Another lovely swim in the sea with Canterbury U3A recently, although strangely, the water seemed to have become slightly colder – not what you expect at the end of July. Happily the jelly fish seem to have departed – could there be a connection with the water temperature? An all-time record was set: twelve people turned up for the swim! Our beach at Seasalter is normally pretty deserted apart from the odd dog walker, so we were quite a spectacle.
We sat chatting on the beach while we waited for the tail-end Charlies to arrive, and anyone listening in would have been pretty surprised at some of the conversations. Margaret (fourth from the right) proudly told us that her nephew, Andrew Williams, has just won both Olympic Gold and Bronze Medals for swimming at the Special Olympics which took place in Los Angeles at the end of July. He has been training hard and has effectively swum the distance from the UK to Los Angeles to raise money for the trip through sponsorship. He can be justifiably proud of his achievement.
Mary, far right, told us about her impending trip to Mongolia. No sedate holiday for Mary: it is a cycling trip, with Exodus Travels. The trip lasts 17 days – including 11 days of cycling up to 47 miles each day – and involves wild camping as well as nights in Mongolian gers, which look a bit like yurts. Exodus say they go through areas where the sight of visitors is still quite unusual. If anyone can do it, Mary can! She is a regular sight in the Canterbury area whizzing by on her bike. I was amazed when she told us she used to travel to work in Ashford on her bike from her home near Canterbury – nearly 20 miles each way! Most of us would need a lie down when they got there, not a day’s work, before cycling back again.
And of course, the conversation got round to the looming Kilimanjaro trip too: I wish I was half as fit as Mary is.
I doubt if any youngsters passing by would suspect for a moment that the conversation of the bunch of geriatrics sitting on the beach was ranging round the world in such a way: they would probably expect us to be discussing the next episode of Coronation Street or Eastenders!
We all went back to our caravan for a cuppa afterwards, where we sat outside putting the world to rights as usual. Once everyone had gone, I was tidying away the Kiliman-JAR-o, into which the group puts the odd pound or two towards our charity fund raising, and was surprised to see a small white object through the glass.
I tipped everything out, and discovered a baby tooth in the jar: that certainly didn’t come from any member of U3A! I can only suppose that it must have been put in the JAR by either Jae’s son Milo or his friend Charlie, who had spent the previous weekend in the caravan with Jae’s husband David. Now how thoughtful is that? We all know that baby teeth are a form of currency: after all, they turn into money overnight when left under your pillow – so by putting it in the jar instead, did the donor expect the tooth fairy to turn it into money for our charities? In fact, it might be the most generous donation to date, relative to the donor’s total weekly income!
I had a look on line to try to establish what a baby tooth is worth these day. When I was a child, I used to find a “wooden thrupenny bit” – 3d, worth slightly more than a modern 1p – under my pillow. I think we probably put 10p or so under our children’s pillows.
I discovered a recent “Mail on Line” survey – not the most reliable source, perhaps – and found surprising differences in how much the tooth fairy leaves according to location.
Places where children receive the most money:
- London £5.05
- Cambridge £5.00
- Cardiff £4.75
- Liverpool £4.50
- Manchester £4.35
Places where children receive the least money:
- Hull 5p
- Portsmouth 10p
- York 10p
- Nottingham 11p
- Glasgow 11p
I can’t see any logic at all in these bizarrely differing amounts! A full set of 20 gnashers is allegedly worth £101 in London, but only £1 in Hull! Is there some sort of cultural explanation?
Anyway, however much it is worth, the 3GKiliClimb team are thrilled to have received this extra donation, and hope that it is a Cockney rather than a Hullensian tooth fairy who eventually rolls up to the caravan to make the pick-up from the Kiliman-JAR-o!