Used to

« When I was seven » — Emma, 15, Plymouth, for the school writing club.

Until I was seven, we used to live on a farm in Devon, twenty miles from the nearest town. I didn't use to have many friends nearby, so my best friend was a goat called Biscuit. Every morning before school, I would feed the chickens and collect the eggs, and my dad would drive me to the village school in his old van. There used to be only fourteen pupils in the whole school!

I used to be afraid of the dark, because the farm had no street lights. But I never used to be bored: I had the fields, the river and the animals.

Then my parents sold the farm and we moved to Plymouth. At first, I wasn't used to the noise, and I hated the traffic. I didn't use to like the city at all. Now, eight years later, I'm used to living here: I have lots of friends, I go to a big school with 1,200 pupils and I take the bus alone.

Do I miss the farm? Sometimes. I no longer feed chickens, but I still get up early — old habits never die. And every summer, we visit the family who bought the farm. Biscuit is still there. She doesn't recognise me any more, but I recognise her.