Teacher

It’s a question of paying attention, he would say. That’s how he often explained his ideas – a question of paying attention. Suggests I don’t pay attention I suppose.

I first met the guy in the Crown. Not that I’m a regular but it’s a handy boozer of the older type with that aura of  fusty decline I find so appealing. It’s a strange old place, no WiFi or any modern nonsense - just a boozer.

Once inside the Crown everything feels as if there is no outside, nothing beyond those ancient walls. The world vanishes as soon as a chap is embraced by its fuggy warmth. This is why I drop in occasionally for a quiet drink after work. I prefer my own company so I generally choose a corner seat and listen to pub talk for an hour or so before strolling home. I’m on my own these days - home is just a place to stay now. It’s nothing special.

The guy I’m writing about usually sat nearby. He seemed to be a listener too, but one day he began chatting to me about this and that. I don’t know why but something seemed to switch him on. Couldn’t have been anything I said but there we are.

Odd things he said to begin with, disconnected but not random. He started off about his old job which he obviously didn’t like much.

It was office work really. Outreach coordinator sounds – well I don’t know what it sounds like but I sort of enjoyed it at times. I liked the sound of it too, the sound of my voice.

“What did you actually do?” I asked, having no idea what an outreach coordinator might be. I know what office work is unfortunately.

I’m not entirely sure –

“Sounds like my job,” I butted in.

I don’t mean it in a facetious sense, but now I’ve moved on I seem to have forgotten exactly what I did. Detail fades quickly and even key processes become indistinct. Like a mist which hides what was and only shows what might be. Maybe I haven’t given my old job too much thought anyway - not since I was advised to change.

“It was good advice then. I could do with some of that - especially the forgetting part.” Briefly I thought about my own job, whether I should do the same. The old question I never quite answered. It’s an oddity of the Crown - background chatter seems to ebb and flow as one’s thoughts come and go. Things seem distant, foggy, tremendously important yet isolated too –

I had to take the teaching job – had to change. Nothing else was possible. There seemed to be an option but I don’t think that was the case. I don’t think there was ever an option. Not really.

“There’s always an option – “

Not always. It’s a question of paying attention.

"To what?"

Influences.

“Okay, okay, so you have a new job. Nothing odd about that - happens all the time. What do you do now?” I was interested. At my time of life a career change is interesting. Aspirations are always interesting.

I teach.

“That’s good – we need teachers.”

We do at the moment. Teaching was suggested to me online - by the Web itself. Not directly but through a multitude of hints, suggestions, links - even the ads I saw depicted teaching as a worthwhile aspiration - 

"Which it is."

Yes but I don’t think I actually chose teaching for that reason. I didn't think it through. The Web pointed me in that direction until it became an aspiration - my aspiration. That part of it just happened.

“That’s how it is,” I explained, assuming he was not internet savvy. Not that I am either, but I am aware of the tracking which pursues all but the most wary. “The Web tracks your preferences and feeds you stuff,” I added as if I knew how. “It’s the way it’s done.”

I don’t think that’s it – not entirely. I’m just – well I’m the right kind of teacher. The Web knew that and reeled me in.

“The right kind of teacher?”

The kind of teacher they want. For now - until – until they don’t. Then I’ll probably be steered towards something else.

At that I finished my drink, made my excuses and left. Didn’t see him again for a week or two. When I eventually come across him he picked up the thread of our conversation as if we’d been sitting in the Crown all the time. For all I knew he had.

I noticed he’d changed slightly, Could be my imagination of course but I swear he looked more like a teacher. Check jacket, hair a little longer and a little less tidy – that kind of thing. Different spectacles too, heavier rims. A stereotype of course but I was sure he looked more like the stereotype.

Did I tell you? I sold my car and bought a bike, he said as if we’d just been discussing personal transport even though we hadn’t.

“That’s good," I replied. "I should do that, get more exercise, cycle to work or something.” Which was true enough. I’d recently read quite a few online articles about cycling and the health benefits. Standard stuff but I used to cycle everywhere in my younger days –

That wasn’t it –

“Not the healthy lifestyle game then?”

Not really. It just seemed like the right thing to do. I felt drawn to it, persuaded by something.

“That’s easy enough to understand. Unless you live in a cave you can’t avoid it. Healthy lifestyle, all kinds of anti-car angles. It’s annoying but they have a point.”

They always have a point. It’s what they do.

“Maybe so but it can be a genuine point.” At this point I moved things one step forward and offered to buy the next round of drinks. Until then we’d bought our own.

I’m fine – I haven’t finished this yet.

He held up a half pint glass with an inch or two of beer left in it. I hadn’t noticed he drank halves. In fact I could have sworn he drank pints. Anyway I bought myself a whisky with the next pint - for a change.

I see you drink spirits now. He sort of nodded towards my glasses as I set them on the table.

“Keeps the cold out,” I said.

Does it? I don't notice the cold. Do you make much use of the Web?

“Who doesn’t.”

What do you think the Web has in store for you?

“It doesn’t have anything in store for me, it just wants to sell me stuff and get me to react in certain ways. That’s what it’s all about.” I downed the whisky and smacked my lips rather ostentatiously. I felt almost offended by his miserable half pint – still unfinished on the table. There should be a law against halves –

It’s more than that I’m sure.

“Really? Tell me.”

Maybe in your case –

“Yes? Maybe in my case?”

You will be offended but I’ll say it anyway. Maybe it has assigned you the role of an alcoholic.

“I’m not offended by that.” I was offended of course but damned if I was going to admit it.

You see I think the Web has decided to reduce the number of people likely to reach retirement age. There are many ways to achieve this – alcoholism is merely one of them.

Of course I laughed out loud at that. Mad but interesting was how I categorised him and I didn’t buy another drink. Besides I’d recently come across a lot of really interesting stuff about overnight mountain biking.