It had been a hard week at college, with a lot of discipline problems, so it was good to get to Friday afternoon. C Group were working on an assignment, supposedly completing it by the end of the lesson, but, on the first proper sunny day of the year, we were aware of the burble-burble of conversation and laughter outside, and cars roaring off and away as people left as early as they dared.
Jake was like a duck on a butty, chatting, sitting on the desk, looking out the window. "You've got to see this," he cried.
Daniel, sitting right next to him, jumped to his feet. "Heeeyy! Look at that!"
"Two lessies holding hands," Jake said, pushing the casement open.
"What? What?" Pushing back their chairs, the rest of the class stampeded to the back of the class to see for themselves.
"Come back and do your work," I said, realising how feeble this sounded even as the words left my mouth.
"But Miss. They've got to be lessies."
"Well, you know," I said, "when you go abroad, you often see women walking along arm-in-arm."
"That's abroad, though, innit? That sort of thing don't happen here."
