Sunday, September 07, 2008

St Andrews was divided into 'town' - butcher, baker, candlestick-maker, tinker, tailor... and 'gown' - university people - which included us. Some 'town' people were sort of honourary 'gown' but I knew very few 'town' people. Sometimes, the 'town-school' boys spat on me as I passed by on the way to my school. Us and them...



Grouse - pheasant - peasant - I thought they all referred to poor Scots in the highlands whom the English tried endlessly to exterminate. So when I heard ... I wondered... Just as well we are 'university'.













Then one day, while reading, I noticed on a page that one 'pheasant' had an 'h' and another, not. I looked it up in my dictionary and reality dawned! What relief that I never asked - everyone would have laughed at me.

11 comments:

Hashi said...

Ha! Priceless!

Peceli and Wendy's Blog said...

My coffee nearly curdled when I saw that peasant trussed up! What fun you have in your pictures.
w.

ElizT said...

Reminds me of being very worried by 'Trespassers will be prosecuted/persecuted/executed'; like countless other children. Adults have no idea, do they!

Penny said...

Priceless indeed!

Clare said...

Oh Alison your memories deserve to bound into a book, each and every one is "Priceless"

Anonymous said...

The cutest illustrations and I do agree; your stories would make one lovely book!
Ronell

annie said...

Your memory paintings are so special, Alison. I think some of us have asked you, before--have you considered putting these into a book? They are just so full of a child's world and perspective.
annie

Alison said...

I am nearing the end of this series of memory paintings and yes, I am about to begin exploring the possibilities of publishing or at least self publishing - I guess cost will be the issue. Tomorrow, I am going to a talk at the local writer's centre about getting published.

Anonymous said...

Hi Alison, thank you for your visit and kind words. I can't sit up for long so it's hard to return the visits but I sure will when this is all over.

Doda said...

I've just been looking at all your memory pictures, and I have to tell you , they are really amazing and inspiring!

Gretel said...

What great illustrations to go with a wonderful memory...I don't blame you for mashing your meat to check for shot, better to be safe than sorry! (I had the same confusion with gorillas/guerillas, the latter of which were always on the news in the 1970's)