Stupid Things I Remember about Growing Up (Part 4 - Seamus' snot-drop, vomit-inducing milk and Janet and John's Special Needs)

I went to nursery in Gospel Oak and all I can say about that was that it had a big sandpit.  And after that I started at The Rosary Roman Catholic primary school in Belsize Park.  My teacher was called Mrs Morgan.  For some reason, years later when me and my brother were in the bath together (obviously not a LOT of years later) we had a running joke in which one of us would put a wet flannel on our head and say, "I'm Mrs Morgan".  I have absolutely NO idea why.  My memory of my first teacher was that she didn't walk around with a wet flannel on her head.  In fact, the only time she might ever find her head soaked would be if she went too near Seamus when he shook HIS head.  Seamus had a permanent snot-drop hanging off his nostril.  I say permanent, but I suspect it dropped (or flew) off at times, but then it was soon replaced by another snot-drop.  His head was like a leaking bucket of glue.

Seamus is the only kid in my class at The Rosary that I can recall, but the faces in an old photo that my mum has mostly look familiar.  For some reason, in that photo, everyone is sitting on the floor listening to the teacher telling a story, everyone in their own clothes.  And behind them, sitting on a chair and in full uniform is me.  Arms folded.  Standing out a mile.  I don't remember being bullied, but I certainly looked like I should have been.

School milk was still available (although Thatcher had 'snatched' it away in 1971, for some reason we still had it in 1974, so maybe the church paid for it).  But it wasn't stored in a fridge, so by the time we got to drink it, late in the day, it was warm and full of cream.  Cream in milk makes me want to throw my guts up and from that point onwards I refused to drink milk (except in milk shakes) until I reached adulthood and discovered semi-skimmed.  I was quite a fussy eater too and Mrs Morgan's assistant used to swap her 'grown up's' chocolate sponge cake and custard dessert at lunch time for my vomit-inducing (and vomit-looking) bowl of rice pudding.

My favourite reading material at this time was the 'Topsy and Tim' series of books.  Topsy and Tim were a cooler version of 'Janet and John'.  They were 70s kids.  Janet and John talked to each other like they were pensioners living in the 1930s.  Or as if they had severe learning difficulties.  Outside of school, I'd get books from Primrose Hill library, like 'Meg and Mog' and 'The Mr Men.'  Years after moving away from the area, I found a 'Meg and Mog' book which had a Primrose Hill library label in it and I worried for ages that I'd get into trouble.  I walked past that library just a few years back on the way to a restaurant with staff from Haverstock School and even then I felt a bit anxious, like I'm still on their 'Wanted' list with a fine that has since increased to something like my annual salary.