Teachers World Letters 1942

[Anita Bensoussane]

Old man's beard (or wild clematis, or traveller's joy) is on the agenda this week, along with bonfires and snails. I first learnt about old man's beard from the story 'The Old Man's Beard' in The Adventures of Pip. A most amusing tale that has stuck in my mind!

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... perid=1912

[Anita Bensoussane]

We hear about Imogen's 7th birthday party this time, and learn about the younger girls at Gillian's school having to vacate the comfy chairs if older girls want to use them:

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... perid=1913

[Anita Bensoussane]

Wintry weather is coming, heralding frosts and hibernation. Enid Blyton quotes the saying about the coldest part of the year coming after the shortest day: "As the day lengthens, so the cold strengthens." It's a long time since I heard that saying, and I wonder whether old adages like that are dying out. It's a pity if they are. I try to use them as often as I can, and help keep them going!

It's good to hear that Imogen is doing well at learning to play the piano.

Bobs' letter puts me in mind of the story 'The Sneezing Dog', which was written two years later, in 1944.

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... perid=1914

[John Pickup]

Enid is correct that the countryside is so quiet at this time of the year. I walk round a lake near me quite regularly and in the springtime, you are greeted by a symphony of birdsong but lately, apart from an occasional honk of a goose, nothing much disturbs the peace.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Enid has enjoyed a mild November, with many trees and bushes blossoming for a second time. I don't think I've ever seen hawthorn in bloom in November!

My sister and I used to make Christmas cards for friends and family every year, just like Gillian and Imogen. Enid's account of their card-making is amusing:

...if they really like a person they send love, hugs and kisses on the cards, and if they dislike somebody they send only love. An in-between person gets love and kisses. Hugs are reserved for the ones they like best of all, you see.

Readers are urged to hang up bones for the tits, so the birds can peck them bare before the bones are put in the bone bin. I remember learning about bone bins at war museums, with the bones being collected and used to make things such as soap, candles, glycerine and fertiliser. Naturally, Bobs isn't at all pleased about this!

Enid says, "Did you like hearing the church bells ring the other Sunday? We did. It was a lovely sound to hear, wasn't it?" I must admit that puzzled me, as church bells were not generally rung during the war, so I turned to the internet and found a news clip on YouTube which shows the church bells being rung in 1942 to honour civil defence workers. You might like the clip if you're reading this, Viv! The commentator remarks, "Sign of the times - a lady bellringer!" and draws our attention to the clamps for the feet which help prevent the ringers becoming airborne!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeqyEZlDMUg


These Teachers World letters are absolutely fascinating - a real slice of history. Thanks so much to Tony for putting them up on the website!

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... perid=1915

[Anita Bensoussane]

Fogs/smogs were a big problem in 1940s London, and Enid writes of getting lost on a five-minute walk from a bus stop to a friend's house. I like the expression "bump of locality" - it's a while since I last heard that:

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... perid=1916

[Courtenay]

I'd never heard the expression "bump of locality", but that's interesting to hear Enid had no sense of direction! An evocative little story there of her getting lost in the fog in London. I suppose, of course, not only was the fog much thicker and darker with all the smog in those days of coal fires (I wonder if it was a traditional London "pea souper"?), but because this was wartime, there would have been no street lamps as well. I'm pretty sure almost anyone could get lost in those circumstances even if they had a good "bump of locality", especially in London. I used to live only about half an hour's train ride from central London and I definitely couldn't find my way around anywhere without a map!

(Actually, I might have mentioned this before, but something quite odd and amusing happened when I first moved to England from Australia. Every time I came up from the London Underground, even if I'd checked all the maps I could find — I didn't have a smartphone then — I would almost inevitably end up turning in the wrong direction and getting lost, no matter how carefully I tried to plan. It was really frustrating, as I normally have a very sharp sense of direction. Then one day I was needing to walk north towards some destination (I think it was Trafalgar Square), but none of the streets were what they should be, and checking the map, I found I'd gone and turned south — and yet every instinct in me was practically screaming that I was facing north, which was why I'd turned that way in the first place. Then the light suddenly dawned, almost literally, as I realised... I was instinctively navigating by the position of the sun (I'd never before realised how much I do that), and it was on the opposite side of the sky from where it is in Australia!! I quickly learned to compensate for that from there on in, and soon had no more trouble finding my way in England.)

And oh dear... poor Bobs with the custard that turned out to be mustard! It's all fantasy, of course (even if cats could mix custard or mustard, the real Bobs had been dead for several years by the time Enid was writing this), but if it was real, I hope Cosy didn't mix the mustard in the way my mum does. I'm sure she uses less water than it says to on the tin, as it comes out so potent that I find it almost too hot to eat!!

[Anita Bensoussane]

Interesting story about navigating by the position of the sun, Courtenay. I've no idea to what extent I instinctively use the sun to navigate, but I do know I've got no "bump of locality" and that I rely heavily on maps to get me from A to B.

[Boodi 2]

I have never heard the "bump of locality" expression either, but I certainly don't have one as my sense of direction is abysmal and always was. On one occasion I was telling someone that my sense of direction is very poor when my son corrected me, saying: "Its not poor, you just have none at all"!!!

In her letter Enid asks about experiences of cats returning to their previous homes, which I witnessed at the stables where I used to keep my horse (and where I adopted our present cat Mrs. Reilly). For some reason cats (local as well as stray/feral ones) congregated at the stables, probably because food was left out for the stable cats. A family whose cat "Nimbo" was a regular visitor moved to a town about 15kms. away and took Nimbo with them. However, he returned to the stables on at least three occasions and as we had their telephone number we were able to inform them and they came to collect him. On the third occasion they were really distressed about the situation and asked if it would be possible to leave Nimbo at the stables as he seemed so fond of the place and that they would pay for his food and cover any veterinary expenses. They took him home that day and as my horse died shortly afterwards I never heard what happened or if he returned again!

[Anita Bensoussane]

Imogen has been to Bekonscot with the rest of her class from school. It's funny to think that a model of Green Hedges would eventually join the other buildings!

Enid gives instructions on how to preserve roses so they can be displayed in bowls indoors in the winter. Bobs recalls digging up a tin of rosebuds one year, thinking that another dog had been burying things in his garden! I remember reading about that incident in one of Enid's letters!

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... perid=1917

[Anita Bensoussane]

With it being wartime, Enid talks of the coloured paper used for making chains being "so thin this year that even a paw-pat breaks a paper ring." Nevertheless, the presents for the children sound lovely - a toy fort for young Kenneth, and two dolls (I'm not sure whether one of the dolls was for Gillian, who was eleven by that time). Could Hugh have had anything to do with the doll from America, I wonder? He was based in the USA for parts of 1942 and 1943, though he and Enid were in the process of divorcing. Barbara Stoney tells us that their decree nisi (the order confirming their right to divorce) was dated December 1942, while their decree absolute (the order finalising the divorce and ending the marriage) was dated June 1943.

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... perid=1918

[Anita Bensoussane]

Enid Blyton thanks her readers for knitting squares and making them into blankets for those in need, mentioning that some have gone to "a new Children's Home which has been opened not far from here." I expect that's the home that the Famous Five Club supported after the club was formed in 1952. I like it when Enid says, "Thank you very much for all the kindness you have knitted into those gay squares! I expect the kindness keeps people warm as much as the wool!" It's a cheerful thought - though it also reminds me of Aunt Grace, who "knitted all her annoyance into the sock" in House-at-the-Corner!

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... perid=1919