Link to original post: [drupal=1248]Chronicles of an English Schoolboy.[/drupal]
Now that I'm merely a few months away until I say goodbye to school education, I felt like taking a step back and reminiscing on the hilarious antics, the good times, and the bad times etc.
So, I'm going to start a series detailing some of my most prominent memories of my school career, from Kindergarten all the way until Secondary School/Senior High.
To say my school career has been wild would be an understatement. There are a lot of things that they say makes a man, but for me, your school life is the biggest determining factor of all. I am who I am today, mainly because of my experiences in school, good and bad.
I'll start with one that happened some 5 years ago, when I was around 12/13.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/City.of.london.school.arp.jpg
There's my school (Red Building), a magnificent building is an understatement. The interior is more like a labyrinth than a school to visitors. A Private All Boys' School (lol), that I happened to get a scholarship to. Adjacent to the Milennium Bridge; across which is the Tate Modern, and also a stone's throw away from St. Paul's Cathedral (as I think you can clearly see).
At the time of the story, the invasion of Iraq had just begun, and being a year before the 7/7 bombings, the fear of terrorist activity in what is the heart of London was very prominent, probably more so than today. We received several security alert drills per term, and they were at that time practiced more often than fire drills.
I remember it clearly now, we were all sitting in Geography, doing our work, or rather not doing it, when suddenly we hear the distinctive siren, followed by the monotonous announcement of "Attention, attention. This is a security alert. Please stand by for further announcements." The siren recommences its wailing.
"Ohh Jesus, not another drill" came out the mouth of one of the students.
Our teacher, however, looked more worried than usual, as the teachers usually just complain when the siren comes up, this time, he had a puzzled and anxious look on his face. Teachers were usually informed of drills, and since none seemed to be planned, the look of surprise on his face was quite understandble.
"Boys, be alert, there was no drill planned today, none that I've heard of."
"Ah whatever sir, it's always a drill, who the hell is gonna bomb us anyway?"
The siren stops wailing and white noise starts to crackle in the school announcement speakers. "Attention, attention. This is a security alert" This was a live feed voice from the Assistant Headmaster, not the recorded voice. "Please move to your designated assembly points, please stay clear of glass and windows, and do not use the lifts (elevators). This is NOT a drill, I repeat, this is NOT a drill. Please move, in silence."
Usually, drills are a loud affair when they shouldn't be, but this time, the school went deathly quiet, and as I scanned the faces of the boys, I saw nothing but terror and grief. Some had already snapped and started to shed tears. Indeed, perhaps it was the day when we would all die.
We moved in an uncharacteristically orderly and efficient fashion to the assembly point, which, for us younger kids, was the underground theatre. No windows and underground with routes to exit from the school. I guess you always choose the safest place for the younger ones. We waited for an excrutiating 2 hours in the theatre, every second expecting something to happen, for us to die. We heard news in this time, all it said was "They've found a bomb in the river Thames"
F***.
Bomb? What kind of bomb? The Thames is big, was it just outside the front entrance? I suppose the biggest fear was the fear of the unknown. If we knew the bomb's location, etc. and even if it were right outside the school entrance, the fact that we knew would probably have eased our nerves. Not knowing, however, was the biggest killer of all.
"Attention, attention, please evacuate the building in silence."
Uh oh, this does not sound good. We filed out of school silently, and on the way a boy that had until that point been quite unpleasant to me, came and squeezed my shoulder and said "Listen, if I've ever done anything to upset you, I just want you to know I'm sorry."
Wow, I thought, he must really think this is it.
"Come on man, Osama's not here yet, there's no need to confess your love for me."
Humour is my way of dealing with my own fear and others'. Hell, I thought I could die too, but keeping my spirits up was paramount in my view. We exited the building and saw a massive police presence, and several Chinook Helicopters deploying personnel.
We were quickly escorted from this scene, and taken to a more secure location near St. Pauls Cathedral.
"There's an unexploded WWII bomb that's been discovered. Defusing it would be risky, so they're going to do a controlled explosion, you should be safe here."
For 30 minutes there was an eerie, tense silence in the usually noisy and lively area that is Queen Victoria Street. We were all crossing our fingers for the whole time.
BOOM.......... "The threat is over! I repeat, the threat is over! Please return to your normal business."
A massive roaring cheer erupted across the area. From young boys to 60 year old office workers. The sense of relief caused a short period where all decorum and dignity was lost, in that wonderful point when you knew you weren't going to die.
Before that point, I had never considered my own mortality. I never made the most of every moment, and had never strived to be the best person I could be. Knowing the fear of the possibility perhaps helped me grow up in a way I never had before. From that day forth, I changed, I worked harder, and was more forgiving of people's shortcomings. I'm not sure if that marked the lives of the others, but it did mine. I observed people during the ordeal, and came to realise that despite what people may show, they all have compassion for their fellow men inside. Perhaps when we all share our final fate together, then all our truths will surface. It's a shame perhaps that it would take something like this to bring so many people together, in a moment when they think they're going to die. But for me, the knowledge that such togetherness and compassion was there changed my view of humanity, and for the first time, I had faith in my fellow men.
So, a pretty insane school adventure I guess, there aren't many that quite match the scale of this one, but life is full of surprises and adventures, each with their own messages and lessons to teach.
