A Question of Queenie

[Jo]

Will do, Frances, but I will find a Mercer topic or start a new one. It's not such a rare name as Queenie Blench but I have some basic details from her obit which will help to filter down the possibilities. Her death is too recent to be on the public indexes yet - they still only go up to 2005.

[midget]

I was never aware that the terrifying Miss Blench was called Queenie, maybe knowing that would have lessened the terror.

[MKM]

I was never aware that the terrifying Miss Blench was called Queenie, maybe knowing that would have lessened the terror.

Did she have a nickname when you knew her?

[midget]

I don't think we would have dared!

[Fjgrogan]

I think we just assumed that the initial Q must mean Queenie - not to her face of course. What amused me in later years was hearing Mercer's reminiscences of various staff and so often just called by a straight surname - she could be scathing, as could Mary Thompson, particularly about Miss Morrison.

[Angela Woodford]

I remember Alex (Thrift) reminiscing that Merce would tell of her father and herself conversing in Latin over breakfast.

Come on , Frances - tell! Tell why Merce and Chemi-T didn't like Miss Morrison! Merce always signed herself "FWMercer" in tiny, tiny handwriting.

Did Merce and Chemi-T like Queenie? Or what about DR herself?

Tell!

[Fjgrogan]

Angela - perhaps I will send you a PM, but not right now; I am frantically busy at the moment. Also I have a number of audio cassettes from Mercer, which I would like to play through to refresh my memory. She and I used to exchange tapes rather than letters at one point. I started off sending long chatty letters and getting a few cryptic lines on the back of a postcard in reply, which was so frustrating, but once we started using tapes she opened up quite a lot. It was a nuisance at times that when you are recording a tape you cannot just go back and insert afterthoughts, but we got quite good at it with practice. That was all before I finally managed to get over to Kerry to visit her. The first few times I went on the National Express coach from Victoria to Killarney overnight, which took a total door-to-door of 22 hours. Later I used Ryanair from Stansted to Kerry - the worst bit of that was getting to Stansted! however this 'strand' is supposed to be devoted to QMB, not Mercer or Mary (sorry, I cannot think of her as Chemi-T, because I never met her until I went to Kerry, long after her CH days).

[Jo]

I remember Alex (Thrift) reminiscing that Merce would tell of her father and herself conversing in Latin over breakfast.

Come on , Frances - tell! Tell why Merce and Chemi-T didn't like Miss Morrison! Merce always signed herself "FWMercer" in tiny, tiny handwriting.

Did Merce and Chemi-T like Queenie? Or what about DR herself?

Tell!

Miss Morrison does seem to divide people! I know you were fond of her Angela, whilst others don't remember her so kindly. I was interested that Merce and Chemi-T didn't like her, especially given that Brenda Griffith-Williams said on here recently that she liked her. So even the staff didn't agree.

I suppose it's natural - most people are not universally liked or disliked, but Miss Morrison's name does crop up in this context (along with DR of course). Maybe it's because she was a larger than life character - you either liked or didn't like her, but you couldn't ignore her!

[Fjgrogan]

Re FWMercer: the W stood for Wykeham, which was a name she simply chose to adopt because she admired the original Wykeham - can't remember who he was!! Her pension book definitely said MEF Mercer, which stood for Margaret Elizabeth Frances.

[AKAP]

I think (but am not certain) that Wykeham was an ancient Bishop somehow conected with Winchester Cathedral. Old boys from Winchester School are definitely Wykehamists.

[midget]

William of Wykeham, Bishop.

[J.R.]

William of Wykeham, Bishop.

I thought that was a pub !!

[Angela Woodford]

I've got a flashback to the LV.

There is Queenie, chalk in hand, writing on the blackboard, tapping a tiny foot excitedly, and saying

"To be - about to be!

Do you understand?

To be about to be!"

Please, Old Girl Latin scholars, refresh my memory! To which Latin construction was she referring?

[MaryB]

Um.... its a future infinitive..... is it futurus esse? Was there a construction that went "I say myself to be about to be"? Odd how these things lodge in the brain.

[Jo]

Um.... its a future infinitive..... is it futurus esse? Was there a construction that went "I say myself to be about to be"? Odd how these things lodge in the brain.

Is there such a thing? I thought the whole point about an infinitive was that it was...well...infinite - timeless/tenseless. Not that I have any better suggestions