Ancestry and True Tales

  II     ACE,  ACE  and  ACE …
          … FEAST DAYS and HOLIDAYS

          Life at The Pillar House, HARWELL, where lived Amanda Oonagh, Paul James, Victoria-Augusta, and little Peter R.R. Whitehead  (1968-1993)  

It was a March Easter Tide with daffodils alone braving early grey dawns and frost threatening silvered dusks.   The house was alive with young people home from school, college, and even journeys around the globe ...  

…  Father,  as usual,  had visited for a total of three months for the British Museum NATURAL HISTORY exotic places to esearch out his little fishes the Clupeoids, who obliged him by going in and out of salt and fresh water … so that he never had to stop looking into them and could also go places where his history of science, natural history, and voyages of exploration research material happened to be.   Every year he informed the household of the next 12 months foreign adventuring and urged everyone to  “ … study hard … then you too can circumnavigate the globe again and again …”   

Some relatives were staying the weekend the following days, and friends would visit one day or other.   Mother had the Airing-Cupboard/linen cupboard very neat and big pieces of cardboard displayed with written messages as to which towels, sheets, etc., went to which rooms as guests came, departed, and others arrived.    She seems to have been influenced when growing up by Mrs BEATON her splendid BOOK of Household Management … and ran The Pillar House Harwell household as her great-aunts Bessie-Martha and Annie-Agnes Artist and Irish-Welsh grandmother Mary Helena had instructed her as a small girl, then a schoolgirl in the 2nd World War Bulford Salisbury Plains and CLACTON-on-SEA  ...

In the ancient village HARWELL, a decade on to celebrate its Millennium 885-1985,  the Five PUBS were preparing to burst at the seams, the beams, with EASTER Saturday crowds and the days onwards … a-comin` and a-going` for a festive drink or two … chatter, gossip, and exchange of serious matters like the forthcoming HARWELL FEAST … crops, weather, fishing, vandalism and excessive noise from heavily traffic cunningly directed through the village ancient High Street  :   Planners cutting costs we hear … & possibly Orders of greedy big-wigs WESTMINSTER  by  MOONIGHT …  
Some Villagers and farming folk, that Harwell EASTER TIDE, were “ … all for closing off our ancient High Street either end and putting the sheep and cows in the middle … ”   and they vowed to do it some evenings when the talk became firm and serious about them having sent 12 churls sons 13th century to the new University Magdalen over at The Oxford …   “  They would put bravely put pen to parchment … when this Pub closes … ”  And some did so … remembering in the cold EASTER TIDE daylight that those churls had paid a silver Shilling for their FREEDOM …


(  MEMORANDUM :    Research/printed work/  Dr John Fletcher & son Anthony a child of Pillar House/Lord Henry Brooke/and Brian LINGHAM, Didcot Librarian who devoted his lunchtimes and weekends to living again the CENTURIES of HARWELL and local history … and there are many others … all who have contributed to what really matters …
Andre MALRAUX at the end of his office MINISTER of CULTURE FRANCE … and before his RETIREMENT 1969 from November 1967 …  to 1976 October  the month before his death 24th November … walked the HARWELL lanes and could call in for a cup of tea or a supper with many people …   But I forget our village book 1985 HARWELL VILLAGE for a THOUSAND YEARS = GRW on artists at The Pillar House & PJPW on the CHARTERS with help from his cousin Dr Martin Brett - Cambridge … )  


Most of the ancient Harwell INNS - PUBS - had a history of drinking, ALE making WIVES, and camaraderie, reaching back a thousand years or more  :  Their names spoke the history of ENGLAND her green and pleasant lands … The CRISPIN, The WHITE HART, The QUEENS Arms, the Kicking Donkey, The Chequers … But they had borne other names, before the CRUSADES, and Agincourt … names reaching back into ARTHURIAN Britain, the times of Queen Boa`dicea=Boudicca  :
back through so many centuries of Easters, some perhaps to beyond that very first Easter of all  …

PETE of The Pillar House and his friend DAN from Upton Village
Said that Mouse-Ace should come with them and meet friends in The White Hart … where the Landlord had a young persons room (no alcohol) yet fairly open to the old INN so that the young were part of the social landscape of the village.   Victoria-Augusta looked at the boys sternly and knowing their minds said  (in a voice that startled some birds on the last fruit tree)     “ NO WAY !  If you two were thinking of taking ACE-cat too … then I will box your ears !  GOT IT !”  

