Went off last night with a group from church to support a local amateur dramatic group by attending their performance. It was enjoyable enough, although the play was a classic pot-boiler from the 1920's called T"he Ghost Train". You knew it was the 1920's when the baddies were revealed as Juan from Barcelona (Manuel's dad I think!) and Herr Otto Sitz and were decried by the juvenile lead as "Bolshies"!! Also, the paper being read was"The British Gazette", which was only produced during the General Strike of 1926 and was edited by Winston Churchill! (Nice one, props department!) Monocles, hip flasks, stiff upper lips, strong men and dependent women. They don't write 'em like that any more! Thank Gawd! It was an enjoyable hoot! But for me the fun bit was discovering who the playwright was. Arnold Ridley. Name means nothing - unless you are a fan of "Dad's Army", in which case you will recognise him as Private Godfrey! Fascinating, eh?
Back to court this am, but it was called off after 45 mins due to a missing bit of paper! Try again on Friday. However, when i went to the shop for my baccy and paper, I mused on why there is such a lousy selection of pipe tobaccos these days. When I were a lad, you could get St Bruno (as smoked by Dom Gregory Dix who wrote "The Shape of the Liturgy"), Gold Block, Clan and Condor (be very careful when purchasing this - when a curate I went into our local wee Asian shop in my dog collar and asked for a packet of this and the wee wifie put a packet of "Mates" on the counter. It was pointed out later by my Rector that when burnt, they smelled much the same as what I usually smoked!). But you also got some great other blends: 3 Nun's Ready Rubbed (ooh-er, missus!), Parson's Pleasure, Presbyterian Mixture. Whatever happened to those? Nostalgia!
My old man is fair cahing in with pipe tobacco just now. Two pipe smoking folk, who obviously horded their "fix" and bought in bulk, known to my congregation have recently died. My dad has been left with their stash. A glorious mixture of brands. It'll keep him puffing for a good while.
ReplyDeleteI'll get him to mention you in his will Fr D.