Activities you hated as a child

[Palinurus]

Saw this advert in a comic about air cadets. The pictures suggested you could build models and fly in real planes.

Actually you just did endless drill.

Shone my boots and the Sergeant wiped his muddy boots on them.

'your boots are dirty'

Sod that I thought.

Good choice; turns out the whole thing was just drill and 'night exercises' where appalling bullying took place.

[jsabine]

Re football, I just can't be bothered these days and tell them I'm not interested. With some men it's like I've kicked them in the balls. I'm not interested in crochet either and they're not so bothered about that.

It's worse when I say I'm not interested and try to move the conversation somewhere else but they carry on talking about football anyway. That's you dad, that is. And taxi drivers.

That's where the obscure/crap team gambit comes in. You're 'interested' in football so you get your man points and they're not threatened, and they don't have to evangelise. You've got a slightly eccentric reason for your 'support' of that team, so you get marks for loyalty. And your three obscure facts demonstrate that you really know your subject - but crucially, *they're* not interested in hearing any more about the 1957 glory days of Little Foggsbottom United, so *they* change the subject.

Probably not crochet, mind. How do you feel about Formula 1?

(I don't really follow F1, but the glory days of rallying were back in the '50s and '60s, when Maurice Gatsonides was driving. He won the Monte Carlo Rally you know, and then he invented the speed camera, so it's him you've got to thank for that great contribution to road safety, even though he really wanted to know his own speed so he could actually go faster. And then he got involved with Citroen, and he drove IDs for them - that was the cheaper version of the DS, which went up and down on its suspension and had headlights that looked round corners. I used to have one you know, it was a really comfortable drive, well ahead of its time, but they did a cut'n'shut version as the factory rally cars ...)

So, quoth the cabbie, what do you think about this crochet malarkey? Or kittens.

[Basil]

That's where the obscure/crap team gambit comes in. You're 'interested' in football so you get your man points and they're not threatened, and they don't have to evangelise. You've got a slightly eccentric reason for your 'support' of that team, so you get marks for loyalty. And your three obscure facts demonstrate that you really know your subject - but crucially, *they're* not interested in hearing any more about the 1957 glory days of Little Foggsbottom United, so *they* change the subject.

Ha. I've been rumbled.   My interest in Hardlypoo Untied (my FiL's team) is precisely for this reason.  I can confirm it works really well.

[TheLurker]

  ...  everyone was ready in a moment to start yelling 'fight fight fight!'

Did that really happen? 

Yup. Certainly at all the primary schools and also the secondary school that I went to.

I used to love cross country..

Well, not love it, but it was a bloody sight more fun than all those tedious bloody team games based around balls. As was swimming.

The Scottish education system was obviously far too civilised to employ the cane as a means of punishment. The strap was deployed instead.

    Tawse.

The belt.  (Morayshire)

Belt +1 Midlothian

... but they carry on talking about football anyway

And there you have one my main reasons for not going to work "social" events.  Hours of tedious bloody chat from fat, unfit middle aged men about tedious bloody team games based around balls.

[Palinurus]

The only good thing I remember about it, was going tracking over the fields and having a massive stone fight with about 20 others. It was all going swimmingly until Simon Clark got hit on the temple. We all thought he was dead, but he was just pretending, the blood was spectacular though.

I retired from stone fighting early after getting hit right on the bridge of the nose within the space of minutes. Still have both eyes.

[ElyDave]

Saw this advert in a comic about air cadets. The pictures suggested you could build models and fly in real planes.

Actually you just did endless drill.

Shone my boots and the Sergeant wiped his muddy boots on them.

'your boots are dirty'

Sod that I thought.

Good choice; turns out the whole thing was just drill and 'night exercises' where appalling bullying took place.

I loved being in the air cadets, got to shoot at stuff, got my glider pilots license (never used), and 45 hours flying light aircraft, Thames Valley Wing Rugby Blue, got a trip to india as an international cadet camp.

I also became the Flight Sergeant over time, bit was never an arsehole like that, no point as any one in the squadron saw me at school next day, and I was always much more interested in making my squadron look much better than the competition.  Much more effective to pick someone good, and use him as an example to the rest.

