Nap time and biscuits.

All images here were made using an Olympus Mju II compact camera and cheap Kodak film

I recall my first day at nursery school clearly, I was 4…

My Mum marched me into to the Methodist church hall and introduced me to the old ladies, I say ‘old’, they were probably in their late 20′s, but as my Mum was only in her mid-20′s at the time, anyone older than her was an old person. I played for a bit, unpacked the dressing-up box and made a house with Stickle Bricks, then it was snack time. I was at the back of the queue. On the table was a large tin of biscuits, a jug of orange squash and a basket of bananas. I was never a great fan of biscuits, but every other child had taken 3 custard creams each out of the tin, so I took 3 biscuits, but I actually wanted a banana. All the orange squash was gone, so I had to have water. I ate one of the biscuits, they were stale, the other two ended-up hidden behind the dressing-up box.
Later in the day, I’m not sure when, one of the old ladies announced that it was “nap time”. I distinctly remember thinking, ‘Nap time?! I don’t have nap time at home, why am I having it here?’. I realise now that it was probably the old ladies lunch break. I lay down on the sweaty gym matt, closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep for what seemed like hours.

I also remember my second day at nursery school, very clearly…

The first thing I did was check behind the dressing-up box, the biscuits had gone, probably eaten by mice. At snack time I made sure I was near the front of the queue, I got a cup of orange squash, which turned-out to be so watered-down it could have been holistic, and a banana. Everyone else got biscuits. I spent nap time sat in a corner reading Dr Seuss, watching all the other kids pretending to be asleep.

Photograph what you like, when you like, just because everyone else is shooting sunsets and kittens, doesn’t mean you have to…