A MONDAY MEMORY,

When I was in junior infants at laindon Park School, Monday mornings were swimming lesson days!! Mrs Low, a stocky and very strict teacher, would make all us kids line up in pairs just inside the school gates while we waited for our bus to arrive! We would ascend the bus two by two, no talking was allowed as we made our way to our seats. For some reason, the back seat was always very desirable and there would be a great "serge" (when Mrs low wasnt paying attention)! to get to the back!! 
The bus would pull away and we were allowed to sing ten green bottles or one man went to mow!! I remember feeling so excited! I loved the water and just assumed that after one lesson i would be able to swim!
It only took about 10 minuites to arrive at Gloster Park Swimming pool. I had driven past it many times and for some strange reason always thought that the big glass exterior was the pool itself!! I was so dissapointed when i got inside! We were ushered into the changing rooms and each had a cubical of our own to get changed in. Most of us girls wore our cossie's under our clothes so it didn't take long before we were good to go!! In them days you had to ware rubber swimming caps, the more elaborate the better! Mine was in blue with huge pink flowers on it!! They were very uncomfortable to ware, and very hard to put on! We must have looked a proper sight! Then we had to walk thru the foot baths before we went into the "little pool". I remember we got a Pink ribbon if we were brave enough to jump in! I jumped in and almost drowned meself!! As i was recovering from the shock, Debbie jumped in and landed right ontop of me!! She panicked, i very nearly drowned (again) and Mrs Low was shouting like a fog horn!! She made both of us "sit on the side" for the rest of the lesson! to this day i never understood why!
That was my memorie of my first swimming lesson, what was yours?