The above escape took place before the 1962 one immortalised in the Clint Eastwood film. But the two episodes and their outcomes are quite similar: files and sharp objects to pierce the fortress, old tyres used as rafts, no news of the missing fugitives: did they survive among the fogs banks of San Francisco? Who knows, maybe they all went back to school…
After all, school is the collective noun used to describe a group of fish swimming together in synchrony and whose only purpose is survival. The fish turn, twist and perform “Cirque du Soleil”-style acrobatics in the water solely to confuse predators. There are no head teachers telling pupils what to do in a school like that – it’s a bit like the relationship that was presumably struck up between the five convicts who planned their escape from the infamous jail.
On the other hand, if the five were a motley bunch, theirs is more likely to have been a shoal, rather than a school – a softer-sounding word, to be sure, but with a sharp edge to be found in their wits and tools. Making a getaway is fishy business and no doubt required cutting-edge planning. Alcatraz may not be Devil’s Island, but the Devil is always there, lurking in the details.
Name Day
St David, King and Prophet