July 1957 School Magazine

Ilrisbane Girls' Grammar School Magazine

July. 1957

Brisbane Girls ' Grammar School Maqazine

tuly, 1951

THE CALL OF THE CONTINENT-AND OTHER NOISES 'Take your own car to the continent and see every-day life the ·way it is really lived!' This slogan might be interpreted by 'Crank your 1934 Canardly to the continent and starve like a peasant,' which, a lthough far be it from me to discourage the would-be traveller, was the result when our family mis- guidedly obeyed the command of sundry gay advertisements in the London tube stations. It is the lofty ambition of that species of Australian which frequents Kensington, Earls' Court a nd the vicinity, to venture into Europe in one of those antiquated junk heaps, the London taxi. Those who are unfortunate enough to be unable to pro- cure such an abominable vehicle content themselves with other machines, nearly as ludicrous; and ours might have been snid to fit into this category. They can be seen all over Europe and are so decorated with painted kangaroos, southern crosses, flags and emblems, as to provide a great source of entertainment for the local in- habitants. With only a small "Australia" in our rear window we managed to attract inquis·itive hordes of babbling peasantry in each small town. Having thus placed ourselves on such a low social foot- ing, we considered it too undignified to stay at respectable hotels where one may have wash basins and hot water in one's room. No, no. One is there in order to see life the way it is really lived and this discovers the lack of breakfast of any dimens·ion except in Holland and Scandinavia-it diminished itself to rusks and black coffee once, in France-and acquires the habit of drinking excessive amounts of wine-le vin du pays-and of eating huge quantities of bread. On the continent horns and traffic indicators are used con- tinually and driving is extremely fast and unnerving. Half of the roads cons·ist of disgusting pave, or large cobblestones, which leave one with permanent corrugations from the con- tinuous bumps. A delicious illustration of the speed observation occurred near Geneva, just before we came along, on the opposite side of the road. As we were crossing an intersection, we saw that a collision had just happened, but not of two cars·, nor three, nor even four, but in fact, twelve-a perfect example of the concertina. At the corner a group of twenty odd people stood waving their arms and shouting, around a shrieking policeman who

FRENCH CROSSWORD

CLUES

Across

Down

3. Grain. 9. Its. 13. To hail. 14. To be.

l. Beverage. 2. Counter. 3. Same as 3 across .

4. Any. 5. Note. 6. Bare.

15. Retention of the memory. 16. Earthern pan. 17 . Female duck. 18. Belief. 19. Embankment. 20. Open.

7. To wander. 8. Intoxicated. 9. If. 10. Year.

11. Embers. 12. Vigour.

-BETH LEE. VI A.

(Solution on Page 31).

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