sedan chair

Yesterday I was astounded to hear a golfer talking on the radio about the current trend whereby competitors in golf championships are ferried from tee to green in little buggies. When asked whether it was really so hard to walk that short distance, the golfer replied that hitting a golf shot is a demanding physical skill which takes a lot out of you. He and his fellow golfers are, he said, very grateful for the occasional buggy ride which helps them conserve their stamina.

Golfers aren’t the only sportsmen who want to cut out unnecessary traipsing. It’s been the case for a long time that championship tennis players don’t have to pick up their own tennis balls. Ball-girls and ball-boys rush about the court doing that job for them while they conserve their energy for the main task.

On that basis, I’m starting to feel that it’s too much for me to walk the exhausting distance from the green room to the concert platform. Playing the piano is physically demanding too. I mean to learn from those sportsmen’s examples. From now on, I think I shall have myself transported on stage in a sedan chair by a brace of page-turners.