"You're calm, so calm. It's all you can feel – tranquillity, coursing along your skin; serenity, powering through your bones; peace, filling your mind and your body. Feel that energy – harness it. Do you feel it? That inner calm, like nothing you've ever felt before.

"And as you sense that beautiful calmness inside you, breathe in. Don't push yourself –just breathe. In for four… hold for four… and then out for four… That's it, just keep repeating the cycle again and again, over and over. Do you feel the calm?

"Let's go a step further. At the same time that the calm is filling you up, it's pushing out all the bad feelings, all the negativity. Feel it flooding out of you – anything that's bringing you down, or stressing you out, or disturbing the peace. Let it free. Let it-"

"-NO!" shouted Charlie, getting up out of the cross-legged position she'd been in. Several children's eyes snapped open to watch Charlie, their relaxing trance abruptly broken by her interruption.

"Sit back down!" protested Tyler, who was wearing a dressing gown and sat, barefoot and cross-legged, in front of the four or five kids he'd persuaded to join his meditation session. "You'll ruin the zen!"

"The 'zen' doesn't exist! The 'zen' isn't helping me at all! Tyler, I'm not going to suddenly become all calm this week, and I think you know that."
"You're not even trying!"

"I am trying – It's. Not. Working! Oh, for god's sake, why am I even bothering with this rubbish?"

Charlie reached down, picked up the cushion she'd been sitting on, and threw it at Tyler. She stormed out of the room.

THE DUMPING GROUND: RENAISSANCE
Chapter 6: "Face the Future"

Mike could hear nothing but the gaggle hammering at the office door. Wearily, he lumbered to the door, braced himself, then gingerly turned the door handle.

Five or six kids burst in.

"Mike," said Sasha, clearly the elected leader of the group. "You need to have a word with Charlie."

"Charlie?" queried Mike. "Why, what's she done? Not in any trouble I hope."

"You could say that," Sasha continued.

"… Is this about her exam results coming up?"

"Yes! See, you're noticing it too! She's normally so nice, and then as soon as it's results season, she's… a monster."

"She's not a monster. She's just a little bit anxious about these A Level results. I know you guys won't understand how stressful they are yet, but these grades really could determine quite a lot of her future."

"Well, she doesn't have to be so rude about it!"

"Yeah!" chimed Tyler. "She threw a cushion at me, even after all the effort I went to sorting out a meditation class, all just to help her!"

"She used my tracing paper to blow her nose," protested Jody.

"I think she hissed at me when I was trying to make her feel better," said Bird.

"She threw socks at me!" ranted Floss.

"She stole my cereal and then she decided she didn't want it, so she just poured it on my head!" cried Jay.

"Yes, yes, okay, okay." Mike threw his hands up to stop the chattering children. "I understand your concerns. I know that some of the things Charlie has been doing are… perhaps antisocial, or unkind… But you've got to understand that her head isn't necessarily thinking about being kind right now. She-"

"What, so she can get away with being mean to us?" Jody retorted.

"-No, Jody, she can't. I'm just saying that you shouldn't think anything bad by it – it's nothing personal. Charlie's mind is fixed on Thursday morning. If she gets those grades, she's on her dream course. If not… well, that can be a discussion for another time. Do you get what I'm saying guys? This is important to her – more important than anything she's ever done before. All I'm asking for is some empathy, just for these next few days."

"Yeah, alright," conceded Sasha. "But please talk to her."

Oh, no, no, no, no. Not again. Another knock on the door. She just couldn't do this. She lay back on her bed and tried to pretend it had never happened. Didn't she have a right to peace and quiet?

The knock came again. Charlie supposed it was a little gentler than some of the wild assaults her bedroom door had suffered over this past week. Reluctantly, she fought her way to the door and swung it open.

Mike's cheery face greeted her. "Hi Charlie. Can I come in?"

She sighed. "Yeah, but only if you're not gonna pester me about exam results."

"Been a difficult week, eh, with everyone asking?"

"Like you wouldn't believe. I've told them, time and time again, that I won't know anything until Thursday, but they won't shut up about it!"

"You're not… worried about your results, though, are you? You said the exams went really well."

