A hatbox of a life

We had a great night at the village hall on Saturday, celebrating The Bard. The evening is run each year by the village primary school PTA, and is always a good do.  Very difficult to get tickets, as the whole village attends.

This year the entertainment was provided by one of the village families – Grandad  did the Immortal Memory, son-in-law  gave the Toast to the Lassies, and daughter  the reply.

Son-in-law reminisced about his days at the school. It struck a cord when he described how the children from the remote farms were transported to school in an Austin Maxi driven by a flamboyant character who was Indian in origin.  In those days it was quite normal to have nine children in the car – I remember the same in the ’50s, although in those days the Austin was distinctly more basic (although it probably had the same technical prowess).

The six boys were fascinated by the stories the driver told, of his travels around the world and his exciting family and their exploits. The three girls learned to join in and push the car when it gave up on the steep hills.

He told them about growing up in India, and the beautiful women he knew; of visiting Australia, and the women he had encountered.  A favourite television was Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, and he had a tale of his family eating kangaroo.

He mentioned South America, and the women he met there. Our speaker told us how he had announced that he really loved women, and he really liked Brazillians.

The laughter in the hall was varied. I spotted a friend at the next table, noticing the joke at the very time I started to giggle.  She was immediately nudged by her daughter and told to behave.

At the end of the evening, my friend and I were swapping mirth, when he came over. That was a really good speech we said, but some of the audience didn’t really get the joke. What joke? he said. About the Brazillian. What joke about the Brazillians? Dear Lad, we said patiently, in the context of beautiful women,  what is a Brazillian?  Umm…. someone from Brazil? said our lovely speaker.

Oh, I do love living in the Highlands!