Thanks for your comment about lots of different things - that's really interesting, because I feel I have included rather too many.
I really enjoyed looking back at how I've travelled in the past to write this post, and although I'm leaving it as it is here, I've decided that I'm going to put my editing hat on for an alternative version that's only about the buggy and the two railway journeys. 🚃 That version might turn up in the dim and distant future as one of my 'Old gold' posts.
Nonsense 😡 One of the most charming aspects of your writing is how you cover so many disparate but related things. You may be certain, madam, that if a truncated version of this post turns up in the future under the guise of a reprint I shall be writing to The Times and raising the matter in the House
The sensation of traveling backwards is disconcerting at times but I've done this on both planes and trains and I don't mind it. Lovely story as always, Rebecca.
Actually the best flight I ever took was the one I spent fast asleep and horizontal in a crew bunk. I've thought ever since that that is a much more preferable way to travel than in an actual seat! Mind you, I was properly seated for take-off and landing, so any ideas I might have about approaching Dragons' Den or Shark Tank about my new airline for which I've ditched seats in favour of bunks are probably not going to get off the ground....!
I love that travelling backwards makes you happy and whether the avoidance of it was something that we just picked up as an adult. My inner child wanted to play Ispy in the car this week so we did.
Love this! I recall riding backwards on the U-Bahn when we lived in Germany and always feeling like I had the better view, the altered view, the preferred way of viewing life. Thank you'll Rebecca for reminding my inner child, what she loved and to return to that POV now!
I think you have time to appreciate the view as it spreads behind.
I do love the bears - I wonder what they thought of their journey because bears are tremendous at being 'in the moment'. As you no doubt know.
And re the wind in a field - we always call it shivery grass, no matter if the paddock is barley, wheat, oats, or plain old pasture. It's a spectacular sight isn't it? As if the grass is performing its own ballet.
Jul 22, 2023·edited Jul 22, 2023Liked by Rebecca Holden
What are the chances that you, a child in England, and me, a boy in Connecticut USA, would both be presented with a copy of a Child’s Garden of Verses? Well I guess they’re pretty darn good, because I cherished that book as you did. Thanks mom and dad! My father was a memorizer of poems, and he had them at the ready when circumstances called for them. Once when I was whining about something or other during a long car drive, he dropped a load of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on me:
Such a delightful read as always Rebecca! So many bits to enjoy in this piece! Love Robert Louis Stevenson and I have always loved the way the wind sweeps over tall grasses. And can we just say how endearing that sweet drawing is from your childhood. So well done! Interesting perspective of facing backwards--I think I might be in the facing forward camp, but should totally try out facing backwards. New perspective, new experience! ;)
Your reference to trains and seeing your bear illustration, brought back a memory of a beautiful hard covered book that I always read to my students just before the xmas holidays. I bet you know it "The Polar Express" by Chris Van Allsburg. Gorgeous book with a magical story! Thanks for sharing Rebecca--I'm playing a bit of catch up on Substack. Life seems to get in the way sometimes. xx
I couldn't believe it when I actually found the picture - I'm so glad that I'd kept it. It represents such a special occasion. I'd forgotten what the paper was like - very very smooth with almost no tooth to it, so very difficult to get the coloured pencils onto it! To my embarrassment, that picture wasn't from my childhood, but from my mid-twenties, soon after I started to get interested in making art. 😊
I haven't actually read 'The Polar Express', although I have absolutely heard of it! I shall have to check it out - I'm so grateful for the recommendation.
I know what you mean about playing catch-up on Substack - I only have to blink and I seem to have missed out on so much! 🤣
Well I thing it's still a sweet drawing no matter what age it was drawn. So good to know I'm not alone in keeping up with things here. lol I think you would really love The Polar Express Rebecca--the illustrations are soooo beautiful and the story captivating. Happy Weekend! xx
Thank you, Julie - I'm really glad you enjoyed it!
I'm a little amused that I am due to be taking a railway journey with my parents very soon... I wonder if they've read this post? Whether they have or not, I have a feeling I'll be travelling backwards! 🤣
Despite an oath to the contrary, you pulled me back in again with your "Button and Bingo on the Bluebell Railway, by Rebecca. Coloured pencil on handmade silk paper." Wonderful!
AND with the theme, "Travelling backwards."
I don't know if you're familiar with the American TV series about coming of age called "The Wonder Years?" Well, the years from 1966 to 1970 were my Wonder Years, when I hung out with the Bennett family up the block (Jim, Ray, Barb, Sissy and Bill and Marian, the parents; respective nicknames, "Ben," "Sponge," "Barbie," "Sissy," "Hank" and "Mokie...'cause she smoked). My gawd did we have fun!
