School Blues

My days of leisure were over sooner than I thought they would be. Five days in to my trip I went back to school... elementary school. With my Uncle Pete as the head teacher, I sat in on his class as well as enjoying two different physical education classes with other classes.


My uncle's students were in the middle of a unit on WWII.

My impression of this Plymouth public school was that it was well funded and well staffed. My uncle's class had an impressive complement of technology including a ceiling mounted projector with sound system. Pupils sat around tables in small groups and stored their supplies in cubbies instead of the desks I was used to. For a class of twenty nine students there were two and often three teachers or teacher's aids present at any given time. Students wore uniforms: black bottoms with white tops and blue sweatshirts (jumpers). Skirts for the girls were optional and even more optional for the boys.

Highlights of the day:

Morning Greeting -

My uncle, Mr. Walshe: Good morning Joey.
Joey: Good morning Mr. Walshe.
Mr. Walshe: Good morning Hannah.
Hannah: Good morning Mr. Walshe.

And so on, through 29 iterations of Good Morning Mr. Walshe. It ends with all the pupils joining together for a lilting high-pitched unison affirmation:

Good morning Mr. Walshe. Good Morning Mrs. Tomson. Good Morning Miss. Waring. Good Morning Mr. Seitz. Good Morning Everyone.

That made me smile.

Rounders Game -

Rounders is a baseball-like game with little of the beauty or subtlety of baseball. Standard equipment includes a tennis racquet, tennis ball, four plastic poles, and fifty excited school children. According to the Plymouth students, I am the best rounders player ever to walk on British soil. I hit two rounders (home runs) at two at-racquets, scoring one rounder for each team (to keep it fair).


Game of Rounders in a beautiful field outside the school.

Dinner with Ben and the Walshe Family -

My cousin Ben finished his course work and dissertation at Keele University and will graduate July 9! He and his friends stopped in Bere Alston on his way down to Cornwall. Pam cooked up enough home-made mac and cheese for a crew of nine which we washed down with beer and wine. It was great to catch up with Ben again. The last time we were together was a year ago at our grandfather's funeral.


My cousin Ben and me.

By the way, my bike arrived safely. Here are a couple of pictures of the little green.


Right out of the box.


Ready to ride.