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The MM Links Game - May Week 4
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May I bid you a very Summery welcome to the fourth and penultimate week in the reign of “Sir Robin of Linksley” (aka Aquagility).
Working forever in inverse chronological order, I regress to my childhood! Apart from the water and its boats, my family had virtually no tradition of activity. We didn’t walk much, or run, or play games. There was no interest in music (Mother had a record of “The Londonderry Air”, as I remember, but until well into middle age I thought it was called “The London Derrière”!). Great literature was reserved for school, so I never developed a taste for Shakespeare or Dickens. Sad.
I don’t remember at what age I acquired my first boat, but my mother used to boast that her children first learned to swim, then to row and later to walk. I was eight when I first went to school, and by then I was expected to be able to row myself across the wide and unforgiving estuary of our river, with its vicious tides and the constant traffic of dinghies, yachts, ferries, tripper boats and quite large coasters!
Working forever in inverse chronological order, I regress to my childhood! Apart from the water and its boats, my family had virtually no tradition of activity. We didn’t walk much, or run, or play games. There was no interest in music (Mother had a record of “The Londonderry Air”, as I remember, but until well into middle age I thought it was called “The London Derrière”!). Great literature was reserved for school, so I never developed a taste for Shakespeare or Dickens. Sad.
I don’t remember at what age I acquired my first boat, but my mother used to boast that her children first learned to swim, then to row and later to walk. I was eight when I first went to school, and by then I was expected to be able to row myself across the wide and unforgiving estuary of our river, with its vicious tides and the constant traffic of dinghies, yachts, ferries, tripper boats and quite large coasters!
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As the youngest of five, I quickly learned to do as I was told and generally keep out of trouble. Most of the rules related to water. It was considered essential that each child should have a boat and (as lifejackets were unknown in those days) discipline was necessarily fairly draconian. If one failed to pull one’s dinghy up the beach to well above the reach of the next tide, one would be in deep trouble.
And, of course, as a family we raced: Boats, that is. I was just one year old, when my mother abandoned me to the tender care of my grandmother, while she and my father went over to America to sail in an international regatta. Obviously, she had to get her priorities right! Back at home, each child between the ages of eight and eighteen (including my sister) had to provide a race crew for my father; crewmembers being selected by weight and strength according to weather conditions -- sometimes only minutes before the start of the race.
So it could be argued that I suffered a deprived childhood, but in fact we rather enjoyed it. I recall being devastated at being passed over in favour of an older brother (four years heavier) for an important race. It was blowing a gale that day, but my ten-year-old disappointment was only slightly mollified by the gift of a set of the new King Edward VIII stamps.
And, of course, as a family we raced: Boats, that is. I was just one year old, when my mother abandoned me to the tender care of my grandmother, while she and my father went over to America to sail in an international regatta. Obviously, she had to get her priorities right! Back at home, each child between the ages of eight and eighteen (including my sister) had to provide a race crew for my father; crewmembers being selected by weight and strength according to weather conditions -- sometimes only minutes before the start of the race.
So it could be argued that I suffered a deprived childhood, but in fact we rather enjoyed it. I recall being devastated at being passed over in favour of an older brother (four years heavier) for an important race. It was blowing a gale that day, but my ten-year-old disappointment was only slightly mollified by the gift of a set of the new King Edward VIII stamps.
I was thirteen, when Hitler took away what was left of my childhood. The beach outside our home was cordoned off with tank traps and barbed wire. School was evacuated, and my holidays were taken up with the Home Guard (Dad’s Army, that is. With me as “Private Pike”).
And, as for so many of my generation, life was never to be quite the same again.
As always, for the every-day running of MM, I will follow the same rule as introduced by crofter on word length. Each of my chosen link words contains at least four letters and at most eight. Stray outside this range and you will be wasting one of your attempts! Each of my selected words may go in front of or after my challenge word. I believe that I may have exhausted crofter since (when the competition officially closes at 7.00pm on Sunday evening) then gen2 will declare my selected words, and then apply the same rules for awarding points that have been applied during all MM Link Games in the past. My fourth set of four words to have their links predicted will appear below at 9.00am.
And, as for so many of my generation, life was never to be quite the same again.
As always, for the every-day running of MM, I will follow the same rule as introduced by crofter on word length. Each of my chosen link words contains at least four letters and at most eight. Stray outside this range and you will be wasting one of your attempts! Each of my selected words may go in front of or after my challenge word. I believe that I may have exhausted crofter since (when the competition officially closes at 7.00pm on Sunday evening) then gen2 will declare my selected words, and then apply the same rules for awarding points that have been applied during all MM Link Games in the past. My fourth set of four words to have their links predicted will appear below at 9.00am.
