tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14447458.post8201436166353161357..comments2023-10-22T20:57:20.675+08:00Comments on Fragments: Education otherwiseLottiePhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15464376197679468718noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14447458.post-13192645457926854802007-06-10T23:38:00.000+08:002007-06-10T23:38:00.000+08:00The story actually seems to end ambiguously, I dis...The story actually seems to end ambiguously, I discovered when I checked, and no one knows whether or not the poor boy flew, or fell to his death as intended by his wicked interlocutors. <BR/><BR/>In my mind it was always clear that he flew.<BR/><BR/>Switzerland, and my experiences there, probably merits a blog entry of its own. I'll add it to the long list of self-indulgent blog musings I have planned.LottiePhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15464376197679468718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14447458.post-71214010547181342182007-05-15T11:45:00.000+08:002007-05-15T11:45:00.000+08:00Hello again, Lottiep.Was the Roald Dahl story as c...Hello again, Lottiep.<BR/><BR/>Was the Roald Dahl story as clear cut as that? I don't remember <EM>Peter</EM>(?) soaring above his tormentors and flying away - although this would have been an entirely satisfactory ending. It is years and years since I read the thing, true, but I have a feeling that the ending was less certain, less satisfying, even. Room for doubt, in any event.<BR/><BR/>There is an astonishingly high chance that I may be wrong, of course - and it should be noted that I can't even recall the name of the story - but I seem to remember feeling pretty glum at the end of it. I may just have been feeling glum already, however, a distinct possibility, and allowed this mood to affect my take on things.<BR/><BR/>So - with some reservations - <EM>yes,</EM> that was a satisfying, if rather unlikely, denouement. We can agree on this, at any rate.<BR/><BR/>How did I guess about your school trip to Switzerland being an unhappy time for you? Or, indeed, that you even went on a school trip to Switzerland in the first place? Hmm. Good question, Lottiep, very good question. Let's just put it down to female intuition, shall we?<BR/><BR/>I am intrigued, however, as to why this trip to Switzerland was so painful for you. This seems like a terribly sad way to have to remember a school trip.<BR/><BR/>Kind regards etc....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14447458.post-37502709220420210382007-05-12T18:57:00.000+08:002007-05-12T18:57:00.000+08:00PS Mad Ireland - thanks for the link - what an ext...PS Mad Ireland - thanks for the link - what an extraordinary picture of the Susten Pass in Switzerland on the website - it brings back all sorts of memories.<BR/><BR/>How did you guess that it was the school trip to Switzerland that was the time of my worst suffering?LottiePhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15464376197679468718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14447458.post-5954178363561504802007-05-10T23:00:00.001+08:002007-05-10T23:00:00.001+08:00Hello, Mad Ireland, and thank you for your thought...Hello, Mad Ireland, and thank you for your thoughtful comments.<BR/><BR/>I think you may be right about there not being any conscious malice, because a lot of the nastiness arises from a kill-or-be-killed defence mechanism: far better for it to be someone other than me who's flinching from the vitriol. <BR/><BR/>There's a story by Roald Dahl about a mob of kids who egg each other on to force a lonely bullied boy to kill a swan and then, after they've tied him to a railway line in the face of an oncoming train, force him - at the point of someone's big brother's air rifle - to climb a tree, the swan's bloodied wings tied to his arms, and jump.<BR/><BR/>He uses the wings to soar above their heads and away.<BR/><BR/>An unlikely denouement, but a satisfying one.LottiePhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15464376197679468718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14447458.post-71093054033392745502007-05-09T10:56:00.000+08:002007-05-09T10:56:00.000+08:00Hello LottieP, Claire. I tend to agree with Philip...Hello LottieP, Claire. I tend to agree with Philip Roth (in the example you gave) about these school reunion things - however recklessly brutal his assessment may seem.<BR/><BR/>Occasionally, I can convince myself that it would be a good idea, a chance to catch up - and can even become quite excited by the prospect.<BR/><BR/>Usually, though, the very idea simply makes me want to curl up and die. It just seems difficult to imagine what might be gained from such an event. If you haven't been in touch with someone for twenty years, it kind of seems likely that there is no real desire on either side for it to be otherwise, no?<BR/><BR/>Why meddle with sensible fate?<BR/><BR/>As for the psychological warfare, well, I just don't know. I feel certain, however, that it would not be a unique characteristic of your school. Children - and even young adults - are capable of being unthinkingly malicious. There is no real awareness of how their actions may affect others, no real empathy. This comes later, I think.<BR/><BR/>Incidentally, from where I'm standing, you seem to have done rather well not to hang outside that guy's house. The people that did hang around and fawn over him look rather weak and dim from here - no offence. Probably irritated the hell out of him. I just bet that he secretly liked you all the more for your distance and restraint, as well.<BR/><BR/>He's probably still waiting for you to call, in fact. That would be my hunch. Interesting post.<BR/><BR/>Kind regards etc....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14447458.post-44475350301035471542007-04-20T19:18:00.000+08:002007-04-20T19:18:00.000+08:00I can only relate my experience of my class, two y...I can only relate my experience of my class, two years above yours (at the same school, for anyone else reading this). I think each class at that school - or any school? - had its own personality. My classmates were somewhat more placid and amenable than yours, and although there were cliques, it wasn't as hard to be accepted. Things might have been different had one Fergus Anderson still been there.Clairehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11787214538691588685noreply@blogger.com