Despite my best efforts I am not really sporty. I have made a concerted effort to become much fitter (physically, that is) and do my best to dash around the football field in a manner that does not result in too much ridicule from my patient colleagues. However I am not sporty. I did once play for the under 14 B cricket team at school, opening the batting and scoring one run before being given out LBW, which, to this day, I contend was a controversial ruling. But I have never hit the sporting highs of being chosen to represent any team: school, university, pub or otherwise. Lexi's sporting CV is a little more glorious than mine, admittedly not hard to achieve that. She won the year nine school fun run and has even been heard to tell tales of county running, but don't ask for too many details about the position she came in in during her race outing.
Therefore it is something of a shock to both parents that Trixie, aged seven, has shown signs of being, possibly, wait for it, sporty. With no preparation she managed to come 7th out of 80 in her school cross-country run and has been selected, a process that never happened to me, to be sporty for her school. I can remember having to run to school before but never for the school. This selection has brought about a number additional high points for young Trixie. She has been requested to go to some training sessions to ready herself for the up-coming cross-country run, the timing of which, 0715 on a Sunday morning, has caused both excitement and consternation for various members of the Lawrence Clan. She has also accompanied me on a few staggers (my attempts at running based exercise) and her times have been getting better and better. Probably the best sporty thing to happen to The Girl Lawrence so far though took place on Thursday. Fresh from the excitement and social high-light that was Brownies she came bursting through the front door, grinning from ear to ear, and announced proudly that she had something in her bag to show everyone. We dutifully closed our sets of eyes and looked away. When we were told to look again we we're greeted with the sight of a small girl wearing her Dragon's Team Athletic Vest!!! Selected to represent a school team she had been given a team vest, which coming on the same day as Brownies, made her feel that life just could not get any better. No matter that the vest was at least one size too big and that she has done all of her running in her school trainers she was a picture of joy and happiness. Good on her. The race that she is being readied for is on Saturday 11th October, and this being the tropics, it is kicking off at 0745, meaning a departure from school at 0620. Listen out for distant, if a little sleepy, encouraging shouts of "Go on Trixie!"
Other things that Lawrence offspring have been proud of this week include Edwin managing to persuade members of his form group to vote for him to become his class representative on the school council and Rupert being given his song leader's badge, happenings that the boys are just as proud of as Trixie.
I wasn't too proud of the one and three quarter hour journey from home to central Kuala Lumpur this week for one of Edwin's dance rehearsals. We departed from school in tropical rain, it is the rainy season after all and got soaked getting to the car, but did notice that there were next to no cars on the road. Quite a pleasant change for KL really. After calling in to home to pick up the lad's dance bag, that he had carefully forgotten at morning we raced back into the car, getting drenched again, only for the rain to start easing off. This might appear like good news, but it was far from it. The ceasing of rain was the signal for everyone who owned a car, bus, lorry or motorbike to start it and clamber in or on it and drive for all they were worth to the centre of the city. Consequently there were monster traffic jams. We arrived for Edwin's rehearsal one hour late, ravenously hungry and in very bad moods. Dinner of tandoori chicken and garlic naan went some way to helping.
Just before heading out this morning Lexi told me what Trixie had told her last night. "Mummy, I am good at running because you were good at running when you were a little girl." Lexi hasn't yet told Trixie where she came when she ran in a county race.