Last night I had a dream/nightmare about school. This fortunately doesn't happen too often, but was probably provoked by finding some letters the other day that I had sent to my father when I was at boarding school. Goodness, what a load of rubbish! Pages of waffle about 'best friends' with ridiculous nicknames, who, of course, I no longer even remember. The school timetable and the menus are still engraved on my heart, all these years on. After three hours of class Saturday morning we had Letter Writing from 11 a.m. for one hour. It was obligatory to write to one's parents, and if you had time left over, you were allowed to write to other members of the family or friends - if that 'friend' was on the list of suitable receivers of letters furnished by parents at the beginning of each term! We were not allowed to seal the envelopes, as the letters were censored before being sent.
Incoming mail had to have the senders' name and address on the back of the envelope, otherwise it was opened and read and all parcels were opened, just in case some parent thought of smuggling in SWEETS! Letters were distributed after lunch and after supper (remember the days when there was a morning and an afternoon delivery by the Royal Mail?).
Letters were our only contact with 'the outside world' and so, of course, used as blackmail. If we were, either collectively or individually, rowdy or misbehaved, mail was stopped and given out the following day...
There was no telephone for us to use and non of the common rooms had TV apart from the 6th form, and that was limited to an hour in the evening, and a member of staff would choose the programme. If there was nothing suitable, they didn't watch TV! During my time at school, I saw two programmes - the first landing on the Moon and the funeral of Winston Churchill. Our knowledge of what was happening in the outside world was limited to one copy of the Telegraph posted on the general noticeboard and even that was censored - offending articles were cut out, meaning that a large chunk of a non-offending article on the following page was missing! The paper was put up at midday and taken down at 6pm. During that time we had a half an hour of free time before tea, but had to change from day uniform to evening uniform, and if you were on the bath rota, the chances of reading the paper were next-to-none. One paper for 200 children with only a few minutes to read it - most of the time we gave up.
We had one exeat per term which ran from Saturday midday to Sunday at 6p.m. Those that lived the other end of the country either went to stay with a school chum going home for the weekend, or stayed at school. I hated the drive back to school, sitting in the back of the car feeling miserable, with 'Sing something simple' on the radio, as no-one could think of anything to say. A quick goodbye, and then back to the endless, hospital green corridors gleaming in the neon lighting, into supper which on Sunday night was a lump of Cheddar cheese, and a lump of pressed dates and an orange. To this day I cannot eat dates.
My brother too has awful memories of boarding school; he too dreams of it at times. However, I think, and hope, that we were the last generation that were treated in such a Dickensien manner - my half-brothers had a much easier time.
My school eventually closed down when I finished the 5th form. I went past it in the autumn - it is now a secured residence full of mock-Georgian houses - things don't really change much, do they?
This is a photo of the façade of my school - it never looked so smart in my day; this photo was taken by an Old Girl a couple of years ago, now that it has been converted into des. res! In my day the drive up to the school was full of pot-holes, straggly pines, overgrown cupressus, lanky laurel bushes - now it is all landscaped and very grand!
49 comments:
Modern kids really have no idea how lucky they are. The ResidentAdo got stroppy because I removed the cordless phone and put in a cord phone so she couldn't take it for hours up to her room (where she has an internet-connected Mac and mobile phone). She complained I was infringing on her privacy!
They never seem to play the game of 'Consequences' either...
Tell her about Skype! I make Pierre use it all the time. AND - reading through the instructions that came with my landline phone, you can put in a code so that it stops them from using the phone if they don't know the code! Very COOL and horribly SLY!
And the Consequences were....we used to play that for hours during Maths!
Ah, yes...those were the days...
When I tell my children that if I was caught in town without my school hat on, I could have been punished, they are outraged. When I tell them I had to wear fawn socks and shoes with no more than one-inch heels, they are horrified. When I talk about how we had to say Grace in Latin before we sat down to eat at lunchtime, they keel over laughing.
