Remembering Joan

Today there was a memorial service for Joan, a long and dear friend of mine. I was there in spirit. She was taken ill at the beginning of September, diagnosed with leukaemia and dead six weeks later. It was shocking and desperately sad. We have know each other since around 1989  when I got a job as teacher in the middle room of Shottery Primary School. Joan had the smallies and I was in awe for she managed to rule them with a rod of iron yet was also fun and loving. They came up to me confident, able to change into their PE kits without trauma and read and write. When I unexpectedly found myself in charge of some infants it was Joan I rang. She was an exceptional teacher but the thing that makes me laugh every time (and I might have told this story before) was when I went past the boiler room one day and heard the unusual sound of singing within.  Hello, I said, is someone in there? It turned out it was Joan and her whole class, all clinging to her skirts. She was teaching them about Dark and this was the darkest place she could thing of. Unfortunately once ensconced the door blew shut and they were unable to get out! I bet each one of them still remembers that lesson.

It fell to me to teach Ancient Egyptians. I had a truly wonderful classroom helper who was mad about them. I had a small windfall and spotted a long weekend in Cairo and wanted to treat her. I feared she would say no and she did, but Joan said she'd come. We extended our trip to 8 days which meant we would both miss a day of school. As there were only two and a half teachers in the school the headteacher had to close the school for a day! That wouldn't be allowed today! We had four days in Cairo and four on the Nile and we had a ball. The pyramids were gobsmacking as was Luxor and just being on the Nile. Most hilarious was Joan's explorer jacket - it  was so useful and had so many pockets she was never able to find anything. The other thing we giggled about endlessly was coming back to our room and finding a swan had been crafted out of Joan's nighty and bra!
You don't have many true friends in a lifetime and she was one. How fortunate to have known her.