Teach yourself to swim. Always try to improve society rather than just take from it. Until then, the unavoidable lawyer stuff. Those using this information do so entirely at their own risk. Errors and omissions excepted. Contents subject to change without notice. All material herein is subject to copyright, patent and other intellectual property rights. All rights reserved. Contents for illustrative purposes only. All material herein is subject to copyright, patent and other intellectual property rights. Copying, duplication or transmission of this material whole or in part is not permitted without the written permission of the author. Do not act upon the information contained in this monograph. No responsibility is accepted for any loss, damage or any injury caused by this information. Copyright (C) J.Partridge. 1979. 1998. 2002. 2004.

There are many who have a basic fear of water. Worse still of deeper water. Some are just shy, others prefer to trust only themselves in such dangerous situations.
The author has been taught to swim by many groups and friends, all leading to a fear of water. For many and varied reasons, most people want to swim, but cannot find the why, where or how to teach yourself themselves to swim.

Sometimes there is only one person who can teach you how to swim- yourself. Calmly, and at your own pace.

Why.

Keeping fit takes many forms. Jogging may damage the knees, hill running, basketball and netball may lead to damaged ankles, walking can get you lost. Gymnasiums and other sport centres simply turn you into a cash fleeced hamster in a cage. Cycling is far more useful, but also has it's own list.
Likewise swimming also has it problems. Perhaps sunburn in happier climes, but is has one advantage overall, it does no damage to the body. The body, supported in water receives no shock, no loads, while the exertion is literally kept fluid and at a set temperature. Even delicate people recovering from grievous injuries take early therapy in warm pools, while some of the fittest people in the world are swimmers.
The main danger of swimming is of course, drowning, so the following is kept as safe as possible. The main method throughout the early stages is not to put the reader in any danger. Maintaining sensible and careful confidence is paramount.

Where.

This leaves the beach. This should preferably have a long, shallow beach, possibly in a wide cove where the high tide and also low tide uncover a nice gentle gradient into the water.
The sea is better as it warms up during the year, leaving the best times for shallow waters from June to November. The sea takes a long time to warm up and also a long time to cool down. So by the time you have built up courage to enter the sea, it is probably at it's best and will continue to retain it's heat for a few months. This has the advantage of leaving the hotter summer season for the tourists, but the quieter following months with the beaches free for you to practice in relative peace and quiet. By this time, you will have acclimatised to the cold plunge and probably be tough enough to continue swimming into November. (Northern latitudes).

In Britain, start learning when the water is at its warmest, around July and August, choose a warm, windless day. If it is crowded, then wait until the tourist season is closing, or try in the early evening.
If poor, then the evening is usually free parking and room to park. Those confined to busses or trains will have to suffer the crowds due to limited transport timetables. An alternative is to spontaneously take a week off work and hole up in some convenient beach resort at the end of the season. This is cheap and allows the weather to be accurately targeted. An alternative is a cheap foreign holiday where the waters are fine and warmer. It very lucky, the hotels swimming pool at the end of the season may only have one occupant - you.

Check the tide tables, then choose the time when the water is best for swimming. The best is often when the water is mid tide and rising, so it flows over the warm sand and remains warm. This will depend upon the surface of the beach, so local knowledge and a first visit at lower tide level will help make decisions.

It may take a handful of trips to find the best conditions for learning to swim. It may not always be possible to find smooth, warm water with a comfortable two foot depth up to your knees.
If you arrive but find waves, then use the occasion to acclimatise to the water temperature. Waves can be warmer as they are dissipating energy, warming the water. When you can enjoy waves, learning to swim in the calm sea will be much easier. Waves are not fun for learning to swim, so an off shore breeze keeping the sea calmer, rather then one adding to the waves onto the shore will help.
During the visits to the beach, only to find waves and too many kids, simply practice getting to know the water. Try walking out to waist level, then splashing some water over your shoulders, then kneeling down into the water to cover the shoulders. If you live in Britain, this first dip will be 'invigorating', followed by rising out of the water gasping. Welcome.
The first few minutes are the worst, but you soon become acclimatised and wondered what all the fuss was about. If it is cold, then practice swimming immediately, so you keep warmer.
Just walk about in the sea and practice getting used to the cold water. This is useful as it helps reduce the chances of getting colds and flu. If any cuts or bruises on the body, sea water can also help revive the injury, but if a major injury, always check with your doctor or nurse first.