Hank, the dad, worked for a company called "Bearings Incorporated," and he had use of a company van that he would use to transport us to the horse racetrack and to Cleveland Indians' baseball games. In the far back of the van we would place one of those cheap, webbed, chaise lounges from their backyard and "FACE IT BACKWARDS" looking out the two windows on the back doors. I would ALWAYS scramble to get the chaise going backwards...OMG I felt like a king...of course turning corners might cause me to tip out ass over teacups, but so what?!
Travelling backwards is easier on the eyes because sites and objects don't flash by, they remain in the line of vision to the horizon. There, you made me break and smash my oath...Happy now??
A lovely story as always Rebecca! I can remember whenever I used to get a train with my nanna, she would always have to go forward because the feeling of going backward made her queasy. It's funny what you remember isn't it 💜
Perhaps it's because I got car sick riding forwards, I prefer the backwards facing world instead. I could relate to everything you wrote. Beautiful pictures you paint with words; equally beautiful art. Thank you!
And gosh, that's so interesting about getting car sick going forwards but not backwards - it hadn't occurred to me that travelling backwards would be a better option in that case rather than a worse one!
I love your drawing of the bluebell train journey, by Jove, you are talented even back then. I remember my ill-advices attempt of trying to cycle backwards... don’t try. Not at our age anyway (assuming we are roughly in the same ballpark age wise)
Very nice I like travelling backwards too. A nice varied post, ie lots of different things in it.
I couldn't help thinking of a verse from Respect Yourself:
If you're walking round thinking that the world owe you something cos you're here
You're going out the world backwards like you did when you first came here.
A lyric which suggests that going around backwards is not an altogether good thing.
Thanks, Terry!
Thanks for your comment about lots of different things - that's really interesting, because I feel I have included rather too many.
I really enjoyed looking back at how I've travelled in the past to write this post, and although I'm leaving it as it is here, I've decided that I'm going to put my editing hat on for an alternative version that's only about the buggy and the two railway journeys. 🚃 That version might turn up in the dim and distant future as one of my 'Old gold' posts.
Nonsense 😡 One of the most charming aspects of your writing is how you cover so many disparate but related things. You may be certain, madam, that if a truncated version of this post turns up in the future under the guise of a reprint I shall be writing to The Times and raising the matter in the House
Oh, Terry! You've cracked me up!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
And thank you! 😁
We aim to please 😂
The sensation of traveling backwards is disconcerting at times but I've done this on both planes and trains and I don't mind it. Lovely story as always, Rebecca.
Thanks so much, Mark!
I've wondered what it would be like to travel backwards on an aeroplane - take-off must feel jolly strange!
Kinda does, yeah, because your head and upper body seem to tip further forward.
Wow! A real rush of blood to the head scenario!
Actually the best flight I ever took was the one I spent fast asleep and horizontal in a crew bunk. I've thought ever since that that is a much more preferable way to travel than in an actual seat! Mind you, I was properly seated for take-off and landing, so any ideas I might have about approaching Dragons' Den or Shark Tank about my new airline for which I've ditched seats in favour of bunks are probably not going to get off the ground....!
One I was upgraded to the top deck of a 747 and got to experience being horizontal in flight - it was magical.
Brilliant!
I love this piece, Rebecca~ and the videos are a delight! Riding backwards! I love it, too.
Abby
That's so kind, Abby - thank you! Hurrah for backwards! 😊
I love that travelling backwards makes you happy and whether the avoidance of it was something that we just picked up as an adult. My inner child wanted to play Ispy in the car this week so we did.
Oh, that's such a lovely way of looking at it, Louise - and I'm so glad that you played I Spy this week! 🙌
Love this! I recall riding backwards on the U-Bahn when we lived in Germany and always feeling like I had the better view, the altered view, the preferred way of viewing life. Thank you'll Rebecca for reminding my inner child, what she loved and to return to that POV now!
Yay, Mary! Yes, the better view, the 'preferred way of viewing life'! 😊
Such a wonderful view from the back! I like to travel backwards too! I’m smiling!
Yay, Rebecca! We're kindred spirits (with a GREAT name!!!!)!!! 😊🤣
It is a great name isn’t it! It certainly seems we are! 😊💖
😊
I like your description of the wind on the field of barley as the "Cereal current." Also the art work from your youth. Very nice Rebecca.
So kind, Jim - thank you! 😊
Love travelling backwards.
I think you have time to appreciate the view as it spreads behind.
I do love the bears - I wonder what they thought of their journey because bears are tremendous at being 'in the moment'. As you no doubt know.
And re the wind in a field - we always call it shivery grass, no matter if the paddock is barley, wheat, oats, or plain old pasture. It's a spectacular sight isn't it? As if the grass is performing its own ballet.
That's such a good point, Prue, about appreciating the view behind - I hadn't thought of it that way. 'Shivery grass' - I love that expression!
