Nancy at Saint Brides

This month I am going to write a bit about a book which taps into part of me but was even when I was growing up was seen as part of a series that were more in the past more what we'd be handed down or bought second hand.

This copy is the 2002 Girls Gone By paperback reprint.

 Nancy at St. Brides was written eight years on and after the second in this series (That boarding school girl) but in a lot of ways the first proper book in that this is where the main character Nancy makes here appearance as a relatively unschooled 14 year old dispatched to St.Brides  with instructions to be kept an eye on being very ahem spirited which soon shows in the dares she was only too willing to perform and caught out by the Sixth form prefects.
You could say she was impressionable which I was too at this age and this is the the story of her first unhappy term as she gets to grips with school structures, rules and consequences.
Nancy's problems were less the stuff of theft, insubordination, refusal to apply ones self or bullying  but more about what can be seen as maturity or rather the  lack of age appropriate maturity at least in part because she was never really 'schooled' so failed to see how her impulsive reckless side so resulted in one child almost drowning and another catching a serious cold.
For Nancy this lead to the matter of her being 'asked' not because  to return not formally expelled by Head Mistress Miss Cawdwell because she feels Nancy lacks the maturity a girl at boarding school needs. It also leaves the door open for her to return with a clean slate made easier for Nancy making a attempt in her last three weeks to do some good such as doing well in the swimming competition.
It's an enjoyable read not just for her spirit but also how working at channelling her interests starts to pay off.

Jennings Goes To School

It's getting toward the end of August and almost by magic my mind starts slipping back to what this time in the past meant for me.

Part of it meant getting ones equipment and uniform ready to return to school with a  mad dash to the stores and this leads really on to this which I do so miss all of that and one of things I did was read books.
Anthony Buckerridge's creation Jennings and his side kick, Darbishire was the only boys series I read as to a very large extent I read stories about and for girls but what I liked about the series was they did feature memorable characters in situations I could relate to.
This was the first published story although Jennings was inflicted on the Britishers in nineteen forty-eight  on the BBC Children's Hour program, garnering a following.

In the first story we are introduced to the two new boys of Linbury Court School for boys, Jennings and Darbishire, their initial meeting with Mr. Carter just seeing a very average boy in his suit and short pants but it is not long before her realizes his well meant but impetuous nature coupled with an overdeveloped sense of initiative soon leads trouble dispite his more erudite mild mannered companion  attempts at moderating him as they both start to learn the ropes  in their first term.
My copy is a nineteen sixty-two Collins hardback where I'm sure the one I had at school would of been  from the mid seventies edition.

Down at the excercise yard

Continuing in an oblique way at where discipline came in, the one other option outside of your home was school and for many of us a frequent flash point was PT which had its own part of the uniform and rules were enforced b the PT or Games Mistress

One common rule was we wore gym knickers for exercise in, taking off our regular ones because it was healthier and no shorts.

For a very long time the rule for boys was similar except they were to wear their cotton shorts without any underpants which given the muddy games they played made sense. Anyone who didn't got slippered and that jolly well stung!.
You also HAD to shower afterwards and reapply your regular uniform, often subject to inspection and yet more opportunity to administer swats to your behind.

Missed opportunities

One thing I had always wanted to do as a child was to be in scouting because in my muddled up way I had long felt I 'needed' to belong to something and to be be subject to the rules of some group to help me as inarticulate as I was and being in a Brownies or Guilds pack would I feel of helped in my life not least for dealing with my isolation never mind discipline.
Strangely my siblings did join cubs and scouts but my folks never got me into something that was potentially very good for me.
If there was a Guides for Adult but Child like people like me I'd would love to join even now.

Vacationing middle

This time of year is one where my sense of middleness is at it's strongest as I recall the long summer vacations and great anticipation of the family seaside vacation where I'd play most days for hours on the beach only interrupted  by going into cafes and seaside shops for toys and summer comic special editions.
For me even now, my vacations are similar lacking the 'adult' sophistication in many ways a recreation of those from my childhood being a self created 'age-play' situation I feel most comfortable in.

Alice Rose

Here's Alice Rose in red and yellow livery. Notice the floral decor.

Caught just after the passengers had disembarked to stock up on food and other provisions.

Learning Jo

The Dorm as a blog does look at various aspects of being me and from that my life that do not necessarily fit into other blogs no least that because of a changing world and some past issues around studying I am having to learn things anew.

One area is around the use of computers as all I had connected with with some rudimentary typing instruction in my teens and later on studying for my R.S.A 1 in typing skills and Word Processing as I worked in a clerical capacity and needed to type quickly and accurately and typing technology was evolving from electric and electronic typewriters with limited in-line correction to Word Processors that allowed for easier correction and functions like personalizing standard letters, advanced tabulation integrating this with preparing envelope labels and so on.
I later had to learn about emailing, using office suites as we'd moved away from Word-Processors to using personal computers with software like office suites for correspondence and using websites to look up information.
Of course it wasn't long before I discovered the dangers of emails sent in hast, completely misreading messages and earning the odd threat of a spanking!