The Adventures of TinTin and Snowy

I'm normally not good at sports, primarily coz I'm a lazy bastard. I can't stand running around a field chasing a ball. Well, its not so much as the ball, but its the running. But I'm good with my hands. As twisted as that sounds (no wise cracks Fowler!!), I'm referring to wrist sports. Like table tennis and squash. Tennis doesn't count. Firstly coz you don't use much of your wrist in tennis, its more of the elbow and shoulder. And secondly, its got a lot of running around to do. Table tennis is fun but not much of an exercise. Squash on the other hand is extremely intensive and gets your heart beating as fast as Herby when he went to Monte Carlo. I picked up squash last year while playing against old Frosty. Now Frosty is just pure power. He used to smash that ball so hard, that I was quite afraid to even be anywhere within that ball's flight path. However, after many matches of 9-0, 9-1, 9-0 etc ( I was the 0&1), and a lot of trips to squash.org, I managed to hone my skills and finally started winning against old Frosty, much to his chagrin. He just couldn't accept it that I kept beating him. He still won't accept it and keeps demanding rematches. Anyway, after Frosty left, there was no one left to play squash with me. At least, no one in my limited friend circle in Lancaster.

Enter Ani. Desperation led me to introduce Ani to the game. Lot of persuasion on her part was involved too. That first "class" was horrible. How can she not hit the ball. Its there in her hands. All she has to do is throw the ball up slightly and hit it. She tried and tried. And tried again. No contact. Finally after many attempts she managed to atleast hit the ball. But it never managed to get to the other wall. The classes progressed in a similar vein with Ani not having enough strength to return a gentle lob from me. I love her, so I was patient and understanding. I lectured her on techniques and shots and positions and grips and movement etc. She never listened. Everything I told her went through one ear and out of the other. And that's when I introduced my new teaching technique called the Darwin method. I realized that there was no way she would listen to my advice unless she was forced into correcting her shot due to necessity. A sort of squash evolution, you could say. If she couldn't hit a ball with her backhand, I'd keep hitting it there in the same place, at the same pace, until she returned the ball properly. Didn't matter how long it took. I'd keep at it. Once she managed to perfect a shot, I'd move on to the next shot. If I wanted her to learn to move on the court, I'd keep alternating drop shots and deep shots. With this innovative new technique being applied, Ani has rapidly progressed. I'm amazed at how much she has picked up in just two weeks. Though we haven't started playing proper full games with points yet, yesterday she made me run around quite a lot so as to keep the ball in play. I'm sure she can start playing a proper game in another week or so. And after another week, she'd be able to kick Frosty's arse.;) Just kidding Frosty. You're the star.

Fowler has disappeared to Croatia. What on earth for? I mean, dig your heels in and work you lazy twat. What's all this holiday shenanigans? Lucky chap. Working for a travel agency probably entitles you to go to different countries for "work". How is that work anyway? All you do is chat to people all day long looking at pretty pictures from exotic locations. Surely that's enjoyable? Plus don't all these travel agents have really hot women working there too. What are you complaining about?!