Journal 57

[MJE]

I especially liked the description of Burnham Beeches - a name I remember seeing in the Find-Outers books, but I've never been there myself. How intriguing to know it might be the real-life Enchanted Wood... :wink:

     This makes me realize I missed many places of interest when I visited Britain last year - I would like to have found the time to explore a few places associated with Enid Blyton's books. But I was with my mother, and I found that you truly are not free when you travel with someone else.
     Still, I also wonder if travelling is something I'd ever get to do by myself. Not only would it be daunting to cope with any problems that arose entirely on your own, but it might in the end be very lonely and seem a bit pointless somehow.

"The Famous Five Reunited" by Nicky Wheeliker: I have to admit I find it a bit depressing when anyone attempts to imagine Enid's innocent young characters as crusty, cynical adults - it's just not my cup of tea.

     Nor mine, either. In particular, I see no reason why anyone would suggest that Julian would grow up to be a dreadful bore. Not sure he ever seemed the military type to me, either - but I guess that's just a matter of personal opinion.

Still, I got a few laughs out of this, especially the kick in the tail where Anne, the most conventional and (dare I say) boring of the Five, ends up the most successful! :mrgreen:

     Not sure, either, that this seemed a likely trajectory for Anne, who didn't seem to have the ruthless aggression and competitiveness that you'd almost need to become the head of a huge business empire. Still, the course of people's lives can take the most unexpected twists sometimes.

Regards, Michael.

[Courtenay]

No, I didn't think it sounded like a likely future for Anne either, but it was an amusing and unexpected twist all the same!

Michael, travelling alone is fine if you plan it well and know what you're doing. I do it all the time. You can squeeze in a lot more things to see and do when you're on your own, as you don't have to take anyone else into account - if you like a place, you can stay as long as you like, and if you don't like it, you can leave as quickly as you like - and indeed, you almost have to fit in more activities to compensate for the lack of company! It's fun, when you're used to it.

Chrissie, you'd have to trim down those lists a little - the rule Robert is following in those articles is that you're only allowed to have eight books on the desert island. It's based on a long-running BBC radio programme, Desert Island Discs, in which each week's guest (usually someone famous) has to pick the eight pieces of music they would take to listen to if they were stranded on a desert island.

[Rob Houghton]

Eight books - and a luxury item!

[Chrissie777]

You should write something for the Journal, Chrissie! A good selection of books!

Which list do you mean, Robert? The EB list or the 2nd non-Blyton list?

[Courtenay]

What's your luxury item, Rob? A magical secret passage from the island into Tony's Cave so that you can get more books when you've finished your eight??

[Rob Houghton]

You should write something for the Journal, Chrissie! A good selection of books!

Which list do you mean, Robert? The EB list or the 2nd non-Blyton list?

Both lists are interesting, although of course I'm more familiar with the books on the EB list.

[Rob Houghton]

What's your luxury item, Rob? A magical secret passage from the island into Tony's Cave so that you can get more books when you've finished your eight??

Good idea!

I'm still deciding what my 'luxury item' might be...

[Courtenay]

Hmmm, bit like cheating, though, I guess. I'm pretty sure the rule on Desert Island Discs is that your luxury item can't be anything that enables you to get off the island.

[Rob Houghton]

And in my rules, it has to have something to do with Enid Blyton...although I guess 'a secret passage' would qualify!

[Tony Summerfield]

I'm a bit surprised that the poem by Nicky Wheeliker has had so many comments about it. I posted the Journal out just over three weeks ago and since then I have had two phone calls about the Journal (no emails). In both calls the poem was particularly prominent. One person told me that he laughed out loud as he read it and as a result had to read it aloud to his wife who also thought it was very funny. The other told me that she thought it was a terrible mistake to include anything in the Journal that was in any way critical of Enid Blyton or the characters that she wrote about. I thought she might have just brushed over the poem, but she was able to quote several lines from it that she disapproved of.

