“Come along kids, hurry up.” Tracey shouted to the surly group of kids behind her.

It was 9.25am already and they had to be at the medieval village by 10.00 and it was a good half hour drive. Tracey was taking the group of fourteen school kids on a visit to the village. She was well aware that this was not a popular school trip, the medieval village was in the middle of the nearby forest and was a full working re-enactment of what a middle ages village was like, complete with mud huts, blacksmiths, etc etc. The village had been set up ten years ago and was staffed by local historians who acted the parts of villagers. The whole place was meant to be a place kids could come to and see how it was in the old days and indeed Tracey’s school had been sending kids on trips to visit the village for some time. The kids had never seemed to enjoy the visit much though, after all once you’d seen one mud hut you’d seen them all! The village was right out in the middle of nowhere as well which meant a bumpy ride on the old school bus to get there. Just recently the teacher who’d taken the last trip there had said the place was looking run down, if a medieval village could look run down! The number of “villagers” was reduced to less than ten and the school was seriously considering making this the last school trip to the place. Tracey had drawn the short straw to take the kids and she hadn’t been happy when she’d found it she was taking class 5G, the mostly delinquent kids! All of them eighteen or nineteen years old. She was even less happy that day when she had got up to see that it was raining and cold.

As she got dressed she thought the school may well call the trip off, after all the village was some way away in the middle of a muddy forest and they had to get there with an unreliable old school bus. As she got dressed she convinced herself that it would be called off and so she dressed in her usual smart skirt and jacket. As she arrived at the school though she noticed with dismay the school bus standing beside the main entrance with a couple of kids already waiting by it. She pulled into her car parking space and quickly went inside to see the deputy head who smilingly assured her that the trip was definitely on.

“I’m surprised you didn’t wear more appropriate clothing Tracey, it’s liable to be a bit muddy down there.” He smiled, as he looked her up and down.

As she got dressed she thought the school may well call the trip off, after all the village was some way away in the middle of a muddy forest and they had to get there with an unreliable old school bus. As she got dressed she convinced herself that it would be called off and so she dressed in her usual smart skirt and jacket. As she arrived at the school though she noticed with dismay the school bus standing beside the main entrance with a couple of kids already waiting by it. She pulled into her car parking space and quickly went inside to see the deputy head who smilingly assured her that the trip was definitely on.

“I’m surprised you didn’t wear more appropriate clothing Tracey, it’s liable to be a bit muddy down there.” He smiled, as he looked her up and down.

Tracey had never liked him much, he always appeared to be leering at her and she almost shuddered as she felt his eye’s travelling up and down her body. He quickly assured her that she had no time to go home and change though and she’d better get out to the bus and round up the kids. Tracey was more than a bit apprehensive as she walked back to the bus, of the ten boys and four girls in the group she knew most were little short of young thugs and gang members. Tracey had only been at the school for six months and in that time had managed to stay clear of the more “challenging” kids but she knew by hearing other teachers stories that they could be trouble when they wanted to be. The only one of the group she was taking today that she knew was a girl called Emily Thompson. Emily had been a good girl until she’d got a new boyfriend, Mark West, and Emily suddenly started acting like a bad girl with an attitude and Tracey had eventually no choice but to mark her down a year, something that Emily had sworn to get Tracey back for. So Tracey was not that happy to be taking this trip for a whole number of reasons!

