So it was “get dressed as your favourite book character day” at my son’s school on Thursday, on account of World Book Day. After much head scratching, we decided he would go as Harry Potter. The Grim Reaper’s shroud left over from a Halloween party was modified into a wizard’s robe; a scabbard became a fancy wand and with his father’s old pair of glasses (with the lenses taken out) and a mascara lightning-shaped scar on his forehead, he was ready.
He went to school, practicing saying “Expelliarmus!” under his breath. At the bus stop, there was a Fantastic Mr Fox, another Harry Potter, a Willy Wonka and a few more Roald Dahl characters. But what I couldn’t guess what character a girl the same age as my son, wearing a funky version of her school uniform, with her tie askew and a lurid short skirt over a pair of black tights, was. I quizzed her mother and got the answer that the girl was a St Trinian’s school girl.