Names

Borders return tomorrow and the house has been a whirl of name tapes and packing lists.

The names work differently now. we found a towel of mine which is still labeled H MILLER LJ. I got the initials because there was another Miller in Hailey at the time. For the girls the labels were the other way round, initials first then surname then House. So my sister was AF MILLER A. She took my old tuckbox (which tomorrow is off with number three to join Lower School 1), and so both patterns are painted on it.

I was foolish enough to order labels with full Christian names. It just makes them longer and mor work to sow. Imagine then the consternation to discover from number 1, who has been in Lawrence for a year that in the hags they have a pigeon hole and his is simply Lawrence 33 and all his clothes really need is L33. That's what he says anyway....

Whistling

Returning to the great work of Rex Whistler (Hi 1919) here is the self portrait he put into the great mural in the dining room at Plas Newydd.

It is an extraordianry piece full of references to the Anglesey family and places associated with them. The tromp l'oile effects are stupendous, mountains which change their aspect as you walk down the room and footprints which seem to change their direction depending where one views them from. There are all sorts of places from London to Venice to Brighton in the painting, but not Haileybury I think.