Dan said  “ Vicky … VIC  … that cat is just a black-pudding … we want a lively companion … ”  

One evening when a Policeman had asked PETE and DAN  ` What is that mouse doing on the dashboard,  young Sirs ?`  … they had replied solemnly   ` What mouse Officer ?   Officer … Officer … is is PINK … do you see a pink mouse …  ? `    They could not play this  `Saint Malachi`  game with a plump medium black cat … so that the Princess ACE-cat was usually safe from their whims …

We can imagine … “ No WAY ” said ACE-Cat to herself, repeating Victoria … and she moved like a shadow underneath a hugh potted plant that had come back from the tropics as a leaf and sprouted roots when put in water … and apparently had a name like  `CUP of GOLD` - if not clipped every two months it took over half a room facing south !   

ACE-Fish was in no demand over the EASTER holidays and it was agreed he have peace and tranquillity as much as possible in the nursery-playroom-homework-making things room upstairs over the Great Kitchen with its well lit windows facing north-east and south-west-west …  He had no extraordinary wishes to travel the world, visit relatives, friends, or ancient INNS or even Watering-Places  :   He might well recall the journey he had made in a plastic bag from the APPLEFORD Fair, an orphan … and then bliss he was made welcome and a member of the family at The Pillar House …   Anyway, it was recognised that he was with the attributes of a Philosopher … and such persons are known to fare best where they are contented and can THINK … dream …

When mother was younger she had lived near the remains of the house where John LOCKE had retired a decade … a girl called Damarisk dwelt there and he found she and her family and household very comfortable and orderly … so he could think and scribble away at his books …   Evenings mid-1960s a live philosopher, a SPANISH and FRENCH War hero, spoke upon what life should mean and the beyond and beyond that … he now appreciated The Pillar House and Village life …

MOUSE-Ace was undeniably a good craftsman … and who knows  with training in Ages Past he might have become a Master Builder, or at least advised … Master Builders travelled Europe and the British Isles helping put up the great Cathedrals and Churches…  He enjoyed clearly examing the joiner, the beams, the woodwork in old buildings and was never tempted to join his distant cousins who might be living a Refugee or migrant existence year in year out …  Perhaps he counted his blessings

The PRINCESS ACE-Cat was planning to spend the early EASTER   beside the wood burning fires of the music-room and the great kitchen where food preparation eternally went on … She might arrange herself in adorable positions so that she would be picked up and cuddled and given many a knee ... And her appetite the concern of everyone …  We may say she knew she was born beautiful and that she gladdened the eye … and this was her role with guests in the house … ACE-Cat was very agreeable.

As usual … WIRELESSES = radios - TAPE DECKS & RECORD PLAYERS = gramophones … played music of every kind & all Ages all over the old house … and the guitar the piano, would be suddenly taken up … The Church bells rang too and at unexpected times, perhaps they were trying things out  :  a friend came with a hurdy-gurdy, Recorders, and a string instrument called a Psaltery that he was making … and he followed Father about in the garden and the coach houses playing bits of ancient Airs … while Father talked of the Lost Music Manuscripts … and his long-sought Brazilian 17th century drawings … which he was now able to go and see in Cracow, Poland ...   

Mother was in the kitchen cooking a meal for sometime
 “  before   darkness   falls  ”  … … … … … …
…  …    There would be chickens, fishes, and masses of dishes especially for the VEGGIES …and breads of all colours and textures and goodness & real butters …  and such lovely puddings … and home-made sweets had been made earlier in the week …  EASTER EGGS of Chocolate were usually bought from a friendly shop … What they did not eat that night   “ the Queen next morning fried ”  says the text in a book for children to the drawing of Sybil Diana wife of the Artist L. Leslie Brooke who had known the house as it was 1900-1909.   

