Tomorrow, I'll be finishing work a wee bit early and heading over to the Hanworth Centre to meet some of the kids that are supported by my chosen charity Hounslow Action for Youth.
As well as meeting them, I'll be getting them going on designing the artwork/logo of the vest I'll be wearing for the marathon.
At the moment I'm a bit nervous about this for a couple of reasons.
I'm painfully aware of my own artistic limitations at their age. If I were doing it it'd look horrific. Saying that, they've got an art tutor overseeing the whole thing, and it wouldn't be difficult for them to make a better job of it than I could - even now.
Also, in my head I'm rehearsing for any questions they might have; mentally practising inspirational lines about how it's important to keep going - even though it's tough - because it will be worth it in the end.
But these are kids aged from 8 to 13 so are therefore completely unpredictable.
Whilst I might think they'll ask about how much training it takes, what's it like running down The Mall etc, they could come at me from left field with something like “how many marathons would it take to get to Wales?” or “Have you ever popped a cap in someone's ass?”*
That's what I'd do if I were them.
Some strange bloke you don't know coming in, asking you to do his work for him, on the promise of getting them money at some point in the future for running around London, when there's a perfectly good** tube system.
It does sound a bit weird when you put it like that.
What if I make one of my ridiculously inappropriate jokes? I have a habit of doing that to try to diffuse awkward situations.
Unfortunately, I'm northern (that's not the unfortunate bit, that's awesome!), in my late 20's, I have a first class degree in politics and history, a particularly dark sense of humour, and haven't listened to the charts since I was about 8 and discovered decent music.
So not a lot of material I can relate to streetwise kids from outer west London with there!
Although you never know. They might enjoy my fave Marxist joke***.
My plan is to relax and try to enjoy it – at the end of the day, I would hope that I'd be able to outrun them!
* I haven't, to the best of my knowledge
** I may be exaggerating slightly
*** Why did the Marxist drink herbal tea? Because proper tea is theft!
Lightning reactions
9 years ago
I find it interesting Phil that you haven't felt the need to qualify if you can outrun the young children. It is possible that they may be more experienced than you at chasing someone/running away from someone & therefore have a distinct advantage over your first class degree...
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