TL;DR I know, but thanks if you did
Now that I'm merely a few months away until I say goodbye to school education, I felt like taking a step back and reminiscing on the hilarious antics, the good times, and the bad times etc.
So, I'm going to start a series detailing some of my most prominent memories of my school career, from Kindergarten all the way until Secondary School/Senior High.
To say my school career has been wild would be an understatement. There are a lot of things that they say makes a man, but for me, your school life is the biggest determining factor of all. I am who I am today, mainly because of my experiences in school, good and bad.
I'll start with one that happened some 5 years ago, when I was around 12/13.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/City.of.london.school.arp.jpg
There's my school (Red Building), a magnificent building is an understatement. The interior is more like a labyrinth than a school to visitors. A Private All Boys' School (lol), that I happened to get a scholarship to. Adjacent to the Milennium Bridge; across which is the Tate Modern, and also a stone's throw away from St. Paul's Cathedral (as I think you can clearly see).
At the time of the story, the invasion of Iraq had just begun, and being a year before the 7/7 bombings, the fear of terrorist activity in what is the heart of London was very prominent, probably more so than today. We received several security alert drills per term, and they were at that time practiced more often than fire drills.
I remember it clearly now, we were all sitting in Geography, doing our work, or rather not doing it, when suddenly we hear the distinctive siren, followed by the monotonous announcement of "Attention, attention. This is a security alert. Please stand by for further announcements." The siren recommences its wailing.
"Ohh Jesus, not another drill" came out the mouth of one of the students.
Our teacher, however, looked more worried than usual, as the teachers usually just complain when the siren comes up, this time, he had a puzzled and anxious look on his face. Teachers were usually informed of drills, and since none seemed to be planned, the look of surprise on his face was quite understandble.
"Boys, be alert, there was no drill planned today, none that I've heard of."
"Ah whatever sir, it's always a drill, who the hell is gonna bomb us anyway?"
The siren stops wailing and white noise starts to crackle in the school announcement speakers. "Attention, attention. This is a security alert" This was a live feed voice from the Assistant Headmaster, not the recorded voice. "Please move to your designated assembly points, please stay clear of glass and windows, and do not use the lifts (elevators). This is NOT a drill, I repeat, this is NOT a drill. Please move, in silence."
Usually, drills are a loud affair when they shouldn't be, but this time, the school went deathly quiet, and as I scanned the faces of the boys, I saw nothing but terror and grief. Some had already snapped and started to shed tears. Indeed, perhaps it was the day when we would all die.
We moved in an uncharacteristically orderly and efficient fashion to the assembly point, which, for us younger kids, was the underground theatre. No windows and underground with routes to exit from the school. I guess you always choose the safest place for the younger ones. We waited for an excrutiating 2 hours in the theatre, every second expecting something to happen, for us to die. We heard news in this time, all it said was "They've found a bomb in the river Thames"
F***.
Bomb? What kind of bomb? The Thames is big, was it just outside the front entrance? I suppose the biggest fear was the fear of the unknown. If we knew the bomb's location, etc. and even if it were right outside the school entrance, the fact that we knew would probably have eased our nerves. Not knowing, however, was the biggest killer of all.
"Attention, attention, please evacuate the building in silence."
Uh oh, this does not sound good. We filed out of school silently, and on the way a boy that had until that point been quite unpleasant to me, came and squeezed my shoulder and said "Listen, if I've ever done anything to upset you, I just want you to know I'm sorry."
Wow, I thought, he must really think this is it.
"Come on man, Osama's not here yet, there's no need to confess your love for me."
Humour is my way of dealing with my own fear and others'. Hell, I thought I could die too, but keeping my spirits up was paramount in my view. We exited the building and saw a massive police presence, and several Chinook Helicopters deploying personnel.
We were quickly escorted from this scene, and taken to a more secure location near St. Pauls Cathedral.
"There's an unexploded WWII bomb that's been discovered. Defusing it would be risky, so they're going to do a controlled explosion, you should be safe here."
For 30 minutes there was an eerie, tense silence in the usually noisy and lively area that is Queen Victoria Street. We were all crossing our fingers for the whole time.
BOOM.......... "The threat is over! I repeat, the threat is over! Please return to your normal business."
A massive roaring cheer erupted across the area. From young boys to 60 year old office workers. The sense of relief caused a short period where all decorum and dignity was lost, in that wonderful point when you knew you weren't going to die.
Before that point, I had never considered my own mortality. I never made the most of every moment, and had never strived to be the best person I could be. Knowing the fear of the possibility perhaps helped me grow up in a way I never had before. From that day forth, I changed, I worked harder, and was more forgiving of people's shortcomings. I'm not sure if that marked the lives of the others, but it did mine. I observed people during the ordeal, and came to realise that despite what people may show, they all have compassion for their fellow men inside. Perhaps when we all share our final fate together, then all our truths will surface. It's a shame perhaps that it would take something like this to bring so many people together, in a moment when they think they're going to die. But for me, the knowledge that such togetherness and compassion was there changed my view of humanity, and for the first time, I had faith in my fellow men.
So, a pretty insane school adventure I guess, there aren't many that quite match the scale of this one, but life is full of surprises and adventures, each with their own messages and lessons to teach.
TL;DR I know, but thanks if you did
