BY WOODY PAUL GREY
BACKGROUND
Today Ive got up not so early as usual and thats due to the donated PC which Id
received the other day and so accordingly I spend at it hours typing some of my humble
stories pretending that Im a writer , the future literature star,you know.Can you imagine
me,an ordinary English teacher from a small Ukrainian town Yalta,private tutor,to be
exact, and all of a sudden writing short stories or even novels in English.
So,I prepare deliciousChinese tea,take a hot life-giving shower,shifting from hot to
icy-cold water at the end , dry myself ,put on my swimming trunks and go to open all the windows in the flat for some 10-15 minutes until I get cold .By the way, outside its pretty
cool ,+ 4-5 º January 25,11 .Then I get all swimming stuff ,put it
into my backpack,pull on my ,dont be surprised ,T-shirt and shorts, put on my trainers and go
jogging.Before I start I usually visit the playground in front of our block of flats, greeting the neighbours on the way,pull up 10-12 times and finally start the race.Frankly speaking its
rather cold at first,but I just keep on moving being aware that very soon Ill be fine.My traditional dailydistance in the winter time is aproximately 10 km and in summer 15-17 km.
What I like about cold seasons is that Ive got to run faster ,much faster not to get frozen.
INCREDIBLE YALTA
Luckily in Yalta the weather is quite favourable for crazy fools like me.For instance ,
the residents havent seen the snow yet in the town itself,except for the mountains behind it, stretching out from the north-east to the north west and up to the coastline,as though protecting
the entire town from severe cold winds ,low temperatures ,snow and ice.Therefore I dont consider its a big deal for me to go jogging all the year round in the same sportware.Theres one significant point about it Ive been doing it within the last twelve years,especially after I left school.Actually I decided to quit as a school teacher a decade ago and hopefully to my benefit.
First and foremost Im teaching individually in accordance with my own authorized
methods, as I call it.As a school teacher I hadnt the right to do it.Strange as it may seem,
but one day I was told on this point downright You may like it or not Mr Smart Teacher,
but you have to follow the adopted state educational teaching program.What concerns,
the so called ,your methods use them on your private classes.O.K.?Thats it!I guess ,this clear,isnt it!
-
- Absolutely! I replied respectfully as any obedient teacher would do in conversation
- with a high rank official from education ,but all of a sudden I realized that dont
want to work for the state educational system any more ,at least, under the supervision
of some professionals.By the way ,I had been working at school within 25 years by that
time.I always loved what I was doing ,really, enjoyed every minute of it.It should be mentionedthat I had been raised in the teachers family and my late father had been
a real genious in the field of foreign languages teaching/German & English/.For me he
always had been a lead to follow.Basically he was an English nuts.It seems to me that
since recently Im gradually becoming something of this kind,meaning crazyness ,
of course.
Secondly ,I dont have to wait for months, sometimes, to get my miserable salary .Now
and then,starving for weeks ,wearing one suit, a couple of white shirts , some colourful ties and a pair of badly worn out shoes.Luckily by that time I was single,divorced, to be exact.
Thirdly,Im an avid jogger and now Ive got a brilliant opportunity to exercise on the
regular basis.You cant even imagine how I enjoy it.In fact Ive been racing for pleasure
scince the age of 15.Significantly,I then made the first step in treating myself.
I WANT TO RUN
One day I was taken to the hospital because of the high blood pressure and had to stay
there for a couple of weeks or so.Frankly speaking at that time I hated to remain there so
much, especially of the ugly pills taste and badly depression. So, after all, one day I simply
escaped from the hospital. My parents didnt appreciate my deed considering it as disrespectful regardless the doctors, who treated me, but, luckily, they didnt insist on my returning back. Next morning, I went on running along the meadow, despite deep snow and the lack of special sports boots. To tell you the truth, at the end of the distance( 1km.), when I was rather far
away from home, I hardly lost consciousness. However, I paused, took a deep breath, ate some snow, and slowly went back home. My parents never got to know about that accident. I proceeded to jog and, strange as it may seem, but sometime later I had, absolutely, forgotten about my disease. I could keep on playing football, basketball, volleyball, read, study a lot without any consequences, whatsoever. Amazing! And it looked like I did it on my own. It was very
simple. I just felt, that I want to run and thats all. It should be pointed out, that my parents
at that time considered that sport isnt that much important in person`s life. Much more significant is to study, read and learn a lot and sports, maybe some time later. But I decided
for myself that day that Im not going to delay with it. With each coming day, I was enjoying jogging more and more. By that time, I wasnt smoking, neither was I drinking alcohol, though my class mates were mature and had serious problems with bad habits. So, one can only imagine, how one feels running, when your lungs are absolutely clear and you dont even imagine how one feels, especially a teenager, after he had overdrunk the previous night. Besides, I lived in the country then, was fond of music which I
heard every time I went jogging or just for a walk in the forest or to the river. Those were truly the best years of my life.
2009 Yalta Ukraine
