Still scarred from the time I was late for the Waterbabies family photo shoot and jumped into the water with someone else’s wife and child (took a bit of explaining) I approached a packed Salisbury leisure Centre with a slight sense of trepidation. The queue for the pool was virtually out the door and considering people have been doing swimming as an organised activity since about 2500BC, I was vaguely hopeful that Salisbury District Council would get through the queue before Noah had time to introduce himself to absolutely everyone in the Centre and try all the emergency exit doors. Needless to say, they didn’t quite manage it.

Getting ready for swimming with a manic 22month year old is no easy challenge, and the big edge that the ancient Greeks, Egyptians or Romans had was that they didn’t have to wrestle with Winnie the Pooh swimming nappies. That in itself is equivalent to a gladiatorial contest of epic proportions. Having nailed that, Noah then promptly opened the changing room door just as Daddy had slipped out of boxer shorts -not ideal in a communal mixed sexed changing area.

Distaste etched on several Mums faces, it was 50:50 whether we were going to be escorted from the pool before we’d even had a opportunity to get in it. If Noah and I had been in togas, then none of this would have happened and it all would have been a lot quicker. Thankfully, we didn’t and once garbed in the appropriate attire we headed through to the pool itself. Try as I might, I couldn’t imagine the delights of a Roman bath even closely resembling the churning chaos that awaited us. Suffice to say Noah loved it, the lifeguard only told us off once and only two parents made comments to me about my charge. One when Noah had hidden inside locker 227 – took some finding – and the other when Noah hurled himself into the deep end of the teaching pool. Tricky moment as he hasn’t quite managed swimming aspect of such a feat, but he was okay and it was an action packed afternoon.

Heading to Nepal now. Eighth trip for the series – if it offers half as much enjoyment or excitement as a swimming trip with Noah then it’s bound to be a winner…