air pressure 2

In this final and unexpectedly colourful foray into science, we again return to the subject of air pressure, almost like it was some kind of obsession Mr Geraghty was trying to inflict on us. And it must be working, because this is clearly the most engaged I’’ve ever been with it. For once I clearly understood what the point of it was and am able to convey it with enthusiasm (and a creative layout). We’re also introduced to another of my classmates here. I’ve mentioned Carl Clayton in passing before - he was one of three second-year boys who lived over the other side of Fairburn on the Fairfield estate, across the A1. Later on, he became one of my core friends at the school, but here he takes the dubious honour of being the first of my Fairburn classmates I drew a portrait of. (I don’t count the one of Simon Jackson’s silhouette falling out of a spaceship.) I seriously doubt he was actually made to stand underneath the jar - I’m assuming he was just standing near it and got splashed, then I augmented it for comic effect. And he definitely didn’t say “Oh, brother!” That’s the sort of thing they’d say in those American comics I read and a Yorkshireman wouldn’t be seen dead saying it. And of course it looks nothing like him. But other than that, I’m sure it’s accurate. And that’s that. The end of my Science book, or at least the end of the part of my History book that has Science in it. I don’t know why we never did any more. Maybe we did, in a dedicated Science book, and I just didn’t take it with me when I left. But if so, I’ve no record or memory of it. It’s bizarre really, that we weren’t encouraged to take more of an interest in science at that age, but with no national curriculum, there wasn’t any formal requirement for it. I wonder if that stunted me as a teenager? Ah well. No use crying about it now. And besides, less time spent on Science meant more time for crap like this!

Wednesday April 30th, 1980

Air Pressure (revisited)