The world from my window

A high wind whips through the trees as the children prepare for the end of term show. The stage is set up outside on the gravelled playground and it's blowing a hooley. The mothers and fathers, aunties and uncles and grandparents are huddled around tables, waiting for the concert to begin. A group of six-year-olds, the boys dressed as ancient Greek soldiers and the girls in classical-style, white dresses, each with one shoulder bared, come on to the stage, egged on by their glamorous teacher in heels as high as the mountain that overlooks the village. There is a stage backdrop depicting the rocky outcrop of the Athenian Acropolis and the Parthenon. The children act, they dance and they sing as the women go on strike and withdraw their labour as a protest at their husbands being away at war. With Greek music, extracts from the sassy and laid-back theme tune to The Pink Panther and a disco ballad, the girls take the higher moral ground and refuse to co-operate unless the...