Oh no, the sun's gone away! (From Bucks Free Press)

Oh no, the sun's gone away!

4:07pm Monday 3rd May 2010

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As I look out of the patio window at the sky, heavily laden with gray marl clouds, and watch the brisk breeze tug the blossom from the trees, it’s hard to believe that Buckinghamshire has been bathed in bright warm sunshine for most of the week.

My sadness at the demise of the milder weather is not due, as you might think, to me being a keen gardener, (which I’m not), but more to my role as a midday supervisor at the school where I work. Yep, three times a week, I strap a medical kit around my waist, adorn myself with a whistle, and shuffle out to the playground for an hour.

If using the word ‘shuffle’ gives you the impression that I am somewhat reluctant to attend to this particular task then you would be right – it can be a tough sixty minutes out there!

It’s not just the obvious responsibility of keeping the munchkins safe; on a daily basis the job also involves being a spur-of-the-moment moderator, an expert consoler, and a sympathetic listening ear. All of this while counting the number of jumps of enthusiastic skippers, nodding my appreciation of some new rap performed solely for my benefit, not to mention dodging speeding balls! Just this week, a football whizzed past me, ricocheted off a wall and then came flying directly towards the supervisor standing next to me. In a move instinctive of someone who has spent literally hundreds of hours on playground duty, I stuck out my arm and brought the ball to a halt on the palm of my hand, a mere two inches from my colleagues relieved face.

So, although good weather doesn’t take the challenges away, it does make the hour a great deal more pleasant. When it’s sunny and dry, the children can play up on the school field, which they love. When we were up there last time, I was patrolling along by the bushes. At one point, I came across some greenery shaking and beginning to bulge, and after a short while, one of our smallest chaps burst out into the open. He wiped the sweat from his brow, bent down and put his hands on his knees, and announced to me,

‘Oh, I’m knackered!’

I coughed over my laugh and replied, ‘You’re feeling a little tired then?’

‘Yeah, I was fighting my way through those plants and a branch went nearly right into my brain.’he said dramatically.

‘Oh dear.’ It was obvious he was fine so I had to force a look of concern.

‘Yeah, but my brain’s better now!’ he stated and disappeared back into the undergrowth.

And there it is; the reason I stick with the midday supervising – when you’re around children, indoors or outdoors, come rain or shine, the work is rarely dull!

Bye for now.

Tania Greenwood