Countdown 10...magical youth

Here we are again on the verge of a French visit just ten days away and I'm positively buzzing with excitement. I feel like a little kid again so I've decided to rescue a thought or two of mine from age 10 down to zero. I might struggle by the time I leave for France, but that's nothing new.

Aged 10 in 1962 and Marilyn Monroe had just died, although I was more in love with climbing trees than 36 year old icons. I was at boarding school in Reigate thanks to Sunderland Social Services or something along those lines. It was a dream come true. I loved the lakes, woodlands and Capability Brown landscaping which had replaced concrete and a bombed out inner city area I called home.

Tony Coleman was still trying to get the better of me after I stopped him bullying me on the first day of school two years previous. He managed it six years later by rubbing pepper in my face as a prelude to punching me senseless...or so he thought.  If you are reading this Tony, the pepper gave me more grief than your punches. Full marks for perseverance though.

I remember the Cuban Missile Crisis. Our history teacher was convinced it was war and I wondered if it meant the end of tad-poling as we knew it.

Lawrence of Arabia was the big film although I didn't get to see it straight away.

I think it was a James Bond book (which was banned from school) that I read selected passages from by torchlight under bed covers. A few years later would see me read full books like 'A Town Like Alice'.

My friend Wally Young used to send me the 'Football Echo' from Sunderland. My team was 3rd in Division Two...just behind Chelsea. Life was good and the sun seemed to shine warm on our backs forever.

Back to 2010...
I trained our new starter Claire today. She's picking it all up very quickly. She's a bright local girl aged 24 who has spent time out travelling the World.  She's not certain what she'll wants to do with life, but here and now is as good as anywhere while she thinks about it. She'll settle in well I think and will be around for a year or two at least...if she manages to make the temporary position permanent over the next thirteen weeks.

I'd love to have my 10yr old feelings of 1962 back. There was something magical about them although at the time I couldn't wait to be older.