Day Fifteen
Today I derived some level of ’sick’ pleasure from looking after a little boy in first form called ‘Jonny’ who vomited over his desk. Five minutes before the bell rang for home time, amidst the hubbub of learning, his mate said the words “Miss…. Jonny’s been sick.’ The class went daft, screaming, laughing, pretending to ‘chunder’. The poor chap was green. I sent the class home three minutes early and they all ran out the door, screaming as though a bomb may explode at any moment. Jonny sat, embarrassed and asked me to phone his Mum.I felt I bonded with Jonny today, I let him hold my Samsung D900 even though he still he had splashes of vomit on his fingers. I had moment when I actually thought WWJD? He touched lepers, I should let Jonny borrow my phone. His little green face looked so helpless and genuinely grateful that I was staying behind till his mummy came and collected him. There’s no other job quite like it.
Day Eight
In the same way I imagine a doctor loves it when their kids get out their science kits in the garage, I felt a warm surge of English teacher smugness today as Daisy rushed in from school and pleaded to watch Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes on DVD. In that we own a vast array of Pixar movies, I love that she giggles at the genius of Dahl and the simple illustrations of Quentin Blake. Big budgets are not everything, simple wit is priceless. I just have to pull back from explaining that it is Dahl’s clever use of rhyming couplets and parody that make them so catchy and memorable. Here’s a little taster, his version of Cinderella is certainly worth a google to brighten your day.
At once, one of the Ugly Sisters,
(The one whose face was blotched with blisters)
Sneaked up and grabbed the dainty shoe,
And quickly flushed it down the loo.
Then in its place she calmly put
The slipper from her own left foot.
Ah ha, you see, the plot grows thicker,
And Cindy’s luck starts looking sicker.
