us to ski in and out of to try and give us a
feel for the sport and despite seeming like good fun I found it particularly hard.
To balance on equipment like that requires coordination I simply don’t possess
and the “course” of cones would often lie scattered in various directions after
one of my runs. My struggles were summed up however when the after being called
in for a group tutorial suddenly my equilibrium started to wobble, first a
little then uncontrollably and in a desperate last ditch attempt for dignity I
grabbed the person nearest me. Unsurprisingly they weren’t expecting the person
next to them on flat ground to suddenly do an impression of a tree being felled
and, caught completely off guard toppled over with me. On the bus home, all
things considered I concluded sports on the slopes were definitely not for me.
Many years on I wouldn’t rule out another crack at it, after all how hard can
it be?
The guitar.
If you never push yourself you’ll never feel the satisfaction
of overcoming something. Learning to play the acoustic guitar was an example of
this picking up a guitar for the first time at the age of ten even the basics
were a struggle and by that I mean understanding how to hold it properly.
Fortunately I had a very patient teacher who understood the difficulties I faced,
however subconsciously I would try and adapt to how I held the guitar to
overcome the difficulties experienced when rapidly trying to change notes.
These “adaptions” were not massively noticeable but they were wrong and my
teacher tirelessly corrected and tried to think of ways to make my learning experience
easier without taking short cuts and sacrificing the potential to play the
music well. Eventually her patience paid off, I got to grips with how to play
the guitar which enabled me to pass some early exams with merit. As time
progressed so my interest faded however and, with the departure of my teacher
further up the country, I soon ended my commitment to learning the guitar. It’s
a decision sometimes regretted ultimately though, the learning process provided
a real confidence boost and was a very worthwhile experience. The trusty guitar
is still at home in its stand and sports one or two dents at its base I wonder
who caused them…..
That’s all for this time I’ll try and get back to writing
these regularly again from now on. Thanks for reading and all the best, George.
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