40 years a teacher, that’s SWMBO

As my reader knows only too well, I am not the sort of fella who gushes about all that much.

If you have worked with me over the years, you’ll know a compliment is as rare as a good England football team performance.

I have been known to utter the odd “that was alright” or “not a bad job” but that’s about as vocal as I will get.

Well, although they say a leopard cannot change its spots (why do they say that?) I would like you to join me in a word or two of praise for SWMBO – ‘er indoors, the boss, my wife.

The last day of the summer term at her school was on Friday last week.

For those who perhaps don’t know me that well, she is a teacher, not a child bride.

July 8 was also her last day of teaching. Ever. For after 40 years with just a short break of a few months when we came back from Dubai in the late 1980s, both jobless but incredibly tanned, SWMBO has retired.

Never being one to utter an understatement, let me say that that is quite incredible.

Forty years of having to go to school on a Monday no matter how hard we had partied at the weekend.

Forty years of ignoring the sort of mild cold that leads grown men to have a few days off work.

Forty years of steering young minds to a brighter future and equipping them with the best values, knowledge and principles to make a better life for themselves.

Forty years of always having to pay top dollar for a holiday - after all, it is a bit tricky for a teacher to take herself out of school during term time. I fear some parents might object.

And, of course, 40 years of reports. Those slips of paper many parents glance at twice a year.

You may not know this but I don’t get out a lot so I have been doing a bit of calculation.

SWMBO was with her last school, a small private establishment, for almost 28 years.

In that time, I reckon she has written in excess of 10,000 reports.

And with each report taking around 20 minutes from setting up to writing, checking, printing out, signing and compiling, that’s more than 200,000 minutes in 28 years.

Putting that simply, if we say an average working day is eight hours and an average five-day working week is 40 hours (yep, some people really do work that hard), that’s more than 83 working weeks over the 28 years.

Or three extra weeks per year. Every year. In her own time.

So, next time you think teachers have it easy, think again.

SWMBO – I salute you.