Reading Part 6 1: Follow the Clues

Learning to swim as an adult is not easy. [1] My first lesson was a disaster: I was so nervous that I refused to put my face in the water. [2] She told me to stand in the shallow end and simply practise breathing out under the water. It sounds simple, but it took me three weeks. [3] Now, a year later, I swim twice a week and I have even entered a short race.

It happened on the coldest evening of the year, just after six o'clock. I was halfway through cooking dinner when every light in the house went off at once. [1] Outside, the whole street was dark, and so was the next one. Somewhere in the distance a dog was barking, but otherwise everything was strangely quiet. I found a torch in the kitchen drawer and went to check on my neighbour, Mrs Patel, who is in her eighties and lives alone. [2] She was sitting in her armchair, wrapped in two blankets, listening to a battery radio. According to the radio, a storm had brought down power lines across the whole region, and nobody knew when the electricity would come back. Mrs Patel did not seem worried at all. 'I've seen worse than this,' she said with a smile. Mrs Patel's house was already getting cold, and mine was no better. [3] So I invited her to come round, and together we carried her blankets, her radio and a large tin of biscuits across the road. Within an hour, two more neighbours had knocked on my door. Both of them had seen the glow from my window and wondered how I was keeping so warm. By nine o'clock, three more neighbours had arrived, and there were seven of us sitting round the stove. [4] Someone had brought candles, someone else a guitar, and Mr Jones from number twelve made tea in a saucepan on top of the stove. We told stories, sang badly and laughed more than I had laughed in months. At one point, Mr Jones's teenage son even put down his phone, which his father said was a small miracle. The electricity finally came back at about two in the morning. [5] We blinked at each other, a little embarrassed, and then everyone went home. The fridge started humming again, the heating came back on, and my kitchen suddenly looked very ordinary. That night changed our street. [6] Since then, we have had a street party every summer, and Mrs Patel never runs out of visitors. We also have a group chat, which we use to share news, lend each other tools and, of course, warn each other about storms.

Three years ago, I drove twelve kilometres to work every day. [1] On a bad morning, the journey took over an hour, and I usually arrived at the office tired and irritable. I spent a small fortune on petrol, and I never seemed to have time for exercise. Then my car broke down, and the repair bill was enormous. [2] I borrowed an old bike from my brother, planning to use it for a week or two while I saved up. I had not ridden a bike since I was a teenager, and I was not looking forward to it. Those first few weeks were hard. My legs ached, I got soaked twice, and once I arrived at an important meeting with oil on my trousers. More than once, I nearly gave up and took the bus. [3] By the end of the first month, the journey that had once taken me an hour took just thirty-five minutes, whatever the traffic. I no longer needed to leave home early to find a parking space, either. There were other benefits too. [4] I was saving around a hundred pounds a month on petrol and parking. I was also sleeping better, and colleagues kept telling me I looked well. Best of all, I started to enjoy the journey itself: thirty-five minutes along the river path is a far better start to the day than an hour in a traffic jam. When my car was finally repaired, I faced a choice. [5] In the end, I sold it and used the money to buy a good second-hand bike and proper waterproof clothing. My brother, who had lent me the bike, was delighted to get his old one back. Cycling is not the right choice for everyone. If you live far from work, or have young children to take to school, a car may be essential. [6] For me, though, getting rid of the car was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I still use trains for longer trips, and I sometimes hire a car for holidays, but I have never once missed driving to work.