When punishment was to be meted out at my GS, Many of the teachers would give the option of lines (usually several hundred, at least twenty words long, and to be written backroads and forwards alternately), detention (Friday after school, usually an hour, sometimes more), or a specified number of whacks with a plimsole, cricket-stump, etc.

On the occasions when I had transgressed, I always elected for the whacks, on the basis that the whacks were over and done with in a few seconds, whereas lines or detention stole large chunks of time which I could put to better use.

Perhaps I have a low pain threshold, but it never bothered me apart from the initial few seconds until the sting began to subside, and I hold no grudges against the teachers involved - I’m pretty sure I got what I deserved.