Music | memoir | The Narrative Arc
My Geography Teacher Jammed With George Harrison
A real Beatle on my doorstep — and I didn’t even know it
It’s 1991. The 1st Gulf War is about to begin, and I’m watching the bombs explode over Baghdad on my tiny black & white TV.
A few months later on the same TV, I watch Yakov Tolstiko win the London Marathon. It’s a significant event because he’s the first Soviet athlete to do this. And the last. By the end of the year, the USSR will cease to exist.
Not a great year to be a communist. But a great year to be me.
It’s the last year of boarding school. A school I’ve spent the last ten years at — almost my entire life. And in July, it’ll be over. An occasion as monumental for me as it will be for Yakov Tolstiko when he arrives back home in the USSR after winning his medal.
First though, I’ve got to pass my geography, history, maths, and physics exams. Which is a problem, because I’m more interested in girls, cigarettes and booze than the English Civil War, Quantum Mechanics, and Hanging Valleys.
In case you’ve forgotten: Hanging valleys are formed when a large glacier smashes through a valley, cutting the ‘legs’ off the older valleys.
