Posted by Peter Ceresole on February 28, 2012 at 08:04:18 user PeterC.
In Reply to: Re: Eternal attraction posted by Peter Hyland on February 28, 2012 at 06:01:55:
I have noticed that there is a kind of ‘mischievous’ tone about some of the Beckfoot plumbing postings, as if they are doing something forbidden.
I think that 'Beckfoot-itis' is a part of making the stories more vivid- it certainly is for me. And there is (for me, again) a certain fascination with the physical circumstances of English life between the wars. I've seen houses like that, both while working and as a member of the Decorative Arts Society, and they speak of a way of life that's very much part of the Ransome scene. Working, I've also seen a lot of the housing depicted in 'Housing Problems' by Edgar Anstey- not the old slums he depicted but modern equivalents with many of the same problems. All that feeds my interest in the stories. That's why I'm so fond of 'Lost! Two days and a boat' in WD. So alive... Such a description of the English provinces at the time.
It even reminds me of going to a nursing home in Windsor to have my tonsils out, around 1944, and stopping in the station next to another train and 'Look! German prisoners!' All I can remember is their Feldgrau forage caps and doleful, friendly faces... But the nursing home was quite AR-ish.
As for the interest in the plumbing and the lavatories, it's not totally surprising that they should give rise to a certain humorous tone. But it's all part of building up a fine-grained picture of the stories, and I must say that I have really enjoyed the descriptions here of the ways of providing water in the Lake district in the '30s. I mean, hydraulic rams are interesting.