I just read the first chapter of Go Set a Watchman, having whizzed down to our local WH Smiths to pick up a copy. I apparently contributed to a record, as the book sold 105,000 copies on it’s first day, and is on track to become one of the fastest selling books in history. Of course, I can’t give any verdicts yet, but it felt nice, just now on the sofa, to ease back into Harper Lee’s Alabama. As I wrote here a few entries ago, it reminds me of my school days, of Woodford Lodge and GCSE English – a time that now seems half a lifetime away.

It has been sixteen years since I studied Mockingbird. Thinking about that yesterday, I decided to look the old place up: who knew, Mr. Dale might still be teaching there, and it would be wonderful to hear his thoughts on this new book. I found a facebook group; and then, to my astonishment, I learned that Woodford Lodge High School had been knocked down. I do not yet know how or why, but the school where I did my GCSE English and then A-Level English no longer exists. Finding that out was quite strange: I still have very fond memories of walking along the path between my Special School and that place, as well as fond memorie of my lessons there. Knowing that once thriving, bustling place is now a pile of rubble is odd, and I feel rather lie Jean-Louise Finch returning to small town Alabama after being in new York for twenty years.