V for Violin

Sadly I forgot completely to take photos of my violin before I left home to come back to uni. So I cannot show you just how pretty (In my opinion) my violin is. 

I started playing the violin when I was in year 2. I had a lot of practise sessions at home which involved a lot of tears and some truly awful sounding playing. However I somehow got through that and played regularly for years. When I lived in Kent I was part of a local orchestra and we used to go to Croydon among other places to perform concerts. I remember once our conductor stopping us playing during a concert because she believed we could play better and being embarrassed even at a young age. Once we moved up north I continued to play but had a teacher who did not seem to help me progress. I played again in an orchestra but of a much smaller size weekly but eventually the sessions were stopped as there were not enough of us to keep it going. I continued with my lessons and went in for my Grade 7..Which I failed. By four marks. Ouch. It was the first thing I had ever failed..But it taught me a lot. After the failure I was unsure of what to do next. As second year exams for sixth form were approaching violin took a back seat and I stopped my lessons. Since then I've not really played much and realised the other day I'm not sure I'd even know how to now. Maybe when I'm home next I'll have to see how bad I am now?

What hobbies have you given up on that you wish you hadn't?