Entering the classroom on my first might was an unforgettable experience. The teacher was rather like Kylie Minogue, and all the other pupils were female. (I had entered heaven). The course was very enjoyable, we had lots of laughs, and maybe it did a bit of good.

Many years later, and now a veteran bowler, an incident in one of the parks took me back to my 'Elo' days, My opponent, a fifteen stone ex-bouncer, rarely spoke, although he did occasionally make the odd grunting sound. The game was at a critical stage when he delivered a winning wood, which crept tantalisingly inside. With a shout he cried 'that's took it'. Unthinkingly I said ' you mean that's taken it don't you?' He glared menacingly and mumbled something incomprehensible. In bed that night I was thinking about the game, when it cane in a flash!! What he had said was ' bloody great ponce' As my wife often used to say, 'You are far too cocky, one day you will be taken down a peg or two.'