Monday, November 1, 2010

The Magic of Living - Discussion Thread

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...


  1. Betty Barbara here--
    Oh 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!

  2. 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)

  3. I 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.

    I'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.

  4. 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.

    I think she'd be a terror at the wheel - never looking before changing lanes, going too fast, and just being careless in general.

  5. 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. :)