Sunday 17 January
One of my most rewarding days in my entire teaching career. Peter McElwaine, who left last summer and now has a well-paid job in a local building society, came round to have tea with me and, in the course of a most cordial conversation, THANKED me for not sparing the rod! ‘I hated it at the time,’ he told me, ‘but the great thing about you, Miss Blackstock, was that you never flogged a boy without good cause. Firm but fair: that was your motto.’ He then reminded me (I had completely forgotten the incident, I am ashamed to say) of the time I strapped him for running in the corridor. ‘I’ve never run in the corridor since,’ he said, with a cheeky wink. Was it my imagination or was their nostalgia in his eyes as he contemplated my leather strap, hanging in its usual place?