Village Stories
In the 1950s the parson stood up in the pulpit at Harvest Festival and said sarcastically, “What a lot of people have come to the fruit and flower show." A farmer to the vicar at Harvest Festival: “I’ve got more faith in fourteen loads of muck to the acre than all your prayers!”
First Aid classes by Mr Lake, the headmaster, were held at the turn of the 20th century. On one night, the subject of blood circulation was discussed. “The blood flows from the heart throughout the body”, said the teacher, “when it goes down this leg, where does it go?” “Aha”, said one of the audience, “down one leg and up the other one and back again."
A great fire was roaring in the grate of the Durham Ox. One well-known character, known for a certain habit, swilled back his pint, strode up to the fire, and was about to spit with relish into it. “Look up”, says a villager, “here comes the fire engine."
The custom of ‘throwing the hat in’: should a husband come home the worse for drink, he would open the door a crack, and throw his cap in. He would wait, and if the cap came flying out again, he knew he should clear off for a bit.
Read more about this topic: South Luffenham
Famous quotes containing the words village and/or stories:
“Ezra Pound still lives in a village and his world is a kind of village and people keep explaining things when they live in a village.... I have come not to mind if certain people live in villages and some of my friends still appear to live in villages and a village can be cozy as well as intuitive but must one really keep perpetually explaining and elucidating?”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“There have been many stories told about the bottom, or rather no bottom, of this pond, which certainly had no foundation for themselves. It is remarkable how long men will believe in the bottomlessness of a pond without taking the trouble to sound it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)