Defeat with honour

I went fencing last night, and tried my new method. I was feeling quite pleased with it, and caused serious problems for my far superior opponents. Then I asked for a lesson and got two, from Steve and Ismay Cowen - both world-class coaches who've trained more international fencers than most. By the end, I felt ashamed that I'd ever picked up a blade and thought I could fence - and I'm aching all over (and Steve's closing remark of 'you surely can't be slower than a man who's recently had a quadruple heart bypass' is ringing in my ears even now). Still, if I remember half of what we did, I'll be better next week, and the week after that etc. etc. etc.