I don't know exactly when it happened--I think it was more gradual--but there was once a commonwealth and we sold our products to it. My mother said that in her childhood no one was truly poor, but now we have a lot of unemployed adults and ill-fed children because we're not an industrial nation so can't really compete. However we do now have lots of imports and a much more interesting and varied society to live in than my parents did.
NZers can only live in and work in the UK if they have British parents, and even then there are restrictions. The rest of us are third world and not even welcome to visit. When I was there in 2004 for a conference and a 10-day holiday, we were both asked separately when we were leaving, just to check our stories.
Yes, I can live in Israel and almost became a citizen after a year there, but I am a coward. Not that here seems much less violent if you're a woman or a child. :-(
As for AF, I didn't even know she was Jewish till I read that on the Wiki. I'd assumed when I first read the books between 10 and 14, that she was huntin' fishin' shootin' English to the core! I'm afraid I don't know much about why she became a Catholic, and such an old-fashioned one too, but I don't think she had any actual antipathy, did she? I like her portrayal of Miranda, though her interest in the Christmas play/carols in two different books made me wonder if AF was writing a little of herself into her. I suppose Miranda didn't like being excluded (though that was shown as sensitivity to what her father would think) and wanted to be part of it all, but she shows an interest beyond that which may have been what AF herself felt: a desire to fit in, and a fascination with the mystery and the Latin. You probably know more about AF than I do, and of course I don't know what it was like to live in England when she was a child. There's almost no anti-Semitism here, but I doubt that was the case there and then.
I did find that I knew none of the songs they sang--or the Kipling poem--but that may well be due to not being English. Some of the other references pass me by too. :-)
As for Patrick, I assume a lot of his attitude was pride in his family's past and a feeling it was being betrayed. I'm not sure what was involved in Vatican 2 apart from having services in the local language, but I can see a very aloof English boy like him preferring tradition to the new. He's also an introvert and I can see him disliking the friendly masters and preferring his school to just teach academic subjects and leave him alone. OTOH I don't like him much because he acts superior to others, sneers at Nicola's riding, ignores her when he's besotted with Ginty, and seems a lot more proud of his roots than the Marlows are. They're just unselfconsciously themselves.
Off topic, but I hope Nicola remains unmarried, esp to him, and sails around the world getting different jobs in port, then joins the navy when they allow her equal status and opportunity. I know some people here think her boring, but I like her because 1) I'm named after her :-), 2) she's insecure and sometimes depressed (as when Tim doesn't like her, Patrick ignores her, and she doubts that Miranda likes her for more than her blondeness), yet 3) she hides it and goes on, not letting people know, 4) she loves the Navy while I loved the Air Force with equal passion, and 5) she loves to read. I think they're all great characters but I love her, Lawrie, Miranda, and Tim most of all.
And yes, I'd have given anything to be Nicola at school: blonde, blue-eyed, good at sport, popular with most, instead of the geek who came top of the class which was a very negative thing at me school.
no subject
NZers can only live in and work in the UK if they have British parents, and even then there are restrictions. The rest of us are third world and not even welcome to visit. When I was there in 2004 for a conference and a 10-day holiday, we were both asked separately when we were leaving, just to check our stories.
Yes, I can live in Israel and almost became a citizen after a year there, but I am a coward. Not that here seems much less violent if you're a woman or a child. :-(
As for AF, I didn't even know she was Jewish till I read that on the Wiki. I'd assumed when I first read the books between 10 and 14, that she was huntin' fishin' shootin' English to the core! I'm afraid I don't know much about why she became a Catholic, and such an old-fashioned one too, but I don't think she had any actual antipathy, did she? I like her portrayal of Miranda, though her interest in the Christmas play/carols in two different books made me wonder if AF was writing a little of herself into her. I suppose Miranda didn't like being excluded (though that was shown as sensitivity to what her father would think) and wanted to be part of it all, but she shows an interest beyond that which may have been what AF herself felt: a desire to fit in, and a fascination with the mystery and the Latin. You probably know more about AF than I do, and of course I don't know what it was like to live in England when she was a child. There's almost no anti-Semitism here, but I doubt that was the case there and then.
I did find that I knew none of the songs they sang--or the Kipling poem--but that may well be due to not being English. Some of the other references pass me by too. :-)
As for Patrick, I assume a lot of his attitude was pride in his family's past and a feeling it was being betrayed. I'm not sure what was involved in Vatican 2 apart from having services in the local language, but I can see a very aloof English boy like him preferring tradition to the new. He's also an introvert and I can see him disliking the friendly masters and preferring his school to just teach academic subjects and leave him alone. OTOH I don't like him much because he acts superior to others, sneers at Nicola's riding, ignores her when he's besotted with Ginty, and seems a lot more proud of his roots than the Marlows are. They're just unselfconsciously themselves.
Off topic, but I hope Nicola remains unmarried, esp to him, and sails around the world getting different jobs in port, then joins the navy when they allow her equal status and opportunity. I know some people here think her boring, but I like her because 1) I'm named after her :-), 2) she's insecure and sometimes depressed (as when Tim doesn't like her, Patrick ignores her, and she doubts that Miranda likes her for more than her blondeness), yet 3) she hides it and goes on, not letting people know, 4) she loves the Navy while I loved the Air Force with equal passion, and 5) she loves to read. I think they're all great characters but I love her, Lawrie, Miranda, and Tim most of all.
And yes, I'd have given anything to be Nicola at school: blonde, blue-eyed, good at sport, popular with most, instead of the geek who came top of the class which was a very negative thing at me school.
Wow, you got me started.