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littlemoney

I was given a teach yourself rapid reading book when I told someone I had insufficient time to read all the books we were expected to read for a part time degree course I was studying at the same time as working full time.  I didn't find the time to read the rapid reading book either

BrassicWoman

So pleased to see you!

pollyanna_26

I've just read your post Csarina about the librarian not believing you'd read the book. All my four attended the Primary school I taught in. The children brought their reading books home each night to read a chapter aloud. My son hated reading and was only interested in playing football so would "lose" forget or in any other way possible do his best to avoid reading. In the light nights I'd have him practically pinned to the dining table after tea saying you do not go out unless you have read me a chapter. Eldest dd was no problem her degree was English Lit and after Uni she worked for some time for HMV eventually in charge of the Trocadero in London then changing direction to work for an International Bookseller for decades rising to the Dizzy heights and earning a reputation as Atilla the Hun if she needed to sort out a store that wasn't performing . A hint for mothers never get caught up in being a secret shopper when a badly performing store is in your town.

Thankfully she stormed into the CEOs office last year to hand in her notice after tiring of constant arguments with Wee Nicola in Scotland over stores opening and then having to close again in the next lockdown .She woudn't listen to me the voice of reason . She's a natural redhead and tall. Nicola is also a redhead but small so the arguments contiued and the Wee one won.

She decided to set up in business as a self employed gardener and garden designer after a very generous payment from her long time employer with other benefits added including 50% off books for life.

She hated gardening as a child but when she bought her Yorkshire cottage we turned both gardens in to lovely cottage gardens after they'd been neglected for years.

She also began training with the RHS last year and there is a job waiting for her at her favourite RHS site when she completes her training.

DD2 read rather unwillingly but reads much more now. Youngest used to whizz through books . She was an early reader. Within a very short time she would read a book to me in a day. Soon she'd read every book in the infants libraries. Parents used to have to sign to comfirm when a book was finished and one day in work i was confronted by a rather uncomfortable head teacher She asked if I had heard her read a whole book  each of those days andI confirmed I had.

She got access to the junior library and soon worked her way through them all. She still reads a lot quicker than me and they were her salvation through sheilding.

Some youngsters just love books . I did as a child they were an escape from post war devastation for me. near a seaport where the convoys would sail from not only there but the outlying areas were targets as they were being bombed into submission so there were old bomb sites and missing houses  when I was a child and Anne of Green Gables. Pollyanna and Little Women were a different world. I used to lie in bed imagining i was Heidi snuggled up in the hay or walking the mountains talking to the goats.

pollyx

weenancyinAmerica

I still have my grandmother's set of Anne of Green Gables books -the first five in the series. If they hadn't been so well read and loved during the last three generations I could have sold them for quite a bit - they are all first editions. Pollyanna was one of my favorites also. I liked Alcott's An Old Fashioned Girl even better than Little Women - but I still have my copies of both.

bouicca21

Csarina - reading a library book in a day and trying to return it for a new one, that was me too.  I read through the entire children•s section (it was only a small library) and had to have special permission p,us a signature from my parents to start using the adult books.

nowadays I’m addicted to my kindle.  And having just had eye surgery I am so grateful for the ability to change the size of the print.

balabooberlies

Amazing thread Pollyana, Jackie and all contributors.  'scuse spelling......

bala

London_1

bouicca21 said:

Csarina - reading a library book in a day and trying to return it for a new one, that was me too.  I read through the entire children•s section (it was only a small library) and had to have special permission p,us a signature from my parents to start using the adult books.

nowadays I’m addicted to my kindle.  And having just had eye surgery I am so grateful for the ability to change the size of the print.

I remember well having to get a signed letter from my parents to use the adult part of our local library in London in the early 1950s.The librarians back then wern't very happy about it and enforced silence by frowns and tuts at times. But I presisted as I felt I had gone through most of what interested me by the time I was 10 anyway. I just soaked up the books I just adored reading and still do it takes you to another dimension and I will read virtually anything . I lovedeven the smell of libraries back then a combination of polish and books.Back then few were paperbacks, and a brand new book that had never been borrowed, was to me like a brand new dress or pair of shoes. 

pollyanna_26

As one of those persistent children in the early 50s I'm beginning to feel some sympathy for the librarians back then although the one in charge in our library was rather nasty towards any child who dared enter her precious library. I often hung around outside until her lovely younger assistant took over manning the desk.

I;d forgotten the smell of the library back then. Ours had leather topped stools or chairs that smelt of lavender polish especially on sunny days when the sun coming through the long windows warmed the seats. That smell of books but also oddly a smell of dust. It was always very clean so I could never figure that out and used to wonder if it was the tops of the very tall bookcases being dusty.

I used to dislike rainy days sometimes it would start to rain just as I got near the library and depending who was on the desk it was a toss up if any child wearing wellingtons would be allowed in. Sometimes the strict one would relent and children would be wandering around in their socks while the entrance porch had rows of wellies lined up.

I suppose it was a learning curve really. I'd already learned I must be quiet from my mum who was very hot on good mannners and behaviour but I never felt comfortable when the strict one was on duty.

I still remember one young lad wetting himself and feeling so upset for him as he was shouted at and called a dirty boy.

pollyx

London_1

itsn't it odd how the smells of places revives your memories My youngest daughter says the smell of Windolene reminds her of me, and coming in from school on a Monday afternoon to the smell of rock cakes and Windowlene and polish as Monady was apart from washing day was cealing after the weekened day the smell of 4711 cologne reminds me of my late Mum as she always had a stick of it and when you were poorly and felt ill she would rub it on your temples  Cinemas had a strange smell of their own as well, for some reason as a little girl I thought it was the big curtains that covered the screen made the cinema smell like that Anyone else reminded of smells .Hot tar when the roads were being mended or cresote when my eldest sadly now gone brother used to do the garden fences for my late dad

PipneyJane

London_1 said:

Hi Chums, I have bowed to pressure from various members who remember this daft old woman who likes to save cash I had to rejoin with a different name but I'm still the same JackieO underneath, just a bit older. Glad to see you are all jogging along OK
Hope this year is better than the past two
Cheers chums JackieO xx 

Welcome back JackieO.  We've missed you!

Love

Pip