Enid Blyton, we miss you ...

Two things recently have shown how times change. The first is some books that have been dragged out to fill a book shelf in our study, by Enid Blyton. Enid left us in 1968, but for those too young to remember or too old to care, she was a prolific story writer for young people. Prior to discovering Archie and Jughead, I was transfixed by her work.

Enid Blyton's main body of work was the Famous Five, from a time in which parents would happily let 10-12 year olds go camping on the moors for two weeks without contact, and yet have an 85% chance of exposing an international terrorist ring.

It was an innocent time in which your name could be Dick, and you could have an Aunt Fanny, and nobody would raise the slightest smirk. You could even have a cousin Georgina, who hated being a girl, calls herself George, and wore her hair short ....... and had a dog called Timmy .... I'm still a bit lost on that one ....

Anyways, it wasn't all about the Famous Five. The Secret Seven were a bit of an afterthought, a little Hooley Dooleys vs. the Wiggles, but still very successful. And, the "Naughtiest Girl in School" series, was great in concept except she did nothing much except for taking the odd cocoa from the larder late in the evening.

All in all, nice, family entertainment, which brings me to the second observation. I saw posters for the all new "Grand Theft Auto, Chinatown". A video game series that apparently gives youngsters the experience of stealing cars from a realistic backdrop of international cities.

Yup, and THAT, my friends is called progress!

Yours comp-letely,

Craig Seitam 10/11/09

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