[Sundae]

OMG I loved that song!
It sounded like the soundtrack to a holiday I didn't have.

I am mildly irritated today by my inability to break the rules.
I got into a conversation with a lady on the street today. Asian woman with two children. Hopelessly confused, trying to follow directions. It didn't help that whoever had written them down for her had written them pretty much phonetically. In fact she may have written them herself over the phone. So she was looking for Midluck Road instead of Matlock Road.

She was trying to find the local school - my old school, the one my sis works at - and having little better to do I walked her there, answering questions along the way. She had a strong East Midlands accent as well as a Pakistani accent, but was probably a second generation immigrant. Amongst other things she was looking for an after school tutor for her 11 year old. Having heard my background she asked if I ever had time in the afternoons/ evenings. I baulked. I explained I had no certification, no experience with older children, no qualifications.

She persisted - I could tell her what books were needed of course.
And my knee-jerk reaction was still to politely refuse, with regret.

Of course it was the right thing to do.
But she admitted the last tutor she had for her daughter charged £35 a session and was also not qualified. But she was an Asian and she cheated her. She didn't even work in a school, she was just a student. (Her words)

I DID THE RIGHT THING.
Of course!

But in hindsight I wish I was more laissez faire about rules.
I'd have bent over backwards to make sure the girl benefited. Even if it meant a crash course in how they teach maths these days (offered to parents when their children change from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 2 and when they change to Secondary school - 75% of parents attend it at my school).

Reminds me of the time I was invited to join a gang of plasterers/ chippies/ carpet fitters who were doing up a block of flats. I was to be their "interior designer". Because I wore large tortoiseshell glasses, talked posh and looked good in a lycra skirt. I didn't have the balls. Just as well in that skirt. I could've been the next smiley, smiley Carol Smillie.

Or the time I was invited to help run a bar in Spain. I was given an on the spot invite by a man on his way out of the country to do just that.

Or when Sir Terence Conran wanted to poach me (not literally) from the Gaucho Grill.

Damn.
I can't say I haven't had any offers I suppose.

Then again, I did turn down John the other day. Tall black man who wanted to take me back to his place to smoke weed. I'm sure he was lovely, but sometimes it does pay to be cautious.