Friday the Thirteenth - the Memories

It was Friday the 13th yesterday and of course, I thought of Mr Ireland. He was my teacher when I was 11 and 12. He had a string of degrees from Edinburgh University and he was a brilliant, legendary and inspiring teacher. He was in his 70s when he taught me. He was at that stage a retired headmaster who taught in a tiny country school which had 80 pupils at the time. Std 4 and Std 5 were combined in the same class and all together, we were 12 pupils.

For all his brilliance, Mr Ireland could not overcome one weakness and that was his fear of Friday the 13th. Whenever that date cropped up, he would not drive himself to school. The headmaster, Mr Garz, had to go and fetch him and take him home afterwards.
He has been dead for years, but his legend lives on. I no longer belong to Facebook but there is a group on Facebook for old Izotsha School students, and even the youngsters of today talk about the "legendary Mr Ireland". He was amazing and at times I can still 'hear' his voice inside my head.