My Old School

      1970s  "New School"                                                  Artist's Impression of "New" New School

Yours Truly

A year after I left my junior school they demolished its Victorian buildings and built a new one a quarter of a mile away. I recall thinking it was a bit of a shame but the new site looked fabulously modern, and that those younger kids were really lucky (while I was now ensconced in the altogether more scary and dark secondary school 100 yards away).

On a visit last week to my Dad, who still lives nearby, I learned that this too was being torn down and replaced.

My initial reaction was to feel old. So old that the school which replaced my old school was itself now so ancient that it must be put out of its misery by the wrecking ball. That so many pupils had passed through its corridors since I was too old to do so, that it was just used up and worn out. Pretty depressing stuff, especially when you never quite think of yourself as a grown-up.

Then I figured it out. Should have been obvious actually. It must be down to poor building standards. The whole place was probably riddled with damp, maybe even asbestos, like in Our Friends in the North. Those poor kids were no doubt coughing and spluttering all day instead of learning. Just one of those things, really.

Yes, that'll be it.

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