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A New Routine

Coming back to school marks the end of a period of healthy and active living. Happy days spent sleeping and watching back to back "America’s Next Top Model" come to an abrupt halt as I do laps of the astro and shuttle runs in my goalie’s kit at pre-season training; welcome back! So this is the start of a new school year and the start of the Sixth Form. Terms starts for boarders with the ascent of the North Face of the boarding house with sherpa-like parents lugging huge loads to the summit bedroom via a series of base-camps on landings; and all this before the term has even started.

After ten weeks of miserable summer weather day one dawned hot and bright and I proudly put on my new wool suit (eat your heart out Mr Nutini I’ve got new shoes and my new suit on). 25 degrees and rising by morning break and I am looking like a chip-shop sausage on the serving shelf. Mind you "break time" is somewhat of a misnomer because there’s no time and it’s not really a break; what with dashing back to my house, climbing the many stairs to the house kitchen, queuing for the one toaster and mini kettle and getting my books ready for next lesson. Time to go. I power walk across the quad, avoiding the Marshal's speed trap, and with only seconds to spare, quietly wheezing in the front row of the stuffy classroom I glance at my prep diary to find its "double hard work". Welcome back to school.

The morning passes, the lesson’s fine and I breathe a sigh of relief when it reaches twelve forty-five. Fantastic, only five minutes left, but when the bell rings and the class begins to pack away, our teacher cruelly reminds us "You are sixth form now, we’ve still got ten more minutes". What to do – join the long line to the dining room or try the JCR? Simple, the JCR. One of the great things about being sixth form life is the JCR. Now under new management it has been transformed into a café style common room. Whether you want a free jacket potato or a one pound fifty panini, it’s a great way of avoiding the queues at Big School, especially on "Fish Friday". So, top tip number one is use the JCR.

Saturday night was the Lower Sixth dinner, a bonding session for all the new suiters. The dress code caused a panic amongst the jeans-only-gang, ie me. After a victorious match against BGS I rushed to Park Street on a clothes trolley dash and then up to Cribbs to complete the ensemble. So after much scratching of heads and panic buying (or Red Cross parcels of chinos for some) we all arrived in our 'smart casual' happening gear just in time for the evening’s entertainment. There was also a huge sigh of relief when we found out that the much talked about "Speed Dating" actually meant that people would be changing tables after each course. It was a wonderful evening: great food (well perhaps not the Guinea Fowl), good fun and a brilliant idea to help bond the lower sixth.

So, how dear diary how should I sum up my first few weeks in the sixth form? Busy, fun, hot (actually very, very hot), new wool suits and great paninis. Who knows what the next weeks will bring?

Charlotte Bowden
Oakeley's House

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