Splash about at waist height, getting the shoulders under the water to acclimatise. Keep kneeling in the water, to practice your breast stroke. Build up the shoulder muscles. With your feet on the bottom and your shoulders under the water, practice very slow, strong strokes as you 'walk' along the bottom. Recognise which strokes make the best headway. Practice strengthening up your arms.
Eventually there will be a fine, calm sea, with a warm(ish) water and not to many people about.

How.

Early strokes.

Now move into shallow water. Look for the quiet area, possibly to the quieter sides of the bay, away from the wind or incoming waves. Shallow enough to put your hands on the bottom, but with your head above the water. Stretch out and float on the water, belly down, head up, legs out straight, floating on the surface. Now use your hands to walk on the bottom as you practice your leg strokes. Try to keep your legs fairly straight at the knees. Take your time and get used to the feeling of your chin in the water as one arm is used to help forward motion.

The last step is to practice floating at arms depth, legs out to the rear, fully relaxed, then making one full, strong stroke with both arms. Return to both hands on the bottom. Repeat over and over again, until three or four consecutive strokes are achieved. Well done. Relax.
Keep in this position, but with one knee on the bottom and try swimming using your arms. Your legs will gradually be tucked up, away from the bottom of the sea. Put your arms on the bottom if you panic.

You will be keen to get this important part of learning to swim accomplished as soon as possible, but getting very tired or overexerting yourself does no good. It is better to try in stages as your strength is built up. Simply trying to swim until totally exhausted simply leads to weaker and weaker strokes does not help you to develop good swimming skills.
To relax, sit in slightly shallower water and float on your back with your hands touching the bottom. You will soon want to try swimming again, but do so in your own time and your own pace. After a while, you will probably want to try for more and more consecutive strokes. This takes relaxation, as frantic swimming does no good. You must learn to relax, making strong, gentle strokes.

Stronger strokes.

If this is frightening, possibly because you don't like your face so close to the water when lying in the horizontal position when the sea is wavy, then try converting the doggie paddle into swimming. Kneel in the water, so your shoulders are under the surface, then doggie paddle. You will easily be able to support yourself in the water vertically. Naturally, the doggie paddle strokes will gradually change to a slight forward movement, and gradually you will be doing many stokes along the side of the shore, with your knees bobbing along the seabed behind you. This will cause you to want to try longer, stronger strokes, which are more easily done in chest depth, but make sure you can do a quick backstroke to bring your body upright in the water so you can easily place your feet on the seabed in the upright position.

You have now swum.

At no time need the head be put under water, and the authors glasses or hair rarely get wet.

Once you can manage twenty consecutive strokes, then move out to waist depth and practice 'one stroke swimming' from the crouching position with your knees bent and the water up to your shoulders. With your arms outstretched to the sides, this is a single forward, then a backward stroke to keep you upright. Just practice moving your upper body back and forth in the water to get the action correct. It's a sort of sculling action with the hands. When you get the action right, try bobbing your feet along the bottom while crouching in water up to your neck. Eventually you will perfect a forward stroke followed by a backward stroke to keep your body level in the water. The arms will become less outstretched and you will feel increasingly relaxed just bobbing around in the water.
Gradually you will lift your feet off the seabed, and be practising keeping your head above water using a constant fore and aft arm stroke without moving in any direction. This will allow you to become increasingly confident in deeper water. Later you will want to swim in waist depth water, so learning how to keep yourself upright in the water will create greater confidence in deeper water. You may find yourself naturally swimming two strokes forward, then two strokes back, then more consecutive strokes to be close to swimming at this depth.

Pirouettes.

Back to shallow water at just a little deeper than arms depth, then safely swim to the shore. You will find the deeper water makes the arms initial strokes easier. Then try the same at the similar depth, but along the shore in an even depth of water, to allow you to practice and build up to more consecutive strokes.

These are all different ways to practice the strokes, the more the merrier, but the general approach is to gradually build up to practising the swimming without putting yourself in any danger. At all times, you should be able to stand up in the water or to put your hands on the bottom. Do not force yourself into learning to swim. It is important not to place yourself in a position where you feel uneasy.

At some time, the swimmer will reach that point where reasonable swimming skills are accomplished. It will probably be only three or four consecutive stokes, but it will be a milestone.
After a handful of sessions, the reader should be capable of some form of forward swimming. It will not be elegant, but a big breath followed by five consecutive strokes in two feet of water will be followed by a big grin.

