A Perfectly Good Aeroplane.

I've decided to do a parachute jump this summer.

It's something I've wanted to do since I was about seven. I remember sitting in primary school bored, staring out of the window and envying the parachuters (is it parachutists? spellcheck seems to think so!) as they drifted slowly and gracefully to the ground. My teacher (Mr Hughes) may well have noticed them too (although, to e fair, he was far more boring than us, so how he found the time to stare wistfully out of the window when he had 30 seven year old children (no we weren't all 37 years old, that would be stupid) to entertain him is beyond me, so, thinking back, he probably just saw me being distracted) because he set us an exercise where we had to write a factual account of something. He told me to write about parachutieres.

I was pleased with this task. It gave me an opportunity to put my heart and soul into something, to express my love for the freedom that, to me, these parachuterists embodied. So I set to work. Then I realised that it was a factual exercise and that I knew no facts at all about parachutering, I was going to have to make it up and fluff it with opinion and emotional waffle.

Of course, it was rubbish. Mr Hughes called me over to his desk and told me so personally. Nevertheless, it was my first attempt at an essay style which would later serve me well with a little fine tuning and minimal research, so I have my ignorance of parachutaneering to thank for that.

So the parachuterer has, for 30 years now, represented both freedom and imagination so I reckoned it's about time I gave it a try.

If only I could find the embodiment of 'twisting the question to fit your answer' I'll have both my essay writing techniques covered.