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Half a pound of treacle
http://www.the-cbb.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=3638

Author:  Alison H [ Sat Nov 24, 2007 11:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Half a pound of treacle

This isn't very exciting, but seeing as I've written it I might as well post it! The idea was to write something using an extract from a nursery rhyme :lol: .

“I have to say it, Con – getting Mamma and Papa and the aunts and uncles to agree to letting us have The Witchens for a twentieth birthday get-together was a super-brilliant idea of yours,” Margot remarked, refilling her glass of wine for the third time.

“Leave some of that for when the others get here, will you?” Len laughed. “And having a gathering of the clans in Yorkshire was definitely a very good idea of Con’s. We’re all over the place these days and we don’t get to see nearly as much of each other as we’d like to. I’m getting really excited now!” She glanced at her watch. Ruey had convinced her brother Roger to lend her his car for a couple of days and had driven from Bedford to Oxford, where she’d collected Len, Con and Ted, the previous afternoon. They’d picked up Margot, who’d travelled down from Edinburgh by train, at Garnley station and arrived in Garnham late in the evening.

Ros, Jo, Heather, Prudence, Priscilla, Primrose, Betty, Alicia, Francie, Ricki and Sue were all travelling to Yorkshire from their respective places of work or study and the first three were due to arrive at Garnham station shortly. Ruey and Ted had gone to meet them, whilst the triplets were meant to be doing something about the food and entertainment. Margot, looking at the clock and feeling that really they ought to be moving themselves, peered inside the basket of shopping that the others had brought from Oxford, pulled a jar out and looked at it in bemusement. “What the hell’s this? I thought we were meant to be sticking to essential stuff to keep the costs down! Half a pound of treacle? That’s the way the money goes! What are we going to do with that?”

“Make toffee with it,” Len told her. “Well, toffee and some sort of local cake thing called parkin. Bonfire Night tradition round here, or so Reg said. He’s sent me his auntie’s recipes for them both. He reckoned that seeing as we were having our party here we ought to try to show everyone some proper northern hospitality because there was nothing to beat it. Not even English tea at Freudesheim. Well, actually he said especially not English tea at Freudesheim.”

“Didn’t Reg want to come over and see you on your birthday?” Margot asked curiously. “Or could he not get away from work?”

Len shrugged. “I think he’d have liked to’ve come over, but they’ve got a lot on at the San … and, to be honest, I’m glad it’s just going to be us – the Chalet School girls! It’s not often that we’re all able to get together like this.” She stood up. “Speaking of which, we’d better get cracking, really. Can I have some more of that wine first, though?”

“Len Maynard! Auntie Hilda would have a fit if she could hear you,” Margot teased as she passed the bottle over. “Using slang in one sentence and saying “can” instead of “may” in the next!”

“Not as much of a fit as Matey’d have if she knew we were planning to sit around and eat all this sweet stuff in the evening,” Con said with a grin. “She’d be expecting us all to come down with “bilious attacks” in the night. And that’s before you even mention the booze. And the fact that we’re not likely to be getting any sleep before the small hours of the morning.”

“We’re all a disgrace to the school, really!” Len said solemnly, downing her glass of wine in one gulp. “In fact, maybe we should just play a few paper games, go to bed early, and then get up at crack of dawn and go out for a nice healthy walk across the moors. Keeping our knees bent if we have to walk uphill, and making sure that no-one even thinks about taking off their jumper.”

“And with any luck someone’ll fall over and twist their ankle, and then we’ll all be rescued by a bevy of conveniently-passing single doctors,” Con continued.

“And then we’ll all have to drink loads of hot milk and sit with our feet up for the rest of the afternoon to get over the trauma,” Margot finished off.

They all burst out laughing. But then they sat in silence for a few moments, and then Con spoke again. “A lot of it might seem pretty daft to us now that we’re grown up – well, supposedly grown up! – and we might go in for a lot of Chalet School bashing when Mamma isn’t around to hear us, but … well, we wouldn’t have missed any of it, would we?”

