The Famous Five ride again in Ottawa

Ottawacker Jr. has, as I think I might have mentioned in the last dump, discovered a pile of my old Famous Five books. Never throwing a book away has its benefits. Actually, never throwing anything away has its benefits, too.

The current TV ban - implemented for some reason or other, and not just the irritating and sickly-gooey-crappy theme tune to Paw Patrol - has once more brought the stash of books to the fore. He is now on the last two before I run out, so I have had to trawl AwesomeBooks.com to complete the set. (And what a resource that place is...)

Nobody over here has ever heard of Enid Blyton, which I find quite incredible. I mean, she must have been the most prolific of English children's writers ever; did she ever stop? She had children, so there must have been some downtime at least. 

But have her books ever dated. Maybe children's literature dates more quickly than adult literature... reading phrases like "you are a brick" and "that's a rum lot" is incredibly jolting to my ears. But Ottawacker Jr. seems to take it in his stride. He's not yet asked us for a dog - but with Tui taking on the role of Timmy in our house, we may get away with it for a while longer.

A dog, by the way, would be a constant worry. I grew up with dogs and have never felt any loss so keenly. Cats last nearly twice as long... It's all about self-preservation for me.