Website Additions

[Anita Bensoussane]

Bobs has a new companion! Patabang the Siamese kitten came from Paignton, Devon, and was put in a box on the train to be met by Enid at the station at Bourne End. I'm a bit confused by the fact that the kitten was put on the train at four o' clock one afternoon but wouldn't reach Bourne End until the next morning, but maybe she was looked after somewhere for the night en route.

I expect the photo of the bactrian camel was taken at London Zoo.

'The Runaway Guy' is a delightful poem and I enjoyed working out the secret code message too.

Thanks, Tony, for adding these wonderful pages to the Cave!

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... &perid=619" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Kate Mary]

This weeks column has solved a mystery. I was interested to see the story Brer Rabbit tricks Brer Fox, it is the second part of Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby. The first part appeared in TW a few weeks back and was later published in Five Minute Tales. When I read that book I wondered why the story was incomplete, now I know why, the editor of Five Minute Tales didn't realise that Tar Baby was a two part story. The mistake was never rectified, it's still in the 1991 Dean reprint.

[Anita Bensoussane]

That's interesting, Kate. It's amazing that the mistake has gone unrectified for so long.

[Tony Summerfield]

This is actually our Enid who is at fault here. I have just checked it out in her short story work book and she only sent Methuen the first half of the story, so I guess she must have forgotten that it came in two parts. If she had realised this she wouldn't have sent the story anyway as it would have been longer than five minutes!

[Anita Bensoussane]

Thanks, Tony. Heh - fancy sending only half a story!

[Anita Bensoussane]

More details concerning pets this week, and a photo of a baby puma (no, it's not one of Enid's pets!)

It's interesting to see that the story 'The Sneeze' was edited by Enid for potential use elsewhere, with the name Patabang being altered to the name of a cat Enid owned later on - Bimbo.

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... &perid=620" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Kate Mary]

I have to say I was beaten by the puzzle last week, I'm glad to see the solution. I wonder if the children managed to solve it?

[Anita Bensoussane]

Enid Blyton and Bobs talk about Pug Pups and the Tail-Waggers' Club respectively, and we also have a photo of Beauty (the Nun Pigeon) and a simple riddle.

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... &perid=621" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Courtenay]

Another very enjoyable letter. I had to laugh at Patabang having "run up to the top of my best curtains, a thing she does about 12 times a day" — our old cat Kasha, who incidentally was half Siamese, used to do exactly that, and about as often, when she was a kitten!

[Kate Mary]

I love the photos Enid includes with her letters, nice to see a picture of Beauty the Nun Pigeon.

[Anita Bensoussane]

A lovely, chatty page this week about Captain and Darling, Patabang, a deluge of letters and a plucky young boy. The poem 'Getting Up' is fun.

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... &perid=622" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Anita Bensoussane]

There has been so much rain that Old Thatch may be in danger of being flooded (which we know did happen from time to time).

Nevertheless, Enid is looking on the bright side and preparing for Christmas, delighted with some flowers (chincherinchee) which were sent to her by schoolchildren in South Africa and were apparently grown on Table Mountain. Thanks to the internet, I was able to look up "chincherinchee" and realised that I've encountered them before under another name - "star-of-Bethlehem".

It's interesting to see the 'Crossing the Road' poem and hear what led Enid to write it.

As for Bobs, he's determined to catch a rabbit that he's seen in the vegetable garden!

I've come across the number trick before but it's a good'un, and the photo of the baby zebra is lovely!

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... &perid=623" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Courtenay]

What a gorgeous flower — we grow a lot of Cape flora in Australia as well, as the climate is similar, but I've never seen chincherinchee before. Obviously they had pretty good methods of transporting cut flowers overseas even in the 1920s, for them to travel all that way to Old Thatch and still be alive!

"Crossing the Road" is a good safety reminder for children, although to me the directions of "up the road" and "down the road" depend on which way the road is sloping... surely it would be clearer if Enid told them to look right, then left, then right again?? (That's what we're taught in Australia too, as we drive on the left, the same as the UK. It does my head in a bit whenever I'm in a country that's the other way around and I have to remember to look left first!!)

[Kate Mary]

It's amazing that Enid's fame had spread as far as South Africa even at this early date and what a lovely gift the chincherinchee flowers were. (I keep wanting to break into that song from Mary Poppins!).

That's a brilliant number trick, I had something similar in a Christmas cracker years ago, it kept us entertained for ages.

[Courtenay]

It's amazing that Enid's fame had spread as far as South Africa even at this early date and what a lovely gift the chincherinchee flowers were. (I keep wanting to break into that song from Mary Poppins!).

So did I!