Dear LPG, 

We get used to doing so many things at different stages in our lives that seem monotonous at the time. Still, they suddenly disappeared from our daily routines, never to return, and I found myself thinking about one of them the other day.

One such part of every child's daily routine is the morning school trip, come rain or shine. Most of us are obliged by law to be a part of it for eleven long years, but looking back on the first seven reminds me of something quite tedious that I thought I would have to do forever back then.   I remember the trek over the hill in the summer when it was so much easier to gather the impetus for making the journey, allowing lots of time to spare for preschool activities like leaving the parents who accompanied you and running around the playground. And those wintery days when long before the journey is even contemplated, it would take a lot longer to throw back the blankets and let your toes feel the cold with the consequence that getting to school had to be a more hurried event.  

When it came to primary school, the half-mile walk would start with my mum and me, but on the way, we would come across other classmates who had come from different directions. I was an infant a long time ago, and there would be days when I was being hurried along and others when it was pouring rain, the ground was full of snow, or I could hardly see in front of me because of the fog.

I am lucky enough to live relatively close to my son and allow him and his wife to make an earlier start with their work. I have recently started to take my grandson on his daily version of that journey which got me thinking about all this in the first place. 

I am unsure if it was the same as when I was a school child, but many more children are arriving by car these days, and I cannot help but feel that they miss out on so much.

By looking at the experience from the perspective of the escort charged with getting him there safely, I can see his rolled eyes on many a morning when his heart is just not in wanting to do the journey or the study that the prospect of another day of learning heralds.

But for me, it is all good exercise, and it brings back those memories, although, as I look with older eyes, when I look around, there seem to be a lot more grandmas and grandpas making those school trips these days. 

OC, Crofton Park 

LPG adds some information on today’s celebration…

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