I hate maths

Picture: O Level Pottery was really a lot of fun but completely useless to me.


I knew this would happen. Isabelle goes to secondary school and suddenly accelerates her learning and brings homework back for us to help her with. There's a fault in the system though, parents don't know how to do it. Emma has bought some books but I am already lost and feeling pretty helpless on her maths. In fact the boys are also bringing home work that I really have to scratch my head over to work out. I tried to point out to them how bad it was. At school there were O levels and below that CSE's. I got a 3 at CSE maths. 'What other subjects did you get then?' asks Andrew. 'Err well Art & English...but I went to college and got more.' 'What in?" "Art & English....and pottery". The expression of pity said it all.

What was I thinking of doing pottery? All my work was accidental as I was rubbish at it and made it up as I went along. But because the art teacher was mad, I managed to blag her that they were intentional expressions of my inner self. I also recall that the women, no matter how hard they tried not to, they kept making pots that looked like big knobs. Very expressive indeed. I had my excuses for a poor education. The teachers strike and race riots of the 1980's had a big impact on my school and academic education played second fiddle to them. I did learn how to manufacture a petrol bomb although this knowledge has yet to be used for anything useful. With the price of petrol these days I am unlikely to either.