Blue - Let's Read!

 

The best years of my working life were spent in a primary school. That amazing world of the four to seven year olds taught me more than they learnt from me and filled me with a ‘feel good factor’ on most days. Looking back, my reasons for leaving could have been looked into and dealt with. I should have asked. I wish I’d stayed, but I thought I was doing the right thing at the time. I soon realised that the new job was a mistake. It made me unhappy. One lunch time, I sat on a bench in the garden of St John’s church in town – it’s gone now, someone in authority thought it would be nice to take it all away and pedestrianise the whole area with cobble stones – I’d walked past the closed down Syndicate nightclub which I still called the ABC Theatre and Tommy Steele came to mind. I’d seen him there on several occasions. The song ‘Singing the Blues’ was in my head and made me smile in my sorrow as it was exactly how I felt. I had overcome a lot of what life had thrown my way and as I bit into my sandwich and held back tears, I knew I had to overcome this. I was doing my best in difficult circumstances and that lunch time, I felt so upset that I didn’t want to go back to work, but I had to. Over the years I managed to carve a reasonable niche for myself. When I felt a smidgen of a sense of belonging, I realised I’d succeeded, I hadn’t been beaten. I was relieved to retire.

Being retired and having the freedom to do anything I fancy brings joy. Last summer I was happy to be back in my comfort zone, reading stories to groups of Year 2 children at the primary school where I used to work and now attended by my grandchildren.  The afternoon weather was glorious, blue skies and sunshine, so we all sat outside, the children on blankets, adults on chairs. I loved every minute and expressed my thanks to the teacher in charge who had organised it. Covid restrictions had prevented anything like this and reduced school volunteering to zero. There was nothing coming up as far as anyone knew.

Out of the blue, there has been a recent shout out for volunteers to listen to children reading. I put myself forward as soon as I read the email. I’ve been processed through all the necessary checks, got a training meeting lined up and look forward to starting. Things will have moved on from Billy Blue-hat and One, Two, Three and Away, and all the Better Reading resources I used. Whatever happened to Janet and John? I’m ready to learn new methods and anything which helps children to enjoy reading, and if they’re doing it on an iPad or some other screen, it’s better than not doing it at all. With my grandchildren, I’m slowly learning to move with the times and embrace their use of electronic devices. Everything has its purpose, as I found out on one of my baby-sitting adventures.

My poem,

Armed with felt-tips in shades of blue
And green and yellow and red.
Pads of paper, puzzle books, too,
Plenty of fun before bed.

I took along a story book
And some games that they might share,
But they were too involved to look
Said, ‘put them over there.’

They said ‘hello’, the hug, a snatch.
I noticed an obvious glitch,
My baby-sitting is no match
For a new Nintendo Switch.

PMW 2023

Thanks for reading, Pam x

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Miscalculation - Don't Trust Me With Quantities

It is a long time since we had a new bathroom installed. Years have passed and it’s ready for doing again but we keep putting it off with all the ‘are we moving, are we staying’ discussions. Whether we upgrade or not, I’m keeping out of it. Last time, when the plumber completed the installation, the tiler came to measure up. I knew exactly what I wanted and where to order them from, so off I went to the tile shop with the information safely in my head. The tiler, very busy and in demand, booked us in on schedule with the tiles arrival and all went according to plan, until, when setting everything out, he wondered if there was a box missing. There were not enough tiles to complete. He measured the walls again and checked his square metre calculations. Oops. I could feel the blush of my embarrassment as I had to tell him I’d ordered the quantity in square yards. Completely my fault, no miscalculation, just an honest mistake, but he was disappointed that he wouldn’t finish the job on time and I felt stupid. More tiles were ordered. We had to wait ages for the tiler to fit us in again – it was only a small area to finish off and I began to think he was making us wait on purpose – all my fault. Don’t trust me with anything important like measurements, ordering and quantity surveying. I’m only really good for colour co-ordinating and knitting.

I expect lots of us as younger individuals still living with parents have run out of money before the next pay day comes round, or maybe that was just me. At seventeen I was the proud owner of an Austin A40. I spent my last pound on a couple of gallons of three star petrol to last me the week, perhaps a bit more, then I’d get my wages. I had been driving to work and back in town and a bit of visiting friends, nothing of any distance.  A few days later, I’d stopped not far from home and couldn’t get the car started again. I did what I’d been told to do and what anyone on their own should do, that’s find the nearest phone box and call Dad. Mobile phones were in the future. Dad listened to my description of the car’s symptoms. The ticking sound on the ignition meant it was out of petrol. He would bring me some. He knew I didn’t have money for a day or two. Bless him. Of course the petrol gauge was on zero, but it often was and I was sure it would last the week, a complete miscalculation. Dad’s words of advice which I followed from then on, was not to allow the petrol tank to run so low, otherwise sediment can get sucked up and cause problems. This might not apply to modern cars, I’m going back fifty years.

A few Haikus:

The diff’rence between
Square metres and yards,
Miscalculation.

When wages are spent
And it’s nowhere near pay day,
Miscalculation.

Austin A 40
Economical first car
That ran on fresh air.

Thanks for reading, Pam x

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