Photo Response

(Click to enlarge. (Note: clicking will also enlarge the photograph.))

The old school photo we printed last week obviously tickled a few ‘memory-buds’. We had a phenomenalogical response from people in the Symbolthorpe and Great Harmington area. Thanks to everyone who wrote in. Many of you remembered the rabbit-faced boy in the front row with the interlinked vortical haloes of tempero-spacial distortion radiating from his head, although only Mrs Sudbeck of Left Street, Howle could recall his name: Y-Rax.

There were also a fair few reminiscences of the tall mustachioed girl at the back. Several people mentioned her distinctive metallic aroma, and a number of you recalled something about a pirate. The row of tiny corroded children that seem to spiral out of the centre of the picture, starting roughly at the teacher’s hand, also drew plenty of comment. Bobby Dividend of Symbolthorpe Labs thought they might be the miniature ‘virus ghosts’ that afflicted the school for about a year after pupils were inoculated with a new vaccine against headpox, while Marianne Harpoon guessed correctly that they were her own tormented thoughts accidentally captured on camera due to glare.

Finally, there is the teacher herself, her face almost totally obscured by chaos. Terry Towelling from Harmington Green remembered that she was a Trojan, although he couldn’t recall in what sense, and Jenny Presto, 3 The Cedars, once heard in a dream that her teacher was “a quite five sprite”, but was also uncertain as to what this actually meant. She was known to be responsible for a good harvest, in some way. Mabel Id and Mabel Fighter, both of Spute, told us that she was respected by local ‘bad-sorts’, as she was the mother of many of the most famous serial killers of the area, including Harry Hatrick and the notorious William ‘Smiley’ Chum. Her name, apparently, was Miss Odile Crocodile - thanks to Bob Stangury for that - and her star-sign was Ergot Fungus.