Choices
Eleven Plus Examination; first milestone passed and signposts pointed to 'no-choice' choices -
"Possible combinations of English: French: German: Latin?"
"Yes."
"Plus Greek?"
"No."
"Art: Needlework: Cookery?"
"Yes."
"Plus Shorthand and Typing?"
"No."
"Maths: Biology: Science: Physics: History: Geography?"
"Yes, yes, yes."
But only if
The Arts were not first choice; a 'no-choice' choice in action, curtailed by timetable restrictions and too few teachers, or too few hours in a day.
Summation
Life had come in six year slices;
first, a war torn, well populated family life:
second, a solitary, introverted world at school:
third, a dawn of self awareness, confidence
and growing realization of the enormity
of how much knowledge was on offer.
From eighteen on, as if twelve years’ worth
of three-term-times-each had not been enough,
came another five-times-three at art
college:
annual, pie chart segments, interspersed
with dribs and drabs of
holiday buffers
linking the rushing train of life and
learning.
But the points changed
and sent me along a branch line -
to marriage, and children,
not the capital city of a teaching career.
Now whistle stop memories
halt at my brain station
as scenery blurs outside time’s window.
The engine followed its track to Now,
but
the train still holds fast to the rails…
Destination? Learning; always changing.
This is the follow on from last Wednesday's Real Toad's challenge to write a prelude. :)
