October 2010
A day in the life of a teacher
(no, not the day to day in front of the kids!)
All the good intentions of going to bed early for the 2am alarm are all in vain as sleep will not come! A multitude of thoughts are whizzing around my head and although the planning has been meticulous, sharper than an army operation, certain things are still worrying me! Not having a working car to drive the 17 miles to work had been a major problem earlier in the day! Fortunately my aunt who has a car but rarely uses it, was generous enough to lend me it for the day. 17 miles is a long way to walk which seemed to be my only alternative prior to this happening. Will the racing car fit in the coach? Will the key open the boiler house door where the gear was stored? Would the coach be there? Etc etc!
I remember seeing 1am on the clock so it then came as a shock when the alarm rudely interrupted my slumbers. 2am is very early. Bleary eyed I grabbed my clothes and quickly swallowed a cup of coffee. The journey to school was uneventful and all I had to hope was that I had got the correct day and the coach would be waiting. Fortunately it was parked up ready when I arrived. Nobody had locked the car park gates, (which was another worry) and we were soon packing the car and gear in the hold with our fantastic drivers Neil and Illy. We did have the comedy moment when neither locker door would close but with a bit of jiggling this was eventually solved. Dr. Brodie arrived exactly on time for the 3am departure, exactly late to help with loading the coach! The kids counted, we set off.
Snuggling up in the blanket and with the pillow I had wisely brought (although I had forgot to bring any food for the day!) I tried to get some much needed sleep. Unfortunately the cup of coffee I had stupidly drunk earlier was now kicking in and with some more worrying, I managed to stay awake until a mile from the services. I was then woken up! Dr. Brodie and I went straight to have a breakfast after a toilet break. The golden rules of a school trip are: when you have the chance never pass a toilet without going, always eat when offered, never refuse a tea and count the kids at every opportunity. Having waited a good 10 minutes for two cups of coffee, we finally ate the breakfast and were now late for the coach. This was not helped by going to the toilet, and 2 of the kids starting to play an arcade game!
Settling back to sleep, I realised that the second cup of coffee had now kicked in and trying to sleep was useless. The next three hours went reasonably quickly and I finally dozed off as we passed Goodwood Racecourse. Ten minutes later, we arrived at Goodwood Circuit and I was woken up again. After going to the toilet we unloaded Crag Rat and the gear from the coach onto a trailer to go to our allocated pit area. The boys as usual had set up the pit so we couldn’t fit the car in. A bit of shuffling sorted this out but falling over kids is an occupational hazard of being at a Greenpower race!
Some last minute jobs were allocated to responsible students prior to taking the car to scrutineering which gave us the opportunity to have a tea and go to the toilet. With 5 drivers trying to sit in the car at every opportunity, we decided on Euan to be the chosen one!
All the kids were warned to keep away from the scrutineering bay. Sometimes organising the kids can be likened to herding cats! Radar and I took the car expecting the usual fail! This was not the case and apart from one small problem sorted out with some tie wraps we were home clear. Our roll bar even passed with no concerns whatsoever! As usual the boys snook up half way through this process and proceeded to annoy the scrutineers!
Crag Rat was wheeled back and the important process of tea drinking and toilet going resumed. The parade was scheduled for 12.30pm which gave the students plenty of time to get in the way. Joe and Matt practised changing the batteries endlessly until finally we could stand it no longer! Nothing could possibly go wrong in the race. Our pit strategy is to put the tallest driver in first followed by the next and finishing with the smallest. This allows us to only to have to tighten the harness. A line up very similar to that seen in a police station after a major crime was held. Stretching as much as he could, Jack managed to blag second driver in. Nothing could possibly go wrong in the race. (do you see where I’m going with this?) Several people came to interview us about the car including ‘Best Engineered’ which we didn’t win and ‘Best aerodynamics’ which we didn’t win.
The parade eventually arrived and the whole team, including Andrew and Ian, the 2 parents who came for the day out, proudly walked with Crag Rat down the pit straight.
