Monday, March 19, 2007

Lunchtime read: Lord Emsworth Acts for the Best

This is more of a bedtime read but it seems a shame to start something with these lunchtime reads getting through short story collections and then let it slip so despite the time here is the first of these amusing stories.

The Custody of the Pumpkin
In a nutshell Lord Emsworth wants to win the pumpkin competition but when he discovers his useless son is engaged to the head-gardeners cousin he tells the man to get rid of the girl and as a result he hands in his notice. The pumpkin that Emsworth so wanted to win in the agriculture show droops after the head-gardener leaves so the Lord heads to London to get him back and there discovers that his son had got married. In a scene that you could guess was coming the father-in-law turns up and is a multi-millionaire and so everything is forgiven and then to top it all the pumpkin wins first prize.

There are some bits that bring a smile to your face but to really laugh out loud it is going to take some willingness to put to one side the lack of interest and sympathy for the aristocracy. Maybe that will come over the course of the week...