Ben..
..my friend Ben was a little special. Intelligent enough, with a quick wit that belied his age, but lacking any sort of interest in school work or taking anything seriously at school at all. Talking to him you'd often find your mind drifting off as you wondered how much he was having a conversation with you and how much with himself. He was frequently in trouble for winding up teachers.

School uniform was enforced vigourously and we had many a talk about how we were to present ourselves outside school - to keep shirts tucked in and blazers on when going home for instance. The school was the sort of stuffy, fee-paying one that relies on its image and 500-year old reputation to cover up for its dinosaur attributes.

One Friday, for Comic Relief, we were allowed to come in wearing "home clothes". So there was the usual mix of happy kids in jeans and sneakers and not-so-happy kids caught up in the adolescent fashion wars that erupt on such occasions.

Ben belonged to neither of these groups. He didn't give a flying fuck. He turned up in the nastiest polyester school trousers, turned up above the ankles and sporting suspicious stains. These looked especially smart on top of white addidas socks and battered old skate shoes with ollie-holes in them. He had on a white school shirt, with a green vest underneath showing through. The shirt was two-buttons undone and splattered with what looked like blood. His blazer was turned inside out. To literally crown things off he wore his school tie round his head, rambo style.

Genius.
(raymond "three griddle pans" luxury yacht lovin' the christmas action, Tue 3 Feb 2009, 14:30, Reply)