…  Well, what was over would make snacks sandwiches  and this and that  next day for the unexpected visitors and the cries of  “ I am starving ”  :   while another GREAT MEAL got underway to-morrow for   “  before darkness falls  ”  … … … … … …    

… But inevitably sometimes the meal of the day would be by candlelight,  firelight, bonfire light,  or the new fangled electric light =  NB:   HARWELL had no proper electricity until the mid-20th century … no running water - but the Well water was very pure and nearly every garden had a Well …

THE SUN CAME SUDDENLY OUT … of a rather old parchment shades sky that Easter Tide morning … and shone with a white-yellow light … but it was not very warming … And there was a WIND that nipped spitefully - and Mother watched its gusts shake the very early fruit blossoms, mostly on the Black Prince plums :    The wood fires had people beside them a few minutes before popping here and there about matters of pleasant interest.   AN OLD HOUSE with a garden is very agreeable at FEASTS and FESTIVALS and School HOLIDAY TIMES …

The Princess ACE-Cat did not neglect her morning duties -  and she visited all the bedrooms, looking with great curiosity at the arrangements & at some luggage arrived last night …  and she circled around strange garments and shoes and other possessions displayed in the daylight …   She looked up prettily and very enquiringly at whomever she chanced to find … especially those not of her family - she was trusting and welcoming …  She tried the beds and stroked the satin ribbon edges of the blankets … some heirlooms, got from the big linen-cupboard/airing cupboard.


… A foreign visitor hearing this cupboard spoken of, and knowing Father studied fishes, had asked why the HERRING CUPBOARD was upstairs ?  … And not downstairs, attached to the kitchen,  as in old Scandinavian homes … ACE-Cat may have thought that would be very nice … and perhaps other fishes could be kept in it … for when she was hungry and not certain what she would like to eat …

MOUSE-ACE, when not out and about with PETE and DAN and their friends, was sometimes carried about on coat collars or he sat atop the Piano amidst the Spider Plants … Some young children were playing in the nursery upstairs, and ACE-FISH happily came popping to the surface of his bowl … we felt he was at ease …

A COT FULL OF STUFFED TOY ANIMALS had a BRONTOSAURUS  named Madam BLUEBELL … and she, an unusual Nursery animal,  always got such loving attention ... And has come to GAUL, Fair France …  (  Mother had made her the third year 1970 of our residence/our Stewardship/  in The Pillar House from a pattern got from the London Geological Museum, Albert-O-polis )   
It had become a tradition now believed by everyone even the grown-ups, from when they are all very young,  and before the two youngest went to School ,  THAT most certainly Madam BLUEBELL Brontosaurus is  THE SCHOOL TEACHER for ALL the OTHER Nursery TOYS … and when ACE FISH came to live with The Pillar House family … it was mused that  ` perhaps ACE-FISH Philosopher talked away with the Nursery toys when everyone was at school …  furthering their education too … … …   W H O   W A S   T O   K N O W   ?   
 
… Perhaps our Readers agree, that MAKE-BELIEVE is sometimes very necessary to our lives …
… FOR WHOM IS TO KNOW … exactly what we,  who are  CHANCE LIFE  upon the planet EARTH, can find a Staff, a sweet secure Shelter of Rest … an unseen friend,    as we journey about earth - seas -skies … and to the stars …         

          

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III - ACE, ACE, & ACE - and SPRING

The Princess ACE-Cat came padding on beautifully manicured paws into the upstairs Study at the Pillar House one morning in April, hoping ACE-Mouse might be sitting atop his box.  But he looked up at her serilously through the bars of his ex-refrigerator shelf dome … and finished at his drinking water fixture, and he nodded, adding a gentle soft squeaking  `Good Morning,  The Miss Princess ACE-cat … he said that it was the Day of the God THOR and he must be about his Craftsman work … so that he might rest as usual on the day of the Church Bells … It was known he was allowed to go and hear the Preacher in a Church  outside  the Village of HARWELL …

` I have just heard mother say ` mia-ahh-owed  ACE-Cat,  forgetting to acknowledge his greeting in her nervous impatience … ` that SPRING is in the garden` … I am advised by her to go and see.   Perhaps I shall not like Spring … ?   I am not at all sure miawwow …  You know that I am acknowledged to be extremely shy … and therefore rather highly strung … I heard someone reading this aloud beside the winter fire in the Great Kitchen from the old books like  `Enquire Within` … or it may have been Dr John Hall … a son-in-law of William Shakespeare who wrote a piece of prose about  Full many a SUN rising  … `    But I wonder therefore, if you ACE-Mouse, would care to accompany me to the garden to greet this person SPRING …`  ?  

