I have had a whirlwind couple of days in ,around, and away from the fifth toadstool from the left in Lobelia Drive. I went to Brigantia yesterday to find a comfortable chair and storage unit for my new office cum work space. I found a lovely soft,high backed folding seat,rather than an office chair ,and since the Blue Room is rather neat in size, I was happy to hand over 7.95 in geld for it. A bargain,Pendragon will be so pleased. I also have bought some white storage units to put in the corner of my office space to hold my work folders and tools. I am nearly organised. All is being delivered on Friday,so the excitement is building.
Imagine my surprise on my return to find that young Jenny had phoned from my former place of work.She is a bright young thing, an elfen lass of singular abilities,whom I am sure will go far . She phoned to say that my old buddies ,and supporters,Lillibor Bindweed and Cremola Catchfly are retiring in June. The last of the old redoutables,it would seem,are wending their way out of the education field ,and looking for quieter,and saner pastures. This will effectively mean that all but one of the teachers who worked alongside me for 27 years will have left. I cannot say that I am surprised. If I had not the stomach to work for an educational numbnut, then I know it would only be a matter of time before my colleagues felt the same. No one is happy at Dingley Dell Academy now. No more to be said. Jenny was asking if I wanted to go to their retirement dinner,and (sting in the tail ?) would I like to do the speeches. I had built something of a reputation for fun filled after dinner meanderings while I worked there. I don't mind,really.I had not particularly wanted to do any more,but these were special colleagues and this time it rather gives me an important piece of closure. I have very much moved on in the last two months,but I dare say "once more with feeling" won't be impossible.
Well I never, I have just seen Mimsey Dagwort go through "the hole ". Her husband made that hole on Saturday,with his pyrotechnic exploits, she went berserk at him about it, berated him to a pulp about it,and now she is using it as a quick route thoroughfare to their back door. He spent an hour laying planks across the gap to stop other people using it as a bypass, and now Mimsey is dislodging everything,and squeezing her more than ample charms between the slats. A little hypocritical ,Mimsey, and I am sure you are hoping that Jeraboa won't hear of it from one of your concerned and observant neighbours. I wonder whom she will blame when he finds out the wooden filler has been moved . Oggie the Hood,I daresay, he seems fair game at the moment. He doesn't seem to be getting out much this week .Nobby clamping down,I think, before they lock Oggie up and throw away the key.
Pendragon headed off to the Metropolis this morning with a rather dubious plant in a pot. He was surveying the wonders of our back garden last night,when his eyes alighted on a rangey growth in a pot, sitting against the back fence . Further investigation proved it to be a cutting from a sycamore tree,gathering muster,and growing taller by the day. Our little garden patch could not support the growth of a full size sycamore tree,so he has decided to find a home for it with a friend in Metropolis. I am sure the tram driver and his passengers were in for a rare treat this morning when he stepped inside with a large pot underarm.
I sincerely hope he finds a good home for it within the day,and I don't care how much he has to bribe someone to take it. If he comes home with it tonight again,he and his sycamore can bed down together under the stars. I have a vague memory of Pendragon planting such a cutting,once upon a moonbeam,although he denies all responsibility now.
I stopped off at the Supermercantile today,to collect this evening's comestibles,and bumped into Famabusta Balsam as I rummaged through the leeks. She was a parent of a wild child many years ago,and she has never forgotten my efforts on his behalf. She wished me a happy retirement,and stuck a bottle of beaujolais in my hands. "Docken is getting on fine," she said. "He is so much better now". She then proceeded to fill me in on the last thirteen years of Docken's development. He still has some problems,but it is clear that the love of his elven mother has helped him to blossom into a thoroughly sociable and helpful young man. She just wanted to say thank you. Pendragon loves "these fruits of my labours".
A bottle of beaujolais may not be a king's ransom, but does provide some evidence to suggest my days at Dingley Dell Academy were not completely wasted.
Much fine reward for your efforts,my dear friends, and may all your days be awash with the spoils of rampant endeavour. From Amarantha Willow,the Rainbow Faery.