Shippy\nShipman (obviously), Stringy Shipman (he was very skinny), Smelly Shipman (a\nfaint whiff of the boys bog seemed to follow him closely): in the end it all\nseemed to settle around Slippy Shipman. Not the worst of nicknames, nor the\nbest either but definitely better than Smelly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Slippy was\nof the middle range in most things. He could read and spell competently, and\nfollow much of what he was required to know in order for his school not to fall\ntoo far in the SATS league tables. He\nhad a few friends of the non-heroically-sporty variety and was rarely bullied\neither by teachers or peers. His parents loved him dearly but had no illusions\nof his excellence. They just wanted him to be happy without seriously wondering\nhow that state might be achieved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Like many\nof us, Slippy had a rich interior life. His was populated mainly by fantasies\nof sporting excellence. He saved the national team from disgrace on many\noccasions by unforeseen manoeuvres and wily tactics. Slippy by name\u2026.. In\nreality, he was usually the second-to- the-last to be picked for any team sport\nin P.E. or in playgrounds. His advice was rarely asked for and it was generally\nassumed that Slippy was not a sporty type.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By accident,\nthis was to change. The school rounders\nteam was due to play in the inter-school finals one Saturday and Slippy was\ngoing to watch them with his Dad. Just before they left the house, a phone call\nurgently summoned Slippy to fill in for one of the star players who had fallen\noff his bike and was waiting to be put back together in A and E. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don\u2019t be upset if you miss the ball<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His mum\u2019s\nparting words erred on the side of encouraging happiness rather than imparting\nconfidence. But Slippy was already beyond happiness and brimful of confidence.\nHe had spent his many hours, whilst excluded from team games, in the solitary\nactivities of hitting balls against walls and his catching skills were\nunmatched. His time to excel had arrived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The match\nwent well for Slippy\u2019s team and he made great contributions to the rounders\ntally due to his accuracy in hitting far and beyond reach of opposing\nfielders. The time came for Slippy\u2019s\nside to field and the score was soon uncomfortably close. Slippy distinguished himself with a high\ncatch and caught a player out at third base. He was contributing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the\nscores evened further, Slippy\u2019s big moment arrived. With a powerful hit, the\nball sailed over many heads and came\nwell within Slippy\u2019s reach. He leaped for the ball, caught it and fell\nawkwardly. Groans from the team could be\nheard as they assumed the match lost through Slippy\u2019s missed catch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let us not\nbe hasty though. Although crumpled up in pain, Slippy held the ball aloft and\nthe game was declared for Slippy\u2019s team.\n\nAs the scribble on his plaster cast attests,\nSlippy was at last a sporting hero\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Shippy Shipman (obviously), Stringy Shipman (he was very skinny), Smelly Shipman (a faint whiff of the boys bog seemed to follow him closely): in the end it all seemed to settle around Slippy Shipman. Not the worst of nicknames, nor the best either but definitely better than Smelly. Slippy was of the middle range in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[94,93,19],"class_list":["post-65","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2","category-november","tag-interior-life","tag-rounders","tag-slippy"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-13","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":176,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65\/revisions\/176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}