But MOUSE-ACE had gone back to sorting his nuts, beans, cereals and assorted seeds.   He also had to design and build a new nest from kitchen roll paper.  This was a regular fortnightly choir after his box was changed and cleaned and dried nicely … and lined with fresh paper and any empty cardboard rolls from the grocery and chemistry shopping.   He also had dried branches, seashells, and interesting empty packets such as used by the BLUE PETER BBC television Children programmes  : `makings` … that he might explore and hide away in for a nap.  

…  He had heard FISH-ACE say dreamily one wet afternoon in the nursery  ` … thank goodness the family do not empty and clean the house every two weeks … they spring-clean once a year … We should give thanks for this … perhaps on SUNDAYS … That Sage went on contentedly lazily curving at geometric patterns in the regularly cleaned fish-bowl …

ACE-Mouse did not complain, and he enjoyed the creativity and activity of the fortnightly building and his décor works … it kept him brisk, alert, bushy whiskered, young … and the family saw he had a good diet.   He quite enjoyed the company of ACE-Cat staring and purring beside his little homes and Estate, or falling asleep embracing a corner and a half of his box.   She snorted gently in her dreams … of what we do not know ?    He had no idea that perhaps he lived dangerously … as his ancestors and cousins had when a CAT was on duty …

This very morning the temperature was mild, just perfect for his taste & he was up to his whiskers in work.   ACE-Cat must find somebody else to perambulate the garden and Orchard with … to greet and entertain SPRING.   He had a natural grasp of the nature of Spring and was perhaps faintly surprised at the nervousness or naivete of ACE-Cat.   But perhaps it was just a figure of speech she used … as a Princess ?   He found she looked and acted quite poetic and he enjoyed all company that came to visit him … or when he went out and about with PETE and DAN and their friends …

The Mouse-ACE of the family turned to immerse himself in kitchen roll paper creativity & happy,  happy work through to the late afternoon … then he might eat and rest in his new décor.   VIRTUTE et LABORE said a Family WHITEHEAD motto of 1888 & he saw it on a silver cup a great-grandfather had received for Running at school - and winning = meaning  `by Work and Pluck`    
And SATTEUS LATEUS was the motto of Mother from her 10th century ancestors RANSOM  ` I am joyful with sufficient` … The family and animals strove to obey both …  

So that morning ACE-Cat glided delicately like the Princess
 she was registered at the VET-girls as  `Princess ACE of Cowley Oxfordshire` .     She went silently along the nursery landing from the upstairs Study … along the length of the upstairs landing leading to the bedrooms and the beautiful staircase that curled broadly down into the hall …

… From April to October the red and blue glass above the High Street great door reflected on walls and floors, and if doors were left open the colours reached through the small flagged Jasmine hall into `the music room` with an old quarry tiled floor … a procession of colours during the daylight hours.   If the reflecting coloured glass caught her fur then she looked as if she wore jewels.   Shafts of golden sunlight from the garden facing windows now followed her footsteps and she gleamed gold and silver inlay upon her natural black-black-brown.   She was very beautiful and a delight to the eye … and she did chase away strange mice in the garden and the coach houses … but this was not spoken upon by the Family = who had no wish to upset their family member the MOUSE-Ace …   
   

ACE-Cat brushed through the side of the so-called `little hall` and entered the garden from the Jasmine creeper door … which stood ajar in fine weathers and the white scented Jasmine sometimes had a perfume.     She swayed gracefully around the terrace, sniffing  the fresh warming air and her mood became quite gay as the pale yellow sunbeams stole about her slow moving form, clothing her in the vital Vitamin D …

