A Loving family
By
Jacquimac

Pt Two

Childhood and Schooldays

When I eventually joined my family in England and found I had a Sister who 4 1/2 yrs old and a 6 month old brother, I spoke with a thick Glaswegian accent and except for my parents people had difficulty understanding what I was saying, you`d have thought I was from a foreign country the way everybody acted,mind you I had trouble sometimes with the regional accent.School was especially difficult at first as the teachers didn`t have any patience with me and I was continually ridiculed in front of the class.

That wasn`t the only way I ridiculed at school,It would start with the first class of day when the register was taken,The girls who were always called by they`re christian names were called out first, then the boys who were always called by they`re surnames.This was the usual format in all schools, but in our class I was the exception to the rule.I had been called John by my parents after an uncle but was usually call Jacky as uncle john was usually called Jack,I suppose it stopped any confusion when the family got together as they did for wedding or any other major family get together.

Sport was compulsory at school and for the boys there was choice of Football or Rugby both of which were contact sports though Rugby was more like a demolition rally, Football didn`t have as much contact but could still get rough with tackles, which left Cricket and that was non-starter as I could never see the balled once it left the bowlers hand,I wore spectacles so my eyesight wasn`t particularly good and I had to be careful not to get them broken as I didn`t have a spare pair.Because I could play the sports that were played at school and becuase sport was compulsory this led to further embarressment as the only sport deemed as non-contact was Netball which was girls sport although it was a minor embarressment what made it worse was that I had to comply with dress code which meant white vest,navy blue knickers, white knee socksand white plimsoles like the girls wore.This along with the fact that I to change with boys earned me the name Sissy,imagine a load of boys in the sports jerseys,shorts and boots and one wearing a girls vest and knickers.Sometimes the other boys would get violent and when I fought back I was the only one to get blamed and punished.When I told parents what was happening all they said was "tough , I had to comply with school dress code and that if I didn`t start fights with the others i would be left alone", so much for parental support.
I suppose if they had brought me up themselves instead of leaving with my one of my grandmothers things might have been different.

I did excel academically and the only other activity other than sport we had to take was scottish dancing, which I was damned good at having been taught it at school in Scotland and being a Scot of which i`m proud I enjoyed showning of the boys rest up.A couple of weeks after the dance classes started another 2 boys joined the school which meant there was a shortage of girls and this initially caused a bit of problem.The problem was eventually sorted out by a meeting of the teachers.it was decided that since I was playing netball with the girls, I would take the place of a girl in the dance classes to which I tried to no avail fight against.The dance teacher said that as I could already do the dances beiing taught I would now learn how to dance as girl.

to be continued......