Nostalgia 1

On skipping school 💘

I remember that feeling suddenly, sharply, of being a schoolgirl and skipping school

or

Not just skipping school but

Waking up to get ready for school

Readying for school

Leaving the house for school

Running down the street to catch the coach for school ( whole half mile to the coach stop )—walking for a bit, picking up my pace at the end turning the corner and there it is

The defining moment

Either

the coach is there and the line of girls are queuing up, clambering on, few moms standing by for the younger ones

others walking back to their cars already

maybe only 3 or 4 girls left now

waiting with their backpacks slung(either single or double strapped) or,

Nothing

As in

No coach. No girls. No moms. No 4x4s. And definitely no more running

Then I smirk

uh oh I’ve missed the coach

and the morning unfolds in front of me

(very suddenly)

That feeling ❤️

---

I wasn’t 100% naughty

Would still make my way to school if I missed the coach. Missing the coach just meant having to find my own way to school

Which meant

having to find a new way to get to school because my school was really far away—at least 8 possible routes(maybe more?)

And this is what I secretly wanted:

a new route, a new way, a little unknown…

So though my school was north and I lived north it made just as much sense to go through central London first

then go back out again

(honestly)

even just

passing through central London was enough to turn me on (and sometimes,

sometimes I got off)

I

liked the underground

because it was neutral space

and I felt

pretty inconspicuous in my school uniform (weirdly)—then

who knew?

anything could happen

and if something did happen

then, i’d be too late for first two periods and I’d have to think of a full blown excuse before slipping back into the shit stream

(our uniforms were brown and blue💙)

---

Didn’t have many problems at school

Only problem was

broadly knew what was going to happen there

Some

really important lessons,

Other

less important lessons,

a

sweet cheap pastry from tuck

soft

savoury plastic cheese pasta at lunch, maybe

a fun lunch, maybe a really really fun lunch (oranges!) maybe

maybe go to that club at lunch? Probably not

sports—omg sporrrrrrrrtsss. I’m going to the vending machine to get a coffee. What time is it?

What time is it?

What time is it?

Home.

[…]

But on the underground?

The underground was a totally different kind of school

and just like school there was an

in

and there was an out

and once you were in, you could go anywhere you wanted you could

ride the underground for as long as you needed — all lines included !

back and forth no one‘s counting — yeah, yeah,

don’t

remember much of what I thought about when I was sixteen (?)

but today (today !)

i do remember my experience of the underground as my all inclusive holiday from school resort ❤️💙❤️