NEAR   ESCAPE

When crossing the border on the road from Carlisle to Glasgow the only indication that you have entered Scotland is the change of place names. The scenery of the southern Scottish uplands and the north Cumberland hills is very similar: round pear-shaped hills; shallow banked rivers; and of course silence. Well not complete silence ... Now a motorway roars itself over the Douglas moor and descends on Gretna Green. It was on this road that I escaped an early death.
I was making my way back to School after a week-end in Manchester. By the time we neared the border the cool English Autumn had changed to a cold Scottish Winter. In other words the bus I was travelling on hit a snow blizzard. I had been through many such occasions but never with a lunatic bus driver. Since Carlisle he had averaged fifty, managing to drive us onto the verge only twice! His finale took place a few miles north of Lockerbie.
I had just woken up. In front of me, through the front windscreen, I could just see a dark shape blocking the snow covered road. Well I saw it, but I am quite sure the driver did not. About thirty yards from the overturned lorry he realised it was too late to brake, and spun the wheel in a frantic effort to avoid a collision. The next few seconds for me were very blurred. I remember my seat giving way and I was floating in the air. Finally I landed in a most embarrassing position with "old Mother Hubbard" sitting beside me. The whole bus was plunged into darkness broken only by the groans of the dazed passengers. I had been through my first miracle. I was still alive! If it had not been for the wet snow the bus would never have swerved so quickly. To top the evening some exhibitionist came round collecting for the "brave driver who had saved our lives" I
Allan Robertson, V.

EARLY  MORNING

I rolled out of bed coughing. (My chest often hurts me when I get up in the morning and my throat goes dry.) Still in pyjamas I boiled the kettle. It didn't take long because ths water was just over the element. An egg was ready and the toast beginning to crackle. I was still coughing like hell.
After I'd eaten I washed and had a quick shave (cut myself twice - the blade was blunt). As usual by 8.30 I was ready to leave. The cat rubbed against my leg and I kicked it away.
Outside it was misty and still dark. Already I could smell the smoke from the factory and an attack of coughing struck me again. Fred would be round the corner.
Michael Wood, VI.

DESTINY

What shall I do -
What is the point of living -
Where shall I go to in the end -
How shall I die?

In war, in bed or
Shall I dry up on desert plain,
Swell up and burst on the ocean waves
Or, will the intellectuals of this world,
Disintegrate me,
With Oppenheimer's little device?

Will I starve like some Biafran kid.
Suffocate in bed, or shall
Technology suffocate me -
Will some wild cat maul then devour me?
Shall I die, or just be obliterated ?

Shall I be cremated ?  NO !
I might be burned alive by some crammed doctor.
I could be buried alive !
I know, I'll tell them to cut my throat.

Shall I save up money and be put in ice,
To be brought back to life in the future?
What would be the point?
Shall I sell my body
To some worthy scientific cause?
I know what!   I'll become a human guinea pig.
When I'm gone will I be remembered,
Will there be anything left to show I once existed?
Or will there just be,
An upright marble stone.
And a faded name in Somerset House?
James G. Pryde, IV.

MINUTES OF MEETING OF
THE OLD VICTORIANS' ASSOCIATION
HELD ON 15th MARCH, 1970

Present: President: Lt. Colonel W. C. Harrison, BA, RAEC; Chairman : Mr P. B. Taylor; Mr J. Deeley, Mr G. Stirrat; 37 members of the Association.
1.   The Commandant welcomed members to the second Annual Old Boys' Week-end and hoped that the AGM would complete its business successfully.
2.   Reading the Minutes. The Headmaster read the Minutes of the last Meeting.  It was proposed by Mr Audsley, seconded by Mr McQueen, that the Minutes be approved and signed.
3.   Matters arising from the Minutes.
(a) BBC Scottish Television had been asked whether it would be possible for the cameras to be directed on to the Pipe Band before the start of an international match from Murrayfield or during half-time. The BBC explained that it was difficult to