A couple of months ago we went up toLondon to see a traditional event takingplace, the annual Great Sheep Drive overLondon Bridge. I imagined that the bridgewould be closed and a whole herd ofperfectly groomed sheep would be trottingacross on cue*, surrounded by theirshepherds, with crowds of onlookers liningthe edges and at both ends. When wearrived, it was rather different. The trafficwas still flowing over the bridge as normal,but on one side the path and the edge ofthe road had been closed off with railings tomake two narrow routes across. In the pen
were ten well-behaved and very cuddly andwoolly sheep, reasonably tidy but definitelya little muddy on the undersides. Theywere standing still, very calmly andpatiently, with the occasional bout ofmilling around. They had their drink andfood buckets nearby, and the green-shirtedshepherds were stationed around the penwaiting for the order to open the gate andset off with the sheep. Another group of tensheep were also penned on the far side.
* "cue" for signal or billiard stick, "queue"for a line of people
Sheep Drive
The event allows the Freemen of the City toexercise their ancient right to bring sheepinto the city, but today it is done topublicise the lamb and wool industries, aswell as raise money for charity. Over 800Freemen and members of the WorshipfulCompany of Woolmen, dressed in billowingblack and red robes, took turns to cross thebridge in small groups, with photographersrecording their* progress every step of theway. We realised that it was an all-dayevent, unhurried and slow, to allow for allthe stops for publicity photos, although itseemed that the shepherds might have
preferred a more steady progress, to keepthe sheep moving along calmly andsedately. The next group of Freemen andWoolmen would be doing the same a littlelater, with the same sheep going back andforth*. Tourists walking along the otherside of the bridge were stopping andwondering what it was all about.
* "recording their" Doubling to represent"their"
* Omission phrase "back (and) forth"
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We stood right next to the pen, waiting forthe sheep to be released to start theircontrolled ramble over one of London’shistoric landmarks*. The sheep continuedmilling about, poking a nose over therailing, in the hopes of taking a bite ofsomeone’s jacket corner. I narrowlyavoided* having my camera bag become asheep’s snack. Eventually they set off overthe bridge and we joked that they mightthink they were getting their freedom orgoing back to their field, only to findthemselves arriving at another identical*pen on the other side*. Once the sheepwere on their way, we walked across thebridge and saw the marquees and biggercrowds where the main event was gathered.This was obviously the sheep farmers’annual jamboree, undoubtedly a pleasant*change from the mundane business of
sheep rearing, an opportunity to meetothers in the trade and swap informationand stories, and a chance to dress up tothe nines rather than slopping about ingreen wellies in the mud and rain.
* "landmark" can also be written "land"with intersected M, but it is not a very clearoutline due to the halving
* "avoided" "evaded" Vowels helpful asthese are similar in outline and meaning
* "identical" is a contraction, therefore onthe line
* Omission phrase "on the oth(er) side"
* "pleasant" Helpful to insert vowel, as
Sheep Drive
Nobody was interviewing the long-sufferingsheep, who had so graciously given up aday of their valuable time*, which couldhave been spent on the important businessof munching grass and avoiding*sheepdogs. I resolved to obtain a reportfrom the dominant member of the groupwhere we were standing. He told me hewas very excited when he heard he waschosen to take part in the event, and hethen organised a draw to see which of his
friends would be coming with him. Hethought it was the only fair way to decide,and fortunately all those chosen did have agood thick coat of wool to show off topassing tourists.
