Advent Calendar 7 - Diana Pullein-Thompson: Riding with the Lyntons

-
Today's book is Diana Pullein-Thompson's Riding with the Lyntons. Heroine Lesley has moved to the country from town, and is, until she meets the Lynton family, lonely. The Lyntons represent a totally different world to Lesley. It's one with plenty of companionship, generally good-natured family bickering, and lots and lots of animals. Christmas occurs while Lesley and the Lyntons are still delighted with each other, and before the incident that drives what seems like a permanent wedge between them. The present she's given seems to represent all the liveliness of the new world she thinks she's a part of, and makes the later ostracism seem all the more brutal.
"We had great fun pulling crackers and we made a lot of noise with the trumpets, whistles and rattles which we got out of them. Then Paulla and Jon disappeared, and returning a few minutes later, they said, "Shut your eyes, Lesley, tightly. Don't look or we'll never forgive you." I followed their instructions and suddenly something warm and wriggly was dumped on my knee.
"All right. You can open your eyes now," called Donald.
I looked and there in my lap was a black Labrador puppy.
"She's from all of us and her name is Magic," said Paulla.
For a moment I was too pleased and surprised to speak. I picked up the puppy and kissed her and then I started to thank everyone.
"She's the most wonderful present I've ever, ever had," I told them.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rollkur and the blue tongue

-
I've been meaning to write about this all week, but reading the exclusive in Horse and Hound about the controversy tipped me over the edge. For my non-horsy readers, rollkur is a training/warming up technique used by some dressage riders. It basically involves riding the horse with its jaw pulled in virtually to its chest, in order to increase suppleness. Patrik Kittel , a Swedish competitor in Odense was videoed riding his horse in this way. If you watch the video , you'll see the horse's tongue hanging out - blue. It takes a while before the rider notices this. When he does, he stops, puts the horse's tongue back in, and carries on. There are two things which bother me about this. Firstly, I am fully aware large sections of the dressage world, and some of its brighest stars, consider rollkur perfectly ok, but the FEI guidelines state this practice should only be for short periods, allowing the horse to rest. Patrick Kittel apparently rode the horse for two hou
Read more

Archibald, don't eat the bedclothes

-
Image
My friend Louise sent me this picture today. It's from a children's book with the rather wince-making title For The Wee Ones. I thought, when I read that (because I read the message before I looked at the picture) that the picture was going to be a typical winsome production from the school of artists who think (or who are paid to think) that the child is a thing sent from God and a blissful thing. They had obviously never met a child, and certainly not mine. I should have known Louise better. The artist responsible for Archibald, don't eat the bedclothes slipped this one past the editors. Just look at the poor, broken Mother Rabbit. She knows she has not the faintest chance of being listened to, and poor thing, she is stooped in the way of a mother to whom this is just the lastest in a long line of horror; with nothing good to come. And Archibald is obviously the spawn of the Devil. Just look at those eyes. He'll have the bed after he's finished the bedclothes
Read more

Dick Sparrow - 40 Horse Hitch, and Neil Dimmock's 46 Percherons

-
Image
Here's a clip of Dick Sparrow driving 40 horses. It's an amazing sight, particularly when the shot changes to show the team from the rear and you get the great incongruity of modern American corporate architecture as a background to the wagon and horses. I love the anticipation in the video: the sense of something amazing being just round the corner is palpable. Thanks to Christina Wilsdon for telling me about this world record 46 Percheron hitch (alas just stills) but you get the idea.
Read more