This morning’s peace was shattered not in the usual way with screeching brakes or honking horns, but with the shouts of Lef, Lef, Lef, Rye, Lef. Indeed, I realised how soon yet another academic year has passed us by when  the girls in the school opposite begin their marching practice for the Inter-Schools Athletic meet which is held some time in January ( I think) . Now is the time to start preparing and they prepare in right earnest!

I’ve always hated Marching and questioned its utility in the schoolchildren context. It seems such a pointless exercise. In fact for several years I used to think that the girls were not only bad marchers but dumb as well as they said left and put their right foot forward. That was till I realised that since light travels faster than sound , what seemed like wrong was actually right and that I was the one who was dumb!

But, I still find marching the most useless activity for school children. I mean whoever hears of conquering armies marching these days – they trundle in in huge , intimidating trucks, or they are air dropped with parachutes or sent in covertly by sea.

All that Marching seems to have instilled in me is a deep, dread of the tyrannical house captain who screamed louder than a sergeant major when any of us was not in line. Similarly, as a grown woman, I was terrorised by my daughter’s first House Captain – a thin little anorexic girl who chilled every mother’s heart with her scornful glare should a child come late for Marching Practice.In retrospect I wonder how I could be scared of her, but believe you me, I truly was.

This is my post for Write Tribe ProBlogger September Challenge.