When you think of high school

Yesterday my girl was still in a crib, on Saturday I suddenly walked with her at the open day of a secondary school. German, math, the gym. Even though this school was 175 kilometers away from my secondary school, everything came back because this is just what everyone recognizes when they think back to secondary school. In random order.

1. Late notes

You had to get those from the principal. And being late more than twice meant a punishment. My dear L once managed to sneak a whole stack of late notes so she could always avoid the principal.

2. That AGU rain suit

I had to cycle quite far from the village where we lived (by the way, picturesque, lovely house, pony in the garden so don’t feel sorry for me) and then you often took a rain shower with you. That’s why I had on top of my school bag, under my quick binders, a neat yellow bag where my yellow (chosen by my mother because then I was nicely visible in the rain) rain suit was in. And that bag stayed neat, because there was no way I was ever going to put on that rain suit of course. Better to spend the whole day… See point 3.

3. Those wet jeans

And especially those wet jeans on Tuesday, the longest, dullest, and darkest day of the week. A day when you always had piano lessons or had to go to the library. Such a hashtag boring day. Well, on that day I always got soaked and walked around all day in such wet jeans.

4. The secret zipper pocket of your school bag

Where no one was allowed to look because there were sanitary pads in it. Oh the shame. Sanitary pads. No matter how cheerful the wrappers of Libresse were, we were dead embarrassed.

5. The sandwiches of friend E

My mother is the nicest and the prettiest and the sweetest, but to say she’s a little Nigella Lawson… Nah. So my sandwiches were quite basic. Friend E, on the other hand, was an only child so her mother went all out. The rolls were spread in frozen state (because perfectly thawed and fresh during lunch break) and thickly topped with chicken curry salad, egg salad, or fresh slices of roast beef with a pinch of pepper and salt. E and I would share those rolls and mine… we fed to the seagulls.

6. The cloakroom downstairs

Our school didn’t have lockers but an overflowing cloakroom. Wonderful to dive between the coats to discuss secret matters with your friends.

7. Hopeless crushes

I had a talent for being in love with N when he wasn’t into me and vice versa. And why didn’t I realize that I shouldn’t look in J’s agenda because there were probably sweet things about me in there? Somehow I was very often in love, but I just couldn’t manage to get a boyfriend. By the way, I made up for the damage during my study time. Again: don’t worry about me.

8. Camping in Mr. Schmidt's garden

This, by the way, with permission from Mr. Schmidt. But that he did that, a whole class in the garden, how sweet.

9. Friends dragging you with your moped

And you promising your mother that you would never do that.

10. Cheating on the eraser

I’m an incredibly good kid, but I was so bad at math that all means were allowed. So friend E (the one with the tasty sandwiches) wrote all the answers on her big eraser. I would smoothly ask for it halfway through the test and then copied everything. Until I had written the wrong answer to the wrong question (it was total gibberish to me) and I still got caught red-handed.

11. The school parties

From Kolibrie (that was the name of the first-year party committee, after the smallest bird on earth) to Elan, because that’s where it happened.

12. The school bands

We really had Very Good Bands with Very Handsome Singers. I ran into a singer (Marcel) years later at the recordings of Nederland Muziekland. ‘Are you from Zeeland?’ he asked me. ’Uh, yes.’ ‘Did you go to St. Willibrordcollege?’ ’Uh, yes.’ ‘I’m Marcel, from the school band. And you, you really haven’t changed at all.’ You should know that I was in the second year and Marcel was in the sixth. That he even knew who I was and recognized me and knew how I looked back then… If only I had known that in secondary school, I might have kissed someone in that overcrowded coat rack.

Photo May: Lidian van Megen