Wednesday 23 December 2015

Let it snow


This image brings back long-ago childhood memories for me.

It's funny how the addition of little details like the Chinese lantern add so much magic to rural Nutwood. I suppose this was the last vestige of 18th century 'Chinoiserie'.

Then there was that Chinese magician who lived nearby, with the daughter who I always fancied when I was a kid. 'Tingaling', was it? Something stereotypically Chinoise anyway.

On warm Winter days like this, when bees are flying around and the nettles are coming back into bloom with the daffodils, I always think of the time when the mad Nutwood science boffin created a machine which turned the Seasons upside down.

Let it snow is what I think, but dare not hope for.

Happy Christmas, bloggies.

23 comments:

  1. Wasn't her name Tiger Lily? Loved my Rupert annuals. Used to be so exciting to get an annual for Christmas. Happy Christmas Tom.

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  2. There was Pong Ping, Ming the dragon, Tiger Lily and her father The Chinese conjuror and the Sage of Um ..... have you requested your 'Rupert Bear Annual 2016' from Father Christmas Tom ? XXXX

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    1. ..... and, wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas ..... have a good one Tom. XXXX

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    2. I have lived my life according to the dictats of the Sage of um....

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    3. Tiger Lily? Like Peter Pan's?

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    4. Tinkerbell. I should have given her one while I was small enough.

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  3. And a Happy Christmas to you. Rupert is a year older, maybe better. Hang on, Rupert.

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  4. Rupert the Bear reminds me of a childhood of the Daily Express in the good old days of Lord Beaverbrook.

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    1. Ah yes, Beaverbrook - that lover of children and anything else with a pulse.

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  5. Oh, Rupert the Bear! We met in Bath in 1975. Sigh.

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  6. Adored Rupert Bear. My son still has all his annuals. My favourite rhyming couplet under a picture of Rupert flying across the sky in a hot air balloon while his mother is pegging out the washing:
    'I do declare says Mrs Bear
    if that's not our Rupert flying up there!'

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  7. I used to have an annual in my stocking every year - wish I had hung on to them. Merry Christmas Tom.

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    1. I saw a Rupert Bear Annual for sale for £37,500..... brown faced Rupert, signed ..... I think that I might need to make friend's with Weavers son !!!!!!!

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  8. I once did a HUGE Rupert painting entitled 'Said Rupert, yes this Coon and me, are bound to live in harmony'. It was an anti racism painting, but even the word 'Coon' (from Coon Island) would be tricky these days. He's still a favourite.

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  9. The sight of a Rupert Bear Annual does indeed take you straight back to childhood....Happy days.....Happy Christmas Tom.

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  10. I loved my Rupert annuals. I only ever read the rhyming bits underneath the pictures, never the longer story! I remember one year there was a page with a black and white drawing of winter trees with Rupert's face hidden in various places that you had to find. Happy Days! Have a good Christmas Eve.

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  11. Rupert and his friends were an annual treat. I always enjoyed living in Nutfield which was almost as good as being a real neighbour.
    Have a good Christmas holiday.

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  12. Pong Ping? I absolutely adore those pictures. Have a good Rupertish Christmas.

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  13. Pong Ping? I absolutely adore those pictures. Have a good Rupertish Christmas.

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