Awful cousin Hilary can't drive (she can usually find a man to take her about and Arabella drives very well). It's not like driving requires a degree in rocket science. I should know. My youngest got his learner's permit a couple of weeks ago. Sure, having to teach one more kid is giving me a few more grey hairs...but it's a pretty basic skill. It's conceivable that it might come in handy at some point in her life.Aunt Maud's fashion advice: 'Plain hat for a plain face.' How mean is that?
Arabella goes swimming with Sally and Billy - puts plastic pillowcases around their casts. Very McGuyver of her, but speaking from experience, it's pretty hard to keep plaster casts dry in a swimming pool.
Gideon absent-mindedly draws a face on a plaster (I think it's Billy's cast). I was 49 years old when I got my first cast (fiberglass, not plaster). I didn't allow anyone to write on it until the day before I got it off - which must mean I'm a grown-up. Dang. Anyway...fiberglass is awesome and lightweight - but it's really hard to do quality artwork on.
Gideon drops in on a complete stranger (Bertie, the rector's son) and asks him about his love life--that's when you grasp the
depth of his affection. I find this so delightful...even if it is a little juvenile. It's like asking the friend of someone you like whether the object of your affection likes you.
A friend sends her love and says 'Be good.' 'I never have the chance to be anything else,' muttered Arabella bitterly. It's not like she was ready to buy a ticket to Brighton...
Arabella goes swimming with Sally and Billy - puts plastic pillowcases around their casts. Very McGuyver of her, but speaking from experience, it's pretty hard to keep plaster casts dry in a swimming pool.
Gideon absent-mindedly draws a face on a plaster (I think it's Billy's cast). I was 49 years old when I got my first cast (fiberglass, not plaster). I didn't allow anyone to write on it until the day before I got it off - which must mean I'm a grown-up. Dang. Anyway...fiberglass is awesome and lightweight - but it's really hard to do quality artwork on.
Gideon drops in on a complete stranger (Bertie, the rector's son) and asks him about his love life--that's when you grasp the
depth of his affection. I find this so delightful...even if it is a little juvenile. It's like asking the friend of someone you like whether the object of your affection likes you.A friend sends her love and says 'Be good.' 'I never have the chance to be anything else,' muttered Arabella bitterly. It's not like she was ready to buy a ticket to Brighton...
Betty Barbara here--
ReplyDeleteOh my, I can so identify with Arabella's reply to the "Be Good". To say that I had no dates in high school would be a lie--I had one each year. I was stood up for the Junior Prom even--how low can you go? All that I (and, I expect, Arabella)really wanted the the opportunity to possibly Be Bad--even if I would not have actually done anything!
Don't forget that English people - certainly then and still pretty much now - drive stick shifts. Automatic transmissions are for rich people and the extremely elderly. And wimps. So teaching someone to drive isn't quite as easy as you'd think. I know. I drive a stick and I had a very hard time teaching my daughter, who'd learned with AT in driver's ed. at school. (I'm happy to say she also now regards people without a manual transmission as wimps)
ReplyDeleteI had to teach my oldest two children to drive stick shift - I live at the top of a steep hill - so the whole thing was a bit of a nightmare.
ReplyDeleteI'm terribly glad that I'm teaching my last child on an automatic. I'm getting too old for the nightmares that come from teaching teenagers how to use a clutch.
I suspect Hilary's "doesn't drive" is code for "failed her driving test", and she doesn't want to admit it, especially not to lowly cousin Arabella.
ReplyDeleteI think she'd be a terror at the wheel - never looking before changing lanes, going too fast, and just being careless in general.
I think everybody should know how to drive a stick. What would you do if you were Vivica Fox in Independence Day and found the one dump truck with keys that could get you out of post-alien-destruction Los Angeles, and it was a stick and you couldn't drive it? The movie would be over! ... Sorry. I'll just go drink some tea, now. :)
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