Let us play

Let’s dig tunnels.

Let’s build bridges.

Let’s get close

like clouds of midges.

What was under

Mr Brunel’s hat?

His love-letters

And his sandwidges.

Let us cross that big divide.

Let us go and coincide.

And with the space between deducted,

Let us mind what’s been constructed.

You provide the motion and I’ll start the debate.

You provide the provender and I’ll supply the napkin and the plate.

Let’s combine this life of mine with your own slender fate.

Let me elaborate.

Let’s be thick as thieves can be.

Let’s thicken up the ice and then entice the world to skate.

You be narrow, I’ll be straight.

You be weight and I’ll be volume.

Let’s make a pair of zeros

make a bigger figure eight.

Let’s collaborate.

Their expectations of Christmas were rather different (M. Brimfield)

I have at home my father’s invitation to meet the founder of the Scouting movement, Lord Baden-Powell, in Paris, 1920. Printed on card, smaller than a postcard, larger than a calling card, with the invitees named in what I assume to be fountain pen ink: ‘Hegley and friends’. He was fifteen at the time, and he was in the English Scout troop in Paris. His father was English and a certain Englishness was seen as his son’s rightful inheritance.

I have wondered whether my father got to make the engagement, and if so, with whom. There is a photograph from the period, with him wearing his uniform and holding his wooden Scout staff. Did that staff accompany him? Does it still exist? Did he think of it as a friend?

PARIS 1922: PREPARING FOR THE FIRST NIGHT OF THE BOY SCOUT PANTO

Scenes between my father (René Robert) and his mother (Maman)

René Robert Maman!

Maman	In English, Robert. You KNOW your father wants English spoken in the home.
René R	Sorry, Mother. I’m just over-excited about tonight’s performance. I cannot find my garters.
Maman	That sounds like something I might have said when I was with the Folies Bergère… ‘Where are my garters Kiki’… ‘I don’t know, Koko.’
René R	Who are Kiki and Koko, Mother?
Maman	They are the beautiful dancing girls who were once your godmother Mireille and I. Our stage names. Our wage names… Look! You are WEARING your garters, Robert.
René R	That’s because I’m so excited, I don’t know what’s going on.
Maman	Well, let me tell you what is going on… and our lovely audience, also. I am French. It is Paris. We are a little after Christmas. I am married to Henri Robert, an Englishman with French blood, but an Englishman. He lives in France and it is agreed that our child will be a child of both cultures and tongues. Hence our boy is a member of the English Scout troop, speaks English in the home and Français, à l’ecôle. If you’ll excuse my French.
René R	Of course, Mum. Right, I’ll just put on my woggle and then I am ready.
Maman	I don’t know the French for woggle? And if I did I wouldn’t use it in the house. Are there really to be 40 thieves in the production, Robert?
René R	Yes, Mother, some of the Scouts from the American troop are taking part in the production.
Maman	And YOU were single-handedly responsible for the scene-painting.
René R	Do you think Monsieur Braque will appear tonight? Do you think he will appreciate my handiwork? He only likes the queer stuff.
Maman	In fairness, Georges only likes the GOOD stuff and if your stuff is good, he will say so.
René R	Our Scoutmaster says my street looks real.

Drawing of Dad scene-painting by R. M. Hegley, with onlooker (after Matisse) by J. R. Hegley

Maman	I think Georges might say we can leave the real for reality.
René R	Mother, may we take the tram to the performance?
Maman	But it is only three stops?
René R	I love the tram, Mother.
	I love the people lulled into half slumber by the rocking.
	I love the rattle on the way of gleaming iron.
	I love the ticketing designed so clear and simple.
	I love the worn-ness of the pouch of the conductor.
	I love the pattern which is woven in the seating.
	I love the cigarette smoke battling with the perfume.
	I love to stare out at the street names of our quarter
	I love…
Maman	ALRIGHT, Robert! We will take the tram.

POST PANTO PERFORMANCE AT THE REFRESHMENT TABLE

Probably spoken in English

Maman	I have spoken with Georges.
René R	… and what did he think, Mother? He has seen our performance, what are his thoughts?
Maman	He thinks that the refreshment table offers a poor choice of sandwiches.
René R	But did he mention the scene painting?
Maman	He says that the street looks so real he could walk up it.
René R	But I didn’t think Monsieur Braque liked paintings that make things look real.
Maman	He did not say that he liked it, Robert.