When I was at school, of course we smoked and drank, but it was done in private; in our studies, away from the prying eyes of anyone senior. To have been caught would have meant a whacking.
My study was rarely without a packet of fancy Sobranie cigs, as well as a bottle of very cheap and nasty British Sherry called 'English Rose'. We thought ourselves very sophisticated when we offered visitors a glass of this foul Sherry. Our only saving grace was that it was served in nice pukka Sherry glasses.
I have just come across this hazy (smokey?) photo of boys at my old school openly drinking and smoking at someone's school birthday bash, and I must say that I find it rather disappointing.
Making such activities 'legal' (as I presume it now must be for V1th formers) takes away all the fun and subterfuge of hiding a sherry bottle in an emptied Fire Extinguisher, or burning toast to mask the smell of tobacco (as we did).
Do today's boys no longer learn the art of deceit and circumvention? It's a disgrace.
Makes you wonder what else they get up to nowadays.
ReplyDeleteAnything goes.
DeletePlus of course they are using plastic glasses...
ReplyDeleteDisgraceful.
DeleteMy father went to a private boarding school and was allowed to smoke openly. This was in the late 1920s early 30s.
ReplyDeleteI'm very surprised. We used to legally brew end-of-year beer.
DeletePerhaps in the late 1920s it was not so unusual. It was a bit of an early progressive school. My brothers later went to the same school. The school thought exams were unnecessary. (My brothers didn't bother to smoke).
DeleteSounds like Summerhill.
DeleteA bit. It closed in 1982.
DeleteI was quite excited to see near my workplace a group of six private school boys in a dead end lane smoking. I've seen them a few times since, always after school. I expect their parents and school would rather they injected drugs than smoked, such is the view of smokers in Australia.
ReplyDeleteBtw, the butter shortage has become world wide. The price has risen considerably here over the last year.
DeleteYes, smoking has become very anti-social; I'm glad I quit years ago.
DeleteI was just reading in my financial pages that the shortage is now everywhere. It wasn't a false-alarm!
It was a great pity turning 18 and becoming legal. We went to pubs in Worcester from the 5th form, say 15, and no one bothered us. There were pubs that catered to the younger drinker, they were more expensive, the cops turned a blind eye, it was all good fun with a frisson of illegality.
ReplyDeleteIt was the illegality that made things such fun.
DeleteBeing bad felt so good when we were young.
ReplyDeleteExactly, and to take that away is a sin!
DeleteIncident here at the co-ed boarding school we are associated with: The rule is that when a boy is visiting in a girl's room, the door must be open and they must not be touching. Faculty on duty, announcing that she was about to enter, came upon a couple fucking. Kids these days are not embarrassed to have sex in front of each other (though you would think in front of their French teacher might be a step too far). If this is the case, what can the school do to preserve what we consider standards of decency? In my day, of course, you headed to the mats in the wrestling room or the soccer field if it was a nice day.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was at school it was all male, but on the 1,000th anniversary (the school was founded in 970 AD) they admitted girls. I really cannot imagine having had girls at school; I'm sure I would had other things on my mind!
DeleteThere were some awful cigarettes called Olympic. I won't cough, I'll just say I was on the cigarette suppliers committee. Never got any Sobranies. Now I know why.
ReplyDeleteIt still baffles me today, why we bought very expensive cigs, but such cheap Sherry. Unsophisticated folk.
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