Fifty Years Ago: Monday, 14th June 1976
(Sedbergh School, Age 14.8)
I carried on reading World of Expeditions, escaping into maps, journeys and impossible landscapes before breakfast. Mornings always felt easier when I had some other world already alive in my head before the bell went.
Breakfast: edible for a change — eggy bread with a lot of Tomato Ketchup, the sort of thing that briefly made boarding school feel almost homely.
In Powell Hall, Skull gave us a lecture about Sir James Ogilvy Blair-Cunynghame, Chairman of the Governors. It all felt like showing off the good and the grand and an example of what we were supposed to do with our lives: long names, old institutions, and endless talk about men who belonged to another era. I remember trying to stay attentive while my mind drifted elsewhere.
Chemistry: we took notes on water — purity, impurities, and all the technicalities.
English: Touchstones, a novel? And I worked on “Johnny…”, though I can no longer remember exactly what this was about.
Physics: I spent most of the lesson fooling around with Chin, and the entire class got into trouble and received “impots”.
A letter arrived from Mum, which always altered the mood of the day – someone out there was thinking about me.
Lunch came and went in the usual blur of noise, trays and slop bowls.
English: Twelfth Night. I was reading Sebastian in Scene III, Act II. I preferred performing texts more than analysing them. Speaking Shakespeare aloud made it feel alive in a way essays never did.
French
Divinity: Bluesy— a Prefect — took Room 4. A small shift in room hierarchy as a Prefect takes on the role of a teacher and adult.
Swimming: I did 100 metres in 1 minute 11, which pleased me. Swimming was one of the few places where effort translated directly into measurable improvement. Times mattered. They gave shape to the week. I was getting faster due to biology, not training.
Afterwards, we did ‘Flights’, though I ended up feeling sick. Whether from exhaustion, chlorine, food, nerves, or simply overdoing things, I’m not sure now. But I remember that heavy, overheated feeling of pushing through the evening while still expected to carry on as normal.
Preps: extra French, Geography and Divinity
Then bed — and back to World of Explorers.
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