Twenty strokes along the side of the beach will soon be accomplished. Practice, practice, practice. With time, a hundred feet of swimming will be accomplished. You may never even bother to go beyond waist depth.
At this point, the swimmer will be becoming more relaxed and the strokes will gradually become slower, stronger and more well paced.

Occasionally the swimmer will accidentally take in a mouthful or nose full of water, splutter in fright and want to stand up in the water. Keeping within waist depth will keep this experience safe. Doing this in deeper water can lead to fright, loss of calm and lead to panic. Best to play safe rather than sorry.

Feeling buoyant.

Eventually you will be floating in the water, but changing from floating, to a gentle back stroke swimming towards the beach until your shoulders run ashore. This is secondary confidence building, just to enable you to stay in the water as you relax between bouts of forward swimming.
Although incorrect, buoyancy often seems directly related to confidence. The less confident you are, the less buoyant you seem. Learning to float on your back in the shallows, both relaxes the swimmer and improves confidence in buoyancy.

Even at this simple level, the ability to swim gently on our back, plus the upright single fore and aft stroke swimming plus an increasing confidence in the water will help you to survive a sinking ship.

Continue to practice long, strong forward stokes, interspersed with floating face up in the shallows and some pirouetting in waist depth.

Eventually the swimmer will move out into deeper water at waist depth for a few strokes with the body at forty five degrees, then a backwards arm stroke to kneel upright in the water. Eventually it will be seen to be easier to do this at chest depth. Try the same strokes, to feel confident standing upright on the sea floor, then lifting the feet off the bottom for a few seconds. If in doubt, stay in shallower water until confident.

Fun strokes.

A fun, yet useful skill is to be able to turn in the water. Try spinning in the water using the sculling action described earlier which is used to keep your head above water and to avoid others in the water. This is begun in chest depth, knees up, then using a variation of the single stroke swim to use the arms to turn the body in the water. Eventually you will be able to lightly bob your toes on the bottom, while spinning around in the water. This may not seem very useful at first, but eventually you will want to practice swimming until your arms get tired, then simply to twist in the water to float on your back. Then after a few minutes, spin back into the swimming position and continue practising forward swimming. The transition from forward swimming to floating on your back should be done at waist depth with your knees up, until confident.

Eventually you can easily change from strong forward strokes into floating on your back without having to stand up, or touch the bottom. This is important should you have to abandon ship and find you are not a strong enough swimmer to swim continually. It also enables a gentle interlude while practising.

You will also notice that this 'fun' stroke is also a life saver !
If you ever get out of your depth, you can swim to shore at your own, safe pace, and if the tide is wrong, then at least you do not have to always be swimming hard to stay afloat.

Goggles and Snorkel.

DO NOT BUY FLIPPERS see later.

Buy a good quality set with silicone face seal.

When buying, do not use the retaining strap behind the head, just place the mask on your face and breathe in through your nose. The mask should stay in place.

Do not buy the first mask, but try different types and sizes until a favourite is found. Snorkels are nearly all the same, just a mouth piece and a bent tube. For basic hygiene reasons, it is not acceptable to place a snorkel in your mouth unless expecting to buy it. If you have a moustache, then some first aid grease or petroleum jelly which is normally found in small tubs, or smooth peanut butter or similar will help maintain a seal.
Separate eye coggles are no good, they also require a nose clip and never seem to keep out the water like a good face mask which also covers the nose.

The first time you put the face mask on and place your head tentatively under the water, you will feel strange. You may lift your head out quickly, gasping for breath, wondering what all the fuss is about. Nothing to worry about, it is simply a strange feeling and a survival reflex. The second time will be fascinating, as you will have your eyes open and see the wonderful underwater experience. The third time will be with the snorkel to enjoy the wonderful sights.
The inside of the mask will fog up, so spit on the inside of the glass, then rub around with the fingers to help reduce this problem.
Before using the face mask, adjust the head strap for a snug, but not too tight fit.
The snorkel is held gently by the teeth, with the mouth piece fully inside the lips. The snorkel pipe is also secured by the head strap. The pipe can be rotated relative to the mouthpiece so it points backwards past the ears for good shallow water swimming. With the mask on, the snorkel should be pointing back behind the head when in the normal standing position and slightly upwards on the head, as this is the angle the head generally makes while snorkelling.

