I’m still at it, and running out of steam! I’m glad the weekend is coming, because then I’ll get that big block of time both before and after writing.
Jack and Oliver are currently getting drunk at the tavern in Lyme Regis. I don’t know the name of the tavern, but one I’m inventing here is about one street up from the cobb, and a block (such as they were) or two over from St. Michael’s church. And when I say drunk, I mean really well and truly hammered. But there will not be singing, because Oliver is about to make a huge faux pas. Which is what he does best, after all.
Here’s the current word count:
Day One – 1,998
Day Two – 2,122
Day Three – 1,820
Day Four – 1,820
Day Five – 1,930
Day Six – 1,601
Day Seven – 1,729
Day Eight – 2,363
Day Nine – 2,175
Day Ten – 1,782
Day Eleven – 2,124
Day Twelve – 2,008
Day Thirteen – 1,776
Day Fourteen – 1,231
Day Fifteen – 2,168
Day Sixteen – 2,559
Day Seventeen – 1,743
Day Eighteen – 2,101
Day Nineteen – 1795
Day Twenty – 1978
While researching on the interwebs for shipwrecks off the coast of Lyme Regis in the early 1800’s, I came across a series of 1940’s and 1950’s educational films that had been posted on youtube. The particular nature of these educational films involves an earnest narrator and healthy and well-groomed folks from that bygone era acting out concerns such as dating, good hygiene, and healthy eating habits. My Dad once told me that in those days people really believed what the films were teaching them; they paid attention in movie theaters when they were shown, and kids actually followed their guidance. What I wonder when I see these films was whether they created the environment of the ’40s’ and 50’s or whether they reflected either the reality of it or the dream.
Either way, the kid in the film that I’m about to share with you (Bill) has food issues. He eats too fast, or he doesn’t eat, and then he spends money on candy and soda, like most kids. But since this is an educational film, Bill gets a tummy ache and has to go to bed early. After suffering through this, he learns his lesson and get to watch him eat properly. So you get the plot, right?
What slays me is a couple of things. First, at school, the amount of protein that the narrator seems to thing is good for kids. Now, I agree, personally, but in this day and age of no-fat, low-fat, gluten free, etc., etc., etc., simply watching someone eat regular food makes it seem like the past is a magical fairy land where no foods (except for soda and candy) is bad for you. And watch the kids at the lunchroom, how they have real bowls for their soup and real glasses for their milk, and how they put the empty glass in the bowl – was this the way they did it in lunchrooms back then?
And then watch, when Bill learns his lesson, just how much he has to eat for breakfast – and I’m not saying his mother is wrong, mind you, but it’s a lot of food. First there’s cereal with fruit in it, and then a plate of bacon, eggs, and toast, with a glass of juice and a glass of milk. Now, if you look at pictures of people in the 40’s and 50’s, so many of them are slender. Obesity was around, I’m sure, but I always get the feeling that those guys ate more whole foods, less corn syrup. This is before the invention of fake foods, mind you; there was a turning point in the US when fake foods became fashionable. TV dinners; fast food places; all of that added up to the obesity problem we have.
So anyway, enough of my rambling about my odd obsession with how people ate before there was a McDonalds, and pay close attention to the sheer volume of food that goes into Bill’s mouth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1JQGIcpxMA