I don't have a lot of memories of Jameswood Drive school even though I went there for grade 1 and 2 beginning in 1963. Here is what I do recall.
There was a boy in my grade 2 class named Phillip. As we were still early in learning to read, I had an issue with the pronunciation of his name and we had a heated discussion in the hallway about it. He said his name was Phillip (pronounced Filip). I said it should be, Phillip (pronounced p-hillip). I remember going away from that discussion thinking that poor boy didn't even know his own name.
Another time that year, I had a bad dream one night in which my younger brother Paul was killed when he got in the way of my older brother, Robin, who was chopping wood with a garden hoe. The dream left me feeling unsettled inside. At school the next day, we sang a song, it was a dark dirge and before we were done I was bawling because of the lingering mood from my dream. I wasn't able to articulate what was wrong and that was very frustrating.
Another time, I don't remember if it was grade 1 or 2, at recess in the school yard, a group if kids gathered near the swings. I investigated and discovered a fight between two boys. Somehow I ended up getting involved and was accused of being a bully. I didn't know what that was so I beat up the boy who called me that. Guess he was right.
I recall too, an assembly in the gym where a man demonstrated his Hawaiian Guitar, it was a lap guitar, the one you play with a bar on your finger, sliding it up and down the fret-board that lays in your lap. I am not certain why that particular memory sticks, but it does.
For an art class, we were told to bring an egg to school. When we all brought out our eggs, one girl, Lucy I think her name was, had a brown egg. She was upset as, at that time, brown eggs were considered lesser but were cheaper. She cried because she thought the rest of us thought she was poor. I thought it was cool because it was different.
How do you recall your early school days?
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