Life with RPP
My first story involves me as a
new leaner driver. On the morning of my 17th birthday I had been told to
drive the Headmaster from Heacham to Ingoldisthorpe for breakfast using the
brand new Hillman Minx car. I had never driven on public roads before and
hardly off them either. I remember laying in bed the night before, unable to
sleep due probably to
FEAR and miming the
motions of clutch control and gear changing for hours on end until
eventually, out of sheer exhaustion, I must have fallen to sleep.
The following morning, with the Headmaster at my side, I managed to
negotiate the streets of Heacham without incident nor accident and joined
the main road towards Snettisham.
"Get a move on, boy. What are you waiting for?"
the Headmaster bellowed in my
ear. But try as I would I could not coax the car above 40mph.
"Stop! Get
out. I had better drive otherwise we will not get to Ingoldisthorpe until
lunchtime!" We exchanged
places and as the Headmaster got into the drivers seat he bellowed at me
again............................
"You've got the handbrake on, you ****!!!".
I think I am right in saying
that the word he may have used was
"Ass!"
He did allow me to continue the drive to Ingoldisthorpe which, as far as I
can remember, went okay. I cannot remember who was sitting in the back of
the car at the time but I do remember that from thereon I was nicknamed
'Handbrake' for a long time afterwards.
How many times can we all remember trying to wriggle out of a sticky
situation by trying to argue a point or three with the Headmaster. Well,
David can....................................and so can I...................JW
"Sir, I can explain"
When one was apprehended by RPP for an apparent irregularity or misdemeanour
but one was able to offer a plausible explanation, you would often hear the
impatient and no less furious retort,
"Well,
that's the answer then!"
There is organisation and there is organisation and sometimes the best plans
in the world go wrong. It only happened on rare occasions with RPP but when
his plans did go wrong they were corkers. How about this
memory....................JW
On the return journey from our annual choir trip to London, the Headmaster
wanted to treat us to a film and he stopped the double decker bus outside a
cinema in Hendon. I don't know what film he
thought we were going to
see, but it certainly was not the one he intended.
"La Ronde!"
Strange isn't it how
details like this stick in the mind because it must have made a great
impression on me! The film has something to do with soldiers and
prostitutes. I have since checked the Internet and discovered that the film
was released in 1964 and therefore it must have been the 1964 choir trip
that this happened. I cannot remember for certain what comments he made
afterwards but I do remember the shocked expressions on peoples faces as
they left the cinema to see RPP merging from the auditorium wearing his dog
collar!
David Jakobsson