They finally arrived at the village at 10.20 am, 20 minutes late after a few squabbles on the bus which almost made the bus driver stop and turn the bus round to go back to the school! The rain had almost stopped when they’d left the school but now in the middle of the forest it was raining steadily and as Tracey stepped off the bus onto the muddy ground she wished she had been wearing one of the coats that her pupils were wearing, or at least a decent pair of shoes rather than the heels she had on! She quickly led them to the reception building and into the dry and she explained who they were to the bored looking woman dressed up as a woman from the middle ages, complete with a long peasants dress that was alarmingly low cut to show off her large cleavage and Tracey knew the boys in her group were having a good look! The woman told Tracey in no uncertain terms that they were late and had missed the 10.00 o’clock tour so they would have to wait for a while until a guide came over to see them, they would be the last tour of the day as it was raining and they had no more groups booked in. Tracey told the kids about the delay and they all settled down as much as they could to await the tour guide. The room was not that big and Tracey felt a bit intimidated sitting amongst her pupils. Some of the boys were looking at various posters on the wall and one had apparently caught their eye and they were laughing and joking about it. For a few moments Tracey couldn’t see what they were laughing about but as they moved away she saw the poster showed a picture of a young peasant girl standing with her head and wrists in wooden stocks while young children were throwing rotten fruit at her, what really surprised Tracey was that the girl in the stocks was completely naked! Although it was only a drawing she was very clearly naked and the artist had drawn her from the side on and was not shy in showing her naked breasts hanging down as she stooped forward with her head in the stocks. No wonder the boys had been attracted to the picture Tracey thought to herself and she questioned such a picture being in a public reception room where school kids waited.

They waited another twenty minutes before a very wet man suddenly appeared dressed in medieval clothes and announced that he was their guide. He didn’t look very happy, probably because he was soaked through and thought he was going home early but now he had to show another group around. He made a quick remark about them being late and when Tracey started to try and make a weak joke about the rain holding them up he almost snapped at her, “Excuses, excuses, we always find when a school groups late it’s always because a woman teachers in charge, put a man in charge and no problem, women though there’s always a problem.” He looked at her disdainfully.

Tracey was a bit stunned by his outburst but before she could say anything he went on to explain that because they were running late, and the fact that it was raining, the village was practically empty but he would show them around some of the huts and the blacksmiths shop that was still open. Tracey could tell that the kids were as enthusiastic about the whole thing as he was as he led them outside into the rain. Luckily it was only a short walk to the first hut and all Tracey could think about as they walked there through the muddy centre of the village was thank God she lived in the 21st Century rather than the middle ages! The place was a quagmire of mud and water with several deep puddles in the centre of the village. She knew her shoes had had it by now and she also knew her stockings were plastered with mud almost up to her knees as she carried on walking to the first hut. It was quite small and with all the kids and herself and the guide in there it was quite cramped. They all listened to him giving his little talk and showing them the way the peasants cooked with little or no interest from the kids. When he asked if there were any questions nobody raised their hands, which embarrassed Tracey so she asked a simple question about whether it was always the women who did all the cooking.

“Oh yes,” he replied “ it was a pretty sexist society in those days, men were the hunters and providers and women were the homemakers and they were also subservient to the men, there were no arguments about who was the boss of the house in those days.” He laughed.

There were a few giggles from the kids and the guide continued and laughed, “They may not of been as clever as we are now days but at least they got that bit right.” then looking straight at Tracey he continued, “In those days a woman knew her place and was all the better for it.”

There were a few more giggles and Tracey once again couldn’t believe the man’s totally sexist attitude but then he said it was time to go and visit the blacksmith. They set out into the rain once more and they’d only taken a dozen steps when Tracey tripped. She didn’t know what she’d caught her foot on but before she could stop herself she went flying headfirst into a large deep puddle. She was aware of peels of laughter all around her as she spluttered the muddy cold water from her mouth and sat up in the water looking all the world like a drowned rat. She almost started crying with humiliation but just managed to stop herself as the kids continued to laugh at her and to make it worse when she tried to get up she slipped on the wet mud again and splashed back down on her bottom into the water. The guide offered his hand and she saw with no surprise that he was laughing to as she took it and he hauled her out of the puddle and as she stood there soaked from top to toe, he said they’d better get to the blacksmiths to dry her off. Tracey squelched along behind him as fast as she could and it took her a few steps to realise she’d lost both her shoes in the puddle and was now walking in her stockinged feet. They all felt the heat as they entered the blacksmiths hut but Tracey welcomed it more than the others as she was starting to shiver. Once they were all inside the guide turned to Tracey and said, “Right then young lady we’d better get you out of those wet clothes or you will freeze to death.”