I played 'Consequences' with one of my adult classes on Monday night - they thought it was hilarious!
Schooldays were the unhappiest of my life. It came as a huge relief when they threw me out at 16 (Colin Randall was in the same boat and, until he was 15, at the same school) for flunking everything but English, and my education could begin.
I shall not show Bill's remark to the child, who wants to be a journalist (at the moment) and is in a 'school is a waste of time' phase.
He wants to be a journalist? Beat that out of him! It's a dying business and it never was one for a civilized human being.
When you are 16 going on 40, some things in life seem glamorous! Not for him, doing the man bites dog bit - he is off reporting from the hotspots of the world, live on TV with a bulletproof vest and bombs exploding around him!
Or the diplomatic corps - the first British Ambassador to France under the age of 25!
I am delighted that he is enthusiastic and it is difficult to explain that those who make it have slogged their guts out for years before making big time - the few who do make big time that is...
But at that age, nothing is impossible and the world is waiting for them!
Seems to me he has a future as a skier and movie-maker. Probably more fun than being British ambassador even to France.
Just trotted over from Colin's blog with thoughts of offering words of support. (Who is that anon guy anway? Mind you, if you google him he is credited with an awful lot of good quotes.)
Then I saw Sarah's first comment - and just had to comment. We have five, yes five cordless handsets in the house, but they all migrate into our "young people's" bedrooms. (At 18 to 23 they are a bit to tall to call 'children'.) The only chance of tracking them down (the phones, that is; the kids are lost for ever) is as they start to 'beep' when the batteries go flat. And then the question is to enter or not, uninvited, into territory 'off limits'.
Thankfully (well, sort of) the choice is frequently simple as the beeps most often start at 5 minute intervals about 45 minutes before our alarm clock goes off - and while the guilty 'young person' is not at home. After two or three 'beeps' I am raging and would jump through a man-trap to turn the bloody thing off - so a 'keep out' sign ain't going to stop me!
As you say, Roger - anon came out with some fine quotes, but I fear we are not talking about the same one! This is, of course, the problem of being anon...
Why is it that telephones run out of battery life when the culprit who should have put it back on the base, is nowhere to be seen? Murphy's law! Or somebody else's law.
I don't know childrens' bedrooms are 'out of bounds' - they are normally so foul that personally I have no desire whatsoever to enter!
Oh, and another thing, back on the subject of school, the only 'O' level I failed was French. Well, what was the point in that - "a waste of time" I thought. Maths, Phys., Chem were the ones that counted.
Strange. 35 years later I don't often dip into the periodic table, but when I moved to Paris, 14 years ago, that missing O level would have been very useful. Oh, if only I'd known then .....
You ever feel like you've woken up in the middle of "Alice in Wonderland" Louise? It's a further complication in the freedom-of-speech debate. How do you deal with a deluge of anonymous comments from someone who is obviously unbalanced? Colin dealt promptly with last night's exchange which involved a comment that was tantamount to a threat but clearly the problem's not going to go away.
I wish I'd had the chance to fail French, Roger. At least it would've given me a grounding. But I was made to take German, which I not only failed (the only 2 I passed were English Lang. & Lit.) but have hardly ever had to use since. French, failed or otherwise, would have been so much more useful.
We have told her about Skype, Louise but she moans she doesn't like using it. Well, I didn't like her hogging the phone either and as I am older and more experienced in getting my own way without fuss, I just presented the fait accompli of the cord phone.
Her bedroom is also foul and not for the faint-hearted. I sometimes have to brave it to shut banging shutters that she opens and doesn't attach. When I do, I carry a lace kerchief perfumed with lavender to ward off what's lurking in there. (joke)
I don't particularly like using Skpe either, especially as I don't have a Skype phone or headphones, so talking to the screen of your computer seems a little silly - however the economy is interesting. And as I imagine you are the one to pay the bills, does she have a choice?