She meandered now towards a patch of violet leaves beside the brick wall curve that Father had built with a friend along the terrace joining to the ancient wall … a few of the violet flowers gleamed here and there like tiny stars … but you had to go close to see them.   She settled herself full length, stretched luxuriously upon the bed of soft new leaves then she felt a short licking and brushing of her fur to be enjoyable … stretched again  settling herself and a few bluebells just coming into bell leaned gracefully over one of her ears.   The position was warm … she looked like a beautiful painting or photograph …

` … Here I will wait, on my best behaviour, full of best manners, to greet SPRING when he or she appears … perhaps this person is taking a turn about our garden and orchard she mused … and gently drifted off into sweet, sweet sleep …`

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IV - FEAST DAYS & HOLIDAYS Part 2

A very small boy, William, was in the Study being shown the paper house of that fortnight made by MOUSE-ACE … & was truly amazed at the fragile looking but sturdy construction … rather like a Concertina
 expanded into a circle.  He begged to hold the tiny paper nest in his hands and was allowed to do so.  He wished that Pete were able to photograph it .. But he and DAN were away with ACE-Mouse … down by the Church at the house of a friend Jamie … he was black skinned … they had a game of hide-and-seek in the winter dark sometimes.   Later a MOUSE-Ace house is photographed … I will try find it amongst the many photographs …

EASTER SUNDAY AFTERNOON everyone went to OLD SARUM … which is the old Medieval town before Salisbury was built two miles away.   The Bishop had a row with somebody in expensive togs and upped and moved … taking the Cathedral with him … he carted the building stones down to the valley… and the present Cathedral of Salisbury got going with Master Craftsmen immersed in happy, happy work … and inventing things.   The old Cathedral of SARUM is only foundations in the grass, and great mound that was the walled town is some ruins under grass … and well kept nowadays and a nice place to visit at any time of the year … especially in Winter ... Take a picnic - or find a nice hot lunch in Salisbury …  

 Occasionally there has been a MASS in the Cathedral foundations … perhaps if you visit by moonlight you can see it as it was - this is an old superstition … Mother does not remember where she read it … she has a habit of wandering into other Centuries and having a CHAT … her father and his brother used to send postcards in SUMMERIAN script when she was 4-5 years old … luckily the POSTMAN was learning too … although he was not going to tackle GREENLANDIC … however those letters had the GREENLAND stamps on them …   :    

…  An old Professor told a French hero & Man of Letters 1945 after that awful 2nd World War ended … “ You should join ELSA (Greetah) in her games ANDRE … she can teach you things … we knock on the door of other Centuries … I call her ELSA from Lohengrin as we both like the music of Richard Wagner…”
(They live beside the SEA and his wife a Shropshire lass fears HIGH SEAS for her Austrian-German Chemistry of the Brain Professor husband plays on the gramophone THE FLYING DUTCHMAN at Concert Pitch … `the street to the town can hear it` … she is sure … and not everyone worships Richard Wagner … )  

This EASTER SUNDAY AFTERNOON a picnic lunch-tea, and later high-tea would be taken.   It had been prepared with eager hands in the old Great Kitchen of The Pillar House.  Rows of books, reprints, of cooking back to APICIUS a Roman, were on a shelf then shelves :  the 17th century receipts were extremely sensible and the 1900s-1940s books simple and health wise :   So `EAT ART` produced some Scotch eggs and the VEGGIES version/ a whole roasted chicken, fresh brown rolls and butter, cottage cheese and some `mouse-trap` = a firm cheese not expensive but of old lineage :   lots and lots of salad vegetables washed, last of the orchard apples … mother could make salad platters and mixes on site.   Some biscuits from the Tudor Cook Books with the spice MACE in, not just Nutmeg … which some of the family loved with strong  `mouse-trap` cheeses, and some persons enjoyed with elderberry and apple jelly :   people have tastes that vary … sweet, sour …

