Mark Cotter reflects on our Norwich group’s May meeting
Somewhere in the badlands, where the clouds hang low like tissue paper over fields and lanes, a little yellow van makes its way to rescue a car. A car that will not start, that refuses to convey its owner through the wilds and into the land of the North Folk. Time hangs in the mizzle.
Meanwhile, in the bright, and warm refectory of Norwich Cathedral, a large corner table is slowly filling with a group of writing teachers, ordering coffee, de-caff tea, pastries, scones, sausage rolls or cake, and sharing news, new jobs, failed interviews, new houses, impending holidays, and life at the various chalkfaces of the county. Hesitant new comers approach with trepidation wondering if we are, indeed, writing teachers. It’s unusual for Jeni not to be here.
But all is fine. Stephen tells us she is on the move, the knight in modern armour from the Automobile Association has arrived to slay the dragon and give juice to Jeni’s old steed. The car, is now on the move. In the meantime, we share words, and try to verb a range of nouns and adjectives with varying degrees of success. The atmosphere is like that of a lesson with a cover teacher. We all know we should do something but we are happy talking and doing a little bit of writing and sharing. Writing about neighbours is suggested by a new member of the group, and the poem by Laura Strickland prompts some interesting writing, poignant and funny by turns. During the writing the figure of a woman in a yellow coat appears. Jeni has arrived. Yay!
One of Jeni’s tasks was to use sentence starters from an article that appeared in one of the supplements in the Weekend Financial Times. A mix of personal responses with the flights of fancy from others raised knowing nods and guffaws by turn. All too soon, the clock is striking the metaphorical midnight and we scatter to the four corners of the county (and beyond) trying not to leave glass slippers behind but taking memories with us until we meet again in June.