I didn’t like school when I was 16 because so much of it seemed to be a waste of time.

I
enjoyed English classes the most because I loved reading and liked my English teacher. I
used to read every day and I always had a book on the go. I started to get interested in
the theatre at that time. I actually first read “Lord of the Rings” at that time. I liked
History and Geography but I didn’t like French classes or Science and I really used to
hate Maths. I hated my Maths teacher because he was always angry and he used to
shout at us all the time, especially if we got answers wrong and I often got them wrong.
The teachers were generally okay but they used to get angry if you answered back or
questioned the rules.

I wasn’t exactly a rebel at school. I didn’t use to get into trouble very often and I never
wrote graffiti on the walls or vandalized school property but we all broke the rules
sometimes. We used to sneak out of school at the weekend whenever we could and I
got caught a couple of times. I remember one of our Chemistry teachers had a small Fiat
and one time we carried it round the back of the gym and hid it. He spent half an hour
looking for it.

We all hated our school uniform which consisted of a blue blazer, grey trousers and
white shirts all made of polyester. The only day we didn’t use to have to wear our
uniform was Sundays. The rest of the week up until Saturday afternoon it was uniform
at all times. On the day I left school I threw my blazer in a rubbish bin outside the
school.