Misbehaving

 I was in the 'S' stream between '57 and '62 and went on to the sixth form.

During one of those early years we had a male teacher who had problems controlling some of us; I do not include myself in this story because at that time I was a real goody-goody.

If only I could remember the teacher's name, but someone may recall it... (sounds like the fondly remembered Mr Burns ed) I have no idea what the misbehaviour was but the poor man ranted at us, "You're JOLLY WELL RABBLE". For months after that the saying stuck and he was known as "Jolly well rabble".

What made such an impression on me was the delicious feeling of being included in that epithet. I had discovered the glow of a new power and in my quiet way I nurtured it. One of my favourite activities exercising my emancipation was "avoiding the duty teacher" who used to patrol the school during breaks. I was not alone in this - I had found a whole new group of fun people to indulge with.

We used to position ourselves on a staircase and keep a lookout for the teacher. When he/she was sighted we would hare along the corridor and up or down another staircase. There was some skill in this and an element of danger if you got it wrong and ran into them. We occasionally got caught when two or more teachers positioned themselves in strategic places.

It may have been one such time when I was hauled before Miss Cast, my house-mistress, who told me that I was a law unto myself. ME? My husband has often reminded me of this flaw in my character, poor chap!

Thinking about it, I probably got more exercise running up and down stairs than I would have had just roaming the playground.

Rosemarie (Dawn) Schwarz (Hunt)