I guess it was my brief appearance in the staff room ( I was after the village hall keys , so I could rig some lights for the school play) that prompted her to ask me. I'll not be going, its the day before DH's choir dinner. Can't face two pub blow out dinners in a row.
I've a tale to share with the tea room. not that ist specially for the tea roomers, but I can;t think who else to share it with.
Between 9 and 4 years ago I did bit of work in a secondary school each December, the same school, doing the same project each year. Each year the school would assign a few students to do " work experience" with us ( me and Y and W, three different specialists) on the project. Often these kids were talented musicians, or IT whizzkids , bright sparky high achievers. One year the student ( lets call him Jon) who worked with me was not in that mould, rather he was a quirky kid, picked on and teased for being odd, socially gauche and rather young for his age, no great shakes academically but plodding along a vocational pathway. He was bit of a pain to work with and talked incessently , but it seemed Jon had been taken in by the relevant teacher and was being kept away from bullying by keeping him busy at lunchtimes. So I attempted to teach him some techie skills and involve him in the project.
I didn't work on that project for a few years, till today, when I was back , same project, slightly different role, same school. There was a young man working for the school , responsible for keeping the project going in the next week, in short he was in a role I used to be in 4/5 years ago. I didn't recognise him & asked his name.
" I'm J" he said " I'm back for the week" ,
"back? " I asked.
"yes, I work in London, the job Y gave me a reference for "
Seeing I still didn't recognise him, he pulled out his driving licence.
" I've changed a bit, I used to look like this"
It was Jon. What a difference 4 years had made. the nervy , over chatty, clueless kid was now a young man, full of confidence in what he was doing, making a living in a job he likes, attending college part time for a craftsmans qualification. Willing to spend part of his holiday helping out at his old school.
There isn't really a point to this story. I guess not all kids who are picked on at school will bounce back like Jon has done, but some will , and I'm really pleased Jon has. I'm also really pleased he has gone into my line of work and is making his living at it at only 19. He has the same entry level job that I had at that age, and it was the start of a life time of work for me. I hope he is as lucky.