MOUSE-Ace, PETE, DAN, PAUL, and young William probably rode in a car together … there were three cars full altogether and everybody knew the way very well … once the first ancient Barrows were sited they were all going to safely arrive at ROMAN EMPIRE SORBIODUNUM = Old Sarum = Salisbury town.    And thus it was so … the cars drove up the Way to the once town of Old Sarum … MOUSE-Ace was first out with PETE and DAN and allowed to scamper to his heart`s content amongst the sheep-cropped grass that EASTER SUNDAY afternoon … there was to be found easily wild Thyme patches … but no Harebells as in the long grasses at Stonehenge …Young William stayed close by MOUSE-Ace to keep him company and they found some beetles going about their lives amongst the thyme and the short grasses, the flinty and chalk specks soil.   Underneath could be found broken pot shards and pieces of old metals & bones from ancient meals … from times when other feet had trodden and owned these spaces of TIME … Wood pigeons called soothingly from the tall trees growing around the vanished town buried steep fortifications … where the modern age could climb up and down if you liked to learn mountaineering …

A FEW DOGS WERE OUT ROMPING … but they kept near their owners and were well behaved.   Wil;liam was ready to pick MOUSE-Ace up and quickly put him in a pocket if a dog did hear their way.   EVERYONE was HUNGRY :   so that a picnic spot was chosen behind the cathedral foundations and in the shade of some small overhanging trees.   Two hugh clothes for the table … father had brought them back from the Island of BALI when he went to look at fishes … they were quickly spread out and the picnic unpacked, salads cut up on a large kitchen board of Elm wood, and everyone tucked in.

“ … After breakfast work awhile …
               After dinner rest awhile … (midday dinner as of old)
                       After Supper run a mile …

quoted mother as usual … remembering a little rhyme of advice from her Great Aunts Miss Bessie Martha and Miss Annie Agnes artist … they had founded with other young persons a MISSION at Liverpool from the 1880s when families lived 20 or more in cellars and single rooms … and they had found willing helpers once a plan was established … daughters of the CLASSICIST Teresa Carroll Mrs John Williams raised in an ancient Merchants house Manchester they found themselves with dead parents … 5 girls with classical and bible names, the eldest 17 the youngest 2 years old … they shaped lives that upheld civilized standards … Colonel Georges-ANDRE MALRAUX from 1945 calls them  “ … my aunts, my INTELLECTUAL EQUALS … ”  

 
I think you had all better run a mile”  she said while packing the picnic remains bowl and plates and things … I do not think you will want much supper after eating all this … and it will be well after 9 o`clock when we get home to Harwell.   The family set out to run, walk, skip towards the fortified deep ditch which had protected the town a thousand years ago.   They would as usual make their ways to a great tree with a long thick rope tied to a high branch.   This rope had been put up by the family many years before and it was the custom to visit Old Sarum and swing, swing, swing across the former old twon ditch.   MOUSE-Ace, of course, had to swing too, sitting on the shoulder of PETE     …
Several family members wondered aloud if that MOUSE knew how dangerously he frequently lived ?   They had not forgotten finding him carried by ACE-Cat, a mere tail dangling from her mouth, as if she thought him a kitten …   But then he had been born into danger from his birth at the ATOMIC Site …

Everyone swung, expl;ored the ruins, sat and looked at the landscape north, east, south, west :   some scrambled up and down the fortifications for exercise.   The SUN was arcing in the WEST very fast and the AIR was growing CHILL … and it was agreed to make a quick dash to the Cathedral Salisbury and perhaps catch the ORGAN playing … look at the Medieval clock which was everyone`s favourite.   Mother always said “Hello” to Sir John Montacute for he was the first Crusader Knight she met when she aged 7-8 years lived in the Wartime at HADZOR on the Estate of the old Captain Barclay and his sisters … she went to Catholic Mass with them in a double-dog cart drawn by 2 friendly horses.   

