All The Bad Dudes....

The incident I am referring to, concerning the toilet block and the blackboard, was a culmination of certain bullying which had occurred at the school in the short time we had been attending. As with any school, there are bullies. Sometimes they are the biggest kid in the level, in the school or the best at a particular sport, so they receive a special status, which they often abuse (sadly this does not seem to be restricted to just New Zealand, where I was then living). Port Chalmers is, as mentioned near the entrance to Dunedin Harbour, a natural water basin in the bowl of an extinct volcano (or volcanic activity at least. A geologist could advise a little better on that specific). Therefore, the entrance to the harbour was through the top edge of the rim. Hence a hilly section of landscape. There were three hills between the harbour mouth and the wharf, with two further hills between the wharf and our school. Short, steep hills. The school was built on a hillside, on three levels from the street, where the church, convent and office were situated, down a level to the first set of classrooms, and then down to the base of the steep hill to the lowest level play area. The toilets for the school were also on the lowest level at the back of the school. That was the advantage for the school bully and his 'entourage'. The toilets were furthest away from the classroom and especially the offices of the senior staff.

I had unfortunately been cornered by the main bully on several occasions, but one particular incident left me feeling somewhat sickened by their behaviour. Having my head pushed into a toilet bowl and having it 'flushed'. Apart from the physical pain of the bullies pushing you, holding you by the neck and usually, as you resisted, banging your head on the wooden seat (which usually stunk), before slamming your head down into the ceramic bowl, one of them had urinated in (which stunk worse). The flushing usually involved multiple pulls of the cord to complete. So you eventually came up gasping for breath, having swallowed a quantity of various liquids. Gross, indecent and vile behaviour. I often wonder what became of these then, young thugs, did they grow up, join the army and are they the ones who introduced 'water boarding' into military interrogation techniques. I wouldn't be surprised. Given the number of bullies I encountered, there certainly wouldn't be a shortage of them looking for that type of employment. I wonder if they are recruited early in their schooling to develop that skill?

Not only would you finally rise up from the long suspended 'dunking', but you would of course, be wet around the head and shoulders and too embarrassed to return to class as everyone would know what had happened to you. It was a humiliating and disagreeable abuse by 'fellow students'. Is it any wonder I never developed great respect for many other young people at school, but anger at the treatment by some of the others. Why do the bullies still persist with their behaviour?
(Continued tomorrow)