My life, since I was very young, lots of my likes, ideas and preferences have been shaped by Enid Blyton. I was a HUGE fan as a child! Notably, beginning with the Famous Five. I read all of them, I read the 18 'sequels' written by Claude Voillier and translated by Anthea Bell, the 'Find your own adventure' books. I moved onto the Mysteries (with Fatty, Bets, Larry, Daisy, Pip and Buster), then the 'Adventure books (Lucy-Ann, Jack, Phillip, Diana, Kiki the parrot), the Adventurous Four, The 'Secret' books, 'The mysteries that all began with R. You name it. But I still think of life in those terms. I still have ambitions that involve Enid's world!
What sparked me off on this path of nostalgia? Well, Mary Poppins of the blogworld was talking of the lovely vintage trunk she'd bought. I was so excited!!! I've alrways wanted a trunk- you think of Malory Towers, St Claires, the naughtiest girl (and speaking of which, has anyone read any of the sequels for all those series by Anne Digby? I went out and bought them/borrowed them from a library over the past two years!
It made me ponder. What are all those ambitions and wants that I have that are shaped by Mrs Blyton's world? Here they are. Please tell me (so I don't feel insane/child-like, if any of these have struck with you?!
- To find a secret passage in an old house. ANYTHING?! In my blogpast, when I first started this blog, I used to frequently blog about my old place of employment, the Royal Academy, where I frequently sought such places! See Six go mad at the conservatoire. I visited IMF in Prussia Cove, Penzance, which was as near as I was going to get to finding a secret passage!
- Find a secret tunnel that connects an island under the sea with the mainland. Like in 'Five on Kirrin island again, and 'The island of adventure' Do such things exist?! Seriously, does anyone know?! I'ld LOVE to visit one!
- Go to Boarding school/private school (I have been told by people who have been that it's not all that- but I'd like to see!)
- To have a parrot that talks!
- To find treasure!
- To uncover a mystery!
- To go off cycling in the countryside, camping, picnics galore- totally uninhibited.
- Have a proper naughty midnight feast! (I had variations on this during school residential holidays, but usually just involving sweets! I want a bonefide, potted meat, tins of biscuits, lemonade, cakes, macaroons one!!!
- To play a trick on a teacher in class
- To go down to a mine of a sort and find a big nugget of copper!
- To learn to row a boat!
- Sleep on a small uninhabited island!
- Find a natural cave with sand in it, a natural shelf running around the edge and stay there.
- Find a perfect-sized rockpool for swimming lengths in.
Can you add to it?!
