tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29004177.post4796939178786064192..comments2023-10-26T15:02:50.331+01:00Comments on Life Is All Cobblers: In which the past came back to haunt me..J.Jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04429727115197726031noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29004177.post-64674148377694441062009-07-23T12:45:56.373+01:002009-07-23T12:45:56.373+01:00Karen - sounds like a wise move to get on well wit...Karen - sounds like a wise move to get on well with the rougher girls - especially the one known as The Tank!J.Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04429727115197726031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29004177.post-73921215743729486622009-07-23T11:03:53.318+01:002009-07-23T11:03:53.318+01:00I went to a comprehensive school, although why I a...I went to a comprehensive school, although why I am called that I'm mot sure. It was full of people who weren't as fortunate as me, people that you would call "rough" or "from the wrong side of the tracks". I wasn't very popular as I was clever, but popular enough in the clever crowd. To do well at this school you had to want to do well, as there were plenty of disruptive pupils who simply weren't interested in academia. A vocational course would have suited them much better. I actually got on better with the "rougher" girls in my year (the ones who smoked, would probably get in fights and often tell the games teacher to fuck off) than the ones who thought of themselves as "it" (think they're gorgeous, always worry about appearance and make fun of you if you're wearing the wrong sort of trainers/top/pants etc). In fact sometimes if the it girls tried to take the piss out of me the rough girls would tell them to stop bothering me. Which they would then do as one of them wasn't nicknamed Tank for nothing!<br /><br />I've made it sound like a terrible school, it wasn't, just some of the pupils. Most of the teachers were very good and helped get me nine GCSEs and go on to do A Levels, which I had to do elsewhere as they only taught 11-16.Karenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09284082835424987769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29004177.post-2028406100592042512009-07-22T14:27:24.396+01:002009-07-22T14:27:24.396+01:00Lucy - I am shocked beyond words - You wore gym sh...Lucy - I am shocked beyond words - You wore gym shoes for Speech Day!!!<br /><br />YP - I know exactly where you school was. Actually I know where both of them were. I loved visiting Beverley (such a nice girl that Nellie). <br /><br />Jay - you remind me about my Latin classes. I was full of enthusiasm for the first week of Latin - but the dull beyond belief teacher soon knocked that out of me. I never got much further than Amo, Amas, Amat. Erhh- what comes next?<br /><br />John - the girls at my school would have loved to have had you.....J.Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04429727115197726031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29004177.post-58590868793112923572009-07-22T08:16:30.241+01:002009-07-22T08:16:30.241+01:00Clearly that education has stood you in good stead...Clearly that education has stood you in good stead, though, J.J. The quality of the posts at this blog alone must be the result of those Writing classes. ;-)<br /><br />I would have loved to have gone to an all-girls school.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12272341393007849321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29004177.post-73734695273413104182009-07-21T18:57:42.664+01:002009-07-21T18:57:42.664+01:00Oh, my goodness, did that bring back memories!
I ...Oh, my goodness, did that bring back memories!<br /><br />I was sent to an all-girl High School when I passed my eleven plus, and it didn't take me very long to get over the feeling of elation. My time there was miserable. We didn't have speech lessons, but we had Classics and Latin, and only the serious underachievers got to do Domestic Science. The uniform thing sounds just like Northampton. I was telling my son and his girlfriend just the other day about Mrs Pipe, who doubled as gym teacher and biology teacher and had a piercing upper class accent and a nose to match.<br /><br />Many was the time I stood in the inspection line-up and had my non-regulation purse belt twanged by her (they were NOT meant to be elasticated) or got hauled up for wearing my outdoor shoes inside, or some other heinous offence.<br /><br />Yep, we had our regulation navy blue knickers inspected too. Sheesh. They'd never get away with it these days.jayhttp://www.thedeppeffect.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29004177.post-70902280791876034322009-07-21T17:29:11.526+01:002009-07-21T17:29:11.526+01:00When you were in Hull, you must have passed Hymers...When you were in Hull, you must have passed Hymers College - the direct grant school for boys. Being a clever little sod, like you I passed the 11+ with flying colours and earned (was punished with?) a scholarship to Hymers. My experience there seems very similar to yours in Northampton but unlike you I would never, ever return for a reunion. The hatred I felt for that place remains undiluted through the years. Just as Skegness saved you, so Beverley Grammar School saved me re. my A levels. If I hadn't gone there I might have had to become a knickers inspector in a girls' school or something equally mundane!Yorkshire Puddinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06019673884543913089noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29004177.post-44678841323518979782009-07-21T10:34:48.655+01:002009-07-21T10:34:48.655+01:00Yes, that sounds very much like my old Alma Mater,...Yes, that sounds very much like my old Alma Mater, Dover Grammar School for Girls: I would never be tempted back there for a reunion. But, I was, of course "disgustingly disloyal", in the words of the Headmistress, by the fourth form and left after the fifth. Yes, the act of wearing gym shoes to Speech Day somehow revealed the irredeemable blackness of my heart ....Lucyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06063718794138735770noreply@blogger.com