I see that Colin R has put up a post about this anonymous problem and has blocked his site. I suppose I shall do the same thing as soon as this deranged person appears here - I still think there are a certain amount of anonymous people that wish to post normally and it is annoying that this particular anonymous will clip their wings.
As you will see, I too have disenabled anonymous comment; it is time for things to calm down a little.
Good move, Louise. I don't mind fighting with people one bit but I do like to have some idea who they are.
NEW LAW - Annoying Anonymous bloggers may be Felons!
January 10, 2006
On January 5, 2006, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on transmitting annoying messages about people without disclosing their true identity. When enforced, the criminal sanctions of this law heralds the end of anonymous bloggers spewing forth libel and defamation with no fear of retribution, and this new law that should have a immediate positive impact on blogging and improve the reliability and verifiability of information published on the web.
I wonder how they enforce it, though. How do you track down the anonymice in the first place?
Dunno - but the legislation exists...
Although one does read of cases where people are caught out through their computer - this I suppose is done because their computer is seized; whether someone can be traced through an anonymous comment, heaven knows - it's probably possible, but imagine how much it would cost.
The way things were going here for a while, it would almost have been worth having a whip-round!
I don't think it would have been worth the money. Anon is lurking on Sarah's blog now, as he can still post anonymously, but I think she will be keeping an eye on him!
I saw that, yeah. I've kept myself out of it (makes a change, eh!) though I see Colin Berry is using it as an excuse to stay in the personal blogs. Still, if anonymous sticks to his/her word that he/she won't participate as long as he's around, then it's serving a useful purpose.
Do you think anonymous could be a 'she'?
Seeing the comments posted on CR's blog, I doubt it somehow. Sorry, mustn't carry out a post mortem, it will get ColinB cross!
I was just thinking - where has Roo been lurking all this time?!
It's remarkably easy to make him climbing-the-walls furious, let alone cross so I wouldn't worry about that.
I'm not sure about anonymous's gender. It's pretty obvious, I think, that it's the same person who posted as Anne Gilbert and I often speculated that "she" was a man. Or at least male; calling this person a man is altogether too flattering. I dunno, though; I keep thinking it COULD be a woman. You don't think so?
That crossed my mind, too. But I really don't think so. Didn't he say something about being away for a little while? There's been nothing new on his blog for some time and no comments elsewhere that I've seen.
Well, we shall never find out, but I think it is a man. Or otherwise it is a woman that writes very well, pretending to be a man...there are very few good novelists that write books and take on the identity of the opposite sex.
That doesn't sound right, but you know what I mean, I hope!
Yeah, I know what you mean. There's the odd flash in those Anne-onymous posts of genuine satiric wit; few and far between but certainly present. But also, I think, a genuine derangement and anger. I don't that's faked but certainly the female voice could be. As you say, we're unlikely ever to know.
Sorry. I meant, of course, I don't THINK that's faked. I'm suffering from brain fade. I did an interview for a profile yesterday just before I quit for the week and today I made the mistake of starting to play around with my notes at home. Now I have the damned thing half-written. Not the perfect way to spend your day off.
Cooo - just think, we could turn this into an Agatha Christie style whodunnit! Or a Blog Cluedo. Who was the anonymous person stalking the blogosphere...
Good one! We need Colonel Mustard (or Miss Scarlet) in the library with the candlestick...
And it's a full moon tonight with a total eclipse - I can hear the wolves howling already (well, not really - it's Angus dreaming!).
The moon's supposed to be all pretty colours when it emerges. What a shame we have 100 per cent cloud cover here.
From this part of the world, the moon at the moment is very bright and white - I think it changes colour as it emerges from the eclipse, doesn't it? However, I think this happens around 2a.m. here so I won't be around to see it! This is actually the first time in three days we have had any clear sky at all - we have had torrential RAIN all the time - too warm to snow. It has been the warmest winter in CH since records began in 1864.
