Bulgaria with Noodles

Dear William,  Yes, it was indeed splendid to receive another email from you. As a busy pastor and family man, I am a bit surprised that you can spare the time to scribble a few lines to an old fogey like me.  Where did Saddam Hussein keep his CDs? In Iraq. Now I am going to ask you a question that you have probably been asked before. What was it like being shot at it Iraq, having someone (or maybe by several people) actually firing a gun at you and trying to kill you? Perhaps it was not too bad. I mean, the whole purpose of the training in the Army is to make you do things automatically, so that you do not waste your time doing something silly, such as wondering what to do when someone is trying to kill you. Does it take a lot of courage to be under fire? (What colour is courage? Brown. An old Falklands veteran told me that.)   I think that adopting a child who has disabilities takes a lot more courage than being in the Army, even when you are being shot at. You do not r...

Dear William,  Yes, I have indeed deleted your email address from my blog. No problem. We do not want the IRS or all of your creditors finding your email address!  No, I am not going to give you an in-depth story of my many misadventures since leaving Northaw in 1998. I have written all about it in my blog  www.bulgariawithnoodles.blogspot.com  and so I do not want to repeat myself. (I mean, who ever heard of a teacher repeating himself?) I should, nevertheless, point out that you cannot be  burned  by boiling water. You are scalded.     Now I have had some wonderful American colleagues at one or two international schools over the years, so I am not one of those appallingly stuffed-shirted Brits who always moan about our cousins on the other side of the pond, even though New Yorkers do some dreadful things to the English language. As Professor Higgins says in  My Fair Lady , “There even are places where English completely disappears. / In Ame...

William Dobbie and his rather pretty American wife Dear Simon, It is William! It's amazing to hear from you - and to see you looking so happy in those photos.  I must say that you were an inspirational teacher, whose impact is with me still. I wish I had been less annoying and more grateful and respectful at the time, but I'm glad I get to thank you now at least. You were unbelievably patient with me Simon. If I had been you, I definitely would have strangled me. I have strong memories of you reading to us often, which I adored - especially Roald Dahl. I can still picture your handwriting. I remember you getting emotional occasionally as well, which impacts a child - once about suffragettes fighting for the vote. I was inspired by your re-telling to us of a piece of writing by a boy you had previously taught at a different school. This boy's writing described being very badly burned by boiling water, accidentally poured on him by his mother. (Possibly the same boy who, yo...

Northaw, aka Norman Court Dear William, I am assuming that this is William that I am writing to and not your equally cheeky sister, Alice! How splendid to hear from you, after so many years! I seem to remember that you went to Eton. What did you do after that? Let's hope that you had the good sense to go to Oxford, rather than that inferior place out in the Fens. Did you join the Army like your dad? Or are you doing something musical? Or what? You had such a talent for annoying people when you were twelve years old, so maybe now you have a career in Politics. I hardly ever hear from old Northaw people (or Norman Court, as we ought to call it now). I did get a message from Adam Weymouth, after his book won The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year award. I even bought a copy of his book and it is rather well written. As for Unni, he is now in Australia, after he married an Australian young lady. As for Pia, she was making a good career as an actress on the London stage.  I ha...