Havin' a retro day

Currently listening to: "The Freshmen" - The verve Pipe

I got a card last night, from my old english teacher. There is a story to this one.

About 5 years ago I thought I'd take the time to write to my english teacher to express my gratitude for the work he put into teaching a class of disruptive uninterested kids from Monkstown. In the face of such opposition, other teachers had lost the will to get a lesson across, letting the whole experience of school become largely a waste of time for all involved.

Mr Marshall is a Canadian, from what I remember he's had lots of interesting jobs, is into good music and is a keen photographer.

I appreciated the accent, because it led to a greater understanding of those fun Belfast Giants folk when they arrived. The interesting jobs provided lots of interesting stories. The good taste in music was a novelty in a class full of dance music fans, and gave me someone to talk to about it. The photography came in handy when my band did a concert on the last day of school, I still have a set of prints that he kindly provided me with.

I sent the aforementioned letter to the school, but never got a reply. Until yesterday that is!

It was great to finally get that reply and an update on what he's up to now (still teaching, at the same school). I'm glad that he got the letter and, even if a bit late, took the time to write back.

The whole thing got me thinking about those interesting days, nearly a good 10 years ago, when I left school. Its been an interesting trip.

I stumbled upon some of the music I was listening around that time and through to tech before going on to drop out.

My brother had been to America on a youth camp programme and had brought back a load of good music. I can attribute hearing bands like "Dave Matthews Band", "Matchbox 20", "Toad the Wet Sprocket", "K's Choice" and most importantly (for today's flashback purposes) a band called "The Verve Pipe".

"The Verve Pipe" should not be confused with "The Verve" of "The drugs don't work" and "Bitter Sweet Symphony" fame. "The Verve Pipe" are a North American band. I liked it immediately because it was all a bit moody and teenager-orientated. This was about the time I was listening to "Counting Crows' - August and everything after" and the like.

The song that hit the spot at the time, and seemed pretty darn good as of about 5 minutes ago is called "The Freshmen". I strongly suggest you give it a little listen, find it on download somewhere.

My favorite line is:

"for the life of me, I cannot remember, what made us think that we were wise and we'd never compromise"

That's one to think on while looking back on the things you got up to when you were 16 alright!

I strongly remember being a little worse for wear and singing that song to anyone that would listen at a particular part once. Hmmm. Classy.

M