Blast from the past: Getting a new pencil case was class
One of the reliable pleasures of going back to school after the summer holidays was getting a new pencil case.
Whether wooden, fluffy or plastic, a new pencil case held the promise of a fresh start and a better-organised life.
This year our focus would be as sharp as our new HB pencils, our thoughts as clear and straight as rulers (who didn’t test the brazen assertion that they were ‘shatter resistant’?). There would be no mistakes, and if there were we would erase them with our unblemished rubber.
As well as being a receptacle for set squares and protractors (whose purposes remained obscure throughout school), a pencil case would be the keeper of secrets. Notes passed between friends about secret crushes, or the geography teacher’s terrible corduroys, were secreted among the fluorescent markers and Tipp-Ex.
I can remember many of my pencil cases. Sad, but true. A large primary school 1970s plastic one which had a separate pocket on the front for lunch money; one with a picture of Basil Brush; a padded plastic one which closed with a magnet; and a large, fat pencil-shaped one with a zipper top.
Just like a fresh jotter (that’s for another week), new pencil cases were great. Hands up if you agree!