My Name Is Not Jacob Ramsay Read Free

the Peculiar People.
    Michael believed not much had changed in hundreds of years. He neared Abbey Wood, which was also covered by the area of Greenwich.
    In the year 1178 foundations were laid at the site of the Abbey of St Mary and St Thomas the Martyr at Lesnes. Lesnes Abbey was in Abbey Wood. The site and the surrounding area was home to T-Block, aka Blok Gang, a notorious group of males made up of young Nigerian-born youths, whose criminal activity included drugs, firearms and knife-related incidents. They lived in nearby Thamesmead. Their colour was green and their main rivals were The Cherry Boys.
    One day, boxes of green bandanas were deposited outside the homes of young black youths. This was their instant recruitment drive and it worked, whether through fear or a thirst for excitement.
    Michael turned into the car park of a former primary school which, although it housed school pupils on a daily basis, they were not your average students.
    The building was in the middle of a triangle. At one point of the triangle was the Blok Gang. At another were The Woolwich Boys and at the third point, The Cherry Boys. All housed in Greenwich. The London Borough of Greenwich, where Michael worked.
    Michael's job was a mixed bag. His title was Seclusion Manager, but he often worked as a Media Tutor, showing films to and then discussing them with a variety of pupils who would not normally choose to see them. His main role within the school was that of a Learning Mentor: a qualified counsellor to children aged between eleven and sixteen.
    The students were predominantly permanently-excluded children from mainstream school. There were also EAL (English as a second language) students. Asylum seekers. Refugees. Looked After Children (LAC/fostered). Abused and on the Child Protection Register. Those who had moved into the UK from other EU countries or elsewhere in the world, or even elsewhere in the UK, and required a new school. They lived in homes in Plumstead, Eltham, Charlton, Greenwich, Kidbrooke, Woolwich, Abbeywood and Thamesmead.
    They were residents of the Royal London Borough of Greenwich.

3. A KIDIFIED UNITED NATIONS
     
    Michael, with five folded copies of the free Metro newspaper under his arm, swiped his entrance card into the reader, which enabled him to open the front door to the school and step inside the cold, dimly-lit, brown-painted concrete stairwell. His beige canvas workbag over one shoulder as he ascended the stairs, passing a piece of paper tacked to the wall that read "ONLY 78 STEPS TO GO!" Also on the paper was a yellow smiley face. Michael smiled and in lengthy strides he climbed the stairs two at a time, gaining momentum, picking up pace and breathing heavily, in and out, in and out. He ate healthily enough, but he wasn't particularly fit. Michael drove everywhere. He disliked sport and the only exercise he got was probably the stairs he climbed each day.
    Along the walls, up the stairwell, were beautiful pieces of artwork. Acrylic paintings of the O2 in Greenwich, formerly known as The Millennium Dome. Line drawings featuring Canary Wharf and watercolours of the Thames Barrier. All pupils' artwork mounted and tacked to the wall.
    Michael reached a set of wooden double doors and opened one half. He paused to look at a felt pen picture of a gasmask, peeling from the wall. He pushed his thumb on the corner, which was coming away, and re-attached it. He eyed the picture, frowning at its dark, gloomy portrayal of the army equipment, before going beyond the doors.
    Within a brightly fluorescent-lit corridor, Michael entered a staffroom, where a half-sized filing cabinet rested in one corner. Upon it was a list of various names. Michael retrieved a pen from the top of the cabinet and wrote in the time of 8:45am beside his name. He looked at the clock mounted on the wall nearby and saw it was actually nearing 9:00am.
    He sighed and entered another room. Michael unlocked a full-sized filing cabinet and opened the