The Scottish Dancer and Pianos
(I expect a written apology) I do apologize to my gentle readers; frankly I don’t know why I bother. I made a connection with some images people, professional persons who specialize in selling pictures to us authors and bloggers like myself. I suspect the lady I refer to was only masquerading as a specialist. Just look at it, it was either a scam or more to the point SHE HAS NO IDEA. ‘Prap’s she was being funny.
This futile exercise incidentally cost me 2 quid… well nearly.
Anyways to change the subject, some of you may have forgotten it was Blodwyn and Myfanwy Evans, the Evans twins, that had braces inserted in their mouths just after Christmas, and it was Candice that spoke of the trials and terrible self-loathing she had experienced when she too was subjected to this hideous tribal practice perpetrated on her by her parents. People used to look at her with pity or horror or both.
But on seeing the result of Blodwyn and Myfanwy’s teeth after having had their braces removed Candice said graciously that the braces had improved their appearance out of sight and had ‘given them the freedom and confidence they desperately sought’. I am not sure if that was a veiled compliment or not. She added they now have quote ‘awesome choppers’, that’s the Evans twins, not Candice. That is the sort of bad taste comment Zanthe would usually make.
You might be asking well what has this to do with Phaedra Gascoigne, well frankly nothing, but I was talking to Phaedra the other day about pianos and things and I pointed out that on Facebook people actually give pianos away for free. I suggested to Phaedra it is not unlike a thoughtless and uncaring action, like abandoning something that cannot fend for itself like a pet, yes or even a child.
I suggested to mother we could take advantage of this and put a piano in every room in Inveraray Castle… even in the tuckshop….. and the stables. At least it would give these orphan pianos a good home. She did not warm to the idea so I changed the subject.
Later I tried again; I suggested maybe the Castle manageress lady can play Scottish songs to the Japanese tourists passing through the tuckshop. If she cannot play the piano ‘praps she can give the bagpipes a go….or a sword dance; failing that a game of ‘Who am I’. For those of you that are not of Gaelic ancestry like myself the sword dance is called the Gillie Calliun.
Incidentally this was the point where my images person I had reserved was to shine, but just look at it. I am almost at the end of my tether. I told Tamsin it will give my blog a bad reputation with the other girls in the Boadicea dorm, people who know me as an unpublished author and people down at the folk club. Nevertheless the Castle Manageress still did not warm to my idea. I could always approach father I ‘spose.
I am still giving Tamsin piano lessons by the way. I heard Miss Frenzi telling her mother once she was a headstrong girl, that’s Tamsin not Miss Frenzi. I thought to myself that is a gross understatement.
Now where was I? Oh yes you won’t believe this but at college Miss Frenzi has bought herself a motor scooter. It is not a big one but it is quite noisy. It is a red one. At least we will always know when she is around and what times she gets back to her quarters in the evening as she noisily returns through the main gate. I cannot see her wearing leathers and joining a motor cycle club though.
Tamsin is returning to her home at the presbytery at Loch Awe at the weekend and I will stay with her and go home to Inveraray Castle on Sunday. I am looking forward to seeing Colonel Carter-Brown’s fox cub. Mother said he is teaching it to do tricks. Oh I must remind mother the piano is out of tune.
Colonel Carter-Brown’s gamekeeper went to the licensing office to see about a licence for Reynard the Fox. The man in the office said you need a licence for a dog but far as he is aware there is nothing in the rule book that says one needs one for a fox but that you can cull them if they are eating your sheep. I think it’s the licencing man’s first week in the job so they are taking advantage of his confusion. I told Rebecca about this anomaly and she asked ‘what about wolves?’ I said there are no wolves in Rickmansworth, well none that I am aware of.
I bet my gentle readers are not aware of this and I don’t know if this applies to foxes but dogs can suffer from Cognitive Dysfunction Syndrome or CDS, bet you did not know that. Our doctor, that’s Doctor McKenzie who practices in Inveraray High Street ….that's near the pub….. the George Hotel for heavens sake, the dog-friendly one, told us dogs also suffer from dementia like Uncle Smiley and forget their toilet training.
They, that’s dogs might just stare at a wall for no reason at all or head for the front door to relieve themselves and when they get there forget why they are there. Credit where credit is due Uncle Smiley is not that far gone. Anyhow wolves don’t suffer from dementia as far as I know.
As I told the girls in the Boadicea Dorm it is one reason why I advise them to check my blog regularly to pick up similar choice tips they won’t find anywhere else.
We will both leave for college on Monday morning.
Rumours on Monday coming from the front office are for plans for the continuance of the overseas student exchange programme. This was suspended a couple of years ago after a student exchange with French students from a school in Paris.
I remember it was catastrophe from the start and I don’t mind saying so. It started off orderly enough with 10 students from Boadicea and Victoria dorms in exchange with 10 students from the Sacré Cœur, a Catholic school in Paris for girls from Prep to Year 12; you know just up from the Avenue De Clichy. It mattered not that it was a Catholic school as the purpose was to improve our knowledge of the French language.
The Denham Hall girls were housed in student accommodation near the school and Miss Pringle was housed in the hotel Legendre, a hotel nearby.
It was a two-week course at the Ecole Sacre-Coeur Private School at Rue Dautancourt, you know across the road from the Supermarket.
During the day Miss Pringle went shopping and sightseeing around the streets of Paris and in between lessons we socialized with the French students. In the afternoon after college we returned to our lodgings.
It was then Naomi Brideau was discovered missing. It appears after school she visited some distant relatives who lived nearby who had friends staying with them who were on a caravanning holiday.
While their caravan was parked on the road Naomi, being nosey, went inside the caravan to have a look around, and that is when the caravan took off with her inside.
Naomi frantically waved through the window to try and attract attention but it made little difference though the little girl next door did manage to wave back. Our Naomi was on a one-way trip to the French Riviera via the Lower Cornice. She told us on her return it was her first trip to the South of France. Naomi was discovered by the owners of the caravan as they pulled in for a comfort stop at Saint Etienne and the school was notified via the police.
The student exchange this year is not set in stone.
Miss Pringle really gets looked after; this was her hotel in Paris
and this is a photo of the French Gentleman on the front desk that I told you about
that Miss Pringle said really looked after her, which was nice..
