Re: Favourites


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Posted by Ed Kiser on October 20, 2013 at 09:48:00 user Kisered.

In Reply to: Favourites posted by Roger Wardale on October 17, 2013 at 08:13:46:

The order in which these books are encountered can have a
distinct influence on one's choices concerning preferences.

My untentional error was in reading PP before WH. There was
a bit of resentment felt about the D's in PP as they just
suddenly seemed to appear, and indeed, intrude upon our
previously well known friends, the S and A. "The Professor"
indeed. Even Nancy, who is so obviously a driving force,
seemed to look up to this "know-it-all" or "smarty pants".
It was Dick that seemed to run the show, while Nancy just
seemed to be doing what he wanted. It was Dick that seemed
to understand about CF's study, and the materials kept there,
and to use them in his own way for the expedition. I was
just not introduced to Dick and Dorothea to where I felt
I knew who they were, and what kind of people they were,
so they were felt to be pushing into this group as the
"new kid" on the block, yet so quickly to take control.
So reading PP was difficult as I was grumbling about Dick
bossing Nancy about - as it seemed to me at the time.

The very first book I truly OWNED was PM. It was given
to me as a Christmas present in 1944, so it was a very
new publication. It was my very own Ransome book, not
some copy from the library that had to be returned in
just a few days. This one I could KEEP. But... the
main characters were those intrusive D's, and that really
took the luster off of that book for some time.

It was years later that I managed to come across WH in
a second hand book store, and I got to really meet the
D's as newcomers, who had to prove themselves (skating
skills certainly helped) and so EARN their place in the
group. They were willing to LEARN, and took advice
from Nancy. She got them interested in learning the
skill of signaling. It was then I picked up from them
that desire to do signaling also, and so, prompted
by the D's, studied and learned the Morse code, a skill
that greatly enhanced my position with our local Boy
Scouts where I found myself TEACHING my peers the
workings of Morse code. Instead of always being the
last chosen for the team, suddenly I was in a leadership
position with that Morse - thanks to Dick's wanting to
learn. This shift in relative position let me feel
like Roger when he became the leader in the Latin
studies in ML.

With this greater understanding of where the D's got
their start, I reread PP, and really admired them in
PM where they got to apply their all too brief intro
to sailing skills on the Broads to mastering SCARAB
on their own.

Again, it was the D's learning about SCARAB that had
a big influence on me, because that prompted me to buy
that four meter catamaran, to launch her, and rig that
mainsail and the jib, to control the sheets, to mount
the rudder, and to sail her in all directions of the
winds with never a capsize - all without reading any
instruction from anywhere except in these books by
Ransome who taught me all I needed to know.

These stories had a feeling of reality about them. I
was THERE. I was a part of their adventures. There
was no magic wand going poof. These were activities
that I could really DO and share that experience.

But there were a few of the stories that still seemed
to be just a tall tale, and the difference seemed to
be those stories in which there was SHOOTING. The
bird collector trying to kill those rare birds.
The Chinese gunfire along with their always present
threat to chop heads off. The Viper crew firing
upon our friends, even putting a bullet into
the ship, SWALLOW, (which did not even belong to any
of them, so what was that boat doing away from the
boathouse at Holly Howe where it really belonged.)
So those three were just STORIES, and could be taken
as just made-up tales, but not something they really
DID. But these theoretical life threatening situations
in those made up tales were so unlike the dangers to
life, in a very real sense, that the Swallows felt
when they were lost in the North Sea, in a storm,
in a dense fog, with no engine. There the sailing
skills were called upon to save their lives in a
true sense of the word, and that had a great feeling
for the reader, sharing those awesome desperate
moments on the Goblin. Fiction, yes, but still, it
was reality as well.

So the concept of "favorite" seems to shift with
the times, with the experiences to encountering
the new volumes of Ransome not yet read. As for
the D's, I had a rough start with them, but they
came through with flying colors for me, so was
able to go back to that first really owned book
and appreciate the situation the D's had there
in the Dogs' Home. Perhaps it was me also growing
up and appreciating the more adult point of view
of meeting adversity and making do with difficulties
and awkward situations.

Growing up with Ransome - yes, that was one of the
more positive elements in my maturing years, a time
when I needed to learn - and Ransome was there to
teach withoug me knowing that was really happening
to me. It was Ransome that gave me authority, gave
me a position of leadership, to teach Morse. It
was Ransome that, when away on Boy Scout camping
excursions, allowed me to have the first campfire
up and running just fine, to let me be the first
to get my pan of pork and beans sufficiently
warmed up over that fire while the others were
running out of matches. It was a grand moment
when those jocks, the ones that always headed
the sports team, the ones that did the picking
of team members, the ones that left me to be
the last selected, were about to settle for
eating their pork and beans cold out of the
can, until I went over there and built them
a proper Susan-style campfire for them.
That'll show them... ("Can" - translation: TIN.
You know, we talk funny...)

Perhaps that is how Dick felt sometimes. Ah,
Dick, we learned to get along quite well together,
even after that misunderstanding early on. He
was a good friend.

They all were the best of friends for me for so
many years, indeed, for my lifetime. For that,
I am always grateful.

"and THAT's the END of THAT" - that is the
memory tool I use to remember the MORSE for
the PERIOD symbol, the dot at the end of
the sentence. Say it with emphasis on the
all caps, and you get the sound of the Morse
which is di dah di dah di dah. Or, the memory
tool for "Q" - queen - "GOD SAVE the QUEEN".
Emphasis those all caps and you hear:
DAH DAH di DAH, which is Morse for "Q"

Sure makes MORSE easy with those memory tools.

Ed Kiser, Kentucky, USA [kisered AT aol DOT com]


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