the old fig tree

At the centre of my High School yard stood a large fig tree and my earliest memory of was seeing the headmaster standing under it during the second part of the lunch recess. He wanted the students to see him as a real presence not just someone who sat in his office all day' It was an opportunity to mix and talk with the students. One of the problems of having a fig tree in such a position was that figs and leaves would drop onto the ground and every day the janitor would sweep up the leaves and squashed figs and dispose of them into the garbage to make the area tidy. On some occasions only the fig leaves were collected and placed in the school incinerator and my lasting memory was the smell of the smoke wafting across the and causing both students and teachers to have coughing fits particularly Miss Perrin who was a heavy smoker. this usually occurred before the windows were closed rapidly.

— Bazza F