I too started in 1970 taking an extended break from 1973 to have babies and bring up our children
I returned in 1986 and it was a whole new ball game - no more teaching from the book, new technology to get my head round, individual lesson plans for a range of abilities, endless assessments, detailed reports, after school and holiday exam revision sessions etc etc etc
Then the pressures of league tables, GCSE and A level results and of course OFSTED
Yes the number of weeks one is contracted to be in the classroom may be less than weeks in an office but there is no flexibility- any appointments, medical or legal, house moving, weddings, honeymoons etc had to be in holiday time.
Preaching to the converted I know, but it made me very angry to have to deflect the constant flak (everyone’s an expert) in the press, from often hostile or defensive parents, from people who would not last 10 minutes in front of 30 recalcitrant teenagers - mostly taller than me, often belligerent but also warm and friendly once the relationship was established.
Not a job for the faint hearted.