The Day

G.M. Gall

Eighty-one years old! What a lot of days to look back at, most good, some bad, many mundane. But the DAY! Thats to-day. It seems such a long time since Maude said Theres a man in a suit walking up the glen. In a suit? Up here! Where theres no road to the door, just a track. So now the DAY has arrived. How long was it since the man in the suit came tin the door? Fully five years I would guess.

So today is the DAY, will it ever be forgotten? Has it been worth it to get here? It has been hard going; chemistry was the worst. The atom was still intact when I took Highers, how long ago? Lets see, seven years at sea, seven years working on farms, a year and a bit at college retaking higher maths and higher physics and chemistry, the authority had insisted on that, just as well I realised. Spherical trigonometry and navigation cut no ice. Fifteen years, plus three years as an undergraduate, but today, this very DAY I would become a Batchelor of Science (Agriculture).

Maud is here among the spectators, all dressed up, and with a hat. A hat! That is something. It has been hard on Maud, three small children to feed and clothe, good job we had managed to get the sewing machine into the caravan. And she had done all those weekends on night duty as a staff nurse, at least her husband could cook and handle small children, so weekends could be managed. The grant had made things possible, but finance was very tight, is still tight.

The man in the suit introduced himself as the county Director of Education. You wrote enquiring about the Teachers Special Recruitment Scheme he stated after the preliminary cup of tea had been served. Yes, but I thought I would be sent for. I expected to be interviewed in Peebles.

Yes, it could have been done that way, but it is such a nice day that a trip away from the office appealed. I did enjoy the unexpected walk up the glen. So we talked, he was most interested in what I had been doing since leaving school and the fact that I had sat examinations since those days. Examinations! For Second Mate, and then later for First Mate, examinations were held over several days, but I always felt confident; University examinations totally different, no confidence, but at least only one re-sit, and that was in the first year.

We are being assembled in a waiting area, a horde of graduands. Being a dozen years older than most of them, and not having partaken of undergraduate activities, I only know those who were in my class. Not all the agriculture class is here, one or two have to re-sit final exams poor souls. Everyone is wearing their best clothes overlaid with academic gowns, carrying hoods, these will not be worn until after the bump on the head. Some of the men are wearing kilts, I am wearing the suit made for me in Hong Kong, the tailor came aboard the ship, took measurements, came back the next day for fittings, delivered it the following day. a very good suit of best British woollen cloth.

From the assembly area a quick keek shoes the dignitaries assembling, wont be long now. The audience, or is it a congregation, cant be seen from here. I wonder where Maud is, we are to meet other family members afterwards, they have promised us a slap up lunch. There will be plenty of time this afternoon, some of our caravan neighbours will look after the two older girls when they come out of school, the youngest is already with them.

There is still another year to go before full time earning can begin, teacher training to be undertaken. But there are some temporary agricultural jobs lined up. We are thinking that, once a permanent job is secured, Maud should try to go to University using the Teachers Special Recruitment Scheme. But no-one can look far into the future, here and now things are happening, the graduands are moving forward, guided by knowing hands. Announcement of name after name from the platform, a burst of applause after each name, each burst signifying recognition of someones hard work and staying power.

This is it, the process has got me, walk forward, kneel, feel the slight tap on the head with what looks like an old cushion, stand up, walk off. Thats it then; resume life, but lunch first.