thanks, Andrew, and others.
I expected Brylcreem to stir a few, but maybe it was confined in territory.
I’m struck by the key terms you use, Andrew:
non-Catholic and breasts.
Could there be a genetic/cultural link?
Max
On Oct 28, 2015, at 17:23, Andrew Burke <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Ah, memories of dancing. Lovely. I remember the controversy when I took a
> non-Catholic girl to our school dance. She had lovely breasts and showed
> them off to advantage. I was so proud of my sophisticated lady ...
>
> Thanks, Max
>
> Andrew
>
> On 29 October 2015 at 05:04, Patrick McManus <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
>> ah heady days of youth!! they seem to have season tickets and have a
>> litter problem on Everest now -thanks P
>>
>> -----Original Message----- From: Max Richards
>> Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2015 3:19 PM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: 'Coronation Year Skills '
>>
>>
>> Coronation Year Skills
>>
>> Edmund Hillary and co. were back
>> from ‘conquering Everest’ - all
>> New Zealand glowed with pride,
>>
>> wanting to hear him - and we did.
>> The whole school attended the event -
>> other schools were there in force.
>>
>> He was mild, soft-spoken - one of us,
>> also athletic and determined.
>> He praised the Sherpas, as we
>>
>> would have done. It pleased him
>> that the Brits had run the show,
>> choosing him for his climbing skill,
>>
>> He’d knocked it off in Coronation
>> Year! That topped it off;
>> the same year that began my life
>>
>> in ballroom dancing, practicing
>> the new ‘Queen Elizabeth Waltz’.
>> Cousin Marie, my age, said:
>>
>> ‘Join! it’s cheap, it’s Friday night.
>> I and my friends will ease you in.’
>> John from my class was in
>>
>> already, the walk was short
>> from his place to the back-garden
>> dance-shed of our instructor.
>>
>> We went together. Oh, the pain!
>> dressed in new ‘strides’, stiff shirts,
>> hair Brylcreemed down. John
>>
>> it suited, his black shoes shone.
>> Biking to his place I was in a sweat,
>> worse now in the bright-lit room
>>
>> thronged with girls in skirts and blouses,
>> and smart shining hair - their feet
>> I knew I’d tread on, red-faced. Don’t
>>
>> look down, smile! listen and respond!
>> And learn the foxtrot and the waltz!
>> All much too hard. Marie helped,
>>
>> her friends had been alerted. Others
>> made me freeze, falter and stumble.
>> The gramophone was old, our teacher’s
>>
>> records scratched, except the new one:
>> da-da da-da da-di-da -
>> the Queen Elizabeth Waltz.
>>
>> All winter we practiced. Round
>> and round, skirts swirled, dizzying.
>> She’d have been proud, Her Majesty.
>>
>> Others may have got to some ball
>> and done it to live music - I’d
>> be on my bike skulking elsewhere.
>>
>> Once only there was a school dance.
>> Thank you, dear old cousin, for kind
>> attendance with your friends.
>>
>> Next year - was it? - waltzing was eclipsed -
>> Hillary’s country! - swept out everywhere.
>> Rock and roll - American - swung in there.
>>
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