Bears have often joined me on my various adventures - and those two certainly look as if they were enjoying their trip on the Bluebell! 😊
What are the chances that you, a child in England, and me, a boy in Connecticut USA, would both be presented with a copy of a Child’s Garden of Verses? Well I guess they’re pretty darn good, because I cherished that book as you did. Thanks mom and dad! My father was a memorizer of poems, and he had them at the ready when circumstances called for them. Once when I was whining about something or other during a long car drive, he dropped a load of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on me:
“ Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul. “
That shut me up!
Blimey, that would've shut ME up, too (and trust me, it takes a LOT to do that.....!!!!)! 😆
Such a lovely coincidence about A Child's Garden of Verses - a magical book!
Such a delightful read as always Rebecca! So many bits to enjoy in this piece! Love Robert Louis Stevenson and I have always loved the way the wind sweeps over tall grasses. And can we just say how endearing that sweet drawing is from your childhood. So well done! Interesting perspective of facing backwards--I think I might be in the facing forward camp, but should totally try out facing backwards. New perspective, new experience! ;)
Your reference to trains and seeing your bear illustration, brought back a memory of a beautiful hard covered book that I always read to my students just before the xmas holidays. I bet you know it "The Polar Express" by Chris Van Allsburg. Gorgeous book with a magical story! Thanks for sharing Rebecca--I'm playing a bit of catch up on Substack. Life seems to get in the way sometimes. xx
You're so kind - very many thanks, Debbie!
I couldn't believe it when I actually found the picture - I'm so glad that I'd kept it. It represents such a special occasion. I'd forgotten what the paper was like - very very smooth with almost no tooth to it, so very difficult to get the coloured pencils onto it! To my embarrassment, that picture wasn't from my childhood, but from my mid-twenties, soon after I started to get interested in making art. 😊
I haven't actually read 'The Polar Express', although I have absolutely heard of it! I shall have to check it out - I'm so grateful for the recommendation.
I know what you mean about playing catch-up on Substack - I only have to blink and I seem to have missed out on so much! 🤣
Well I thing it's still a sweet drawing no matter what age it was drawn. So good to know I'm not alone in keeping up with things here. lol I think you would really love The Polar Express Rebecca--the illustrations are soooo beautiful and the story captivating. Happy Weekend! xx
😘 Thanks, Debbie! And Happy Weekend to you, too! ✨
What a great read Rebecca. I think there is something fun about riding backwards! Your story brought up some fun childhood memories. :)
Thank you, Julie - I'm really glad you enjoyed it!
I'm a little amused that I am due to be taking a railway journey with my parents very soon... I wonder if they've read this post? Whether they have or not, I have a feeling I'll be travelling backwards! 🤣
HA! too funny. Have fun!
Despite an oath to the contrary, you pulled me back in again with your "Button and Bingo on the Bluebell Railway, by Rebecca. Coloured pencil on handmade silk paper." Wonderful!
AND with the theme, "Travelling backwards."
I don't know if you're familiar with the American TV series about coming of age called "The Wonder Years?" Well, the years from 1966 to 1970 were my Wonder Years, when I hung out with the Bennett family up the block (Jim, Ray, Barb, Sissy and Bill and Marian, the parents; respective nicknames, "Ben," "Sponge," "Barbie," "Sissy," "Hank" and "Mokie...'cause she smoked). My gawd did we have fun!
Hank, the dad, worked for a company called "Bearings Incorporated," and he had use of a company van that he would use to transport us to the horse racetrack and to Cleveland Indians' baseball games. In the far back of the van we would place one of those cheap, webbed, chaise lounges from their backyard and "FACE IT BACKWARDS" looking out the two windows on the back doors. I would ALWAYS scramble to get the chaise going backwards...OMG I felt like a king...of course turning corners might cause me to tip out ass over teacups, but so what?!
Travelling backwards is easier on the eyes because sites and objects don't flash by, they remain in the line of vision to the horizon. There, you made me break and smash my oath...Happy now??
A lovely story as always Rebecca! I can remember whenever I used to get a train with my nanna, she would always have to go forward because the feeling of going backward made her queasy. It's funny what you remember isn't it 💜
Perhaps it's because I got car sick riding forwards, I prefer the backwards facing world instead. I could relate to everything you wrote. Beautiful pictures you paint with words; equally beautiful art. Thank you!
Thank you so much! 😊
And gosh, that's so interesting about getting car sick going forwards but not backwards - it hadn't occurred to me that travelling backwards would be a better option in that case rather than a worse one!
I love your drawing of the bluebell train journey, by Jove, you are talented even back then. I remember my ill-advices attempt of trying to cycle backwards... don’t try. Not at our age anyway (assuming we are roughly in the same ballpark age wise)
Thank you so much, Melanie! 😊 CYCLING backwards? I am SO impressed...!!!! 🙌
(Yes, I think we're a similar age - (very) late forties in my case. Same?)
Wonderful read! Your essay topics are always so unique -- you inspire me.
I appreciate any opportunity to see familiar sights from a new perspective, and backwards is certainly a new perspective!
Oh Jen, thank you for such a lovely comment - you've made my day!