When the start day finally came it took a twenty minute walk to get to Frampton train station, followed by a half hour ride on the train with the commuters on the way into London. We chatted away while they either hid behind copies of the Metro or pretended to be asleep, a further ten minute walk to the college rounded our journey time up to an hour.
I was nervous about starting college, but nowhere near as nervous as I’d been starting the new school. We were all in the same situation this time, unlike when I’d joined year ten a week late. It also helped that we got there early enough to see other people arrive with looks of abject terror on their faces. Laughing at them as they panicked and tripped over their own schoolbags calmed me down.
The college itself was made up of several buildings, the tallest of which was covered in glass. I was to go to the top floor for my lesson. Al was at the bottom, the ground floor being shared by the construction classes and also the engineering department, who used machines that were too big to fit in the lift. We made a deal to meet up again at lunch. I made my way to the lift, but on second thoughts decided on the stairs. There was still half an hour before I even had to officially be there.
Three hours later and I gratefully squeezed into the closing doors of the lift, the stairs may be less claustrophobic but I needed a nicotine boost and this took priority. Al was waiting outside the main doors for me, and we shared a cigarette while he told me how well his first morning had gone.
Apparently they’d all been given a chance to lay some bricks. Despite the fact that their efforts had then been pulled down again, it still sounded preferable to how my morning had gone. I hadn’t actually done anything so far on my business management course, apart from be told what the next two years would entail. I couldn’t remember any of it specifically, just that none of it sounded as fun as building a wall, so instead I told him a story I thought he might find more interesting.
“I was one of the first ones at the classroom mate,” I said.
“Yeah we were a bit early weren’t we?”
“And this bloke walks up to the door in a suit, carrying a briefcase. I’m stood there in my jeans and t-shirt, casually dressed like everyone else. So I say Morning Sir.”
“Yeah cos he’s the lecturer.”
“Exactly, so he says to me, ‘Why are you calling me sir?’”
Al laughed, “You don’t have to here do you? A couple of lads in my class did that, Nigel the lecturer had to keep reminding them not to do it.”
“So I say sorry, yeah you don’t have to do that in college do you. Morning Mr?.... Then he turns round and says, ‘I’m a student too.’ I felt like a right twat. I’d just assumed he was there to teach us.”
“I didn’t think you had to wear a suit for your course?”
“You don’t, when the real lecturer turned up he wasn’t even wearing a suit.”
“You muppet, did many people hear you say it?”
“Nah, luckily it was still early so there were only a few other people there. They were laughing though.”
Al smiled, “I’m not surprised. That was a good way to start off the next two years.”
“That’s only half the story though mate, he wasn’t the only one. Two other lads turned up in suits as well. The three of them sat together at the front of the class.”
Al gave me a look that said he knew it was going to be like this all along. “Change to what I’m doing, there’s lads wearing shorts in there. Suits are for fucking weddings.”
“It’s not just that Al.”
What do you mean?
“I had another panic attack or something, like the one I had on my work experience in that office.”
Al looked at me. “You never told me about that.”
“Did I not? Yeah I had like some claustrophobic panic attack at the estate agents.”
“That weren’t a panic attack Lu, that was because you’re supposed to work outside. I’d probably feel the same stuck on the top floor listening to business lectures,” Al said. “Change to the same course I’m on. There are still spaces going, apparently some of the lads have dropped out without ever even turning up. Probably got jobs or something.”
“Maybe mate,” I replied, “it’s only the first day, I’ve at least got to give the course a chance.”
Al laughed again, “Fifty quid says you don’t make it to the end of the week.”I arrived for my second day with a renewed enthusiasm, sure that having had the whole syllabus outlined to us already, we would be due some excitement. How wrong I was!