Why has my description and profile disappeared down to the bottom of the page? Anyone who knows, and finds themselves browsing here, give a technically useless woman a clue, would you?? [Edit: I think I've fixed it.]
Yesterday was a strange day. After my big news on Monday, and chatting to director and producer, the kids went back to school and I was immersed in domestic trivia - shopping, cleaning, laundry and all the least interesting stuff that I have to do, and which, therfore, I will do ANYTHING to put off. I had one brief chat about the film, but that was it. I was definitely Mum for the day.
One thing happened which has stuck in my head and won't leave me. Just by chance in the paper one of those tiny one-paragraph reports popped out of me, concerning a young man who had disappeared on his way home from a club a couple of weeks ago. The police searching for him had discovered a body. It was today announced that the body had been formally identified, the cause of death was drowning and the death was not being treated as suspicious. Another everyday tragedy. Whenever I read these little reports i am struck by what a tidal wave of human sadness lurks behind it. How many questions are begged by the spare facts reported?
Why it popped out of me is that I used to teach this man. And while he wasn't someone who made a great impact on me in the way that some of my students did, he must have had some effect because snapshots of him keep popping into my head - sitting in the corner of the class, no idea how to tackle the class's French exercise, at parents' evening, smiling with his family, being ignored by the other kids. It's the first time I've ever had the tiniest link to a 'missing person' report, and I'm surprised how touched I am. My heart goes out to his family - the hairs on my back stand on end to think how appalling an ordeal all this days must be for them.
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