Old Girls

This evening my old school pal C and I are off to the Usher Hall to a celebration of all things Muriel Spark. 2018 is the centenary of the birth of Dame M, and she's being commemorated in various ways here in Edinburgh, her native city, and on the BBC.

C and I have a special reason for going to tonight's event.  We are old girls of the school she attended, and immortalised in 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'.  Though, of course we were there long after her time - just when she was beginning to become a well-known writer. But we were taught by many of the same teachers that she had twenty years earlier. It was that kind of place ....

It is still an excellent school, a local authority mixed comprehensive, one of the best in Scotland. In our day it was selective, fee-paying and all-girls (though still run by Edinburgh Corporation.  As Dame M pointed out, the good burghers of Edinburgh liked it because they could get a good education for their daughters on the cheap!)

So the blip is my old house badge. I might wear it tonight, and see if any other old dinosaurs recognise it. C still has her blazer but strangely, it no longer fits.