Our snow continues to melt, though the worst of the slush has gone and it's reasonably dry underfoot. The temperatures up and down, though. Plus 2 today but Tuesday is supposed to be a high of minus 13 and a low of minus 22. Not what you expect at this time of year. But, by and large, it's been a very mild winter here, too.
On ColinB's blog this morning he says that he has ways and means of discovering various miscellaneous persons on the blogosphere...but it's top secret at the moment...
Thank you for the signpost, Louise.
It's not just chocolates and cuckoo clocks that are made in Switzerland, is it ?
I've got rid of those socks. Maps are a lot more interesting.
Sorry, Colin - not with you there!
Was on my summer holiday planning - Chicago to San Francisco on the train? Could be interesting.
Continuing on from my last remark - have you been across Canada on the train, Bill (or anyone else for that matter!)
I've ridden the train from Vancouver to Toronto, Louise. A fabulous trip; I'll email you my story if you like. The best way to do it though is first class, which isn't cheap.
I'm told by various rail enthusiasts that the food and service on the American long-distance trains aren't as good. And there was a wire-service story a couple of weeks ago saying they're almost never on time because they share the tracks with freight trains which have absolute precedence. If you can live with that (and, for me, part of the joy of a long train ride is not worrying about when you're going to get there), then I'd say go for it. Or, consider taking the train across Canada to Vancouver and then south to San Francisco.
I'd love to hear your story Bill. I was thinking that we could do Montreal/Vancouver, Vancouver/SF and the perhaps back from SF/Chicago on Amtrack (although the reports aren't too good) and then fly from Chicago to Montreal and then home. Perhaps this to too much train and we should just do return Montreal/Vancouver...
I'll dig it out of the Star archives and send it to you in a coupla minutes.
Montreal to Vancouver would mean changing trains in Toronto (if the timing's right, perhaps I could meet you for lunch or dinner?) but the train from Montreal is rather nice, again especially if you travel first class. A meal (with wine etc.) is included in the fare. I believe, too, that all meals are included with the first-class fare on the Vancouver train. Meals on the U.S. trains, I think, are not included. Anyway, for more information take a look at www.viarail.ca
There is another way to do it, though it may not fit the bill for you and it could be difficult to fix up from Switzerland. Given the enormous distances here, people (especially the elderly) who are going to be spending several weeks or months a couple of thousand kilometres from home might want to have their car with them but don't want to drive it there. So they entrust it to a "driveaway" service which in turn finds someone who is going to that particular place, an experienced driver with a clean licence. You get a time and distance limit, so you can't be make detours to sightsee, but you also get a fuel allowance and it can be a cheap way to go.
I have a friend in L.A. whom I'm planning to visit next month. If there's a car available from there back to Toronto, I may fly out and drive back. Or vice-versa. I did it once in 1974 when I was living in New York. I'd only been in the States for a few months. I was offered either a Toyota to Miami or a brand new Cadillac Coupe de Ville to St. Louis. even though I had no idea where St. Louis was, but I I grabbed the Caddy. It was a terrible city but the journey was fun.
Mmmm - yes, that might be an idea - I'd forgotten about that system. We could train to Vancouver and then perhaps drive from SF back.
Bill, many messages ago, exaggerates the length of my grammar school career. Having sailed through the 11+, I became too concerned with outside interests to seize the opportunity. The reckoning came when I was 13; they'd tried most other things and decided it was time to give up. I'd been good at one subject each year I was there - French, Maths, English Language - but useless at just about everything else.
I was trying to make you look good, Colin! You wound up with one O-Level, didn't you? I had two.
Louise (and Angus), thank you for the card. It got the day off to a barking good start!
Yes, everyone, it's Bill's birthday today, and he is ... cough, cough, cough! He told me this yesterday so Angus and I sent him an e-card!
Colin and Joelle wish all their friends happy birthday, but regret that they will not be sending cards this year.....
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