A Coventry Kid's Tale

Chapter 13: 15 years old

The time at school was now leading up to take the "pre-tech" exam. This exam was the BIGGIE exam of all his schooling. Hours and hours of homework, swotting and swotting again to make sure he passed it, the child did none of this. Instead he carried on with life as normal.

With the A.T.C. the child was to look after the flowers at the flower show in the Memorial Park on the Kenilworth Road. This was held every year and the flowers were in tents. During the night so nobody would damage the flowers, the cadets would go on patrol for 2 hours around the tents and then have 2 hours off to sleep. Some hope!!! At the end of the night the cadets, including the child, would go home, change out of uniform and then go to school. The pre-tech exam did not stand a chance. Falling asleep whenever the child could the child did. After school he would change into his uniform and go back on guard duty over the flowers. This lasted a week. Was the child glad to see the weekend come???

The pre-tech exam was now to be taken. With only one child to a desk to stop copying, the exam was to last all week in total silence, and there is not much more to say about it. The child never did like exams!!!!!

So on with the A.T.C., Stoneleigh Abbey was next. The cadets were to put the horse jumps back into place after being knocked down, but there was a lot of free time between shows. This free time was filled in by going to all the food stalls, although the child took his packed lunch with him he had no real need to. You could eat ham sandwiches, pork sandwiches, cheese on biscuits, sausages, bacon, jam, strawberries and cream all for free. The child did not starve!!! Walking around the showground the child and his friend Baz had the rip taken out of them by the Army recruitment men because they were in their A.T.C. uniform. So going back to their tent they changed into their own clothes and went back to the army tent. The soldiers who had taken the rip did not recognise the two cadets out of their uniform so tried to enlist them into the army. On the ground in front of the tent was a display of different rifles and machine guns, and the two cadets were invited to sample what it would be like to be able to use the weapons. So, laying on the ground behind a machine gun the two cadets had one each. The soldiers were now talking to other hopeful recruits, when the child and Baz looked at each other and gave a knowing nod. As one they both stripped down all the machine guns and rifles into their tiny little components pieces and put them in a heap before running for their lives with the soldiers chasing after them. They were not caught but dare not go back to that side of the show!!!! Revenge has a very sweet taste....