The Bluebottle Boys – Birmingham: Penance (Section 2 of 3) [The featured photograph is of the kind of meeting room larger churches tended to have in the 1860s-70s.] D.S. Higgins met us at the gate. With him was a tall, gangling priest with lank, straw-colored, somewhat thinning hair and an open, friendly countenance. He looked […]
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The Bluebottle Boys – Chapter 10, Part 1 – Edgbaston & Birmingham, 23 March 1962: Penance (Section 1 of 3) [The featured photograph is of a church and rectory much like St. Ita’s.] “I can’t believe you said that,” Ian said. “Warstone Lane Cemetery – are you nuts?” We were outside hearing range of anyone […]
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The Bluebottle Boys – Chapter 9, Part 4 – Edgbaston, mid-March 1962: Dares & Dispensation [The featured pic is of the corridor outside the Headmaster’s office.] The Headmaster had barely managed to extend greetings, seat us in his office and shut the door before Drusilla began trying to hijack the narrative. She claimed to have […]
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The Bluebottle Boys – Chapter 9 – Edgbaston, mid-March 1962: Dares & Dispensation, Part 3 [The featured pic is of the common room, as seen from the fireplace] Meanwhile, Doof and Tiny must have seen me making a run to the front of the school. Even they could deduce Ian would be alone and unattended; […]
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The Bluebottle Boys – Chapter 9, Part 2 – Edgbaston, mid-March 1962: Dares & Dispensation, Part 2 [The featured picture is the school library where Reggie finds Ian (and where Reggie and Stan had earlier learned the identity of Bethany’s “Uncle Henry”).] Mum had the old ’38 Minx, and not the Anglia, when we took […]
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The Bluebottle Boys: Edgbaston – Monkeys on the Knees (Section 4 of 4) [Note: Since the story in this post ends at Reggie’s house, rather than at Ian’s, and since we’ve never really seen Reggie’s (or Stan’s) home, it seemed better to show that, rather than depict any portion of Ian’s house (we’ll return later). […]
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The Bluebottle Boys: Edgbaston: Monkeys on the Knees (Section 2 of 4) [Notes: (1) The featured picture is of the side staircase, 50 meters from the entrance to the Main Hall, where Rufus and Quentin trap and bully Ian (before Reggie and Stan intervene). (2) At this point, I’m going to stop representing the way […]
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Edgbaston, Early March 1962: Celebration & Reflection (reprise) The Screen reconsidered sometime after New Year’s, stopped playing critic, and graciously, for the first anniversary celebration, provided Stan and me with a tack piano and snare drum backing, as he and I played sitar and guitar, in our only performance ever of “Take Me Out to […]
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