Wednesday, May 8

Eitan Mugs


Eitan opts out of "The Tempest" at The Globe (school field trip dude) to play Bedfont at a pitch notable for its proximity to Heathrow Airport. Rob, whose free kick won the Surrey Cup, knocks in another free kick and a corner kick, which bends beautifully into net. I've not seen that before. Elm Grove 3, Bedfont 1.

Before the match I pick up the boy at Hampton and we have a couple of hours pre game, spent at a coffee house near Hampton Court Palace.  We talk about his term reviews, received at yesterday's parent-teacher evening, which are positive and constructive. He needs to work in biology, ask questions in maths, and capable in his languages and esp. english, where he is one of three boys at top grade '1'.

Eitan's teachers mostly young and from Oxford or Cambridge; his maths teacher fits this profile and, interestingly, a copper before Hampton.  An outlier is Mr C, history, who wears a bright green shirt and tie.  He likes to keep the boys off guard, he tells us, "and observe how they adjust ". Mr C hugs the couple before us and I learn that he taught the man way back when.