You will love it, Susie!
Maybe you could request it at your local library?
I know the feeling!
A lovely connection and something to cherish.Katharine wrote: ↑18 Feb 2024, 18:16The 1960s edition I'm currently reading came to me when my a few years ago when grandparents' house was cleared. I'm not sure which of my grandparents it belonged to, or it may even have been my uncle's. There are 3 local newspaper cuttings inside connected to boats - the Nancy Blackett has visited nearby Woodbridge a few times. It was lovely to find them in there as it made me feel even more connected with my sadly long gone relatives.
I don't know whether it's poetic licence, or whether children were a lot tougher a few generations ago. I certainly can't imagine I'd have coped as well with all that ice and snow.
My mum is a huge Arthur Ransome fan and has all or most of his Swallows and Amazons series! I've only read the first book, but I loved it and am planning to start reading the whole series soon.Katharine wrote: ↑18 Feb 2024, 18:16 I'm currently reading 'Winter Holiday' by Arthur Ransome. I know I've read it before, but probably only once, and many years ago, so I can only remember the odd bit here and there which is good as it's almost the same as reading it for the first time.
My family are big Arthur Ransome fans, and previously it would have been a borrowed copy that I read. The 1960s edition I'm currently reading came to me when my a few years ago when grandparents' house was cleared. I'm not sure which of my grandparents it belonged to, or it may even have been my uncle's. There are 3 local newspaper cuttings inside connected to boats - the Nancy Blackett has visited nearby Woodbridge a few times. It was lovely to find them in there as it made me feel even more connected with my sadly long gone relatives.
And indeed, there's another story earlier in the book — "The Stolen Turnips, the Magic Tablecloth, the Sneezing Goat and the Wooden Whistle" — which we're told old Peter also uses as a cautionary tale when one or other of his grandchildren is cross, and, we're told, "It was either the tale of an old man who was bothered by a cross old woman, or the tale of an old woman who was bothered by a cross old man;" the version that gets told depends on which of the children old Peter sees as to blame for the crossness! The rendition we get in the book has the old woman as the cross one who gets her comeuppances at the end, but presumably Ransome had heard it told the other way around as well, or at least he could see it would work just as well with the characters swapped around. That just gives us a glimpse of how folk tales easily get modified by the teller to suit the audience and teach a lesson to whoever is seen as needing one!"Yes," said Maroosia, "but then she was a bad woman; and besides, my husband would never call me an old witch."
"Old witch!" said Vanya and bolted out of the hut with Maroosia after him; and so old Peter was left in peace.