Open Writing

I’ll refrain from talking about my future plans as they change every day, and making a decision about what to do is agonizing.

So what about life at the present time? Work in the supermarket has been a bit monotonous but I'm getting to know a few of the regulars, like the man who pops in several times a night to buy yet another bottle of ‘Jacobs Creek’ and then, there's always a surprise when someone I recognise from my childhood turns up, like my former next-door neighbour. She was so thrilled and amazed to see me that she sent her daughter in to check out the 'apparition'.

It's weird to think my last memory of her was one of hatred, when she denied my sister and me entry into the tent she had in her garden one sunny afternoon when I was nine. I remember sobbing bitterly on the doorstep, but still she would not relent. Now she seems like a very kind person; not at all the kind of lady who would be cruel to a little girl.

The invigilation has been a pleasant antidote to the shift work in the shop, which messes up my body clock. I’ve never known a job quite like invigilation! It must be one of the only occupations, which enables you to sleep while working.

In the last exam, as the sole invigilator in a very small room, I was very naughty. I was supervising a disabled boy taking an exam by himself. A helper was seated beside his wheelchair to write down his answers. As they had their backs to me I managed to sleep, eat a banana and read the whole of a simplified version of Macbeth, from the college library, while they assumed I was hard at work being ‘vigilant’.

For large hall exams where I’m more exposed to the view of the students, I can now entertain myself sufficiently, as a friend emailed me with some ideas. For example, by studying the clothes, faces and gestures of each candidate one can try to piece together their lives; are they married, do they have children etc, what are their hobbies?.

I just hope they don’t file a complaint against me for putting them off by scrutinizing them. I really do think that once a woman has had a child she takes on a certain “No nonsense!” stare across the eyebrows. And those without wedding rings look less burdened than those with.

Even the younger sixth formers can be good to study. In one exam, half the hall were taking exams in Business Studies while the other half were doing a Classics exam. The Business students wore conventional shirts and had neatly clipped hair. A large majority were students from Pakistani or Indian families. On the other side, the girls, and some of the boys, wore long hair, interesting rings and bangles. The girls’ skirts (not the boys), and blouses featured flowers and lace. And not one Pakistani or Indian was among them.

Sorry, not much time to write at the moment, as I’m just about to go to work. I know it will be painfully quiet tonight. However I can at least keep myself entertained by crooning along to the groovey Jacksons jumpy tune..which goes something along the lines of:

' That's why it's JACKSONS ev-er-y time! With Jacksons you're sure to be a winner (a cheer) ..now all we need is for England to score a goal in the Euro 2000 (another cheer). That's why it's Jack-sons everrry time!'