2 Starting School

2. START OF SCHOOL The very first traumatic time for me, was when I started school To be away from both my parents, and endure the teacher’s rule In school when you’re a newbie, those early days, they were scary You’re in a classroom full of strangers, where teacher made us wary Lunchtime was not much better, the food, was really bland and plain And no matter what they served you up, you didn’t dare complain My seat was at a table, with my cousin and his mates And any food I didn’t like, got shared around all their plates The plan worked fine until the day, they served the salad ration All the green stuff on my plate, I hated with a passion We’ll help you out my cousin said, just give us the green But alas, we all got rumbled, for the teacher, she had seen She wasn’t very happy; she had caught me sharing out my lunch You will eat that food yourself, not pass it round the bunch but I cannot eat the salad miss, it’s food I really hate I will stand here watching you, making sure you clear your plate That set the tone for mealtimes, for the remainder of the year So as lunchtime came around each day, I was paralysed with fear I tried hard to miss those mealtimes, by turning up so late All that agony and upset when I had salad on my plate