When I was eight I stumbled on a phenomena that was to have a considerable bearing on my future life. It’s not something I have found easy to talk about in particular to those people that are close to me however being able to write about it and read of other people’s experiences has helped a great deal which is why I am here today.

It all started during a PE lesson at school when we had the opportunity to make use of the gym equipment. I was an athletic eight year old girl who enjoyed all sorts of physical exercise and to me this was an environment I was at home in, and none more so than on the ropes.  Most youngsters are self taught when it comes to climbing and I was no exception, I had little fear in climbing the rope and never even considered what might happen if I fell off. I can remember we had a PE bag which was nothing more than a cloth sack laced at the top it would hold my shorts and plimsolls and would hang on my coat peg. Plimsolls are great for climbing in that the soft rubber soles would grip the rope allowing me to free an arm to pull my body up the rope before gripping with my feet again. All the time my thighs would be wrapped tight around it as I headed upwards. It was then that I noticed a strange sensation in my lower tummy and legs which seemed to come and go, it was not unpleasant and in a way I started to chase this feeling which was getting strongerj the further i climbed. I was now about half way and my objective of trying to get to the top was now rapidly diminishing replaced completely by this amazing feeling that was pulsing through my body. I was not exactly sure what was going on but I soon learned that I no longer had to climb the rope to raise the tempo in fact quite the opposite as long as I shimmeyed my legs up and down in a climbing motion the feeling intensified beyond belief. Just as I was beginning to wonder how long I could hang on for as this most amazing feeling continued to flush through my body leaving me drained and hanging on for dear life. Slowly but surely normality returned and I opened my eyes, I was expecting the entire class to be watching me but for some reason or another nobody showed any interest whatsoever. I decided that it might be best to try the climbing frame while I thought about what had just happened, but the only thing I could really think about was doing it again. Sure enough at the tender age of eight I had just had my first funny feeling, not that I knew what it was called or for that matter that it was a sexual experience. I did recall feeling quite hot and bothered between my legs but nothing unusual. I soon put it out of my mind until the next time that is

I can’t remember when the next time was but it was during PE and came by surprise just as before. I can remember racing one of my friends Vicky to the top which I won quite easily and having got down I was soon back up this time showing off my ability to virtually sit on the rope by clamping the soles of my feet together on the rope and splaying my knees which would allow me to sit on my heels the rope directly between my legs. My teacher had noticed my confidence on the rope and like any good coach was keen for me to demonstrate to the class just how it was done. Proud to be asked I was soon halfway when she got me to stop asking me to climb in slow motion so the others could see my technique I had been aware of the funny feeling starting to build on a previous climb but it had gone as soon as my feet touched the ground. This time it was building quickly and I knew somehow it was going to be tough to get to the top which was what my teacher had asked me to do. It seemed that the slower I climbed the quicker the sensationalism raced through my body and just as before I had to stop and hang on for dear life as the funny feeling raged through my body. I was aware my teacher was shouting if I was ok when I opened my eyes and slowly slid down to the ground completely exhausted. Nothing was said but Vicky had been watching had noticed my attemp to conceal the funny feeling and asked me about it, telling me she had felt it too. For some reason I felt awkward to talk about it as If I knew it was a taboo subject. But she just blurted it out as if it was the most natural thing in the world. So the two of us had become full members of the funny feeling club it was for me the beginning of a journey one that has lasted until this day.