Back to school

Huge excitement on the train this morning when I found myself in the same carriage as the schoolkids again. With all the disruption of the snow, plus endless changes to the timetables, I haven't seen them for ages.

No sign of Nice Girl, which was a shame. Perhaps she is working extra hard for her exams (they are all in A-level year) - she's the sort who would try to do her best, and if, as I think I overheard, she is wanting to study medicine then she will need good grades.

Tall Boy was there. He's not made it to Oxbridge, seems destined for Durham. Blonde Bits was also there at his side, but I don't think she was making a play for him, seemed to be pitching to the Almond-Eyed Boy, who is always lingering on the edge of the group. He is very nearly strikingly pretty but there is something about his mouth that lets the rest of his face down. Tall Boy's Best Friend was there too but, like Nice Girl, he's no looker and an observer rather than an actor in the dramas.

And do you know the really scary thing? In twenty years' time, they will probably all be sat round the Cabinet table in Downing Street, running the country for the Conservatives. And they will be giving their ducks better housing and care than they will grant to the poor old urine-soaked biddies amongst whom I will be sitting in the eventide home.