Tie my kangaroo down by judithg

Tie my kangaroo down

Well having had the most energetic walk for a month yesterday, Monty was back in pain this morning. We didn't do any 'hooping' but he ran around a bit. Clearly it's going to have to be leads only - and no walk at all today. Even a codeine tablet hasn't really perked him up.
On a happier note there has been an interesting nostalgic theme to the day starting with a Twitter e-mail suggesting that I might be interested in an old film shot at St John's during the war. Given that I haven't filled in any sort of Twitter profile and I have absolutely minimal interaction with it (looking at Adam's hockey tour photos - and I just searched the @name thing - I didn't actually follow anything) it's a bit scary how well it seems to know me. Anyway I was talking to my neighbour about it this afternoon and she produced a letter sent to her a few years ago by a previous occupant of the house. She said that when she moved in it had been requisitioned by the war office as a secret radio station and the back room was full of radio equipment (with telegraph poles in the garden). They weren't supposed to go in the back room but they borrowed the furniture from there - a few chairs, a table and a couple of camp beds because they had lost everything in the London bombings. One day after the war a couple of men arrived with a van and removed the furniture while they were sitting eating their breakfast at the table!
Oh the photo - a few years ago Rachel was asked by her grandparents what she would like for Christmas and she said, 'a kangaroo puppet'. So being completely mad they scoured the Midlands for such an item and eventually found a company that offered to make one specially. In fact they had never made a kangaroo before and they made two - this one and one which just used the natural grain of the wood. He has a great expression and the movement is brilliant - I often wonder if the other features in a show somewhere.
Three GT:
1. Local history
2. A great excuse to contact our own letter writer and previous house-occupant with some interesting info.
3. Call the Midwife (groans from the menfolk but they have watched sport all afternoon...)
re 3. Himself has proioriyuty tonight with the snooker.
but then I've been out a lot so needs some viewing
January 19th, 2014  
Beautiful craftsmanship .... Yay for no. 3!
January 19th, 2014  
I love your title! What a lovely toy and what lovely grandparents to go to all that trouble for Rachel. He looks like he's waving at us.
January 19th, 2014  
Funny looking kangaroo- actually looks like Kanga in Winnie the Pooh!
January 19th, 2014  
cool looking puppet - and how exciting about the local history
January 19th, 2014  
This is such a fun photo with wonderful dof. Sorry to hear about Monty's pain :0(
January 19th, 2014  
Bugger missed it, now watching mad people doing death defying stunts illegally climbing. Feeling dizzy ...... Lovely kangaroo puppet, beautifully made and custom made for Rachel. Lovely. Poor Monty, hope he is not back to square one. Saski sends her love xxf
January 19th, 2014  
I agree with #3 entirely...football, snooker....a few moaning in labour mums will finish them off!
Rachels kangaroo is obviously a very rare limited edition of two...Muffin the mule part two!
Fascinating to hear you had a radio station in your road.....no need for them now with the knowing all Twitter around...scary!
January 19th, 2014  
What's that Skippy, Timmy's fallen down a well......etc. Sorry to hear about Monty, hope he's better tomorrow. Julie has to watch the screaming programme on her own although I did pop my head round the door to see 'Princess Margaret' she was missing the fag though :)
January 19th, 2014  
Love the puppet. Poor Monty, hopefully it's just a blip.

That's fascinating about the radio station. There must be so many interesting things that have happened where we all live that we will never know about.
January 19th, 2014  
top kangaroo, top narrative....I once asked for a "pinky and perky puppet for christmas"....when I wrote my letter to santa on xmas eve...i told my mum i didn't want a puppet after all...queue my mum making up stories about 2santa already knows you wanted one so he might just deliver it...lets put it on the list anyway" !!!! :)
January 19th, 2014  
@malc And the gin...
January 20th, 2014  
This is a beautiful shot of a very unique puppet - wow! At 3 I had to think for a moment if you had to call the midwife and why... Didn't know the show, yet...
January 21st, 2014  
I love Call the Midwife.
January 25th, 2014  
Leave a Comment
Sign up for a free account or Sign in to post a comment.