One result of the spring break being divorced from Easter was that Scottish kids and teachers, freed for the two weeks before, found they were dogged by native school trips wherever they went.
One history teacher who was in Normandy touring the D-Day landing beaches had his visit to Point du Hoc battery spoilt by at least two rioting coachloads of French pupils who swarmed out of the bunkers and shell holes like the Bash Street Kids, giving innocent tourists frights.
But his faith in French education was restored as he watched a minuscule lady teacher lecturing a crest-fallen tough with the words: “Quand je dit ‘non’, je dit ‘en aw en’”, as the youth cowered against a bunker wall.
Bien!