Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
I remember my school trips and can only say that I would have been horrified if any of them
had been dramatised for public consumption. Some of the more ambitious trips our boys'
school organised were taken in conjunction with a local mixed school, which made the whole
thing far more of a learning experience than most parents realised; but this was obviously a
sanitised version of Samuel's break. Though, just exactly what details they left out was diffi-
cult to imagine as after two hours of bum-numbing performance the whole thing felt longer
than the trip itself, and Thérence decided to add extra entertainment for those sitting around
us by pretending to have his own burping competition. Almost two hours of detail about what
they ate, the coach journey there and who had vomited on it and a list of every species living
in the sea just off the West coast of France was enlivened massively by a strange vignette
where the headmistress had apparently broken her nose by walking into a wall. It would be
cruel to suggest that the damage may have been self-inflicted after a few days away in the
company of a hundred or so schoolchildren, but it was news to us anyway and a brave ac-
knowledgement that not everything had gone completely to plan.
The whole thing culminated in a harmonised version of Trenet's 'La Mer' which was very
well received, though the encore that followed felt a bit forced as the audience by this point
was decidedly fidgety and ready for a drink and refreshments. Of course, this being France,
'refreshments' meant a five-course meal with a full bar. The parents had prepared the am
use-
bouches
to go with the aperitifs and I personally had contributed mini
croques monsieurs
and
some smoked salmon and watercress pinwheels, both of which I was very proud of and so
while Samuel was asking me to deconstruct his performance I may, unforgivably, have been
distracted trying to see how my food was going down with the locals instead.
Samuel was pleased with how it had gone and was obviously relieved that the whole thing,
the months of rehearsals and the pressure, was now finally over and they could all get on
with their lives. The evening had, in fact, barely begun and the first course of the meal wasn't
served until half-nine as the band started late and as always with these things, there was a
raffle to be endured and speeches and congratulations and so on. This was to be the head-
mistress's last year, possibly as a result of the nose incident, and there were many heartfelt
congratulations on a job well done, all of which pushed the meal back further and further but
that simply doesn't matter here.
There was no-one stomping their feet restlessly saying it was too late to be keeping kids up
(I may have done once or twice actually) and as dessert arrived at a quarter to midnight, the
whole thing resembled more a successful French wedding rather than a school play as chil-
dren ran around everywhere and old women danced together to the jaunty strains of old-time
musette
. Loud, animated discussions were taking place at every table as the bar did a roaring
trade and Samuel, playing one of his most important roles to date, was able to go to the bar
for me and keep me well-stocked with French-language improving wine. I know! Sending a
