EVEN MORE HARVESTING

In 1988 I had the opportunity to undertake a full academic year's teacher exchange between Radley College and St Mark's School near Boston in Massachusetts. My opposite number was a tall, rangy and cultured southerner called Van Townsend - he was married to a strongly opinionated New England feminist and they had a young son in tow. Snezana and I had just had our third child Olivia and would be travelling over the pond with three children under five. The exchange was comprehensive: houses, cars, jobs, lifestyles. Once we had landed at Logan Airport in mid-August and were headed to Aspen House on the St Mark's campus at Southborough it was all or nothing for a year. Back at Radley Van taught my classes and did some running and athletics coaching whilst Snezana and I had to take on responsibility for a dorm full of American adolescents. I picked up his English teaching and was also given a Girls JV Field Hockey team and the Varsity Squash squad to coach. Guess who had the easier deal