"They did! At least, I think they did. Well… saying that, there was a reeaallly nasty Biology paper, and that's gonna have done something terrible to my average grade. Actually, you know what, Mike? I've failed. I've failed! That's it, simple as that," she breathed. "I am gonna come out of college with no A Levels, and I'm gonna live on the streets because no-one wants me. I'm just a failure. I'm-"

"-Hey hey hey, Charlie! Charlie!" snapped Mike, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Everyone panics about their exam results. It's natural, especially amongst high-achievers like yourself – you panic for months on end, and everything turns out alright in the end."

"But it's scary!" Charlie roared, the feeling of catharsis sharpening every word into a knife. "I'm terrified!" She felt her voice growing louder and louder. "And the others are not helping! It's like I'm this big balloon, and every time one of them asks how I'm feeling the balloon gets inflated, and it's getting bigger and bigger, and I just know that sooner or later I'm gonna pop. You just don't get it – the idea of going out into the world with nothing is frightening, Mike!"

"Hey, kid," Mike said reassuringly, putting that hand back on her shoulder. "What's this about me not 'getting' it? It was the same way even back when I was doing my exams nine hundred years ago. Ask Carmen and Elektra, they'll tell you the same story. And do you know what? I'll let you into a little secret: my exam results weren't exactly all that, and I'd say I've done pretty well for myself – because I love my job. I love it to bits! And I know, first-hand, that these results won't define the rest of your life. The only thing that effects where you go in life is yourself, Charlie."

"Thanks, Mike."

"What I suspect is that there's something else making you stressed."

"What do you mean?"

"Charlie, you've got nothing to fear from Results Day. I know that; I think you know that. No, Dr Mike's diagnosis is that you're more scared of the future than a sheet of paper with some letters on it."

"Oh, is this another of your speeches about how the future is 'a big scary, uncertain place' and how 'you can never really prepare for it'?" Charlie scoffed.

"Yes, it is. Once you've got those results, that's your ticket to a new chapter of your life. And that's a frightening thing, but it's also a fresh start, and if you don't-"

"No!" protested Charlie. "You're wrong! If you think I'm nervous about leaving the Dumping Ground behind, you can think again. I can't wait to be an adult. I can't wait for a taste of freedom."

"That's good, and I believe you. But I just want to make sure you know that moving on from Waterland House doesn't mean you can't reach out to us, if you ever need us. We're still your family, Charlie, wherever you end up. The number of kids that have gone through this place, pretending they hate it here but then being terrified to leave – it's staggering. I wouldn't want you to be one of them."

Charlie sighed deeply; he'd pretty much summed up her weeks of mental anguish in a nutshell. "Thanks," she said. "I needed to hear that, I think."

"Now, come on. We're doing something fun in the garden, all of us, and the younger ones could do with some help."

Charlie followed him out.

"A what?" squawked Floss.

"An egg hunt!" enthused Carmen.

"But it's been months since Easter," Rafiq pointed out.

"You know, I've always said there's never a bad time to scavenge for chocolate," Carmen smiled in response.

"This is so childish," laughed Charlie with more than a hint of derision. "I'm seventeen years old! Why am I doing this?"

"Because we need an even number of scavengers – and I promise you'll have fun," announced Mike. "Okay guys, the rules are simple – teams of two, each team collects a basket from me, and you can come back when you've found the ten eggs that are the same colour as the ribbon on your basket. They could be anywhere in the garden – anywhere at all. Got it?"

The Young People quickly organised themselves into pairs and collected baskets, and then they were off, looking high and low all around the garden. They scaled trees, darted into bushes and greedily shoved their treasure into the wicker baskets.

"Seventeen years old," moaned Charlie, as she and Joseph scurried about in the bushes around the swing seat. "And I'm looking for Easter eggs. Isn't that just a little bit ridiculous?"

"I think it's fun!" Joseph smiled. "Well, at least I'm having fun. Aren't you?"

"Yeah, I… I suppose it's just that I'm…" she stumbled over her thoughts, looked up from the pile of earth she had been examining. "Joseph, I'm going to university next month, and it just feels like… how am I supposed to go from kiddie chocolate egg hunts one month to Freshers' Week and lectures the next?"

"Just enjoy what you've got, while you've still got it."

"Hmm… yeah, maybe."

Charlie turned away from Joseph and dived towards some bushes that looked like they'd been ruffled slightly – perfect for hiding eggs in. She pushed them aside – and there in front of her was a shimmering white void! It glimmered and undulated at the edges, like something organic, living.

