Beast From The Past (25th September 1981)

Once there was a curator of a museum who one day had a delivery of a new animal. It was a frozen mammoth which had been sent from a foreign country so that lots of people could see this beast from the past.
The curator was very pleased to have it and he put the mammoth away on show in a glass case.

One night, when everybody was asleep, something went wrong with the heating system. It went up and up!! The frozen mammoth dripped and dripped until there was a great big puddle right round him. In the morning, the curator went to the museum as usual before anybody else, to find that the mammoth was alive. It was the most amazing sight.

After a few months, the curator decided to give up being a curator because the mammoth was enough to look after, especially the job of finding food for it.

The mammoth became a great friend of the man, and they both travelled to the coldest countries that they could find and they lived there for nearly all their lives.

The Bubble, 4th October 1981

The bubble began to rise, slowly at first, but then a lttle faster. She didn't see anything very interesting except patches of green. Suddenly, some cliffs appeared. Below them, she could see clouds of dust. It began to get very warm in the bubble and as she looked down she could see a herd of buffalo running, and she could also hear the loud noise they made. She knew that she must be floating above Africa. There were lots of animals she recognised. She had not been to Africa before. The bubble was getting very hot and she wished she was back home where it was cooler. After she had thought about being at home, a strange thing happened, she found herself on top of an aeroplane which was flying to England. The plane landed at the airport near her home and she was to float home. She landed with a "PoP" inside her bedroom. She was just in time for tea.

When I grow Up I would Like To Be... (18th June 1982)

...an actress who can sing and dance well. Mummy thinks I have a good ear for music and so do I. I hope I will be able to act because I enjoy it and I am confident that I will succeed even though it is an extremely hard life. I also can write songs. I have written quite a few of them. Acting is my great ambition.

You have to train in an acting school in London possibly, but you have to pass an examination first. Mummy has a friend who went to R.A.D.A ( The Royal Academy Of Dramatic Art). He is not famous yet but he has been on television. When I watch children acting on the television I sometimes feel that I could do it just as well.

If for some reason being an actress is not possible, I might be an author.

I find it very difficult to imagine what I will become when I grow up as I enjoy being myself as I am now.

Touch

All senses are really important but I have chosen touch.

At night when I am in bed I like the feel of Mummy's dressing gown because it reminds me of her and I know that she is not far away. I think that when I hold some sand I like the feel of the cool sand running through my fingers.

Things you need

Plastic bag
Object

What You Do

Place the object in bag and ask partner to put their hand in bag and feel it. And ask them to guess what is in the bag.

What Happens

They should be able to guess what is in the bag if they have sensitive hands.


Why It Happens

It happens because you are using your sense of touch.

I also think the sense of touch is important because if you touch something nasty you get pain and leading on from that if we did not have pain it would damage us because we could not feel pain and we would not know and so we could not do anything about it.

Most people like to feel soft and woolly objects. I am one of those people. I like it because it feels very soft and it gives me a warm feeling inside me.

Going off the subject "Touch", I am going on to the sort of sense, "Feeling", like when I have just finished my homework I get the feelings of relief!!

Colour, 12th February 1982

The colour that I have chosen is blue. It is my favourite colour. It reminds me of a cool day and the sea and blue sky. I love the colour of the hyacinths that bloom in Grandma's garden and the colour of the bluebells in the woods. My sister also has some blue earrings which I think are most beautiful. She wears them with matching eyeshadow.

I remember that when I was on a ship cruising, the sea was almost navy blue! The sea in the Carribean is a sparkling greeny blue, and the Indian Ocean is very blue turning pink when the sun goes down.

I like the blue tits that live in my garden and sometimes I find birds eggs that have fallen out of the nest. They are a beautiful shade of greeny blue.

I like also and finally the blue of my bath when I put in my bubble bath.

The Flying Bicycle, 1981

One sunny afternoon in the month of May, Grandma and I were on the field playing ball when suddenly I saw something which looked like a bicycle flying in mid air!! I blinked two or three times to see if it was a dream but it was not. When I could manage to speak, I called to Grandma, but Grandma had seen it also and she was staring up in astonishment.

"It's a flying bicycle!" cried Grandma.

"I cannot believe it!" I replied.

It flew lower as if it wanted us to climb on. Then suddenly it landed and we could see it was a flying machine made for two!! Grandma shook her head.

"I'm not getting on that" she said, but I was so excited and so I persuaded her to hop on.

"This flying machine might be able to wish us somewhere" I said.

"I feel like going home, not whizzing off to goodness knows where" said Grandma.

Before we could say anymore we were swept off into the clouds and then into the sunshine. It was very warm and we seemed to be racing with the birds who were screeching at the strange sight.

Grandma really did look a fright with her hat turned back to front and her specs all crooked on her nose. I did laugh. My stomach turned over when the machine swooped down over the sea and we could see the waves and a big ship.

Suddenly we were flying high again and it was so hot that we took our jackets off and hung them on the handles. Grandma shouted that we were flying over the desert. We could see lots of camels. Grandma said she was simply dying for a cup of tea, then all of a sudden we found ourselves sitting on the fields.
We could not remember landing but poor Grandma was out of breath. The flying machine had vanished.

We walked home for tea and we decided that what had happened would be kept a secret. grandma thought Mummy would not believe us!!!

11th September, 1981. 'Clare'

I like reading especially when I buy a new book. I like the feel of the stiff new pages and the exciting feeling I get. I also like riding on my bike and whizzing down our long drive. I am not allowed to go onto the road. I really don't like playing with my sisters when they are bossy.

There are not many foods that I dislike, but I really don't like jam tarts! But my favourite food without a doubt is Scouse ( Scouse is a kind of stew cooked by my Grandma who is a very good cook who cooks the most scrumptious dishes).
I go to bed at 8.00 or 8.30 and I get up at 7.30.

i once was bent low
in
a catacomb,
light dimpling
the sides like marmalade.

now i reach through
frills and
nowhere speeches,

to shards
of being
and simple graces.

no,
i beg
the carthorse
to take me home.

it's a sunny day.
the rakes are out,
its beams
tire
my
eyes.

what else do you say
to a woman
on the edge of discovering
the truth we all came for
the lot we all bled for
the price we all pay
when
the doing is done.