The Family came over to FRIENDS DAY at the Cathedral every July … the children had all climbed up to the Tower and seen the construction of the Spire from the inside … PETE was the youngest child to go up just before his second birthday 1972.
Mostly he was carried by mother on her hip as she was recognised to be very strong from her SEA TRADERS ancestry of 14 Races 27 nations ...  Victoria-A insisted on making the slightly perilous climb-up as it was in those days, on foot … the last bits she was pulled aloft by a Vicar who said … “  `Hhhm … well … let us sing
…  here we go … getting up to heaven … up we go … nearly up to Heaven …”

The Family made the Cathedral  “before clocking-out time” quitted Dan and Pete together and they rushed to the oldest clock in the British Isles.   The tallest spire still thrilled everyone, and inside the sheer grace and delicacy had the usual over-powering impression  :  with great eloquence, in a VOICE of SILENCE, the building imparted its spirit in unheard but highly visual words of fortitude and joy … “ Virtute et labore ” … said Father in a whisper of awe.   Ah … it never fails to thrill me … since Mother insisted we visit some years ago … I a Marxist of sorts, want to kneel down to the whole edifice … those who built it … ”

The JOURNEY HOME was begun with everyone in a reflective mood and PETE summed it up to DAN and the COMPANY before they got into the three cars … Turning around three times in front of the building and balancing on one long leg … delivering as if on a stage … “ WOW !  WHAM !   WOW-wham … THAT`S A BUILDING !   Now everyone … you have to ADMIT … ”    And DAN answered as an ancient chorus  “WOW-WHAM … WHOW     MAN !   … Why can`t we have one in Didcot ~
Give all the yobs something to do … give em some work … Whhhowwww ”    … and DAN stretched his arms out full length on either side in his new yellow and blue anorak echoing ` WOW … Wow-MAN ` …  PETE turned around three times more and did his one leg balancing act again … one of his usual antics … and swept his arms and did an artistic bow …     

In the DARKENING EASTER SUNDAY evening they drove across the ancient Plains, passing the Barrows where dead warriors, kings and queen perhaps, and ancient persons … who might have travelled as far as Rome or Egypt, had been lain to sleep their spirits into a world of the dead such as they understood in those times.   PETE and DAN were sleepy in back seats … Mother heard them happily going over the day … “ I`m surprised they did not write us letters … we down the ages …”  said PETE … “ They had history books … most of them could speak LATIN around here …
They could have written us    ` HI  Pete and Dan … hope things are not too bad ahead - are you having to learn this flipping LATIN grammar too … love … from Cornelia and Flavia …”
DAN continued in a solemn deep voice  … “ Ahem !     P.S.  Love from  BOADICEA … Wish you were here … and kisses … from Boaw`diceaaaahhh …  ”   Mother wandered how they thought of such funny little things …

PETE continued in a drowsy voice  “ I am going to write letters to girls who will live in two thousand years time …”    “ I wonder what their names will be…”  said DAN … But they did not go on to explore future names of girls … Pity !  Mother remembered that she must rub out on the first LATIN book the alterations to the title … which had been changed to `EATING the PEOPLE` … from MEETING the PEOPLE ... Then she wondered if she needed to rub it out … it would be nice to remember when the grandchildren used it …    


THE WAY HOME lay towards Wantage where ALFRED Anglo-Saxon King , had burnt those cakes … The bakery with tea-shop, of course, had become known as `the burnt cakes shop` … Father his twin and cousins had grown up some years about here and knew many places of interest for exploration like bluebell woods
The Clumps, and where Toad Hall of the book was.  His grandparents had lived at `White Cross` Wallingford between the two great Wars.   All schools did woodwork in his days and he had impressed the children by making a little 2 child toboggan one weekend christened `The Rolls Royce` … it had been used in winter snow on local hilltops.

WANTAGE was empty as usual late Sunday evenings, and the air was gathering more than chilly cold.  The opportunity was taken to circle twice times around the Market Place where stood a fine statue of ALFRED King who defeated the Danes but was not too good at cooking cake watching.    ALFRED born in Wantage got many Waves of arms and caps and cheery calls of  `SEE YA` …
The cars headed north-east into the dark night …

A detour to pass East Hendred where the poet Christopher Cauldwell had lived as a child, before he lost his life in the Spanish Civil War 1930s … Then soon the Harwell Saint Matthew Church bells were heard ringing out Easter Sunday.   The set of 6 bells in the 13th century church is the oldest working set in all the world … outside China that is .   The bells ring every week for Services, weddings, celebrations of national and local importance … baptisms and sadly funerals - they rang out for the Funeral of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603 …