Hmmm. Vee, I think you, Annpan, and I were composing and posting at about the same time. Earlier I didn't see your post before mine or Annpan's after. I don't know much about Jehovah's Witnesses but I do find the literature they've left on the front door mat or in the letter slot. I read it because ... well, I'll read just about anything when I'm curious. Their children probably opt out of various U.S. school traditions as well, such as saying the Pledge of Allegiance. Our State-run schools no longer include prayers and hymns in morning assemblies. I don't recall singing regular hymns when I was in school but there was no proscription of singing about 'The Little Drummer Boy' or 'Put Your Hand in the Hand' or 'Wings of a Snow White Dove' or Norman Greenbaum's 'Spirit in the Sky' which are undoubtedly spiritual. I even recall one assembly opening with Eric Burdon and the Animals' rendition of Bury my body/Lord I don't care where ... /'Cause my soul's gonna live with God/ oh, oh, oh yeah. (I think the original was by John Lee Hooker.) It was probably you or Annpan who related that you had sung "Morning Has Broken" in school long before Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam made his recording. That one hadn't crossed the Atlantic, as far as I know, until Mr. Stevens/Islam became well known stateside. Apparently it was something that he remembered singing when he was at school in London. Did you all have a local 'Palais'? I went to the Hammersmith Palais a few times. I think The Kinks/Ray Davies' song 'Come Dancing' about his sister is quite affecting with its nostalgic references: They put a parking lot on a piece of land Where the supermarket used to stand. Before that they put up a bowling alley On the site that used to be the local Palais That's where the big bands used to come and play. My sister went there on a Saturday. Come dancing All her boyfriends used to come and call Why not come dancing It's only natural. n.b. I just read about Ray Davies who grew up in Muswell Hill. He had six older sisters (plus his younger brother Dave, of course). The sister who gave him his first guitar died at age 21, apparently of an undiagnosed heart condition, on an evening when she went out dancing. I knew it was a wistful song, but I had no inkling that it was that sad because Davies sings later in the lyrics about his sister (maybe it was another of his sisters) getting married and living on an estate.

Following suggestions the best I can, but usually have to have books secured by my library from another library - so much waiting. Read "The Mammy" as mentioned, have read one of Erma Bombeck's , also "The Dog Who Wouldn't Be," "Neither Here Nor There," "A Walk in the Woods," "Three Men in a Boat," and "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt" so far. Really appreciate all suggestions as I love to laugh! Thank you.

I attended primary school from 1964 to 1970. We had mixed classes (gender and ability) of about 35. We had school assemblies in the quadrangle where we lined up and marched into place, and then marched back to our classrooms afterwards. Some other memories: there was a programme run by the ABC radio (equivalent of BBC) for school children to learn songs. We all had a book with the music and lyrics and we would learn the songs and sing them while the programme was broadcast in the school room. We also had a choir but that was for Grade 7 (final year) students only. We had a fairly large library which was mostly run by library monitors, of which I was one. We had a test every Friday, alternate weeks were arithmetic, mental arithmetic, spelling and dictation, and the other weeks were usually social studies, from memory. If you got full marks you got an Honor Card, a blue card about 3" by 4", and if you got more than 90% you got a yellow Merit Card, both signed by the teacher and the Head Master. I still have mine :) We had homework from about Grade 3, I think. It was sometimes writing out the spelling words for that week, doing sums, writing a 'composition' as we called essays, or learning answers to set questions. Every term from Grade 4 we had to do a 'project'. There were several topics to choose from and in those days you could write away to various industry bodies and get back, with much excitement, an envelope with information and brochures. I remember doing projects on Wool and Paper as industry topics, and on the US, South Africa and the UK as geography/social studies topics. I still have those books too. Generally I really enjoyed school. I had some lovely teachers and we were very well behaved, with talking not allowed. We also had to stay in our seats unless the teacher asked us to get up and do something. The only thing I think my school fell down on was physical education. We played lots of games at recess and lunchtime, but had no formal games at all, unless there was a student teacher assigned to the class.

I read The Tilt by Australian crime writer Chris Hammer. I have enjoyed his previous books (Scrublands, Silver, Treasure & Dirt) but thought this was the best by quite a bit. Very Australian settings and interesting characters, my only complaint is in the earlier books he gave the characters really odd names (Mandalay Blonde, for instance), which I found drew me out of the story a bit. I also read Breakfast at Tiffany's, which came in a volume with three other stories. BAT was interesting, and I have been told the movie is very different, which must be true if Audrey Hepburn played Holly, I think. The second story had such a very odd ending that I didn't bother with the others. I've now moved on to Essex Dogs by Dan Jones, who has previously written non-fiction, mainly medieval history. I'm only a little way in, and not sure if I'm going to like it or not. I have a copy of Demon Copperhead, and it looks like I should get on to that next.