Walking my dogs early one morning last week, I was pondering the word ‘hotchpotch’. “Why on earth?”, I hear you ask. Because I had just managed to work it into a translation. Such a lovely word. And as I pondered, I remembered that as a child there was a series of children’s programmes called Watch with Mother on television, just before what would have been dinner time (which back then in Scotland was actually tea time!). On Mondays, it was Picture Book, for which the opening music was Badinerie by J S Bach (proper cultured we were as kids). The programme encouraged children to make things and the presenter’s catch phrase was “Do you think you could do this? – I am sure you could if you tried”. There was also a cartoon of a little girl called Bizzy Lizzy (they spelled my name wrong).
On Tuesdays, it was Andy Pandy (a pattern is beginning to emerge here), on Wednesdays Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men, on Thursdays Rag, Tag and Bobtail and on Fridays The Woodentops. I can still sing all the songs too!
I suppose having been back in Scotland is the reason for these nostalgic thoughts. In combination with a translator’s brain that reacts to hotchpotch by coming up with nitty gritty, hanky panky, fuddy duddy, hurly burly and of course, Andy Pandy!