The new school

My parents built this new house, and we moved in there around christmas time 1974.
There was no school in the area, because all the new houses were built too fast for anyone to think of the place as something getting popular enough to be worthy any kind of infrastructure before it was a bit too late. Well, it was not too long after our house was in place they had to think of something. The first two years I lived there I had to walk for quite a long distance to get to school, but then in 1977 the new school was finished. I went there for three years, through 4th, 5th and 6th grade, before it was time to move on to the next level and go by bus into the center of town for three years.

Here it is, the evidence that we are getting close to Christmas. Three out of four lights has been burned at the front desk in the classroom. We also recognize the fact that yours truly has been positioned on the front row for some reason, and way away from the windows even. That's not the place anyone would have picked out by himself, just saying. I am even more baffled when I look at other pictures from inside the classroom to see who's sitting far up against the back wall this day... It must have been a bad week, for me anyway, sitting at the front furthest away from the windows... I got no idea what might have been going on during the days before this snap was taken, but something no good it was for sure. I also see that this is not our usual teacher, so there could be a link for all I know.

The new school was kind of finished when we ran through them doors for the first time. A modern square block of concrete, 1977 bomb proof style. We had never seen anything like it, but it soon became apparent that it had it's flaws. Like any other building, of course.
They had forgot about the fact they might get wheelchair users in there at some point, but luckily that was very quickly sorted out. The rest of the building could quite easily accommodate the occasional wheelchair user, so it was just a matter of doing a few small tricks at one of the main doors to get into the building itself.
The school was located on a very nice spot, but there was marshland all around the place, and it was far from safe. A big pond on one side, and marshland on two of the others.
We were forbidden to go there, and the teachers at the time might even have thought that this would be enough to keep us away...
I think most of the boys had to stand inside the headmasters office one or two times during the first couple of years at that school. I was there a lot.
Two times I even managed to go straight through the ice out there on the marshland during the same winter, but I managed to get up and out of it with some help both of the times. It's a very cold experience having to walk home from school on a cold winters day to hopefully find your mother at home so you could get inside to change clothes. Just saying.
I was not alone going through the ice, but I think I was the only one managing to do it two times the same winter. That might say something about the slow learning curve we went through at that school. Luckily things went a bit better as the years came to me.

There you see! This bunch of boys had probably been a bit more lucky during their raids a bit earlier on than I was. A few of these guys would definitely be more frequently placed down on the front right side than I ever was. Nevertheless, that was where I was placed for the moment... and back there they were, on this very day in my life anyway. The boy to the left, with the ball? Well, it could have been written books about him. That's not my job, anyway, so I will leave it for some other to pick up the challenge. There's also a fair amount of decorations and work having been put up on the walls inside the classroom. We obviously did get something produced then, after all.

The teachers were not all new to us, as quite a few of them were moved out of the other schools we had been using in the meantime as the new school was under construction. Looking back I just can't understand how a grown up person could possibly volunteer to move with our class to any school, either new or old. A majority of the boys would probably have been diagnosed something if this was today. Back then they were just impossible to handle, and that's it.
So there was a lot of noise, and not the best place for learning. But we got a million stories to think back on, instead.
I also have to remember telling you that all of the boys grew up, got themselves a job, and many of them are still living more or less in the same area today. I speak to some of them every now and then, and we all seem to have calmed down a bit these days compared to the days back in the late 70's.

The 70's for sure. I think this boy pulled me out of that ice cold water at least once. He was probably to find inside the four walls of the headmasters office a couple of times as well. Today he owns a fair bit of land, and a gas station and a garage and probably quite a bit more. I think this is the guy anyway, but I could be wrong... after all some days has passed since this was snapped one winter day in what I think was 1978.