September already? The brutal heat has diminished. The eternal rain has temporarily stopped. Sunshine and mild today - with a delicious hint of autumn.
Two weeks ago I happened to see a school bus meandering along the narrow road that winds past my property. School? Already?
When I left California, I was really surprised to learn that school started in August in many places.
When I was a kid in Southern California school always started in mid-September, usually around the 15th. September in Southern Cal is the hottest month of the year. Blisteringly hot.
I vividly remember the September when I started seventh grade. I was eleven years old. The school was Dale Junior High in Anaheim, California. The day that school started there was a horrific heat wave. The brutal desert Santa Ana winds blew in and the temperature soared to 115 degrees (Fahrenheit). It stayed that way for nearly a week.
Dale Junior High as it looks today.
There were absolutely no trees there back when I went to school - only a few palm trees across the street.
Back then in the ancient times, nobody catered to kids. Despite the searing heat, the schools never shut down. I had to walk nearly three miles to (and from) school. No buses on my route. No rides.
The heat was so intense that we really didn't have any constructive classes. There was no air-conditioning. Our teachers would open the doors and all the windows and turn out the lights. We'd swelter in a dark classroom, using wet paper towels to try to keep cool.
I think walking home was the worst part. I was so desperately dehydrated that I nearly passed out. If you think 100 degrees is hot, you should experience 115 on a long walk.
Come to think of it - during all my school years, I never rode the bus. I always walked - from second grade through twelfth (I attended first grade in New Jersey).
I also never ate in the school cafeteria, not once. I always brought my lunch. In second grade I had a "farmer" lunch pail. It depicted a barn. Later I progressed to a Flintstones lunch box (heaven help us). After that, my mind's a blank. I think I brought all subsequent lunches in a brown paper bag.
A rather unflattering photo of me, age six, in Glendora, California - showing off my new barnyard lunch pail (wow, was my hair really that light?).
This post is boring and lifeless (which aptly describes how I feel today).
I suppose it doesn't really matter, since nobody reads my blog anymore. My brilliant music and right-on-target political posts scared everyone away. Cowards.
I write political posts to annoy you and share piano videos to impress you. I'm diabolically diverse.
BTW - thank you to the four kind and discerning people who liked my piano videos. You have exquisite taste.....not to mention my eternal gratitude.
I hope the evil entities who troll my blog enjoyed it, too.
(he says with bitter sarcasm).
Cheers, Jon
Your ability to recall in such detail is amazing! Thankfully, in northern New Mexico I don't recall heat being an issue. But ya, I always had to walk -- from kindergarten through 11th grade -- in all sorts of retched weather conditions. Had we lived one canyon over, I'd have been eligible to take the bus ... I was SO jealous.
ReplyDeleteThis picture of you is PRECIOUS!
My memory is extraordinary. I can remember things from when I was only a few months old!
DeleteWe never lived on a bus route when I went to school. To me it seemed like an unobtainable luxury.
I had one of those "Ghost" lunchboxes with the little spinner game board on the back all through grade school. I filled it with banana stickers from Dole and Chicita. In highschool. I was sent away to prison. I mean. Lutheran school so i was forced to eat in the cafeteria. Side note? The food was not that bad! Better than Mom's "Boiled Dinner" which still causes me nightmares. How did we survive the '70's and '80's????
ReplyDeleteLutheran school does indeed sound like prison. I can only remember having two lunch boxes. The rest of my school years must have been filled with brown paper bags.
DeleteYeah, our schools in my area of Berks Co, PA always began the day AFTER Labor Day, we also were not catered to - no air conditioners or even a window fan, we seldom had snow days off like they do now as soon as a few snowflakes begin falling down (not kidding), we did NOT get "free" food or daycare. My mom either packed a lunch for us or GAVE US MONEY TO BY THE CAFITERIA FOOD. It was NOT bought with taxpayer money courtesy of hard-working, struggling people like me who do not even have rug-rats (sorry, but I resent the fact that it is MY responsibility to take care of other peoples children! IMO, you should be expempt from school taxes IF: a) You are a senior citizen who already PAID for their own children while they were growing up in school and b) You do not have children at all and never have! (WOW, I feel so much better now - lol!_
ReplyDeleteYour school pic is so cute, Jon. And I love your description of "a delicious hint of autumn." LOVE THAT!!!
The worst part is that a lot of the school taxes go to feed illegal aliens and also to people who don't need it.When I went to school I remember numerous poor kids who never had lunch at all because they couldn't afford it.
DeleteHow very true indeed!!
