Village News

Well, the wife and I returned to Lesser Pudding Manor today after a relaxing week with friends. We were greeted by the sight of three tax inspectors' heads displayed at Gallows Oak. Apparently the local outlaws have been busy. I summoned a meeting of the local manorial court and acquitted them. The bodies have gone to fertillize Lady Arcos' award-winning roses.

I contacted the publishers after receiving another notice from them. Apparently one set of legal difficulties with my memoirs has been sorted out.

I had to see to the business of the Old Hall today, too. This building, possessed of a gloomy and haunted wing, is part of the estate, and we have been trying to let it for years. Apparently the Girl in Grey wants to book it for a party some time next week. The Outsider is coming too. I think she and the Green Man are luring some unwary villain to their doom there. I'm supplying staff as well.

The Old Baptist Chapel, of which I am a trustee, has invited Dr. Horatius Bridge of Mannington to speak. A notoriously eccentric character, he will be bringing his black cat with him, as the monstrous creature also acts as a scarf.

And Pudding Norton College re-opens this week after considerable renovation.

A Look behind the Headlines

This week I am holidaying with a very dear friend, Mrs. Yvette Trevelyan, at her house in the Welsh Marches. We ended up one evening talking about old times, mostly as Mrs. Trevelyan and I were engaged about fifty years ago. Fortunately Lady Arcos knew her then as well. We moved on to talking about newspapers, most notably the Pudding Norton Herald, run by a man called Algernon.

Today's headline was: 'Churchill Dead.' This probably tells you what's going on here. About forty years ago, I stopped reading the newspapers. I started again recently, and arranged with the Herald for them to supply me with papers from when I stopped reading the English papers (when I moved to America in 1950). I was most surprised to learn that Harold Wilson was elected Prime Minister in 1964. I much preferred that nice Sir Alec Douglas-Home. So did the wife.