When I was nine years old and in primary school, I moved into Miss Johnston’s class. She was a large and forbidding woman whose reputation for spanking naughty children was legendary throughout the school. It didn’t take me long to find out that the legend was true.
The new school term was only three days old. It was late morning and we were heading for the gym hall for a PE lesson before lunch. Miss Johnston had lined us all up in twos and sent us ahead to line up outside the gym hall, with the strict instruction that there was to be no talking en route, so as not to disturb other classes who were working.