PASS THE PECK'S PASTE, BY GEORGE

HOW long has it been since you've read a Famous Five story? For me, I am guessing it's been a good 30 years. Lordy have things ch...

HOW long has it been since you've read a Famous Five story? For me, I am guessing it's been a good 30 years. Lordy have things changed in that time. Granted, ol' Enid did write them in the 1950s but, by golly, my jaw hit the floor a number of times.

For starters, surely social services needed to be called in. Who lets their children go off riding into the never never for days on end, without even so much as checking where they're going and what they plan to do for accommodation and food?

And is it just me, or did Enid have a commission from the Department of Health to keep spruiking the virtues of exercise and hearty meals - in moderation and only when required as fuel? Either way, I was salivating at the simple, wholesome picnic spreads these young teens knocked up - mine have managed to rise to topping a pre-bought pizza crust, so I was suitably impressed.

Speaking of young teens, how old ARE the Famous Five. I picked Julian for 14 or 15? Anne at, what, 11 or 12? Anne seemed a whizz with fresh bread rolls, a bit of Pecks Paste and crisp lettuce - so dab a hand I tried it myself. Let me tell you, the five were onto something with that tasty morsel.
If you haven't read a Famous Five for a while and you've got one banging about at the back of a bookshelf, drag it out for a re-read. When you're done, get back to me and tell me if you weren't suddenly hankering to pack an overnight bag, slap it on your kid's back, hand over a couple of bucks and tell 'em to go off adventuring - possibly with a mobile phone programmed with Constable Plod's number?

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