1 . If someone says you are too old to learn to swim, ignore them. Remind them of then 75-year-old Rosemary Caruana, the grandmother who knows you’re never too old to learn to swim. She thought she was unable to swim at all. More than that, she had a strong dislike for the water. But despite this, she found herself in her swimming costume at her local pool.

Caruana took her grandson swimming and was watching her grandson in the pool. She decided she needed lessons. So after her grandson’s lesson she approached the swimming teacher and asked whether or not she would be able to take some swimming lessons. The teacher told Rosemary that you’re never too old to learn to swim and said she’d be happy to teach her.

“I watched my youngest grandson swimming and thought, this is ridiculous...you’re 75-year-old, he’s swimming, you’re not-and you live on an island. So I asked his teacher if she would teach me and she said yes.”

Over the next 12 months, Caruana attended each session to build up her swimming ability. She had a goal, which was to swim a length of the pool. She did it. She still takes part in her swimming lessons each week, and now looks forward to each session rather than panicking as she had in the early months.

“Now, 12 months later, I absolutely love it. And I can now do four lengths of the main pool which is 25 meters, two on my front and two on my back. I do still need my wonderful instructor Sally beside me, though. I am not quite confident enough to go it alone.”

You are never too old to learn: inspired?

You are never too old to learn to swim, said Rosemary. If you are a grandmother inspired by Rosemary to learn to swim, then use our Poolfinder widget to track down your nearest pool below.

Every morning, millions of people in China do Tai Chi. It is popular    1    women and men. Tai Chi is    2     good kind of exercise for old people. It is good for the body and the mind. It is healthy and    3     (relax). Tai Chi    4    ( arise) from China. It is    5     (hundred) of years old. Tai Chi is a “soft” martial art (武术),    6     means it is slow and calm.

There are also “hard” martial arts. Shaolin Kung Fu, for example, which has a history of over 1, 500 years, is a “hard” martial art. It is fast and    7    (danger). You have to be very fit and strong    8    (do) “hard” martial arts.

In Beijing, Master Li Yu    9     (teach) Shaolin Kung Fu to thirty young students now, three of whom come from abroad. “Shaolin Kung Fu is    10     (extraordinary) difficult,” said Li Yu. “You must practise every move many times. ”

Sports like football and basketball are also popular in China. But martial arts like Tai Chi and Shaolin Kung Fu are part of Chinese culture and history.

4 . Jonas Deichmann started his round-the-world triathlon (铁人三项) in September 2020. He swam 456km in 54 days along the coast of Croatia, although he admits that he isn’t a great swimmer. “The swim had its good moments, but I don’t want to do it again,” he said.

Then he hopped on his bike —he’s better at that. Last week, the German athlete finished his 10,000km cycle across Russia to Vladivostok. Overall, his self-imposed triathlon covers 40,000km. He is trying to do it with a minimal carbon footprint. Over the distance of 120 Ironmans, he will not use a support vehicle. He will make his way across any oceans on sailboats.

As usual over the 16 months for many of us, COVID-19 restrictions threw a wrench into his travel plans. He wanted to cycle across the Balkans, through Turkey, then Russia, and China. From here, he was going to sail across the Pacific to San Francisco and begin running 5,040km across the U. S. to New York. He punctually cycled through the Balkans (巴尔干山脉), a substantial way across Turkey. But when he arrived in Istanbul in mid-December, he discovered that the coronavirus (冠状病毒) had closed the border between Istanbul and Russia.

A week into Siberia, he caught food poisoning at a truck stop. “I had a delicious dish with chicken and soon realized that this was a mistake,” he said. The next morning, he felt like he was going to collapse so he spent a day recovering.

He reached Vladivostok on May 18,2021. He is now trying to source a ride across the Pacific. From there, the next stage of his route is unclear. He was going to run across America but U. S. borders remain closed. He is now considering running 5,000km across Mexico from Tijuana to Cancun.