This Side of the Pond

Distressing news from back home this week: my elementary school has gone into administration. An independent school in a converted family home, Buckholme Towers was the place that taught me how to pull off a straw sunhat and blazer while conjugating French verbs in a squeaky voice.

Nobody seems quite sure what happened to this institution of my own learning. The announcement was made out of the blue last Friday, coming as a surprise even to the current crop of parents.

I heard tell there is a plan to revive the school as a nonprofit, which is a relief. Along with my old classmates, I have been...