There’s really nothing more to tell about the choral course. No further untoward incidents took place, the concert went very well and my parents seemed satisfied that the course fees hadn’t been wasted. All in all a success, I surmised.
The rest of the Easter holiday just drifted by, beyond my music I had no real interests to keep me busy and before I knew it school had started again.
The next event of any real note was my appointment at the orthopaedic clinic and even before the day arrived things started to go wrong.
Dad suddenly announced that he couldn’t get a shift change for the day in question so he couldn’t drive me to Chichester with Mum, which had been the plan all along. The decision was made that at 15 I should be grown up enough to take care of myself and could attend hospital alone.
Er… OK, I could do that I supposed although I was very nervous of the idea. This wasn’t like going to the GP’s surgery where everybody had known me since I was 3 and always called me by my first name, this was a major hospital and everybody would be a complete stranger.
There was an upside however, getting out of school after second period so that I could get the bus to Chichester. Mum gave me money for the bus fare and a “little extra” so that I could get myself a cup of tea and something to eat after my appointment.
On the day I gave a letter from Mum to my Form Master, showed him the appointment letter and got a very genuine good luck wish which made me feel a little better about the whole thing. Delighted at the thought of almost an entire day out of school I made my way to the bus.
Well, if I was grown up enough to attend hospital on my own then I was grown up enough to sit on the top deck and smoke myself into near nausea, so I did but didn’t actually quite reach the embarrassing moment of puking all over the other passengers.
Having been worried silly about being late for my appointment I actually arrived almost an hour early and settled into a corner of the waiting room to get a head start on some prep. When my name was finally called over the tannoy I hurriedly put my books away and got up to face a stern looking nurse who barked ‘follow me’ and strode off down the corridor leaving me to trail along behind her like an obedient puppy.
What happened next is a tale all by itself which I’ll tell next time.