She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Gingerly, she stuck a hand into the void – it disappeared from view completely! Frowning, she pulled it back out. What the hell was happening here? She had to find out more. How could she leave an opportunity like this?

She gave a quick glance backwards at Joseph, making sure he was distracted, stuck her hands into the mysterious portal, and threw herself through it…

into a vast, completely white space. at least, she guessed it was white, but there was absolutely nothing to tell her that apart from the complete sense of insignificance she suddenly felt. the unblemished whiteness stretched around her, embracing her and then carrying on infinitely in every direction. there was nothing she could confidently call a wall, or a ceiling, or a door – just her, all alone in this eternal emptiness.

what was she supposed to do? how on earth was she going to get back home? charlie spun around, searching for the portal she'd come through, but there was no sign of it in the white haze – and no indication of any other escape route.

she'd never felt this useless, this helpless – almost like a caged animal. she thought that maybe, somehow, there were punters watching in, like she was an exhibit, a helpless girl pacing around her enclosure with no idea of where she was or how to be free.

"hello?" she cried out, resorting to what she saw as the only option that brought even the smallest chance of success. "what do i do? how do i get out of here?"

suddenly a dull whirring sounded from somewhere behind charlie. she whirled around to face the source of the noise, and saw an average-sized, blank, featureless door swing out from nowhere, about ten metres in front of her. desperate for any means of getting back to her proper place and time, she ran to the impossible door and stepped through

into such an overpowering storm of stimuli that she felt herself going dizzy instantly!

the first things she noticed were the people – hazy shapes at first, dancing around her, next to her, all dressed in smart-casual party clothes. as her eyes adjusted to the new room, the shapes morphed into proper people – people she recognised: her friends! there was bird in a funny little purple bowtie, and sasha with beautiful dark makeup round her eyes and a twinkling nose piercing, dancing to the gloriously loud techno that blared from unseen speakers.

she understood a little more now about where she was; there was carpet underfoot, and sofas and a TV had been moved to the corners of the space – yes, it was a flat! she was at a flat party! jody and tyler were passionately kissing on the sofas, and over in the kitchen space that backed onto the living area, she could make out ryan chugging a beer and then adding the can to the growing pile by the sink.

a brilliant smell began to waft around the flat, and charlie followed her nose to the oven before peering aside. wicked – her favourite! and by the looks of it, it was ready!

"pizza's ready, guys!" announced charlie above the techno, grabbing the trays out of the oven and tipping the piping-hot cheese feasts onto waiting plates.

"good thing mike and carmen aren't here to tell us exactly how much we should be having," laughed ryan.

"yeah," chuckled sasha, coming over. "no more 'any more than that, and you'll be over your calorie limit'. rubbish!"

"i'm gonna have enough to fill me up to bursting, and then we can move on to the ice cream!" smiled tyler, his lips soaked in dark purple lipstick.

"yes!" grinned charlie, thrilled at this party, this pizza, this music, this independence. "this is going to be amazing! it's so much better being an adult

she was back in the white void. alone again. lost and confused again. helpless again.

"hey, that wasn't fair!" she shouted. "you can't do that – dangling a carrot in front of me like that. that was perfect, that party – everything i want from the future. i'd have stayed there, forever, if i could!"

another door opened in the blank featureless emptiness that charlie was stranded in. she considered it for a minute – it was in a different place to where the first door had opened up, but that didn't mean it didn't go to the same place; and how she wanted to go back to that place! or maybe it was the way out – also acceptable, at this stage, but maybe not quite as enticing as that house party…

oh well. she was clearly not the person in control here, so she might as well go along with it and see what lay on the other side of the door. charlie paced up to it and stepped over its threshold

into an awful scene that was usually confined within the pages of a charles dickens novel, not real life. a scene simply too inhumane to be the product of reality.

tiny figures sat hunched over rows of benches. in front of each one was a gargantuan tangle of thick dirty rope. the figures wouldn't stop coughing, a diseased, splintered cough that made charlie wish there was something she could do to help. their clothes were tattered and torn, looking like little more than potato sacks with holes cut out for malnourished limbs to dejectedly flop through.

a door creaked open and onto this scene marched carmen and elektra, both wearing crisp three-piece pinstripe suits and immaculately-polished leather loafers. they turned to face the figures – figures that charlie now realised were her friends! she tried to individually make out their faces as her perception readjusted to the new environment; aisha, floss, jay, rafiq, joseph and chloe were the poor urchins. charlie ducked down behind a spare bench.