After countless minutes at waist depth simply wandering about exploring the underwater world of diffuse sunlight and sheer relaxing underwater world, the reader will be ready to float face down in the water. This starts about arms depth, but soon changes to waist depth as confidence builds up. While lying on the surface at waist depth, it is much easier with the snorkel and goggles to return to the standing upright position. This can be accompanied with the single forward and back strokes practised earlier, so your feet bob along the bottom. All too soon you will be floating with your body and legs level with the surface as your legs do most of the forward propulsion.
Snorkelling in the shallows while learning to relax face down with gentle steady breathing, will allow the reader to practice proper swimming strokes - long, steady and relaxed.

Just enjoy the snorkelling experience, because you will soon be swimming easily, steadily and relaxed, without realising it.

Warning.

Give yourself challenges. Decide not to eat your beach snack until you have accomplished fifty or one hundred consecutive strokes. This will gradually work up to two hundred, by which time you should not be pushing yourself too far, as exhaustion must not be part of the swim routine until you are far more proficient.
Do not let enthusiasm allow you to over exert yourself at this stage. It may be safe to fall knackered at the foot of a cycle machine in a gymnasium, but not in the water were you are not a strong swimmer.
It is often easy to find excuses for not pushing yourself too far in most training schedules, but swimming is an exercise where maintaining a margin of reserve is very important.

The advantage of the snorkel and mask is that the swimmer can simply stop, then float relaxed at any time. But it is important never go beyond chest height in the water until proficient.

Spend the rest of the summer learning to swim better, stronger, further.
See how far one hundred strokes will take you. Gradually you will travel farther per stroke and the pace will become more efficient.
The author used to take two hundred strokes to cross Bovisands bay, but now manages it in a hundred and twenty.

The legs will soon want to become part of the sequence, but personal methods may be preferred. The breast stroke with its frog-like leg action is standard swimming. The crawl can be attempted once the swimmer practice the breathing sequence between strokes, or keeps the snorkel and goggles.
Others may prefer their own styles. I started off with a general flailing about at the rear, which managed to bring the feet up near the surface, but it soon got organised when snorkelling.
For sheer convenience, the author starts swimming with the breast stroke, then the legs join in doing the crawl action. It's not in the book, but it works quite well. I tell the legs to paddle, and they seem quite happy to do so in their own natural manner. It works.
I practice the crawl with a snorkel, as my co-ordination always seems to include a mouthful of water.
On my back, I do a mild back stroke, with the legs doing their crawl action. On my back, the legs are very efficient, with the arms moving like gentle flippers, just keeping my head above the waves. Keeping the legs straight helps improve speed.
While snorkelling, I let the legs do all the work. Sometimes the arms are folded behind my back, totally relaxed.
For simple up and down leg propulsion the legs should be kept fairly rigid. Bendy knees lead to less forward motion. You can easily see the difference when swimming on your back, using just the legs for propulsion. The speed difference between straight and bendy knees is massive, but faster takes more leg strength and stamina.

At no time have any floats or other aids been used. This is because they can encourage confidence in things other than the swimmer. If your hand slips off the swim float, you may panic. The best confidence should be in yourself, not swimming aids. Only the snorkel and goggle are useful, and then these are only used to help perfect the stroke action from a relaxed manner.

At this stage you should be able to call yourself a swimmer.

The author has been taught to swim by many groups and friends, all leading to a fear of water. Sometimes there is only one person who can teach you how to swim - yourself. Calmly, and at your own pace.

Other things to do once you can swim, is to swim under water. Start by diving down to pick up a stone at chest depth. This requires strong arm actions and a sense of direction. The face mask without the snorkel will help. If you are not too sure about getting the correct buoyancy while calmly holding your breath, simply try sitting on the bottom in chest depth, using your arms to maintain posture. If you keep floating to the surface, dive down and pick up a rock first, to help you stay under.

Flippers are not a good idea.
It would seem that flippers are the next step, but be warned. Flippers cause more problems than they are worth. It is almost impossible to stand up in waist depth water while wearing flippers. Snorkel and mask will help protect you in the water, but flippers will get you into more problems. Eventually you may like snorkelling so much that you enrol on a scuba diving class, available at many public swimming pools.

Be prepared.
Carrying a towel and swimming togs in the car or on the bike can be useful, especially if you are out for the day and see the perfect area where others are enjoying the water. In the summer, consider wearing undies which can double as swimming togs. Once you can swim, there is no going back, - you will want to enjoy this more and more.

