Page 14 of The Old Gals’ Bucket List

It was a busy weekend. Don and Laila asked Sandra if she could have Rana and Kali over on Saturday night so they could go out for a meal together, then they’d spend Sunday packing and getting the house ready for any viewers, it would be on the market from Monday.

Sandra was more than happy to oblige, wanting to spend as much time as she could with her precious grandchildren before they moved away.

She and the two children had a splendid time and when she told them about their swimming lessons, they were delighted.

‘You can do it, Nanny, just keep your legs up,’ Kali said.

‘And don’t swallow the water,’ Rana added.

‘That’s the trouble. I just can’t keep my legs up, no matter how I try – and I always end up swallowing the water,’ she told them.

‘You need to kick your feet really quick,’ Rana told her. ‘That’s what I do.’

‘And really stretch out your arms, it helps you move faster,’ Kali added.

‘I’ll try. Thank you both.’

Kali gave her a big hug, ‘You can do it, Nan. Just keep trying.’

‘I will. Now, I bought some new swimming costumes on Friday and I can’t decide which one to wear tomorrow. Can you help me choose?’

They both nodded eagerly and she went up to fetch the swimming costumes. She’d ended up buying three, a blue one with pink flowers on it that held in her tummy and had a little skirt that made it seem not so revealing, one with a lilac top and black bottom and a red polka dot one.

Kali studied them thoughtfully. ‘I think the blue one with the pretty flowers.’

Rana nodded. ‘Me too.’

‘That’s the one I thought,’ Sandra agreed. She leant forward and said conspiratorially, ‘My friend is wearing a leopard print one.’

‘You should have got a zebra print one, Nanny, then you could have both pretended to be animals in the water,’ Rana said. ‘That’s what me and Kali do when we’re swimming.’

Sandra smiled at the thought of her and Patti pretending to be a leopard and zebra. That would certainly liven up the swimming lesson!

‘I’m not sure about this,’ Sandra said when Patti called for her on Monday morning.

She’d almost chickened out when she’d packed her bag this morning with the new blue and pink swimming costume and a towel.

She’d suddenly thought, what the hell was she doing?

Apart from the occasional dip up to her knees in the pool when they’d been on holiday, she hadn’t worn a swimming costume for years.

It had been decades since she’d gone to the swimming baths, and then she’d only sat on the side while Brian went into the water with the kids.

Butterflies were whirling around in her stomach as she thought of getting in the pool with all those strangers, memories of her swimming teacher at school shouting, ‘Legs up, Sandra. Legs up!’ But try as she might she could never get her legs to stay afloat and always ended up with her head under water.

Gradually all the other kids in her class had learnt to swim, jumping off the side into the water with abandon, then streaking across to the other side.

She could never pluck up the courage to dive in.

She’d held gingerly onto the bar along the side of the pool all through the lesson, to the despair of her teacher.

‘Let go of the bar, Sandra. You’ll never learn while you’re clutching the bar.

’ She was so relieved when she moved on to secondary school and didn’t have to do swimming lessons.

What if she made a fool of herself? She’d always been hopeless at swimming, why should she be any better now?

She’d probably be splashing around, sinking under the water, not able to keep her legs up, just as she used to, while the others would soon pick it up and be swimming across the pool like fish.

‘It’ll be fun. Everyone else will be around our age and in the same boat,’ Patti told her. ‘Think how proud you’ll be when you can swim. You can surprise your grandkids by joining them in the pool.’

Yes, she would like to do that. Don and Laila were good swimmers and so were the children.

Sandra had often envied them as they’d raced across the pool while she remained in the shallow end.

It suddenly occurred to her that ‘she’d been holding on to the bar’ all her life. Maybe it was time she let go.

‘You’re right.’ She grabbed the tote bag that held her swimming costume and towel, then picked up the purple beret and perched it jauntily on her head. ‘Let’s do this.’

‘Are you ready?’ Patti called from outside Sandra’s changing cubicle.

‘Coming!’ She stepped out to see her friend wearing her leopard print swimsuit and holding her tote bag. ‘We need to pose for a selfie for our Insta account.’

‘Can I put my towel around my waist?’ She didn’t fancy a photo in her swimming costume. Despite Patti’s pep talk she was feeling anxious and self-conscious about being so undressed in front of a whole bunch of strangers.

Who would be in swimming costumes too and were also no longer in their prime, she thought. Patti had body issues too but wasn’t letting that stop her.

‘No need, I’ve brought some props.’ Patti took some swimming goggles, a snorkel and some colourful arm floats out of her bag. ‘Blow these up and put them on and I’ll try to take a selfie. I wish I’d remembered to bring the selfie stick Kit gave me at the weekend.’

‘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. She had 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!’