"riiiiiight!" howled elektra. "you know your tasks."

"you will work until one," carmen announced, and charlie's eyes drifted to the clock which was just about to tick onto eight. "and then we will break for the customary bread and cheese."

"any and all talking will be punished with the utmost severity that this institution is permitted to exert. this will be your only warning."

"now work!"

quickly, fearfully, the children began picking at the thick knots in the rope pythons – charlie stole a glance at her poor friends, and noticed their sallow, blotchy skin, horrific purple welts on their hands, and screaming red skin at the fingertips that frayed like the rope they fruitlessly unpicked fibre by fibre.

she couldn't see any more of this. she couldn't put up with such injustice! these poor young children, being ordered to do these horrible things they didn't want to do – things nobody wanted to do. and by who? the rich, pompous adults who thought they knew best? this was awful.

inspired by the fury her thoughts summoned up, charlie roared "let me out of here!"

and found herself back in what she now saw as the white entrance hall onto these improbable situations that she'd experienced.

a voice sounded from behind where charlie stood: "right then, miss. this time you're gonna need some guidance."

charlie wheeled around to come face to face with…

"mike!" she exclaimed. he was dressed in white, from head to toe, looking more like a disco tribute act than an ethereal being. "oh, i'm so happy to see you! wait…" she thought for a minute.

"no, i'm not real," mike answered, psychically hearing her wordless question. "or, at least, i'm as real – or not real – as the rest of this realm. now, young lady, take my hand." he proffered a hand, which charlie accepted, and led her up a flight of imaginary stairs in the middle of the nothingness. charlie couldn't believe it – she definitely couldn't see any difference in the cloud of white from one place to the next, but she could feel the stairs underfoot as she ascended them.

a door swung out from nowhere on this upper level that mike had led her to. "i'm thinking," he explained, "that you need something to expand your mind. a bit of… balance. try this."

he pushed a hand into her back and sent her tumbling through the door

into a faceful of leaves! instinctively, charlie recoiled and pulled herself back out of the pot plant she'd landed in, spitting out a mouthful of soil as she did so. bleurgh. she peered out from behind the plant and surveyed the room that mike had pushed her into:

it was almost as white and featureless as the void she'd been trapped in since she climbed through the wormhole in the garden, except, rather than pure white, it was more of a sort of… magnolia? whatever it was, it was disgusting and bland, every wall the same colour and with a ceiling to match. the magnolia carpet was splattered with stains. curiously, a picture of waterland house hung on the wall, but apart from that the minuscule room's only furniture was a white desk in one corner.

charlie craned her neck around to see more, and nearly did a double take when she saw who was sitting at the desk: tyler! looking about three times his age, balding and slightly wrinkled, clad in a pinstriped suit like a city banker, but definitely tyler. oh gosh, he looked shattered! his head was in his hands, and charlie thought she could tell why: piled up on the desk in front of him were mounds and mounds of sheets of paper, spilling onto messy piles on the floor.

"bills!" he roared. "stupid, endless, bloody bills! they come in every month, just to ruin your life! aaaghhh! joooddyyy!"

a door crashed open and in waddled jody. charlie's eyes bulged in amazement – jody was pregnant! not just pregnant, but really, really pregnant. she seemed to be built like a house, sagging at the stomach where an enormous baby bump rested – surely a woman should have already given birth by the time it was this big?

"what is it, tyler?" she asked, and the sheer exhaustion in her voice seemed about as bad, to charlie, as anything she'd seen in the workhouse before. "i'm busy. she won't go to sleep – i've just about got her settled down but we both know it's not going to last."

"oh, boo-hoo," mocked tyler; charlie was amazed at the cruelty in his voice. "look, jody, i've got so many of these bills to get through. can you help?" as she looked back at the pile of bills, charlie was sure they'd multiplied since she last looked.

"no, of course i can't help you, tyler!" said jody, anger rising in her tone of voice. "my back. ah! it's killing me! have we got any more of those painkillers?"

"well, maybe if we got through the bills, i'd know whether we have enough money to buy more!" protested tyler.