Be warned.

In some circumstances you may need to be able to swim to save your life.
These may vary from a car accidentally falling into a river, to the classic abandoning of a ship or a host of other situations.

If your car goes into water, just get out as fast as possible. Do not wait around, just open the door and get out. If you wait for the pressures to equalise, you will have drowned. Just get out immediately.

If in a plane that is over water, then always take notice of the stewardesses address and read the emergency documentation. Be prepared BEFORE anything happens. You don't have to be paranoid, but simple common sense should always prevail.

On small craft such as yachts, always ensure you wear a lifejacket before leaving harbour.
On passenger ferries, check out were the lifejackets are and any life boats and buoyancy aids.
As you may not be a strong swimmer, or far from shore, or not too sure where the shore may be, then remaining with the last radioed position of the craft is important.
In cold waters, you must retain as much heat as possible. This will require waterproof clothing or plenty of clothing to retain heat. Unfortunately, lots of clothing will also require buoyancy aids. Look for specialist immersion 'dry suit' or a RAF style mini one man life raft with cover. In cold waters it is important to keep dry and thus warm, so find some form of raft, boats or other means to keep out of the water. If you must get wet, you must dry off immediately upon reaching a raft or other means of keeping out of the water.
Wring your clothes dryer at the earliest opportunity. Ideally grab some dry, waterproof clothes beforehand and stuff them into a polythene bag tied with a long length of string to your wrist before entering the water. This will also act as a buoyancy aid until you reach a raft.
If possible, add a small mirror, torch (flashlight), whistle and a bottle of drinking water.

The bin bags with lots of warm clothes stuffed inside and the ends tied will make a reasonable buoyancy aid. Don't hang on to it if jumping into the water from a height, as you may rip the plastic. If windy, tie a long piece of string to it and to your wrist.
In many cases there will be a lifeboat or life raft. On ships, you may have to jump into the water, but ALWAYS first look for the safer rope down into the liferaft so you do not get wet. This is extremely important in cold climates, where you will otherwise have minutes to live if you enter cold water.
If you must jump into the water, keep your arms over your chest, take a deep breath, hold your nose and jump feet first, out from the ship. Try to enter the water feet first. Do not enter the water very close to the ship. The deep breath will soon bring you to the surface. Then inflate the lifejacket. If you are worried about returning to the surface, the lifejacket can be partially inflated by mouth before jumping. A fully inflated lifejacket can be damaged by a long jump into the water. Always treat your life saving equipment with great care. If you take care of it, it can then take care of you.

To enter a rubber life raft, ask the others to balance the craft and not to all crowd around the entrance to help you. If one other, they should be opposite the entrance to prevent capsizing. If you are the only one, then roll or crawl in a sprawled manner into the raft, to keep it from overturning. Take a few minutes to calm down, then read the instructions. Deploy any sea anchors if needed to remain near the wreckage or its last known point, so you can help others and be found more easily.
If there are many rafts, try to join up with them as soon as possible and even out the numbers of occupants. The more people there are, then greater the chance of there being experts in fishing, navigation, sailing and other survival techniques.

If there is no organised help, then you must prepare to keep warm and also create reliable buoyancy.
In cold waters and without specialist survival clothing, then the few minutes you have before entering the water are vitally important.

If possible, grab a wetsuit or other option. If nothing, then put warm dense clothing close to our skin and then a layer of waterproofs, such as bin bags or whatever. Then an outer layer and your life jacket. This will not keep you dry, but it will at least keep the warm water close to your skin, to reduce your heat loss.
Three strong bin bags and some strong, wide tape is not as good as an immersion suit, but far better than nothing. Don't forget a warm hat. As some palstic bags are not very stong, then you should try to lower yourself into the water rather than jumping.

Once in the water, if you cannot find a raft or decent buoyancy, then at least you have the option of ditching excess clothing, but not the reverse option. Therefore you should consider adding more clothes in a bin bag or many bags, tied up and sealed for extra buoyancy. Keep the heliograph and torch (and any flares) outside of the floatation bags, ready for instant use.

You can survive for many days without food, but you must carry some drinking water. Even just a couple of bottles of mineral water are better than nothing. Plastic bottles of fresh water are lighter than sea water, but nevertheless, still add some retaining cords to the bottles, so they won't drift away. Check my website for DIY solar stills. Use any shade to try to avoid sweating.

