School Prank goes horribly wrong
At the time the incident I shall recount to you seemed hilarious, but on reflection I can see what an error of judgement it was on the part of the school.

We were sitting in our routine friday morning assembly and the headmaster was rambling on. All of a sudden several ropes dropped from the ceiling and men in balaclavas in full army gear and with weapons draped across their shoulders abseiled down into the hall. The doors were kicked open and several more army clad men stormed into the room and onto the stage. One of them started to bark at the pupils and teachers to stay seated as the school was being taken hostage. At this stage the hall had about 20 fully clothed army commandos dotted around it.

One of the men then walked to the front, took off his balaclava and it soon became apparent that he was one of the senior kids in the school and this was all a prank and the teachers were in on it too. I don't recall the exact reason it happened, but anyway that's not important. The whole thing had been entirely authentic up to that point and I must admit I was taken in by it all - everyone was. We had shooting as a school sport so they had borrowed some guns for this little episode to make them look truly menacing.

Now to put this into context as to why this was truly such a horrendous idea you have to remember this happened in 1993. It was post apartheid South Africa and there were all sorts of incidents happening all over the country. Only the 2 weeks before the church where a lot of fellow school mates went was attacked with grenades and AK47's - that event is now known as the St James Church Massacre.

At the time most of the school thought it was truly one of the most hilarious events to ever happen. The fact that the kid in front of me pissed himself was the icing on the cake. Well at that time it was, but its only later on in life that you realise how truly awful it must have been for him because only 2 weeks before that he was one of the people sitting in the church.

Apologies for the lack of funny. Well it was in 1993, ok?
(The Archduke of South London I'm in your Girlfriend eating her organs, Tue 3 Feb 2009, 13:46, Reply)