philmayfield

Plenty of clots out there when it comes to anti virus precautions!

At parents’ evening the geography mistress pleaded with Ben not to fail as she’d never had a failure before! He did pass.

I still have the New Testament but not the chocolates.The last time I used the New Testament was in RI at Mellish.

The comments we usually had were - Ben's a very nice lad, but ......!

.......so my memory has not faded. Old Ma Lockwood had two sons, Peter and Foster, both of whom went to the High School. She often used to rabbit on about them. A proud mother I suppose. Some in our fourth form went on to the High School but not, I think, on free scholarships. That was only for a very clever few. Both of ours went to the respective High Schools but they had to pass stringent exams to get in. In the fifth form we were summoned by the headmaster to a meeting where he told us he was worried how our son would manage in the sixth form as he was not very academic. We went away duly

Miss Lee was OK after the horrors of Old Ma Lockwood. She lived in Calverton so she must have walked up from the bus stop on Mansfield Rd. to the school. Mr. Brace lived on Thackeray’s Lane and Mrs Hatter lived on Arno Vale Rd. directly opposite the school. I must have been a trusty as Mr Brace used to give me his letters to post at lunchtime. I remember the caretaker but thought he was called Mr.Varley.

Mrs Lockwood was an evil old bat who should never have been in charge of infants. The others I remember were Miss Lee, Mrs Hatter, Mr. Tilley and Mr. Turner, who drove all the way each day from Cropwell Bishop. His favourite punishment was hitting you on your open palms with a ruler. In his favour he did give me a shilling on two occasions. One for knowing the Five Towns and another for knowing the Cinque Ports. On my final report he wrote ‘Philip has a good general knowledge and should do well’.

Who would go into a Thornton’s shop and buy their oversweet gooey stuff?You can buy their products at supermarkets if so you desire but there are better quality products on the shelves. I’m surprised they’ve lasted in shop form for so long. I’m surprised that a company like Ferrero Rocher bought them out.

We didn't go in until after 9pm. All the excitement was over by then!

There was certainly no rowdiness in the Moon. It was a respectable crowd. The head brewer from Shipstone’s, the chief engineer at Boots, the manager of Staythorpe power station, the local doctor and dentist and me, to name just a few!

Very many years ago the local policeman used to pop into the Full Moon at Morton and join us at the lock in after hours. No doubt we would all be arrested today.

There's no history or photographs of my old primary, Arno Vale. It was built pre war and is still in existence. I must confess I never went back to visit.

That would have been Hunt and Colley.

I’ve elected to go ‘straight to crem’ so no music for me!

I do like Elgar. Some years ago I was able to fulfill my ambition of driving through Elgar country, the Malvern Hills, in my Morgan, listening to his music on cd. A magical experience. I’m not normally a sentimentalist but there’s something very ‘English’ about the music of Elgar. We played Nimrod at my Mother’s cremation. No service, just the music.

Freedom of speech. A statement of personal opinion. Surely we can all state that.

Whatever she was responding to it was a controversial comment which was worthy of general discussion. I was quoting her verbatim.

Men get attacked too. Although not usually by women!

None of our four have ever gone missing. The little black tabby, who likes the outdoor life, occasionally sleeps on the hay in the field shelter but she’s always here for breakfast. Perhaps we’re just too kind to them!

Jenny Jones, a Green Party peer, has proposed a 6pm curfew for all men. Won’t bother me, I never go out after 6!

Funnily enough, some years ago I knew their chief technician, so I could possibly have pulled strings. Sadly he he is now retired.

By the time I'd got them in focus they'd gone! They were low enough to see the pilots though.

We had a ringside seat from the doorstep and they just cleared our poplar trees. Quite exiting but there were only 4 in formation and one solitary. Disappointing. It was more entertaining this afternoon watching a tree surgeon from Western Power hanging from a rope at the back of our orchard cutting branches away from the power lines with a chainsaw.

I can highly recommend Rainworth Fencing. They've done a lot of excellent jobs locally and they replaced two 7 foot field gateposts for me yesterday all for £240.

I read they have reported losses of half a billion and that further stores will have to close. I wonder if this will be the end for the Nottingham branch? It was the only place worth visiting in the Victoria Centre and most of the stuff you could buy there is available on line. Some people, mainly ladies, enjoy visiting the shops and trying on garments but they don’t represent the majority of purchasers. I can see an opportunity for yet more student flats.