Things are not always how they seem.

Going with the flow.

I ended up talking about my days as a teacher on my Christmas day blog and here I am back with another couple of true stories from those days.

I am sure that at some point in the past I have shared this little tale but I do not think on this blog. I taught in a fairly deprived area on the outskirts of Glasgow. Now that did not mean all the students before me were deprived not by a long way. But there were some who, to say the least, was difficult and challenging. 

Trying to find ways of helping I had planned to take some of these young people out into the country and challenge them on some hill walking. It was the last week of term before the oncoming school summer holidays. Each day I took a group of twenty students and we ventured to climb Scotlands most southern Munroe, a mountain over 3000 feet.

At the start of the walk, we were crossing a field with some cattle. It became obvious that most of the students had never been so up close and personal before. One young man got very animated. "Mr T, did you see that cow?" "What cow was that?" I asked. "That one over there it came right up to me. I was nervous. It did a big jobby right in front of me."

I laughed and said, "Seems the sight of you made it nervous as well." The cow and its business became the talk of the class for the rest of the week.

There were a number of students who made their way to my classroom at the start of the day, and again at the morning and lunchtime breaks. These students found my classroom a place of safety, not managing with playground interaction.

Every morning one of these students would arrive almost as early as me, in fact sometimes before me. 

Every morning while I was getting ready for the day she would put the percolator on and from her bag produce a well-known make of caramel wafer, one of my favourites.

I was aware that she came from a fairly large family and that there was no father on the scene. This being the case I one day took her aside and told her that as much as I enjoyed the treat that she should tell her mother that she should not go to the bother. 

The next morning, there she was with the said treat in her bag. I asked her if she had conveyed my message to her mother. 

She told me that she had. "What did your mother say?" I asked her.

My mother said to tell you, "It is ok she works in the factory where they are made and she sneaks them out in her knickers."

Noy everything in life is as simple and straightforward as it might at first seem. 

Have a wonderful carefree day, and enjoy the treats that might come your way.