Regular readers will know that I occasionally head over to France and Belgium to show people round the battlefields and commemorative sites of World War I and sometimes II. Last week it was the turn of 80 school kids and some old colleagues as I got roped in to share my knowledge (ie: cheap member of staff, no cover required and paid very little). Thanks to Brexit and the time it takes at Dover now it was a 2am start which of course sets the pulses racing but also can lead to a certain amount of stress by the end of the day. Two shiny coaches turned up and off we went. By five o’clock that afternoon one driver was still a lovely helpful man. the other was not. As we outlined the adventures for the following day he decided that he was not able to do what was contracted owing to his ‘hours’ – unfortunately he didn’t know that one of my other strings was being a coach driver. I quickly put him right which of course led to a work to rule situation where he dragged his heels and became morose with everyone. His coach was an hour late to one part of the day leading to the kids missing out on a trip through the tunnels of Arras and various other irritations surfaced throughout the remaining two days. Completely unnecessary and extremely childish, ironic really considering the passengers all seemed more mature than him. Still it was what he wanted. I expect he also wanted the tip that the other driver got but hey you can’t have everything…
On the coach I was very much enjoying Jack Browning‘s new single as well as some classic Earle. The radio show this week features Ben Folds as the classic album as well as some Native Harrow, The Bible, Dylan, Kelly Jamieson and much more. As ever…
Another enjoyable post that brought back memories of taking kids to the European Parliament with two drivers, one of whom could have been the father of your troublesome fellow (it was that long ago!). He too decided his contractual hours did not fit with our schedule (they did) and so drove on a go-slow basis. The only downside for some of the students is that they missed a meeting with a far right euro-politician, which for me was an upside! Plus on his non-driving hours sitting alongside his colleague on the way back, he was violently sick on two occasions. Strangely, nobody rushed to help him clear up his mess!