I think we looked fantastic in the hoodies and the car looked brilliant in its new Ringways provided paint scheme. Surely we had a chance to win ‘best presented team’ but we didn’t! Radar continued round to the grid with Euan in for the first stint. Unfortunately Dr. Brodie and I were too far away and it was impossible to see if Radar was stood like a cowboy on the grid this year but I hope he was for old times sake. As 1pm approached, quite a few strange people wandered out onto the grid. The commentator obviously didn’t know who they were either as he never mentioned them once. They then wandered over and picked the flag up and as 1pm arrived, proceeded to start the race!
We were really pleased that the race was underway as this gave us the opportunity to go for a cup of tea. Radar had fixed his laptop so we could watch the live timing as the race progressed. Crag Rat was steadily climbing through the field and lapping consistently at just over 5 minutes. This was unlike the top few cars who were shooting round nearly a minute faster. HOW DO THEY DO IT!? Because of Crag Rat’s excellent performance, a celebratory cup of tea was drunk and an excellent bacon sandwich provided by Dr. Brodie was consumed. Radar organised the first pit stop and Euan was replaced by the stretchy Jack. After a visit to the toilet, we had a chance to watch some of the race from the chicane.
Jack had done a couple of quick laps and then when going past us headed down the pit lane. It turned out that he had been black flagged for weaving down the straight. We found out later, after a very complicated story, that apparently he was scared by a low flying jet. The race was about an hour and twenty minutes in when the car started to slow. The cause? Failing batteries. Not being able to afford new batteries for the race had really come back to haunt us. Even though we had charged them and looked after them as well as we could, they were just not up to the job. Jack continued on his merry way and an eleven minute lap was the result. We knew he was having severe problems and Alex ran down to the pit entrance to get him in. Jack must have been distracted by a low flying jet again as he ignored the pit board and continued with the ‘race’. This is one of those mouth open, oh my god, no really moments! A lap of just over 20 minutes was the result until Jack eventually pitted the car. Our ace team of Joe and Matt, helped by Will, sprang into battery changing action. All the practise would now be worthwhile! Unfortunately Joe must have been distracted by a low flying jet as he managed to put his battery in the wrong way round. We then had the comedy moment of him trying to stretch the cables to get on the wrong terminals. Eventually sorted out, Crag Rat was on its way again and straight back into mid 5 minute laps. I have no idea who was now driving (either Tom or The Tortoise (no not Jack again!)) Back to our pit area for some tea making training for the students.
Whoever was in the car came out and whoever wasn’t went in after 40 minutes. The times were still pretty respectable and we were slowly climbing up the field. Other cars were also suffering problems and the pit area was a hive of activity. Ours mostly with rotating spoons and boiling kettles. Another 40 minutes and whoever was in the car came out and David went in. We were hoping that this set of batteries would be better than the first and they would last until the end of the race. This was not the case again, and slower and slower laps ensued. The flag went out and the cars were stopped in the main straight after the pit entrance. Unfortunately David arrived in the queue second from the back. By the time every other car had been turned round and arrived back in the pits a considerable amount of time had gone by. The transponder was removed from the car and I joined the long queue to return this. Fortunately the age that it took to return the transponder allowed me to watch the presentation and to confirm that we hadn’t won anything.
After a quick toilet stop I returned to the coach and after a quick count of the kids, we were on our way home. Unfortunately sleep wouldn’t come until we joined the M1. After 10 minutes we stopped for the services and I was woken up again. After really slow service at Burger King we managed to get some food at last. Again it was the teachers who were last onto the coach. A quick count of the kids and on our way again. Sleep was hard to come by yet again and I remember seeing the Doncaster signs. Five minutes later I was woken up to remind the kids to phone parents as we were half an hour from home. I remember dozing off as we left the A1 at Flaxby only to be woken five minutes later at school. Fortunately all parents were waiting and the coach was unloaded in double quick time.
A quick detour via Tockwith and Bilton and I arrived home just before 1am. Twenty three hours with no sleep. I went to bed and you guessed it! I went out like a light and slept until the alarm at 7am!
