It’s a little while since I scribed and I was stimulated to put my metaphorical pen to paper when I read this tweet on X:

During the late 1960s at my school, Ashville College in Harrogate, it was common for pupils to receive a clip around the back of the head for academic failure. I well recollect David Welch, the teacher for Physics, clouting me every week. My misfortune was that in the Physics Lab the class of 31 sat in the same seats every time we had a lesson there. The first order of business was a review of our set homework. At this age I was hopeless at anything quantitative and inevitably despite a poor stab at the correct equation and answer I got it wrong. In disgust, as he looked over my shoulder, I received the predictable smack on the back of the head. My seat was the first one as he toured around. Ruefully I noted that his energy or violent tendency waned as he progressed looking at the homework sparing other pupils with the wrong answer. Of course there must have been some correct answers but at this point I was sat in the ‘B’ stream class and there would have been many wrong answers!

Welsh was probably the most violent but I recollect the Geography teacher had a similarly short fuse. Corporal punishment was still quite common with many misdemeanours attracting a few whacks on the backside, or more commonly known as, ‘getting the slipper’. Talking after lights in the dormitory was a particularly dangerous pursuit and your pyjama bottoms only offered one layer of protective clothing compared to pants and trousers. If the class had gathered together in later years this treatment and other behaviour wouldn’t haven’t been a topic of conversation. We dealt with it at the time and moved on. Frankly, amongst young boys who endured this, I was 12 years old, much of the atmosphere was feral with quite a bit of fisticuffs between us. Probably the ‘masters’ hitting some boys was just par for the course?

Obviously it’s not good and no modern regime would allow such teacher pupil behaviour but it did toughen us up or frankly diminish our enthusiasm for breaking school rules. I never complained about any of this to my parents: it wasn’t newsworthy. I do recollect when I talked of some bullying I was receiving my father encouraged me to punch the predator as a deterrent. I was hopeless as a warrior but I do remember punching other boys in the face. That’s something I haven’t done for the last 60 years although it has appealed on occasion!

I try and drive my Morgan sports car all the year round. I do more miles in the summer but it’s important to use the car all the year round to keep all parts of it freed and functioning. So in the winter if I find a dry day I’ll ‘take it around the block’. In the photo you can see I’ve taken the wire wheels off to clean them on the reverse side. The wheels are made of stainless steel and clean up well. Fortunately a hydraulic jack takes the time and faff instead of using the type of little jack you’d have to use at a roadside.

In the ongoing project of ‘Swedish Death Cleaning’ I have kept this 1950s projector and accessories in the loft for over 30 years and decided it should go. (I have long ago converted the 16mm film, it used, to digital.) You would think this magnificent Swiss piece of kit is something that a collector of vintage photographic equipment would want? Ten days on ebay at £40, for all of it here and a transformer, didn’t draw any bids. I put it up for auction to find a happy home rather than make money. Seems it’ll be going back into the loft as I can’t bear to junk it.