"oh great, so that's a no, then."

suddenly there came a howl from the baby monitor. jody rushed out the room to deal with it, leaving tyler engulfed by bills.

"get the point?" came mike's voice, resounding around charlie's head. "not just yet? then how about one more demonstration?"

and then suddenly, charlie was back at the dumping ground. sat on the swing seat in the garden, just metres away from the wormhole she'd walked through, she could see the party to end all parties unfolding before her. it was amazing.

the party guests were jay, rafiq, chloe, aisha, floss and joseph. they were all decked out in their best clothes, looking smarter than she'd ever seen them before. and they were having so much fun! bubblegum pop blared over the speakers, and the kids were dancing like crazy with big smiles on their faces. somewhere, concealed within a bus, a machine was enthusiastically spraying out soapy bubbles that popped in the air, mixing with the balloons which, tethered to the ground on strings, twirled and dipped about like crimson buoys in an invisible sea.

aisha, looking like a princess, had never seemed happier. joseph was wearing his favourite jumper and looked like he was having the time of his life. chloe and rafiq were sharing jokes, their faces contorting with laughter. and floss and jay were holding the fort at the well-stocked buffet table, cramming paper plates with sugary cake and crunchy crisps.

charlie revelled in the fun that everyone was clearly having. this was bliss! she made a beeline for the buffet table and turned to floss.

"hey, is there a plate for me?" she asked the younger girl – but there was no reply. floss kept talking to jay like nothing had even happened. "floss? can you hear me?" nothing. "floss, don't ignore me! floss!"

and there was white all around, devoid of door, wall or ceiling, carpet, furniture or feature. only mike stood there with charlie, dressed in his all-white outfit.

"that's enough of that, i think," he said.

"i'm not allowed to join in?" asked charlie incredulously. "but that looked like so much fun."

"well, exactly. it was fun. but i'm reliably informed that it's a type of fun that you don't want to have anymore."

"wha-"

"-a little too childish for you, apparently?"

"no, i didn't- well… yes, i might have said a few times that life at the dumping ground is a bit… childish… I suppose. but i didn't mean that i don't like it!"

"so if you still want to stay at waterland house, why are you telling people you're so keen to leave it?"

"because i'm entitled to! mike, you might not like it, but whatever happens i'm moving on. if it's not to university, then i'll get a flat or something. i get it – i'm out of the system now. but it's difficult to leave! it's an amazing place to live, and yeah, maybe some of the activities you do with us are a bit childish, but that's okay!"

"we've got to make sure everyone is entertained."

"yeah, i understand that. i suppose all of this kiddie stuff, it's like a rope that keeps me tied to childhood. and the reason why it's difficult is because of…"

"the big scary… world out there," finished mike. "don't worry, charlie, i understand completely. university is a frightening time for anyone, let alone someone who's come from a background like yours. but i'm worried you're focusing on the negatives, instead of thinking about the positives! hey – at university, you won't have eleven noisy kids waking you up at seven o'clock in the morning! you'll be able to do your own thing, taste freedom that you haven't tasted before. and if you want that connection to childhood to stay strong, we're just a phone call away."

"thanks, mike," beamed charlie. "i guess the point of all these rooms was to tell me that… what, being a kid is fun but also hard, and so is being an adult?"

"yeah, that's it. but it doesn't seem quite right, does it?"

charlie thought for a moment, then realised what he meant. "so you showed me the bad sides and the good sides of being a child and being an adult, but you never showed me what it's really like." mike smiled on. "because being a kid is fun but challenging at the same time – it's never just a day of fun followed by a day of misery; it's all mixed in together."

"and being an adult is just the same. charlie, growing up doesn't mean shifting from the easy life of childhood to the difficult world of being an adult. it doesn't mean losing your safety net, or gaining your independence. it's just about learning. learning more, about yourself and about the world around you. you might be doing your learning in a slightly different setting to where you've spent your childhood, but a change is never a bad thing."

"yeah, i get you. change is never a bad thing… that means a lot. whatever happens, i'm still the same person, and i can be as childish or as grown up as i want to be."