Len shook her head. “Not for anything. Think of all the wonderful friends whom we’d never even have met if it hadn’t been for the Chalet School. We might not get to see each other very often, but we all know that we’ll all always be there for each other, whether it’s to share good news or to help each other out when things aren’t going well or just for a meet-up and a laugh like we’re going to have today.”

“That’s very true and I’ll never forget it, no matter where in the world I end up,” Margot said soberly.” Then she laughed. “Listen to us - we’re getting all soppy now! Time to think about another great Chalet School tradition, I think! Where did that treacle go? Let’s get started on sorting out the food!”

Author:  Kathy_S [ Sun Nov 25, 2007 2:12 am ]
Post subject: 

I'm clearly missing the nursery rhyme, but thanks for the story. :D

Author:  janem [ Sun Nov 25, 2007 8:52 am ]
Post subject: 

That was lovely.

Author:  Lesley [ Sun Nov 25, 2007 11:29 am ]
Post subject: 

Kathy_S wrote:
I'm clearly missing the nursery rhyme, but thanks for the story. :D


Half a pound of tuppenny rice
Half a pound of treacle
That's the way the money goes
Pop goes the weasel.


Thanks Alison

Author:  Jenefer [ Sun Nov 25, 2007 12:00 pm ]
Post subject: 

I enjoyed this. Thanks Lesley

Author:  Fatima [ Sun Nov 25, 2007 2:46 pm ]
Post subject: 

That was great! Thanks Alison. Any chance of being a fly on the wall at the party too? I'd love to see so many old friends again!

Author:  Kathy_S [ Sun Nov 25, 2007 3:55 pm ]
Post subject: 

I see!

Our version goes:
Quote:
Round and round the mulberry bush
The monkey chased the weasel
The monkey thought it was all in fun
Pop goes the weasel.
A penny for a spool of thread
A penny* for a needle
That's the way the money goes
Pop goes the weasel.


(possibly because we don't have treacle, only molasses)

*have just determined that the 2nd "a penny" is "another" in Little House in the Big Woods.

Author:  Alison H [ Sun Nov 25, 2007 6:36 pm ]
Post subject: 

I know that version as well - I've got all the Little House books :lol:!

Author:  Lottie [ Mon Nov 26, 2007 1:38 pm ]
Post subject: 

Fatima wrote:
That was great! Thanks Alison. Any chance of being a fly on the wall at the party too? I'd love to see so many old friends again!

*echoes Fatima*

I'm sorry I missed the gather, and the drabble reading, but thanks for posting it, Alison. :D

Author:  Liz K [ Mon Nov 26, 2007 2:44 pm ]
Post subject: 

Lottie wrote:
Fatima wrote:
That was great! Thanks Alison. Any chance of being a fly on the wall at the party too? I'd love to see so many old friends again!

*echoes Fatima*




Cor yes please, wouldn't mind seeing additions to this, thanks.

Author:  LizB [ Mon Nov 26, 2007 3:04 pm ]
Post subject: 

Thanks, Alison :D

Author:  Lolly [ Wed Nov 28, 2007 11:04 am ]
Post subject: 

Kathy_S wrote:
I see!

Our version goes:
Quote:
Round and round the mulberry bush
The monkey chased the weasel
The monkey thought it was all in fun
Pop goes the weasel.
A penny for a spool of thread
A penny* for a needle
That's the way the money goes
Pop goes the weasel.




I think that's the second verse!

Author:  Lyanne [ Fri Nov 30, 2007 11:51 pm ]
Post subject: 

"Up and down the city streets,
In and out the Eagle,
That's the way the money goes,
POP goes the weasel!"

Author:  leahbelle [ Mon Dec 03, 2007 6:20 pm ]
Post subject: 

Brilliant! Thanks!

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