Friday 6 November 2009

Weekword-Hole

A few sketches of holes.

When I read the word of the week, chosen by Linda Sue, lots of things came to mind. There are lots of phrases and sayings with the word hole in them and when looking for more I found this lovely one.
"When the mouse laughs at the cat there's a hole nearby."
This morning, I thought about some stories from my life, all linked to holes.

Story Number One. My Story.
Once upon a time, a young and inexperienced teacher took a group of children on a trip. The trip was to a beautiful place, with ancient Roman ruins, a river, woods and animals. The trip did not go well, and one particular incident will always stick in her memory. The day was very hot, and, while killing the last half hour of the wait for the coach to come and take her away from all this, the teacher foolishly let the children play football in the car park. The car park which was next to the river. The ball of course ended up in the water and, before she could stop them, and, encouraged by a very unhelpful parent, five of the children ( five of the boys) were in the river, under the bridge, after the ball. Having completely lost control, the teacher could only watch helplessly as the boys (and the parent) narrowed the gap with the ball. "At least", she thought, "the river is shallow so there is not any real danger." Just at that moment, one of the boys, Danny, sunk, up to his neck in the river! He was hauled out by the parent. Shortly after that, the teacher and the bedraggled class boarded the bus with the very cross and disapproving driver. This tale took place in the days before risk assessments and, apparently, health and safety.
For weeks afterwards Danny would ask the teacher, "Miss, what is a world pool"(and I stress-he always said 'world'). The teacher would answer, "It was not a whirlpool Danny, it was a hole."



Story number two. Andy's Story.
This story takes place in a factory producing biscuits. We had just left college and were working in said biscuit factory. My job was to pack the biscuits, and the title of my job, not surprisingly, was 'biscuit packer'. I was good at this job, though it did grate after 10 months.
Andy worked 'upstairs'. His job was to tip the flour down a great big hole in the floor. He was called a 'tipper'. He used to appear in the canteen each night, completely covered in flour. He was a bit of a messy tipper.
One night, a cry went up in the tipping department, from one fellow tipper to another:
"Derek, Andy's fallen down the 'ole!" Indeed he had. He luckily didn't end up incorporated into a biscuit, but he did end up with the most enormous bruise I have ever seen!

Story number three. My brother's story
My brother had just bought a house in the depths of the Kent countryside. A very tiny house with a big and overgrown garden. He spent a long time clearing the brambles and nettles, and one day came upon a deep hole, which he was lucky not to have fallen into. It was an old well which he had not known was there. Something had fallen into the hole a long time ago-some kind of explosive device from the second world war! I can't be more exact than that as I can't quite remember. When I next see him I will get my facts straight.
The army came and removed it and, I presume, blew it up at a safe distance.
A small string of holey stones-traditionally supposed to ward off witches, and evil spirits in general. I just quite like them hanging there.
A dish containing more holey flints and a leg. Like something out of a horror film.Hope you enjoyed my holey stories. I enjoyed remembering them, even the horrendous trip! I am going to visit other week word participants now. Linda Sue has the list!
P.S. lovely website of beach found art
Holey stone sites 1 , 2 , 3

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love your stories!! I can just picture Andy falling down the hole!

Leenie said...

Enjoyed visiting your blog! You have some scary stories about holes. Glad there was only trauma and not disasters involved.

kendalee said...

I LOVE your hole stories Sarah!!! I'm always going to think of those things that Danny didn't fall into as worldpools from now on. A bit like the undertoad in the current from "the world according to garp"...

I've been away for a little while and I've so enjoyed catching up on all your posts over the past week. I always feel like I've spent half an hour over a cup of tea and a chat when I visit your space - love that! :)

Yiota said...

Hey! I'm struggling to keep up here! Lots of posts. So ... first things first...I liked your ramblings, especially the rhymes (the one with the ladybird is like a nightmare!).
Now, your hole stories...Oh, my God! What a trip! We went on a school trip today to an airforce base; very interesting; neven seen a military aircraft before. Good thing the kids behaved just fine.
I agree with Kenda on the last comment.
PS. Almost finished the book. I love it!

jabblog said...

Oh-oh-oh . . . I can relate to all but the last of the photographs which makes me feel quite queasy. You can tell I *never* watch horror movies . . .

Linda Sue said...

Oh Sarah- what a delight! The HOLE thing! Like kendalee, I relaxed into your stories with a cuppa and was thoroughly entertained...Love the stones- they are majic!

Anonymous said...

Risk assessments, don't you love 'em? That poor 'young teacher'. Still, the boys love that sort of thing. I took 100 boys paintballing for Activity Day. Was dreading it, but the worst that happened was that one forgot to take his Ritalin before setting off. He didn't seem any worse that usual.
My favourite pic is the disembodied leg. Very shapely.

Unknown said...

I remember Andy's bruise. I can vouch for it's huge size. The biscuit factory was a dangerous place.

Unknown said...

Incidently, think this might be the place?
http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?p=37731
Don't think they make biscuits there now.

aimee said...

your drawings and stories are delightful! i'll borrow from linda and say that i loved the 'hole' thing too!

eb said...

love your holey stories Sarah - and all the wonderful images scrolling through your blog - I have a string of "holy" stones that my husband collected as a child - they occur right here in Lake Champlain - clay sediment solidifying around reeds - I love them - and we continue to collect them - although now they are no not so easily found...

best wishes
xox - eb.

Candace said...

Oh I do love the holey stones and the world pool story. Mmm. That gives me an idea -- no, no. I am not about to throw a ball into a river.
The photos are all superb! Having to play catch up myself here.
So, check the other posts! ;)
Thanks so much for your visit and your kind words. I am always a nervous Nell when showing "new" stuff.

Candace x

Lynne said...

Wonderful stories. How much we learn from things that go wrong.
I worked in a biscuit factory during college holidays one summer. So much better than working in the Metal Box Company the other 2 summers making bottle tops!
You are being very good with the sweeties. Enjoy the bonfire.

Lynne said...

Hi Sarah,
I know how you like marionettes. Have you seen these?
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/10/the_berlin_reunion.html

Caroline said...

Ha ha! Love your 'hole' stories - thank goodness the outcome of that school trip was positive!!

e said...

love the 'hole' stories! so fun finding new blogs via weekword!

Mary S. Hunt said...

great sketches
you tell the best stories!

Anairam said...

Oh, Sarah, you definitely win my prize for the loveliest holiest stories! The prize? Yep, you've guessed right - a hole! Can you see it already?

Shell said...

i loved your hole stories!!! Made me laugh then go wow at the same time.

Denise Kiggan said...

Loved the cat and mouse quote - and the stories!

●• Thereza said...

that tiny rabbit is so lovely :)

Aris said...

great stories!!!!! The biscut factory one sounds like the beginning of a six feet under episode(: