This being the first day of you-know-what, I’ve a special message for students:

You’ve got to go to school! You’ve got to go to school! Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah nyah!

I know that doesn’t sound the least grown-up, but it’s a deserved taunt long overdue, particularly for the kids who don’t like learning.

Some might retort in a sing-song voice that I have to work. Save it, because I genuinely like being in the working world, or as your parents will say with an evil glint in their eyes, the &uot;real&uot; world.

From what I’ve observed about students and schools in the past several years, they are living in the real world – one that has featured bullying and violence on a murderous level in the hallways and classrooms. I hasten to add that’s a general statement, and not one directed at the Suffolk schools. As near as I can tell, the local system has done a decent job of keeping troublemakers in check.

My memories of school are largely good ones – the teachers, the friends and even the classes. Why? Because I was reared properly by my parents to respect the instructors and do the assigned homework, of which I did the latter most of the time.

Also, as my brother said he tells his students, I was always reading. One interest leads to another. Now here I am. Typing this column at 4:43 a.m. Monday. But my nocturnal life is another story.

Soon after school has begun, autumn will waltz in within a few weeks, and I’m hoping that the huge amount of rain we’ve had will yield brilliant colors in the changing leaves. Last week, staff writer Barbara Allen and I were talking about the weather and she predicts this winter will be a cold one. I’m inclined to agree. Don’t be surprised if we’re hit by an ice storm or two. What do you think?

I’ve no problem with an adult store moving into Suffolk, but I think that that desired site in a strip mall (no pun intended) is completely wrong. Three words on that topic: Location. Location. Location. If I lived in Riverview or Lakeside and wanted to shop or at least see the inside of such a place, I would not want it to be so close that friends and neighbors driving by saw me walking in or at least my car parked out front.

Stephen H. Cowles is the managing editor and a regular columnist for the Suffolk News-Herald. He was often accused of being the teacher’s pet.