[Basil]

I've been following this thread and have yet to be reminded of any stuff I hated.  ( Other than skool in general))
I loved scouts.  Night hikes, wide games, wild camping bivvies. Loved it.
School was a rugger school.  I didn't hate it, it was better than double German.  Cross country, I was surprisingly ok at.  Not the best, but usually 2nd or 3rd.
Cricket in the summer.  Field at long on.  Very rarely needed to get up from my daisy chain construction to do anything. [/Fotherington-Thomas]

My parents never tried to interest me in anything that would get me out of my room where I would read excessively and constantly.  They were always too busy fighting or shagging.

No.  All was good.
Except school.
School was shit.

[hellymedic]

I was packed off to various forms of Jewish religious education while you lot were all doing these hateful activities.
I only spent 4 terms at a Jewish school, where religion lessons were just part of the ordinary school day, which mostly finished at 5pm.
I was good at schoolish things and quite enjoyed the lessons but was cooped up every Sunday morning and on two or three weekday evenings after school.
I didn't do Guides, music or whatever.

[cygnet]

Mostly this (and if I guess correctlyat least half a generation apart- nooffence meant)

I've been following this thread and have yet to be reminded of any stuff I hated.  ( Other than skool in general))
I loved scouts.  Night hikes, wide games, wild camping bivvies. Loved it.
School was a footy school.  I didn't hate it, it was better than double German.  Cross country, I was surprisingly ok at.  Not the best, but usually 2nd or 3rd.
Cricket in the summer.  Field at long on.  Very rarely needed to get up from my daisy chain construction to do anything. [/Fotherington-Thomas]

My parents never tried to interest me in anything that would get me out of my room where I would read excessively and constantly. They were always too busy fighting or shagging.

No.  All was good.
Except school.
School was shit.

I hated Charades and "In the manner of the word" (only ever inflicted around Christmas time). Still do, and I literally freeze at the idea.

[fimm]

Mostly this (and if I guess correctlyat least half a generation apart- nooffence meant)

I've been following this thread and have yet to be reminded of any stuff I hated.  ( Other than skool in general))
I loved scouts.  Night hikes, wide games, wild camping bivvies. Loved it.
School was a footy school.  I didn't hate it, it was better than double German.  Cross country, I was surprisingly ok at.  Not the best, but usually 2nd or 3rd.
Cricket in the summer.  Field at long on.  Very rarely needed to get up from my daisy chain construction to do anything. [/Fotherington-Thomas]

My parents never tried to interest me in anything that would get me out of my room where I would read excessively and constantly. They were always too busy fighting or shagging.

No.  All was good.
Except school.
School was shit.

I hated Charades and "In the manner of the word" (only ever inflicted around Christmas time). Still do, and I literally freeze at the idea.

Ah! Finally! I (like Basil and cygnet) couldn't think of an activity I didn't enjoy. Bits of school were miserable, but "being bullied" isn't exactly an activity. But you have reminded me that I hated Drama and especially any sort of improvisation. In fact I still hate role play type exercises, thankfully I haven't had to do anything like that for years. I used to refuse to do improvisation type things at school, which (reasonably) annoyed teachers and fellow-students no end.

[essexian]

I had no choice regarding cubs as my father was the scout leader, like this father before him and indeed like my brother after him! Thus, I had no choice but to attend firstly cubs and then scouts.

This forced attendance did end when I turned 13 due to my parents’ divorce however….. my Mum promptly married another bloke whose father was not only quite high up in the Scouting movement (he worked at their head office, somewhere I was dragged quite a few times during the summer holidays to “help out”) but was one of the boys who attended the scout camp on Brownsea Island back in 1907 (where this is true or not, I don’t know but I think it was: he was certainly old enough….my Step Grandfather was still working for the scouts into his 90’s).

Not having any children I did not have any interest in following in my fathers footsteps! That said, I did enjoy some aspects of scouting including canoeing on the River Lea and camping in the wilds of Romford and Chelmsford.... indeed, I still use some of the skills I learnt when scout camping. 

[ian]

I did once have a long conversation with a cabbie about kittens (in Brooklyn, of all places, he had pictures). That was OK. And I got the tightest analysis of Brexit from a driver in Nairobi. Oh, and a free ride to Nelson Mandela's house in Johannesburg ("I don't think he's in, mate"). That said, there's a grim portion of the world's taxi drivers who want to talk about Manchester United. I once had one guy tell me that after he'd done hajj he was planning to do the same for Manchester. No one should want to go to Manchester. And especially for football.