* "valuable time" Halving to represent the Tof "time"
* "avoiding" "evading" Vowels helpful asthese are similar in outline and meaning
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He went on to tell me that they had spent alot of time bathing in the stream in theirfield and combing themselves as best theycould on some thorny bushes. In the truckon the way up they all sang their favourite*songs, as one does on special day trips,and they planned to hold a get-togetherduring the evening to tell all their friendsabout their interesting day in the big city.For some reason, not one reporter orphotographer was able to get this story,being more interested in the ladies andgentlemen in their flamboyant* regalia, soI think you and I are quite privileged to bethe first and probably only people to knowthe ovine (as opposed to human*) side ofthe story, much to the delight of the otherrams, ewes* and lambs back home on thefarm. (776 words)
* "favourite" Note that "favoured" usesnormal Vr
* "flamboyant" Imp is only halved whenhooked, see www.long-live-pitmans-shorthand.org.uk/theory-16-Imp-Imb.htm#halving
* "human" above the line following thesecond vowel, to differentiate from
"humane"
* Singular "ewe" is also written with thestroke. The U diphthong short form is onlyused for the pronoun "you"
Christmas NativitiesThe year is 1964 and Christmas is a fewweeks* away. I was practising my fleetingrole in the primary school Nativity play, asone of the host of angels appearing to theshepherds in the fields. The head angel haddelivered the message of the birth of theSaviour in Bethlehem. We were waiting forour musical cue* to leave the stage andreturn to the place whence we came andthis was Bach’s* Toccata and Fugue in DMinor, which begins with several verydramatic chunks of sound with shortpauses between, in the manner of animportant announcement*. With eachchunk, the backmost row of angels turnedand rushed off the stage, and this wasrepeated until all four rows had gone. Nodoubt the loud organ music drowned outthe sound of our clattering and thumpingfeet. A week before the big day, we angels
had a good time making our haloes. Thiswas a crescent shaped piece of card thatfitted over the top of the head, and wecovered it by winding strips of gold paperround it, from one end to the other.Children often fuss over who is chosen tobe Joseph and Mary, but I was very happyto wear the beautiful white robe and have agolden glow around my head.
* Omission phrase "few wee(k)s"* "cue" for signal or billiard stick, "queue"for a line of people* "Bach’s" Little S sign through the stroketo signify the German guttural sound,similarly Scots words like "loch"* Keep the last Nt short, so it does not looklike Ing "announcing". The same applies toother words ending in "ment" that areusing Nt instead of Mnt stroke
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The rehearsals* were very interesting andentertaining. There was a scene of a mealwhere all the characters had to suddenlyjump up and leave in a hurry. Whether itwas the villagers joining the shepherds orthe kings hurrying to start their journey, Ihave no recollection. All I remember is thatsome of the children taking part in thatscene found it impossible not to grab someof the food from the table before they left,despite the admonishments from theteachers. This was definitely not part of thestory but probably unwittingly true to life!Maybe they should have used cardboardbread to prevent this unseemly interruptionto the smooth flow of the story. Some of
the characters had to carry candle lampsand they used gold paper to represent theflame. I was convinced that there was abetter solution to this, but no matter howhard I tried, I could not think of analternative*, especially as all the props hadto be cheap and hand made.
* Four unavoidable upstrokes, thereforewrite it sloping very shallowly
* "alternative" can also be written as anintersection using the Tr stroke, forcommon phrases such as "there is no(al)ter(native)". This should not be used for
"alternate".
Christmas Nativities
The high point of my Christmas creativeefforts was the making of a model Nativityscene, generally consisting of a barn, stableor shelter, all the figures and animals, witha backdrop of blue sky and stars, one giantstar attached to or just hovering over theroof, and the compulsory snow, completelydisregarding the likely climate of the areaat that time. Small cheap plastic Nativityfigures were easy to obtain and tiny toyanimals were already to hand in the toybox. All my ingenuity went into creatingthe landscape and buildings, using cerealcartons with white paper stuck to them sothat the details could be drawn and
coloured in. White detergent powder madegood snow as it consisted of tiny granulesthat could be piled up or glued to the roof.Its pungent aroma had to be ignored, andcould be forgiven when one stood back toview the perfection of the glistening snow.Background hills were the usual folds ofcotton wool. The ultimate enhancementwas a small solitary torch bulb inside thestable with the battery hidden behind.Yellow interior walls made the whole thingglow from within and placing it near theChristmas tree meant that the silver starstook on the colours of the tree lights.
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Silver glitter was essential for finishing offthe snow scene as well as making otherdecorations. The stash was always kepttopped up, and I became a connoisseur ofglitter quality. Cheap ones were darkcoloured and came in bendy plastic tubes.The worst cheap ones were a mixture ofcolours, and despised as the unattractivesweepings from the factory! The good oneswere lighter and came in glass tubes andthose I sought out everywhere I went. I didwith them what I now do with my printerinks - make sure I have several in eachcolour to cover every eventuality and notrun out at a critical moment. The favouriteswere silver, gold and white, the latter beingtiny pearlescent* flakes that brought a
shimmer without obscuring the colour ofwhatever was beneath. I could not resistimproving the Christmas cards with them,before my parents sent them out. Everysnow scene, candle, lamp, fireside, starrysky or glistening holly berry had to bepicked out in glitter and I vicariously joinedthe recipient in gasping with delight atreceiving such a gloriously dazzling card,far better than could be bought in any shop.I am sure they also found a small residueof excess glitter falling from the envelopeas well.
