Welcome to the School Days, Reminiscences series in which my champion bloggers and authors share reminiscences of their school days. It’s my small way of thanking them for their support and of letting you know about their services and publications.
This week, I am pleased to introduce Carol Taylor who blogs at CarolCooks2 and writes about food, health, cooking, the environment and life in general, but especially in Thailand. I enjoy her positive outlook and the honesty with which she writes. I first met Carol at Sally Cronin’s where she contributes a regular column about food and cooking. She has taken a great interest in the school days reminiscences shared by others and was happy to join in the conversation sharing her own.
Before we begin the interview, I’ll allow Carol to tell you a little of herself:
Enjoying life in The Land of Smiles I am having so much fun researching, finding new, authentic recipes both Thai and International to share with you. New recipes gleaned from those who I have met on my travels or are just passing through and stopped for a while. I hope you enjoy them.
I love shopping at the local markets, finding fresh, natural ingredients, new strange fruits and vegetables I have never seen or cooked with. I am generally the only European person and attract much attention and I love to try what I am offered and when I smile and say Aroy or Saab as it is here in the north I am met with much smiling.
Some of my recipes may not be in line with traditional ingredients and methods of cooking but are recipes I know and have come to love and maybe if you dare to try you will too. You will always get more than just a recipe from me as I love to research and find out what other properties the ingredients I use contain to improve our health and wellbeing.
The environment is also something I am passionate about …Plastic, Recycling and effects of Global Warming are all high on my agenda now…I am appalled at man’s waste and how they are destroying our beautiful natural world…But also how successive governments around the world are not doing enough to address this problem.
Welcome, Carol.
Let’s talk school. First, could you tell us where you attended school?
My school days…I am dredging deep now as that was many, many years ago…I started at Potter Street Infants and Juniors and then progressed to the local Comprehensive which it became just as I started. Brays Grove, Harlow, Essex, England.
I then progressed to Tottenham Technical College before starting work…
What is your earliest memory of school?
I can’t remember much about my early school years …I was happy I don’t have any bad memories I remember my mother still tells that tale as how when I first started school I stated I was now old enough to walk on my own…She got the bigger girls in the street to watch me..we didn’t live far it was maybe a five minute walk but I never let my mother take me I was always an independent miss or minx…ha-ha
What memories do you have of learning to read and write?
I think I was born being able to read and write I never remember struggling and my handwriting was always neat and tidy I tried to emulate my father who wrote beautifully. The local library was my home and I always took out the maximum books and I was back again the next Saturday for more…Like many of us I read under the bedclothes and from memory early presents for me were always books…I loved the famous five and my Rupert Bear annuals…That was until I received my first set of encyclopaedias…and also a set of reference books on Botany …
What was your favourite subject?
My father thought girls just got married and had children my mother always said very nice dear when I showed her my A+ marks…I was a good student…Particularly in Biology, History and Geography because I could write and add illustrations…Domestic Science and needlework I have always loved and music I mean we should all have music in our lives and I love to play the piano which was my first instrument. My nana’s every day after school as she had a lovely piano…and practise I did…until she passed away and her piano was given to the nurse who looked after her…I have never quite forgiven that action…
What do you remember about math classes?
You have probably noticed I didn’t mention Maths, Physics or P.E….Apart from the swimming I hated the rest and avoided where possible…Or tried to sit at the back of class unnoticed…
What other memories do you have of school?
Languages I studied 3…Latin, German and French… all at my senior school which I think is too late to start…Language is learnt far easier when the child is younger I can only speak for here( Thailand) but English is taught from when the child first starts school so much easier to pick up…
I was never the most popular or unpopular I was just there. I had a few friends rather than everyone…
What work or profession did you choose after school and was there anything in school that influenced this choice?
From senior school I progressed to Tottenham Technical College to do Hair dressing and Beauty culture …I enjoyed my two years there. I learnt a lot about culture as I was meeting people from different backgrounds…I had led a sheltered life until then… I have always had a streak in me which didn’t want to conform to the norm so college allowed me to do that…I was a competition model my hair has been all colours and wacky styles which meant when my children wanted to dye their hair green I was overjoyed not the reaction kids like …ha-ha..
I finished my two years with a distinction and came out raring to go…First Year improver…Hmmm…Not for this girl… I joined an Engineering company and did their stats for them…I left school and college still not knowing what I really wanted to do…
I then had my first daughter and worked part time at our local Hospital…I was there for a few years mostly enjoyable and a learning curve …I was still an avid reader but apart from a diary never wrote much…That came much later in my life…
What is the highest level of education you achieved?
I have always had a thirst for learning and an inquisitive mind and when I saw an advert for a Banking position I applied…Although maths was not my strong point in Senior school I can add up in my head all that early learning in Infants and Juniors paid off I still remember all of that…I passed the entrance exams…That really was the start of learning as while at the bank I took evening classes and passed A-level law and The London Institute of Banking and Mortgage Practise exams with distinction which is my highest level of education…
My dear friend Jilly was my mentor she was a nursing sister…and she encouraged my thirst for knowledge telling my children and me that when I was studying I was unavailable…anything they wanted they asked before or after and it worked after a few days…
After 15 years in banking I then started work for the government until I retired…Another learning curve …That was when my real distrust of politicians started…
After retiring to Phuket and by chance joining a writing group…All my thanks go to them, they encouraged me …In my friend Dianne’s words…’ Oh my Buddha what have we released?” My writing journey began in earnest as did my cooking as much is not available here so some was borne out of necessity and the rest out of my growing awareness of what is in our food.
How do you think schools could be improved?
Having lived here, Thailand for 8 years now…and watched my grandsons grow up through the Australian school system …My observations are that schools are too politically correct now…too qualification driven…I think children should be allowed to be children first and foremost…I think more attention should be paid to the fact that not everyone is academic and if they have other qualities like working with their hands it should be encouraged…
So should a community spirit which is high on the agenda here in Thailand…I was a late starter as regards qualifications and that door should always be open…By listening and advising in a non-doctorial way but a two way conversation… if a child struggles with reading let them read a book which is of interest to them and fosters questions.
What do you think schools (in general) do well?
From my research into climate change I have been heartened by the fact that many schools now are encouraging children to learn about the environment and showing them how to grow food…I think that is good way forward …
Thank you for sharing your reminiscences of school and thoughts about education in general, Carol. It’s been wonderful to have you here. I love your attitude to learning and agree that it should be life-long. I also agree that ‘children should be allowed to be children first and foremost’ and to ‘let them read a book which is of interest to them and fosters questions.’ I am heartened by your observation that ‘many schools are now encouraging children to learn about the environment’.
Find out more about Carol Taylor
on her blog: https://carolcooks2.com/
and connect with her on social media
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheRealCarolT
Face book: https://www.facebook.com/carol.taylor.1422
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/caroltaylor56/pins/
Carol is a contributor to the Phuket Island Writers Anthology:
https://www.amazon.com/Phuket-Island-Writers-Anthology-Stories-ebook/dp/B00RU5IYNS
If you missed previous reminiscences, check them out here:
Look for future interviews in this series to be posted on Sunday evenings AEST.
Coming soon:
Colleen Chesebro
Thank you for reading. I appreciate your comments. Please share your thoughts.
Norah Colvin 
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