Series 1, Episode VII

Having been reminded about thumb drums in the margins of Episode VI, Pedro and Yuri wanted to have a go with Grandpa's thumb drum which lived upstairs, hanging off the ceiling of his study. Polly was allowed to come too, even though she was a girl, when she promised not to chatter.

Front view

So off they went up the stairs, Yuri, then Pedro, then Polly with Baby Bear bringing up the rear. When they got to the study they realised that getting at the thumb drum, never mind playing it, was going to be more difficult than they had realised.

Back view

But then Baby Bear piped up. He explained that while he was very frightened of heights outside, say in the garden, he was  much better inside. Indeed, he was quite an accomplished indoor climber. I will get you there he said.

And he was as good as his word. He got into Grandpa's special copper lined ammunition box (ex navy) and appropriated a second hand envelope. On his second attempt he succeeded in stapling the bottom up. Then punched a couple of holes in the corners. Then appropriated a nearly new shoe lace from FIL's special bag of same, and made a strap for the haversack. Popped Pedro, Polly and Yuri into it (from left to right in the snap above) and slung it (and them) over his back.

He then clambered up the braces suspended in the corner of the study, traversed across to the point of suspension for the thumb drum and shimmied down. As snapped above.

Having arrived at the thumb drum, the next problem was how to play it. Would it be best to get it down somehow? We shall no doubt find out in due course.

PS 1: many years ago, Grandpa saw the original of the famous painting by Manet which can be seen right in reproduction. A very large painting, roughly one metre by two, at that time hung in the Jeu de Paume in the Jardins des Tuileries, just by the Place de la Concorde. Now exiled to a disused railway station to make way for more modern art, addressing the issues of today, rather than those of yesterday. See references 2 and 3.

PS 2: Tuileries might be the name of a famous palace and of some famous gardens, but the word actually means tile factory. Rather in the way that the fanciest art gallery in Florence is called the offices. Or that we have the Government Offices, Great George Street, aka GOGGS. Which used be complete with large standby generators in the basement, protected by a concrete raft above, but they may have vanished in the course of the major refurbishment which took place early in the new millennium.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/04/series-1-episode-vi.html.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympia_(Manet).

Reference 3: http://www.jeudepaume.org/.

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