Of The History of School Days

For some reason I took a notion last night to Google my old history teacher, Mr Vickery and see if there was any record of him. I really liked Mr Vickery and his subject and we got on well. He was in his late 50s and I got the sense that he was really fed up with the school and I could see why even then. Classes were out of control, morale was really low (I could tell that from the number of arguments you could hear coming from the teachers' staff room as you went by on the way to assembly) and violence in the school was common place. That's violence between pupils and from pupils to staff. A colleague of Mr Vickery's got caught up in a fight with a fifth year in the play ground one winter's afternoon. He was the school chemistry teacher and approaching retirement. No sooner had the teacher put his "gloves up" than he was decked and out cold for a good few seconds. We never saw the teacher again.

Mr Vickery was enraged by this and the fact that another boy, the school bully, hadn't been expelled for beating up and cracking the ribs of one of the prefects. He didn't exactly tell us this. What loyalty he had left for the school prevented him from doing so but you could tell by the look on his face when you asked him what happened after each incident and indeed what was going to happen now. He'd reply biting his lip "No action is expected son" as anger and frustration welled up in his face.

According to Google Mr Vickery died in 1996. The only record of him online is an obituary. Strange that sometimes online you only really exist when you depart this world.

Incidentally, the school bully I came across on Friends United a while back. He left a message telling everyone that he'd love to hear from anyone that knew or remembered him.

Funny world innit?