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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Comment
Sarfraz Manzoor

I never learnt how to swim, and now I regret it bitterly

The summer holidays are almost over and the kids return to school next week. We have spent the summer on various short British breaks — a week in Scotland with the in-laws and long weekends camping in Kent and Pembrokeshire. Whether we have been in England, Scotland or Wales the one constant feature to our holiday destinations is that they have been near water. It could be a river, the sea or a loch but everyone in my family just loves to swim.

Everyone, that is, except me. I cannot swim. I don’t mean I can only do one length of a pool or I can only doggy paddle. I cannot swim at all. The only thing I can do in water is have an anxiety attack.

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