Eventually you should be ready to leave the ship. Do this before it sinks, as there can be an undercurrent which can drag you down, so get clear as soon as possible and check how any tide is running.
With many poly bags of clothes for floatation, a couple of layers of warm if wet clothes, some water, a heliograph and torch, you should be ready to find help, from yourself and from others.

All good sailors keep a 'grab pack' which contains survival equipment. This may be big, including a liferaft, to just a small pack with a life jacket, a few tins of water, a medical kit and fishing kit. In cold climates, a warm fleece in a sealed polythene bag will also help for both warmth and floatation. An oiled woolly will repel moisture and dry faster. There are also modern quick-dry materials available. A solar still is important if far from rescue. All good grab packs include a selection of notes to help the user to make the best of the situation. Sea survival equipment includes a mirror or heliograph (or if nothing better, a CD) to alert rescue craft using the sun. A torch (flashlight) preferably with a strong, narrow beam for alerting others at night. A whistle is common fitment for lifejackets, and useful to alert the lifeboat in coastal waters. If a flare is available, then grab this too. (See also survival kits on the website.)

You will be in the water - so loosing the CD or whistle or drinking water will be permanent. You are not on the ground and simply cannot pick them up again.
You cannot afford to let go of any item. Therefore all items must have a neck cord so they do not get lost when your fingers get cold and loose their grip. A grab pack of three large bin bags, a CD, whistle and a couple of bottles of water should be less then a couple of quid. See this same web site for making your own solar still.

Now you are in the water.
Hopefully you can lie back and not exert yourself. If lucky, you may not be wet, or cold. Time to take stock of the situation. Can you help others. Will helping others cause both of you to die or can you help some people, if only a little.
Look about for potential rescue or survival opportunities. Get the heliograph ready for instant use. Likewise the flares and torch. Look for extra floatation items, from simple pieces of wood to liferafts. If windy, grab the life rafts together as soon as possible, then go searching for survivors.
If nothing, then grab all the wood you can and prepare to lash something together if possible, preferably to get you out of the water. If there is heavy oil on the water, use it to seal your clothing against the cold. If any ice is floating nearby, grab it for drinking water, the bluer the ice is, the better.

Climbing onto an iceberg is dangerous, but recommended if only to dry our for a few hours and out of the wind. They can turn over, so never place yourself in a position where you cannot immediately abandon the iceberg. A big, flat ice floe is better than an iceberg, if the waters are not too bad. Build up shelter, but never allow yourself to get trapped.

If you are near the shore, then the options can include abandoning, or staying onboard until the storm has cleared. Ships break up easily on rocks and should never be considered a guaranteed safe area. Often it is better to get clear before it destroys itself and you. To get clear, again follow the above choices, and if the wind is onto a gentle shore, consider a liferaft.
If a rocky shore, wear boots and try to reach it feet first, so you can protect yourself before finding a secure hand hold. Stay off the rocks until you have checked the way the sea breaks upon them, then time your approach to be as safe as possible. If your ship has crashed on a rocky shore, and you have skateboard safety gear and a helmet, then use them.

If in the open sea, then conserve your energy. Swimming should be as efficient as possible, and only to keep your head above water. With adequate buoyancy, no swimming should be needed other than to reach something and even then, the swimming should be as efficient as possible.

Once you can swim, take every opportunity to improve these skills.

If very brave, you may even return to the public swimming pool that frightened you so much all those years ago.

Best wishes,
Gizzajob,
John Partridge.

The author is an unemployed engineer who also has B.Ed in design and technology and a B.Sc, mainly in computing and physics. If you know of any jobs in the Plymouth area, please email.
Thank you.

Although these are called guides, the author advises the reader not to act upon this information because lawyers lie around every corner. (Increasing numbers of excellent and useful websites are being shut down through greedy lawyers. As lawyers get richer, society gets poorer.)

Always try to improve society rather than just take from it. Until then, the unavoidable lawyer stuff. Those using this information do so entirely at their own risk. Errors and omissions excepted. Contents subject to change without notice. All material herein is subject to copyright, patent and other intellectual property rights. All rights reserved. Contents for illustrative purposes only. Copying, duplication or transmission of this material whole or in part is not permitted without the written permission of the author. No responsibility is accepted for any loss, damage or any injury caused by this information. Have a nice day. No author was injured in the making of the webpage. Copyright (C) J.Partridge. 2002. 2004.