Glitterman

[Chris100UK 519]

Saw Glitterman on British TV the other week. London live channel which is quite obscure and often has local stories.

Remember reading here that he was from Wimbledon. He still cycles round those parts and is photographed often it seems.

Found him on social media where he mentions his Thai fiance drowned back in 2006. That's why he cycles round in bright colours. 

[blue_flag 1,278]

[Bruce Mangosteen 455]

9 hours ago, Chris100UK said:

Found him on social media where he mentions his Thai fiance drowned back in 2006. That's why he cycles round in bright colours. 

Huh, I never knew that.  Thanks for digging that up.

One of the first things I did with my Thai now-wife was to teach her and her children how to swim.  I'm now doing that for her grandchildren.

[Jack Scagnetti 493]

Met him in 2010

[jacko 8,778]

10 hours ago, Bruce Mangosteen said:

Huh, I never knew that.  Thanks for digging that up.

One of the first things I did with my Thai now-wife was to teach her and her children how to swim.  I'm now doing that for her grandchildren.

Yes I have done that with her and her nephew who stayed with us a bit. The youngest niece is too precious!

[teelack 9,352]

I only had one interaction with the Glitterman. Maybe it was a bad day but he was not happy with me taking photos. Maybe he expected payment. I'm not sure but left with a 'flea in my ear'.

Sent from my CPH1941 using Tapatalk

[Bruce Mangosteen 455]

14 hours ago, jacko said:

Yes I have done that with her and her nephew who stayed with us a bit. The youngest niece is too precious!

Every child should be taught how to be comfortable in water and to stay afloat at a bare minimum IMHO.

[jacko 8,778]

10 hours ago, Bruce Mangosteen said:

Every child should be taught how to be comfortable in water and to stay afloat at a bare minimum IMHO.

Her father is pretty good but she should be swimming better. I did not learn to swim until abut 11-12, and to be honest the early attempts scared me with a sadistic teacher at primary school. Fortunately my next school did have a large pool and I quickly learned.. it was standard as it should be. 

[forcebwithu 4,806]

16 hours ago, Bruce Mangosteen said:

Every child should be taught how to be comfortable in water and to stay afloat at a bare minimum IMHO.

Big yes on that. I used to teach swimming from 6 months up to adults. From 6 months to 2 years it was about the children, and their parents being comfortable in the water. 2 years on up the first lesson was on drownproofing. All that entailed was to teach the toddler if he/she fell into the water to immediately turn around and grab whatever it was they fell out of or off of.

[sailingbill 1,014]

I heartily and unusually for me disagree with force. Don't grab what you lost as the current has taken away that option and your expending energy on failure . Growing up on the Chesapeake I swam almost before I walked  .The true survival skill is knowing when to swim. I could swim to Ko Larn where some not beyond the rip. Teach Droundproofing to the kids, it staves off panic until help arrives.

[forcebwithu 4,806]

6 hours ago, sailingbill said:

I heartily and unusually for me disagree with force. Don't grab what you lost as the current has taken away that option and your expending energy on failure . Growing up on the Chesapeake I swam almost before I walked  .The true survival skill is knowing when to swim. I could swim to Ko Larn where some not beyond the rip. Teach Droundproofing to the kids, it staves off panic until help arrives.

I'm puzzled as to why you disagree as what I taught for drownproofing was for situations unlike the one you described. And even in the case of falling into water with a current, if you fell out of a boat you'll have time to turn around and grab the boat before drifting away.

Just as we learn to crawl before we walk, teaching basic drownproofing skills is step 1 on the path of learning to swim.

[jacko 8,778]

16 hours ago, forcebwithu said:

Just as we learn to crawl before we walk, teaching basic drownproofing skills is step 1 on the path of learning to swim.

Yeah, I might have felt better early on about water, if I had had more confidence in it and could keep myself afloat.... as it was I believe I feared it, as I was pushed and dumped head first into the pool by the sadistic teacher! My father didn't have patience either.

Edited November 8 by jacko

[forcebwithu 4,806]

1 hour ago, jacko said:

Yeah, I might have felt better about water if I had more confidence in it and could keep myself afloat.... as it was I believe I pushed and I was dumped head first into the pool by the sadistic teacher!

I have my own story tell about an incompetent swim teacher, but one that ended up listening to reason.

A few years later after I ended my teenage career as a swim instructor the roles were reversed and I was the one in the pool with my 6 month old. I was gobsmacked when the instructor told the parents he wanted them to pass their babies back and forth with the stranger next to them. I told my wife, no way we're doing that, the babies are going to go in full panic mode when they're handed off to a stranger. We then quietly moved to the side of the pool and started doing what I used to teach the parents to do, passing the baby through the water to each other. The goal being to get the baby comfortable in the water.

The instructor noticed we weren't participating and came over to us to ask us to rejoin the group. What I wanted to say is sorry, but I can't hear you over the howling of panicked babies in the background. Instead what I did is explain I used to teach the class he now led and what he was doing was far removed from getting the babies comfortable in the water with their respective parents. To his credit he did listen as it was obvious from the babies crying in the background his method was having the opposite effect.

Of the age ranges I taught I most enjoyed the infant classes and adult classes. With the adults they were motivated to be there, and for the most part easy to instruct. The infants and babies were fun to teach as they quickly overcame their fear of water and had a ball playing around in the water with their parents. The coolest part was watching babies 6 months to 1 year old, once they were comfortable in the water, getting pushed along gently underwater between their mother and father. With infants that young the mammalian diving reflex is still strong and they naturally hold their breath when underwater.

Back OT, it's sad what happened to Glitterman's fiancé. Too often we hear of tragic outcomes like this due to children not being not taught basic swimming and drownproofing techniques.

[sailingbill 1,014]

While I stand by what I posted gained from experience while sailing some of the world I applaud your teaching. No doubt I would trust my kids to you for your ability. Growing up on the Chesapeake and the Atlantic you see tragedy that should not have happened.  We hear of the sorrow of people in Thai water just enjoying a simple swim on their vacation. If only they had basic water skills when young easily survivable.  

[jacko 8,778]

17 hours ago, sailingbill said:

While I stand by what I posted gained from experience while sailing some of the world I applaud your teaching. No doubt I would trust my kids to you for your ability. Growing up on the Chesapeake and the Atlantic you see tragedy that should not have happened.  We hear of the sorrow of people in Thai water just enjoying a simple swim on their vacation. If only they had basic water skills when young easily survivable.  

All too often here it is adults taking a drunken dip, or going fishing in a pond or small lake......

[Chris100UK 519]

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He is eccentric to say the least