I don't like Formula anything either. Is that the one where cars go round and round and round and round and round and then the drivers ejaculate champagne all over each other?

What is it with men and sport? Didn't PE at school (quite often literally) beat sport out of us? I'm not seeing a lot of childhood love for the PE lesson. Dear Mr Pervert, ian can't do games today because he was bitten by a badger and then it ate his kit and oh, he's having his period, signed ian's mum.

[hellymedic]

I disliked Games at school because I was No Good.
I was a very slow runner and useless at catching or batting balls etc

Some of our Games/PE teachers were sadistic or perverted..

[TheLurker]

Some of our Games/PE teachers were sadistic or perverted..

Only some?  I thought a formal qualification in sadism was a prerequisite for _all_ PE teachers.

[hellymedic]

Some of our Games/PE teachers were sadistic or perverted..

Only some?  I thought a formal qualification in sadism was a prerequisite for _all_ PE teachers.

Not quite; I remember some quite decent people doing that job.
There were some that appreciated my lack of ability was not due to lack of effort and treated me as a human.
Which was nice.

[ElyDave]

I disliked Games at school because I was No Good.
I was a very slow runner and useless at catching or batting balls etc

Some of our Games/PE teachers were sadistic or perverted..

I was always the not bad enough to be useless at most stuff, but good enough at a few things (hockey and rugby) to not get bullied by the meatheads or the sports teachers, and bolshie enough to argue back if they tried

The bullies just gave up on me, I was too stubborn, they never realised that I saw them as a bit of fun and they were an object of ridicule in my mind.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Some of our Games/PE teachers were sadistic or perverted..

Only some?  I thought a formal qualification in sadism was a prerequisite for _all_ PE teachers.

I had two good PE teachers - PE/sport  in australia is a bit more like the USA (but without the college fudball), but with all the godlike regard for sportspeople. The good PE teachers had an appreciation for anyone doing any activity, at any level and included stuff that was simply fun - making damper and building fires to cook it at school was part of PE in one lesson.

It was partly their example that led me to train as a Steiner gym teacher, which I did part time for, I guess 6 years. After a rocky start, I learned how to do discipline without being a martinet and the kids generally enjoyed my lessons (I know because they told me so).
I taught field and track at a big school meet up, to kids of huge range of abilities. Best feeling in the world taking kids who are convinced they (A) hate exercise and (B) can't do it, and after two days see them run up beaming to their parents telling them what they've done.

[bobb]

All my favourite teachers* were PE teachers. They were harsh, but fair. I remember getting into a fist fight with Carl Davies and Mr Blakes just picked us both up and banged our heads together. Fair enough.

According to an old friend of mine, the kids who "couldn't kick a ball" didn't get any rough treatment and were just made to run around a little bit. No harm done.

My old head of PE still sends his regards to me via my dad who he's still mates with, even though I haven't seen him since 1989.

*Obviously Miss Charlton - Home Economics was my favourite teacher 

[DuncanM]

I hated rugby. When you're small and not fast but can kick the thing, being banned from kicking (for a year) just because the teacher decided it would help us learn took me from being able to protect myself and use skill to being pummelled.
I liked cubs, but hated scouts, mainly because scouts was a form of indoor rugby that was what I imagine football in the middle ages to be (the only rule seemed to have been "thou shalt not pass").
Cross country was fine, and it was amusing to beat the kids who were more talented purely on the basis of being able to push myself harder. I guess that attitude explains why I like riding my bike up hills!
The main thing I disliked was writing essays. Not too long, not too short, gotta have the right structure, and when by a quirk of fate I was able to submit the same English essay to 2 different teachers I got completely different marks. If one person can grade something 15/20, and one 7/20 , what's the point in trying? Oh yeah, and history.  3 years spent learning about everything that happened in britain before 1500 and then I got to drop it. That was useful - really helps put into context modern issues like slavery, empire, industrial revolution, and various historically based political issues.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

All my favourite teachers* were PE teachers. They were harsh, but fair.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdddpiQWy4Y

[ian]

Bullet Baxter. The John Wick of my generation.

[bobb]

Bullet Baxter was awesome! He inspired me to record a cover of the Grange Hill theme tune a year or so ago*

*Actually called Chicken Man by the legendary Alan Hawkshaw