I was nine years old, and for the second time in about a month, I hadn’t done my homework. Even now as we sat down in class, I was somehow under the fond delusion that our teacher, Mrs Morgan, would have forgotten all about it and not ask for it.
Not a chance, of course. “Right, class, please place your homework books on your desks for me to collect.” I felt my spirits drop as Mrs Morgan went up and down the rows – I was one of the last of her calls. No book out on the desk.