I was sent the poem over a year ago by one of our members who has been with us since the first Journal (not Nicky Wheeliker who is not a member). I forgot about it in both of the last two Journals and received a Dame Slap rap on my knuckles on both occasions, so this time I felt I must include it. I worked on the Journal from time to time over several weeks, but that page took less time to do than any other page as all I had to do was to reduce the font size slightly to stop it using two pages and add a page number, so I find it a bit frustrating that other things get almost completely ignored whilst it gets so much attention.

[MJE]

[...]I find it a bit frustrating that other things get almost completely ignored whilst it gets so much attention.

     Well, Tony, if it's any comfort, I have probably read well over half the Journal by now, and I enjoyed most of the other items more than that poem, actually - but I don't always have anything particular to say about an article on my own, but can have thoughts prompted by what others say, which I then respond to, etc.; and, just by the luck of the draw, comments about that poem prompted thoughts of my own, while comments about other articles didn't seem to. Some of them seemed to have so much more detailed knowledge of the book that I simply don't have anything of much interest to add to it - unless, as mentioned, someone else's post prompts a thought of my own.
     So, for me, at least, what I comment on is not always an indication of what I enjoyed the most or found the most interesting. I think, in general, reviews of books and discussions of how Enid Blyton portrays various aspects of life are the items that most interest me - but I don't always feel I have anything to add to them on the forum.

Regards, Michael.

[MJE]

Michael, travelling alone is fine if you plan it well and know what you're doing. I do it all the time. You can squeeze in a lot more things to see and do when you're on your own, as you don't have to take anyone else into account - if you like a place, you can stay as long as you like, and if you don't like it, you can leave as quickly as you like - and indeed, you almost have to fit in more activities to compensate for the lack of company! It's fun, when you're used to it.

     I found out very graphically how true that is. I did want to join the gathering which took place while I was actually reasonably close by - but my mother and I had a schedule, and there was no way I could do it without totally disrupting things and even probably missing hotel bookings we'd made (we tried to leave accommodation as unbooked as much as possible, to allow as much freedom as possible - but even just one booking can almost tie down what you do for some days before and after). And if you're with someone, and they're not interested in something, you simply can't (or at least I feel I can't) leave them alone for half a day while you go off and do something that interests only yourself.
     Also, so much was new and unknown that I probably couldn't plan as much as would be desirable, and I certainly don't know what I'm doing. In fact, to leave my own country for the first time in my life was quite frightening at times, especially when certain things didn't happen as expected, or things went wrong in some way.

Regards, Michael.

[Rob Houghton]

I agree regards the poem - I think it got so many comments because a poem is unusual these days in the Journal and it's very 'in your face' as it sticks out amongst the articles. I don't particularly think people commented on it because they appreciated it more than all the articles etc - I certainly didn't! My main feelings about it will probably be well known to readers of this forum, as I have often talked about how I dislike speculation about what happened to characters when they grew up. I enjoyed Julies continuation of the Find Outers, and the Bill Smuggs diaries, but when it comes to divorces and partner swapping and becoming lesbians and having high-powered rather mundane careers, I just think it's all been said so many times before.

I tend to read the shorter items first - never read the Journal in order, and so the poem was one of the first things I read. Probably that's the same for many people. I'm hoping to write more about the Journal articles for this issue very soon.

[Moonraker]

I find it a bit frustrating that other things get almost completely ignored whilst it gets so much attention.

Sadly, that is life. Look at Isabirye's Anecdotage thread and compare its sixty-three pages of comments to the excellent Enid Blyton Dossier thread which only has five. I think most of us are only too ready to put pen to paper if something irritates us or contains errors, yet happily read good material without a thought to write about it.

[Courtenay]

Sadly, that is life. Look at Isabirye's Anecdotage thread and compare its sixty-three pages of comments...

It was a lot more than that before Tony pruned it, don't forget.