Dull as suet pudding
A charming alternative to ‘dull as ditchwater’. I also like the last affirmative sentence.
“Your brother is...
Civilization, one scoop or two?
‘What is civilization?’ A deep and vital question we need to keep asking. I liked this pithy response, particularly one...
Light-hearted crew
May your crew be ever light-hearted.
Source: Arthur Ransome, Coot Club (London: Jonathan Cape, 2009 (1934)), p. 290
...
Reed-fringed banks
An image of lazy summer afternoons messing about on rivers.
Source: Arthur Ransome, Coot Club (London: Jonathan Cape, 2009 (1934)),...
Stormy tea trays
We’ve had some rotten weather recently, rain-grey clouds rolling over us like dismal tumbleweed, so this resonates.
Splatchers
‘Splatchers?’ said Roger. ‘Splatchers,’ said the boy. ‘For walking on the mud.’ ‘Gosh!’ said Roger. ‘Like snowshoes?’
When these children...
Leadership … Daoist style
As you know, a good children’s book has much to teach grown ups and often far more entertainingly than any...
Parenting, then and now
This crisp and even cavalier telegram has a distant father allowing his four children to sail to an island in...
Trim, trig and tickety-boo
Came across the upright word 'trig' in another of Arthur Ransome's charming children's adventure stories, Winter Holiday, which I read...
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