But I Smile Anyway…

Having another go at Maggie and Laurens, Throwback Thursday challenge! This week it is Luren back at the helm!

This week’s prompt is: Learning New Skills

1. When did you learn to ride a bike? Were you self-taught, or did someone teach you? Any major injuries on the way? Did you master the skill? Do you still ride? If applicable, did you teach your kids?

I can’t exactly remember when I learned how to ride a bike, but I remember a yellow bicycle I had as a child. When we were in school, we had to do the Cycling Proficiency test, and I had a bigger, pale blue metallic bike with white wheels. I remember that I didn’t pass, though! Was never much of a bike rider. I could do it, but I wasn’t fussed with road rules!

2. Did you learn to play a musical instrument? At what age? Who taught you? How often did you practice?   Were you in a band at school? How good were you? Do you still play? If applicable, did you encourage your kids to play?

When I was teeny, my parents asked the school if I could take piano lessons, but they said no, at that time on account of hands and fingers being too small. (Funny, considering all the young proteges we see!) Then I had recorder lessons for a year. I can still play a tune or two! I even tried guitar for a while. We had a lovely teacher called Mr Mason, but he left and was replaced by another Mr Mason, ironically, who had a habit of spearing fruit Polo using the end of his pencil, throughout the lesson, and eating them, and hitting us on the hand with the same pencil if we were making mistakes! In Sixth Form, I finally started piano lessons and practised on my keyboard at home, but I didn’t stick with it. I still have all the instruments I learned. But don’t ask me to read music. I forgot that, too!

3. Did you sing in a choir in a church or at school? At what age? How often did you practice? Did you enjoy it? How good were you? Do you still sing with others?

We had a school choir, and I joined it for a few years. There was weekIy practice, and we would perform at school events. I love singing even now and enjoy singing all sorts of songs, from traditional Punjabi songs to the latest pop hits! I have sung at several family weddings and. I am always singing in my classroom and at home, too.

4. Did you have formal instructions on speaking a second language? Were you fortunate enough to be raised in a house with two or more languages? Did you learn a second language in school? Are you fluent in more than one language?

Growing up, I was surrounded by both Punjabi and Swahili since both my parents were born in Kenya. My brother and I both spoke fluent English from a young age, and I was the same with Punjabi, but Swahili was more odd words. Pops and Mum would use full Swahili in front of my Brother and I if they didn’t want us to understand what they were talking about! Funny story; our family Punjabi is littered with Swahili words since that is how my parents grew up. When I went to university and was able to make my own Punjabi-speaking friends who weren’t related to me, it transpired that what I spoke wasn’t Punjabi but a mish-mash of both languages with English words added in, too!! So, I can speak, understand and sing in Punjabi, Hindi, and Urdu to an extent, but I can’t read or write the script. And I know. a few phrases in Swahili. At school, we learned French, and Latin. I didn’t keep the Latin going, but I did study French to GCSE eleven and got an A!

5. Did you play on a sports team or learn martial arts? At what age did you start? Did a parent become a coach? Did you practice at home? Do you still play sports? If applicable, did you encourage your children to play on a team?

Sports? Me? Don’t be silly! I was never a sporty person, and neither was I interested in watching any games. I played things because I had to. I did enjoy swimming and badminton, and I wasn’t bad at netball and field hockey, but I had no inclination to take any of these sports up outside of P.E. lessons. My brother was the sportsman, playing hockey and cricket, and he has continued, playing at international level, now, in the Finnish National Cricket Team! I’d much rather be reading! But I would never hold my kids back if they were interested. My daughter is a bit like me, not that interested, but my son played Soccer for a while and is an avid cricketer, now, see we are on cricket taxi duty all summer, every summer!

6. Did you ever take dance, tap, ballet, baton, cheerleading, etc. lessons? When did you start? How long did you take lessons? Did you practice on your own in addition to the lessons? How skilled did you become? Did you encourage your children to do the same?

I did ballet for several years, achieving Grade 3 standard, I think. But I am not graceful at all! I am always tripping up, falling over and having accidents! When it was our first parent recital, we had a choreographed dance to perform, followed by a piece of music for us to improvise to. When they asked me what I had been dancing as, in my improv, I wasn’t a butterfly, or fairy, like the other little girls. Oh no, apparently I was a mad scientist doing experiments, ballet style! I also took Modern Dance for a couple of years with a friend. This wasn’t for any qualifications, just for fun. The best lesson has when our instructor put on the song Push It by Salt ‘N Pepa, and showed us her understanding of the words, which was her pushing her hands against an imaginary wall, rather than the more suggestive gist the lyrics were displaying! I also taught Bhangra to children at school for two years, which I loved! Pops, my dad was a semi-professional Bhangra dancer, and even in his 70s he’s still got the moves! My daughter used to love dancing, as the younger generation do, to TikTok viral music clips, but she has stopped that. My son is not a dancer, but he played the Punjabi Dhol Drum for many years and has a great ear for percussion and beats!

7. Did you learn to roller skate or ice skate? Did someone teach you, or did you take lessons? At what age did you learn? Did you become skilled quickly? Can you still skate? Did you teach your children?

I taught myself rollerskating, with those states you hooked onto your trainers, but again, being clumsy, it wasn’t a fad that lasted long with me! We had some ice skating lessons at school so I can skate at a rink, but I am by no means any good! My kids have had goes at both, but neither stuck with them, either!

Reading all that back, it sounds like I tried it all, but stuck at nothing, lol! But I did love reading, and writing, and I’m published, now, so that must mean something!

I did it! I made a throwback Thursday on a Thursday Hat-trick!!