Gut Feelings, Excuses, Plus the Unexplained

Well, there is a title! I will say that I learned to trust my "gut feelings" from a very early age. I give you my word, they are never wrong. The only times in my life that I have ever regretted, have been when I have ignored the feeling that something is "not quite right", not all as it seems so to speak. You all  know what I am talking about if ever you have experienced this more than once. I was in a job where most people that I encountered would lie to me as a matter of course. Not your normal "Joe Bloggs" member of the public who was almost always eager to help or assist in one way or another, but the other side of human nature was regularly encountered. This involved any amount of excuses or trying to blame other people rather than themselves for what had happened. Gut feeling gets engaged. It becomes second nature, after a while to just "know" that someone is lying to you. Either by body language, avoidance of eye contact, tone of voice, whatever it is, you just know.

Now, I am going to tell you the truth, dear reader, but you may not believe me about an event in my youth. Read on......

I was about to continue my education in life, transferring from my primary school to an unknown, but highly recommended, secondary school in Brighton. My Mum (God bless her) said that it might be a good idea if we found out where it was and perhaps took a look inside before I started the forthcoming term. Enlightened for those days, I believe!
Well, armed only with the street name, we duly caught a bus to somewhere we thought was near to the school and alighted. Now, you must remember that in those days, there was no satnav, we had no Google, no maps of Brighton (there was more concern for putting food on the table than of buying maps in those days). We searched for a long time, asking passers by for directions, but to no avail. Then, someone said "I know it, you go up there, turn right and it's on your left". Deep joy! I must just remind you that neither my Mum nor I had been here before, either in this road nor in the school. That is very important for you to remember, because I can not explain what happened next, but I assure you that it is completely true.

We found the entrance, an imposing pair of beautiful iron gates, one open, inviting entrance to one and all. We both entered the open area within. I immediately turned left through some more doors, followed by my Mother. There we entered a long corridor, with large classrooms to the left, all with closed doors. On the right hand side were cloakrooms, open to the corridor. I then turned to my Mum and told her that the canteen was straight ahead, that the serving hatch was to the left, the cutlery drawer and plate cupboard straight in front of us and the Masters eating area to the right hand side. How I knew this, I will never know, as neither of us had gone further down the corridor more than a couple of steps and the entrance to the canteen was not only out of sight, but was later discovered to have the door closed, thus preventing any view of the interior from where we stood. I have, nor offer any explanation for that knowledge, which proved to be totally accurate when we entered the room. It has amazed me ever since, as it did my Mother. Explain that one my dear reader, for I can not. Had I been a pupil/master in a previous life? (Another post to come, be patient), de-ja vu? An over stimulated imagination? A guess? But to get it that accurate, to know where the cutlery was kept, even the plates. How, how did I know? You might think that I would have been rather perturbed, scared perhaps, but this was not the case at all. Unexplained to this day, perhaps forever, who knows, not me, that is certain.
Until the next time........All the best, Grandad.