Is This A Dagger I See Before Me, Duck?

The kids’ lessons I was moaning about last week seem to be developing nicely; it’s just a case of having so many activities that they don’t catch themselves learning - find the pairs, blind man’s bluff and paper, scissors, stone have been my saviour this week.

Adults were fun as well. Met a middle-aged woman called Junko who claimed she had seen all Johnny Depp’s films, didn’t like sushi and couldn’t use chopsticks. Secretly I suspected she may not be Japanese at all.

Also, taught Hiroko for the second time. She wasn’t interested in the text book and wanted to tell me all about her planned trip to England, thrusting the map the travel agent had marked up under my nose. There were felt pen splodges on London, Edinburgh, Oxford and one, bizarrely, on Stafford.

“Why is Stafford here?” I said

Her English is poor, and she simply repeats the last words you say:

“Stafford here” she said.

“No. What is at Stafford?” I repeated “What will you see?”

“Will you see” she said

I was about to give when she pulled out a second piece of paper, an itinerary, started reading through it.

“Lonn Donn. Edin Bah. Ox. Fawd. Stafford –on –Avon”

Stratford-on-Avon. The penny dropped.

Clearly, the travel agent had marked up the map wrong. Stratford does look a bit like Stafford I suppose.

Two thought occurred. First, I hope the bus driver knows what he’s doing because there’s not an awful lot to see at Stafford. And second, what if Shakespeare had come from Stafford?

Plays could include Tesco and Cressida, Coria-bus-lane-us and Twelfth Night (In A Cell After Punching A Bobby In The Town Centre)