DeleteMy school transport memories differ from yours, Jon. Traditionally, school in my home state of NJ started after Labor Day. No school buses for myself either and walked to grade school when old enough and weather permitting, not sure if the distance, possibly under 2 miles along suburban sidewalks. Rode a NJ Public Service bus to high school until senior year when I bought and used my own car. Those hot temps in CA seem intolerable just reading this post and walking back and forth to school in them, YIKES. Enjoyed the pic of yourself and the barnyard lunch pail, but can’t recall ever having a lunch box…either a memory lapse or only used brown paper bags☹️
ReplyDeleteI never lived on a school bus route when I was a child, which is rather strange. To me, bus rides seemed like a luxury.
DeleteIn retrospect, I think the schools should have been closed during those brutal California heat waves.
I read all your posts, every word. I just don't comment on the angry posts. This one was very interesting to me. I will admit to you that Biden is even worse than I thought he would be when I voted for him, and that's all I'll say about that.
ReplyDeleteWell I'm glad you read my "angry" posts, even if you don't comment. Politicians are so corrupt (on both sides) that sometimes it's best to just ignore the news...and the chaotic world.
DeleteThat was such a cute picture of you with your lunch box. I had a lunch box, but I can't remember what picture was on it. I wasn't particularly happy with it. I wanted a prettier one.
ReplyDeleteHere in Missouri it was always in the high 80's or 90's and all of us kids would be sitting in the classroom wearing itchy new clothes that were made for cooler weather. In the 1960's through 1970's there was no air conditioning in the schools, and in the schools where I went we were packed in, 35 students to a classroom.
I remember some of the kids bringing lunch in brown bags. We bought our milk at school, it always tasted spoiled. My Mom came up to the school one day and had a fit when she saw all of the crates of milk stacked up against the south side of the building where the bricks heated it up even more, so that it could be rotten tasting by the time we had it for lunch. Mom threw a fit to the Principal about all of that milk sitting there in the sun turning bad. They never stored the milk there again. I don't think the Principal knew the milk was being treated that way. My dad attended the same elementary school that I did and had the same Principal I had. She always asked me how my father was doing. She was always nice to me, despite my Mom being very opinionated.
I don't know if any of the kids at my school got any kind of financial help to help them buy their lunches. I do know there were a couple of families on our street who received government cheese, because the kids in those families were always around snacking on velveeta looking cheese and saying it was government cheese.. I don't think they had a lot of other food to eat, as I think about it now. But back then it always seemed like they had plenty since they were always eating cheese. I think the old Principal at my elementary school would have somehow made sure no child went hungry at lunch time. When she would smile and look into kids' faces, she had a kind of grey haired Beulah Bondi look and way of speaking kindly.
I am glad they have school food programs for the kids, even if 80% of the kids didn't actually eat the food, it is worth it to me that kids that are hungry at home at least get something in their stomachs at school. My husband worked for more than 40 years, and I worked part time many years, and we raised our kids without government help. I'm thankful for that. Now we are retired and a portion of our taxes pays for someone to have government food, and helps some kids have school lunches.
It's not any skin off my nose so far to help make sure kids that are hungry have some food at school. Now the taxes that go for all of the extra perks that politicians and their families wallow in, some have gold plated toilets. and plenty of money to pay for whatever they want without scam taxing the voters, it pisses me off to have to pay one more dollar in taxes to benefit any politician, in any way, in any party, for any more than their set salaries.
I always enjoy your detailed comments.
DeleteIt's an absolute OUTRAGE that they would leave the milk outside by a hot brick building. It's a wonder that the children didn't get sick from drinking it. I'm really glad that your mother had the courage to complain.
Jon- Your Tennessee neighbor here. I read ALL your posts, sorry I don't comment often but I do enjoy reading them. Most I agree with and the few I don't agree with I just smile and keep reading! We all are entitled to our own ways of thinking. Thank you for continuing to share your life with us! Have a good weekend.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Louise - I truly appreciate knowing that you visit my humble (*smile*) blog. There are many times when I read blogs but don't leave comments. Believe it or not, I often simply don't know what to say.
DeleteThree miles to school each day and three miles home? Same here except both directions were uphill back then. Modern kids don't know what it was like --good thing too.
ReplyDeleteYes, it was nearly three miles one way. When I finally got to high school, my walk was only two miles (one way) and I thought it was a luxury.
DeleteSchool buses seemed to be non-existent everywhere we lived.
I can't believe you deleted my comment......or maybe in some way I can. Take care Jon.
ReplyDeleteI would never EVER delete any of your comments. I checked my blog comments and all my files and can't find your comment for this post.
DeleteYou're one of the very few rare people who understand and appreciate me.
Delete