Mystery Invisible Thief (Tongue Firmly In Cheek!!)

[pete9012S]

In the mystery of the invisible thief the thief, (Twit) is the trusted baker who delivers his loaves of bread and other baked items throughout the Peterswood locale,to all customers no matter what their class, social background,or income bracket may be.

Could Enid here have been subconsciously alluding to the now taken for granted online grocery homeshopping service.

This modern personal delivery service offered by Tesco and many of the other large supermarket chains offers the home delivery of not just bread but all sorts of other essential home groceries.

Again just like Twit the baker,these numerous groceries are delivered to the whole UK demographic, the only prerequisite being the ability of the customer to ‘pay for their goods’.

It is interesting to note that in May 1984, in Gateshead, England, the world's first recorded online home shopper, Mrs Jane Snowball, purchased groceries from her local Tesco store in the world's first recorded online shopping transaction from the home.

Since then untold numbers of Enid Blyton devotees have been able to buy their favourite authors books either brand new or used online all over the world…..a situation which Enid may in her wisdom have forseen and hinted at by her using Twit and placing him in her story in this farsighted way. Yes todays home delivery service of both books and bread would have pleased Enid,who possibly loved her devoted fans just as much as they loved her ….

Incidently Enid published some of her most well known books in the month of May,and if we take the year 1984 and add the numbers included in that year together (1+9+8+4) we get the number 22…..

If you look in the cave of books on this very site you will clearly see that Enids jigsaw, SECRET SEVEN - AT THE CIRCUS IS LISTED AS BEING (NO. 22) THAT IS BOOK 22 OF 60 IN THIS CATEGORY….MERE COINCIDENCE? ....you decide!

Regards
Pete
……

[Fatty]

Pete, you ought to write a book.

[Daisy]

I used to have groceries delivered in the late 50s. I phoned in the order and it came in a van in which were many items which I could add to the things I had pre-ordered. A baker roundsman also came each week. The difference now is the internet. Amusing Pete, but keep you tongue firmly in place!
Now the 1984 theory............ how impressive!!
Another thought. - Enid wrote fairy stories, didn't she....? Some people seem to be managing to do that quite well these days too.

Pete, you ought to write a book.

Well said Fatty!

[Dick Kirrin]

And quite a lot of people seem to overestimate Enid's abilties at being clairvoyant.

Cheers

Dick Kirrin

[Eddie Muir]

I used to have groceries delivered in the late 50s.

It was quite common to have your groceries delivered in the late 50s, Daisy. I had a part-time job delivering groceries in 1959-1960 for World Stores on an old back bike with a huge basket at the front. I used to do this on Friday afternoons after school and on Saturday mornings - in all weathers! For this I was paid the princely sum of 12/6 (62.5p) and I usually made an extra 5/- (25p) in tips. Happy days!

[Daisy]

I had a part-time job delivering groceries in 1959-1960 for World Stores on an old back bike with a huge basket at the front. I used to do this on Friday afternoons after school and on Saturday mornings - in all weathers! For this I was paid the princely sum of 12/6 (62.5p) and I usually made an extra 5/- (25p) in tips. Happy days!

It reminds me of Fatty as a butcher's delivery boy Eddie. So familiar to us, but quite a strange concept to younger generations maybe!

[Rob Houghton]

A similar thing is the amazing way Enid foretold the 'Harry Potter' books by writing about boarding schools and magic. She knew that one day these two elements would be blended together to create a phenomenon!! This is primarily the reason that she never combined these two genres herself...

[Ming]

Pete, you ought to write a book.

Oh no - I don't think we need another book on predictions!!

[Julie2owlsdene]

I'm glad you put 'tongue firmly in cheek' Pete. You're not related to Mr. Izzy are you?

Deliveries were made when Enid wrote these books, it was the 'norm'. As for buying books from the internet etc, isn't that just progress?? Nothing to do with Enid's predictions at all.

I have to say I am amazed at people who want to try and analize 'our Enid'. She was an author, a teller of children's stories, with no other ultimations in mind!!!!

Now for the date, Pete. I'm puzzled why you chose 1984, was it because of the 'shopper'. If so what's that got to do with Enid????

All in all, a lovely fairytale on your part.

[RDMorrell]

Now for the date, Pete. I'm puzzled why you chose 1984, was it because of the 'shopper'. If so what's that got to do with Enid????

Perhaps it's to do with the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by Enid's fellow-prophet, George Orwell. In this book, he shares a vision of reality television, and the Big Brother series in particular, that is astonishingly accurate in its bleakness.

[Dick Kirrin]

I have to say I am amazed at people who want to try and analize 'our Enid'. She was an author, a teller of children's stories, with no other ultimations in mind!!!!

Well said, Julie. I second that any day.
Besides, even if she had more in mind than telling entertaining, thrilling and educating stories, it doesn't really matter. Once a book is out, it becomes a personality (while we are at psychological language, we might as well take it a bit further )of itself. It exists independently from the author that wrote it, so to speak.

After all, it's what people make of books, isn't it? However it seems to me that some people still seek to justify Enid's work as being literature by going into deep analysis. The sales of her books and the fact that they are still popular among people of nearly every age, speak for themselves.

I don't mind a bit of analizing a book, of course, that's what people do with books. They try to make "sense" of them. But things can be overdone and that's bound to become ridiculous.

Pete did a great job of fooling the people over-analizing Enid, so many thanks for that, Pete.

Cheers

Dick Kirrin

[Moonraker]

Pete, you ought to write a book.

[pete9012S]

I noticed Jane again in the news.No,not our Jane,Mrs Snowball!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24091393" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[pete9012S]

I found myself thinking about Mrs Snowball, then came across this nostalgic piece:

1980's Supermarket

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9hHYHkBu98" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Mrs Snowball admits that her new shopping experience wasn’t like the good old days when she could go to the grocery store herself, meet friends and have a quick chat…. but she is impressed:

– It was wonderful.

It’s unclear if Mrs Snowball ever returned to this way of purchasing her eggs again. The event was more of an experiment than a business launch. It was part of a council trial initiative targeted at helping the elderly. The years then passed by, and it would take another decade, and a network called “the internet”, for the e-commerce industry to take off.

The words ending the TV news story will echo in eternity:

“Eventually customers will be able to order their groceries and many other things from their television set in their own home because their personal computers will be linked to the big company machine.”

Mrs Snowball, unfortunately, passed away in 1995, the same year Jeff Bezos started taking his book orders, putting Amazon on the map and pioneering his version of e-commerce.

https://www.klarna.com/knowledge/articl ... e-shopper/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Moonraker]

As for buying books from the internet etc, isn't that just progress?? Nothing to do with Enid's predictions at all. I have to say I am amazed at people who want to try and analize 'our Enid'. She was an author, a teller of children's stories, with no other ultimations in mind!!!!

I couldn't agree more, Julie. I think Rob might have been at the wine, Julie!