The April Fool

T Minus 143

Way back in 1994 I was a member of One Way Drama Team at St Mary’s Bletchley. That year Good Friday fell on April 1st (something that won’t happen again until 2067). I wrote the following poem as part of a sketch which we performed in an Open Air Service.
It was read by two narrators who alternated verses and  dressed as sideshow entertainers, around a tableau of the Crucifixion which acted out in silence the middle. Some might find it provocative (I hope not). Even so it is one of my favourites and I share it here.

MK-2

MK + 9346 (T Minus 143)
This is part two of the history of my time in MK following on from MK-1
1991 to 1993
In early 1991 I was still living in Stony Stratford but had moved to my new teaching job at Lord Grey School in Bletchley. It’s proximity to St Mary’s meant I was travelling down the A5 every day but Saturday and sometimes twice. In church I had been elected onto the PCC and was a Youth Leader (although I gave this up just after I moved job). I was also active in the Drama Team and took on a leadership role in 1992.
In my new job I had responsibility for ICT in Science and my first promotional point. I had got the job in unusual circumstances. The Head at the time was a bit of a “Wheeler Dealer” and both I and the other candidate were both appointed after long deliberation. We were both Chemists. I was to remain at Lord Grey for 10 years.

In 1991, I left my lodgings in Stony Stratford and went to lodge in Bletchley, with a youth group friend (Richard). He and Beth who were now engaged had bought a house and I was to lodge for a year. After the untidiness of my first lodgings it was a bit of a change. I was not the tidiest of lodgers (I hadn’t needed to be) and this probably annoyed my new landlord – particularly my habit of leaving the washing up. My decision to cook Honey Roast Duck one Sunday probably did not go done well either. Nonetheless Richard tolerated me with good humour. We would often play cards of an evening after I had finished my work and with other friends usually played Hearts (quite competitively).
During this time I travelled abroad to Czechoslovakia on holiday with Oak Hall and remember having returned to MK after a 24 hour coach trip and a 3 hour car journey crawled into bed at 4am and promptly sat on a wasp. Whilst I had been abroad a wasp nest had hatched in the room a number of new wasps – not fun!

I lived there a year but in early 1992 moved out. For a short period I rented a house with three others in Bletchley. The house was rented to the daughter of a couple and to two others. It was an interesting mix and we didn’t really get on. This rental was cut short when all of sudden the daughter decided to move out and the house went up for sale.

Living in catchment had not been easy and do I decided in July 1992 to rent a place of my own further away in Hodge Lea. I had a one bed apartment for a year. It had a good view over the city and gave me my own place for the first time.
However, things were changing at work. I had thought long and hard about moving on from MK but my “Wheeler Dealer” head had persuaded me to pull out of one job interview and had given me promotion instead. I was appointed KS3 co-ordinator and the new promotion meant I could consider buying my own place. I purchased a house on Emerson Valley and moved in August 1993 with no furniture. The kindness of friends at St Mary’s provided a lot of what I needed. So I was set up in my own place and committed to living in MK long term.

Little did I know what the next two years would bring…..