After an arduous day, my head of faculty and myself were in the car park unlocking our cars, ready for home when he told me, in all seriousness, about an ex-pupil who had been sniffing curry powder. As I looked at him, seriously worried about this, he added that he was now in a Korma, and burst out laughing!

However, he didn’t get away so easily!…I replied that he should have heard about the oyster who went to a disco and soon pulled a mussel!!!…and at the same disco I danced with a mushroom (he was real fungi!!!!).

Perhaps corny jokes are not amusing to most people, but I always feel that teachers have days, like NHS workers, where they need to be in charge of a situation, and keep a calm and responsible approach to some very sad, and dramatic situations which are totally unpredictable, as the day begins. eg A child in a difficult family home, or a physically or mentally challenged pupil can affect a caring teacher who finds it hard to leave the problem at school at the end of a working day. Sharing a corny joke is sometimes all it takes to listen the load…and sometimes it happens in the classroom with the pupils. I was telling the class all about Handel and the problem he had when he came to live in England. He had left behind, in his homeland of Hannover, Germany, a difficult employer who was the Elector of Hannover.

Imagine the quandary in which he found himself when that same man became the King of England. George I. I explained that Handel was really worried and didn’t know what to do next. One bright spark shouted up in the class, “He wants to get a grip on himself miss!!” (sharing the pun on the word handle and Handel ) and this made me laugh too. As we all enjoyed the rest of the lesson listening to Handel’s Water Music, I wondered when the next pun was going to made about watering down the King’s anger etc!!!!