This week my past caught upwith me and then a twist in the tail for a work colleague.

I am back in the water swimming the Channel for ASPIRE, no Webb great achievement as it is in bite size amounts over several weeks. I have started early to make use of the open air Lido at Shepton Mallet. On Friday, as we made polite conversation getting out of the pool I discovered that mu coswimmer from the adjacent lane was around three years below me at Colfes in South London. He had qualified as a teacher and returned to the school after University – I never went back, although I support the school when I can.

I was telling this tale to a work colleague as we were about to go in to conduct a wedding, and she had a similar experience there in front of me. There was a somewhat bossy woman telling everybody what to do and when she saw us she came over and said to my colleague “I was at school with you!” Alas she was I discovered afterwards, the school bully, terrifying juniors and free with the violence too.

A tale of two halves, so to speak, and a clear display that our ties to our old schools come in different colours.