LUCKY # 1

When I was in primary school at St Anne's in Newtown I used to like to climb on to the church roof. This was to retrieve tennis balls of which I would find at least one each time I went up there and because it enabled me to look down on the nun's garden which was off-limit to the schoolchildren. I was aged about seven when I was doing this until found out but even at that age I was very agile and could easily scuttle up the corners of the church using downpipes to assist me. The downpipes were a great help but, being old and in disrepair (not helped by me swinging on them) they were also dangerous. Once, on the way down with my pockets full of tennis balls the downpipe pulled away from the wall, the rusty brackets finally giving up their purchase. The pipe swung out at an alarming angle with me desperately hanging on to it. Fortunately it anchored at about a 135 degree angle and I was able to gingerly slide down to safety, my heart thumping.