Sever

​Sever
The way we pick a word in the dictionary is a totally chance thing.  We look away, open the book and put our finger down.  Then we have a look at the word our finger ended up on.  Sometimes I do it and sometimes Merril does it.  Merril did it this time and the word was “sever” or to “separate, divide, part, disunite.” 
I severed my ties going from Primary to Secondary school.  Different world.  I really enjoyed primary school.  I had a girl-friend there, but she did not want to know me in secondary school.  Her loss.  I wasn’t a real good student though.  A teacher said to my parents “well at least he is good at sport.”  High praise indeed.  NOT.
I was good at sport.  But the bar may have been fairly low when the teacher asked a mate of mine who wanted to join the cricket team, “which end of the bat do you hold?”  I opened the batting.  We found out we were not as good as we thought we might be when we went away and the team we played had their first five batsmen retire.  We just could not get them out.  They did not have that problem with us.
It is silly what is remembered.  I do remember a couple of alliteration things I came up with.  “Ron rode a red rhinoceros.”  Hardly world changing but I was pretty pleased with it.  “Sue saw silly Sally slip slowly sideways.”
It was not all triumphs.  I remember marching from grade three to grade four and being held in the line and doing grade three again.  Good grade though.  I spent three of the best years of my life in that grade.  Not really.  My birthday fell at an awkward time and I was kept back not because of academic reasons (though if I am honest that may have played a part), but because of my age.
There were two maths classes.  Mine was the last name called out to be in the maths A class.  That was a mistake.  I would like to say I thrived but I would be lying.  It was totally forgettable.  I remember nothing of it probably including most of what we learned.  Instead of being one of the best in one class I was one of the worst in another.
We had one teacher there who died of cancer.  That to me is the ultimate severing.  Mum and I visited him in hospital.  I gave him hanky’s.  Not much imagination there.  Though he was really strict, I think he did more for my education than any other teacher.
Speaking of that form of severing, I was talking to a mate of mine recently.  His mum lives in the UK and got Covid.  There were four in the ward and she was the only one who lived to tell the story.  I am really glad for her, but I reckon there would be a number of people who were really sad for the others.
Anyway “sever” is a word I felt I could write about.  That sort of makes a pleasant change to some I have had.  With them it was all I could do to think of anything to write about.