"that's the gist," confirmed mike. "charlie, you can be anybody you want to be. come on, bring it in." they hugged, a long and lingering hug that filled charlie with warmth. "now, i'd say it's time to bring some of that charlie cheer into these rooms. make it a bit more realistic, eh? go on; do your worst."

so charlie smiled and darted to the appearing door, climbing inside before it had even fully opened out from its invisible hinges. she found herself back at the dumping ground's amazing party in the garden, pinched two balloons and located the bubble machine. scooping them all up in her hands, she raced into the gruelling workhouse, and put the balloons and the machine down on the front bench. the kids' faces lit up as the bubbles soared higher and higher. charlie found herself smiling just watching them.

now time to sort out the other misery she'd been a witness to. in the white space again, charlie watched as a door opened out on the upper level. she quickly climbed the invisible stairs – somehow, instinctively perhaps, knowing where they were – and grabbed a box of pizza from her friends' flat party. she knew exactly who needed this, and she couldn't have been happier to have darted out from behind the jackson-lewis household's pot plant when tyler was rummaging about in the piles of bills on the floor and to have placed that pizza on his desk. she laughed to herself as tyler looked back at the desk in bewilderment, and smiled as he opened the lid of the pizza box and glee filled his face; finally, her heart melted as she saw tyler call for jody, who pulled up a chair and scanned tyler's bills whilst munching a slice of pizza.

"home time now," announced mike, back in the void. "i hope you remember what you've learned today. you've been a good student. remember – life's not as black and white as you think it is."

charlie smiled, closed her eyes, and

found herself back in the garden of Waterland House!

"Found anything in that bush?" inquired Joseph, walking on his knees over to where Charlie had almost face-planted a shrub.

Charlie looked back at the garden and realised she was home. She couldn't have been happier.

"Charlie?"

She quickly looked back into the bush. There it was – another of their team's chocolate eggs. Perfect!

"Okay," announced Carmen to the assembled kids in the living room that evening. "Well, I don't think it'll come as any surprise to you lot, given how enthusiastic this team was, but the winners of our inaugural Dumping Ground August Egg Hunt are…"

Everybody held their breath.

"…Charlie and Joseph!"

The kids burst into polite applause, and Charlie and Joseph came to the front to collect a small specially-made engraved trophy. With his eyes, Joseph urged Charlie to speak. She waited for the clapping to end.

"Thank you very much for the prize, everyone," she said. "I hope everyone had fun at the egg hunt. Yeah, I thought it was a bit childish at first, and I'm sure some of you lot did as well, but if there's anything today's taught me, it's that a bit of childishness is never a bad thing – even when you're soon gonna be a grown-up.

"I'd like to take this opportunity also to say sorry to you all. I've been mean to you, I know I have, and I regret it all – I've been stressing about something that there's no need to stress over, so from now on, you don't need to be scared about walking by my bedroom door anymore." The kids laughed.

"As you guys know, I'm leaving for university next month, and I think what I really need to appreciate, and what I haven't been appreciating, is you guys. I'm really lucky to be a part of this great big family, and that's something I probably hadn't realised. So I'm sorry for being snappy with you.

"Yeah, I'm nervous to face the future, but I'm excited too. I know that, if I put my mind to it, my future is mine to make… and that's the best feeling in the world."

And the kids broke out into applause again.

Hope you enjoyed! If you did, feel free to leave a review! After a couple of stories where I had a few different plots on the go, weaving themselves around each other, it was refreshing to have a much more linear episode (by necessity of the plot). This was intended to be very much in the style of fairytale-ish episodes of The Dumping Ground such as the 'Jody in Wonderland' special from 2013 and the 'Harry in Shakespeareland' chapter of The Dumping Ground: Love and War that I wrote the following year. Happily, there was very little research for this one - only a little look into workhouse practices in the 18th century. Who would have thought that that would be necessary research for a Dumping Ground story? This chapter was written 15-27 December 2018.

Here's a sneak preview for next week:
A legendary ex-resident returns to the Dumping Ground, more than a little worse for wear. The Young People try to work out what on earth's up with him, but the careworkers are keeping quiet and the returnee himself is only intent on sussing out his new cohabitants. As well as this excitement, the prospect of a glamorous TV chef visiting Waterland House sends the Young People into a frenzy, but Floss's antics might result in disruption to the whole day! Elsewhere in the Dumping Ground, Elektra teeters on the edge of making what could prove to be a big mistake.
Episode 7, "Goetia", is coming next Friday (1 March).