Friends at Kingscote/Trennels

[carmine-rose.livejournal.com]

So... um... I didn't realise my post yesterday was going to engender quite that much debate! Maybe this will get a discussion going with a less "poles-apart" feeling.

Who would you prefer as a best friend, Tim or Miranda? And why? And why would Tim be attracted to Lawrie, since they seem quite dissimilar? And dislike (if Nicola's feelings are correct) Nicola?

Was Peter reasonable to feel jealous of Nicola's growing friendship with Patrick? Or Nicola to feel resentful of Ginty's relationship with him? (If she did feel resentful... Would you say she was actually jealous, and if so, are her feelings for Patrick romantic or just friendly?)

Which of the Marlows would you rather have as a best friend? And why?

Discuss!

Comments

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

Definitely Miranda, though I suspect I'd end up going the way of Sandra Grigson within a term. I have an awful tendency to make Tim-like pointed remarks myself (though I'm much better at not doing it now than I was when I was fourteen) and I suspect if we became friends it'd just turn into a long-running duel and she'd win.

I don't think Tim dislikes Nicola - though I may be wrong about this - so much as that she doesn't think Nicola gives Lawrie her due, which of course is an absolutely outrageous inversion of the truth from Nicola's point of view, and also that she has a slightly Cromwell-like tendency to want her friends to stay in the very well defined place she lays out for them.

Though, I've been trying to think of things Nicola does that get on the wrong side of Tim's wanting her friends to always be there waiting for her when she deigns to pay attention to them (paraphrase - copy of Autumn Term isn't to hand) and so far have come up with Guides and sports, both of which Lawrie does too, so maybe that theory doesn't hold up.

Perhaps it's that Lawrie's willing to be part of a unit called Tim-and-Lawrie, being used to Nicola-and-Lawrie, whereas Nicola wants it to be Nicola-and-Tim if at all, thank you very much.

I definitely think that Tim believes in 'my friend the genius' implicitly, and sees things - not so much 'me and Lawrie against the world', that's too antagonistic, but she does seem to be utterly unaffected by most of the things that annoy the rest of the world about Lawrie, and I think possibly that's because she feels obscurely proud of them.

[carmine-rose.livejournal.com]

Perhaps it's that Lawrie's willing to be part of a unit called Tim-and-Lawrie, being used to Nicola-and-Lawrie, whereas Nicola wants it to be Nicola-and-Tim if at all, thank you very much.

Hmmm, yes, definitely! I think it's Nicola's independence that might have put Tim off, since she's a bit of a leader too.