* "pearlescent" Downward L in order to jointhe following stroke, like "lesson" and
"coalescent"
Christmas Nativities
I recently visited Trafalgar Square inLondon where once again* there is ondisplay the beautiful Nativity scene createdin 2006*, in a large perspex case near thebase of Nelson’s Column. All the carvedwooden figures are fairly plain but lifelike,spread out widely, each spotlighted, and alltheir gazes directed at the baby in thecentre, wrapped in cloths and lying on theground. It is amazing* how mesmerisingthis simple arrangement is, where time hasbeen halted and the components of thescene separated, so that the viewer seesand considers each character in turn, tryingto guess how their real-life counterparts oftwo thousand years ago reacted to theevent and what effect it had on their livesfrom that moment on. The distancebetween the figures seems to representtheir personal space, empty of intrusionsthat might interrupt their thoughts on this
astounding* moment in history. Passingchildren were instantly drawn to the lamband donkey in two of the corners. I tookphotographs from different angles but theycannot quite capture the arresting effectthat the scene has when you are actuallystanding there. I much prefer this Nativityscene to all those I made in years past.(1025 words)
* Omission phrase "wu(n)s again"
* "2006" Long slash to represent thecurrent century, arbitrary sign with nophonetic value
* "amazing" "amusing" Always insert thevowel
* "astounding" Helpful to insert thediphthong, as the optional contraction for
"astonish" is similar
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I find that most passengers are occupiedwith the screens of their smartphones* butI think the regular commuters can beidentified as those who bury themselves intheir book or work on their laptop. I preferto follow the scene beyond the window aswe travel through different types of district.The views are interesting but not alwaysthe smartest or most appealing. Most of itis close-up views of the unkempt backyards of factories, warehouses and buildingsites, with broken fences, graffiti andrubbish accumulating in the corners. Theleast attractive are the tiny backyards ofthe terraced houses from the 19th century,
which provide little scope for making agarden or a sitting* area out of the fewsquare yards of land at the base of therailway embankment.
* "smartphones" The halved Ray is the"first up or down stroke", so as long as thatis above the line, it does not matter wherethe F stroke comes
* "sitting" Keep the dot small if you chooseto insert it, and an exaggerated large dotfor "seating" as meanings are almostidentical
Mind The Gap
During December we have been makingmore visits than usual up to CentralLondon*, to see the Christmas decorations,markets and other seasonal attractions. Wemostly go up by train, which often involvessome waiting around, whether on theconcourse staring at the departures boardto see which platform* our train will bearriving at, on the platform itself until thetrain comes in, or sitting on the trainwaiting for it to depart.
* "London" The L is written downwards toenable the hook and N to join, to form ashorter outline for a common place name.
"linden" and "Landon" are written withupward L, stroke N, Dn, as per normalrules.
* "platform" Optional contraction
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There are many other* messages to beheard on the train or platform, just waitingto be converted to shorthand, butpreferably not those that occur whilst youare on the move, for the sake of safety. Ifyou do a regular commute, it might beworth making a list of those occurring onyour route. "Welcome to this south easternservice train. Please mind the doors. Whenleaving the train, please mind the gapbetween the train and the platform. Thefirst two doors and last two doors of thistrain will not open at the next station,please move to the centre of the train toalight. Please remember to take all your
personal belongings with you when youleave the train. Do not leave your bagsunattended, they may be removed withoutwarning and destroyed or damaged by thesecurity services. Please stand well awayfrom the edge of platform one, the nexttrain is not scheduled to stop at this station.If you see anything suspicious, pleasereport it to the police or a member of staff.The ten fifteen to London Bridge will bearriving at ten twenty five. We apologisefor this delay and any inconveniencecaused to your journey."
* Omission phrase "many oth(er)"
Mind The Gap
In each carriage there is generally an LED*display with a scrolling message showingthe names of all the stops and the finaldestination of the train. It is accompaniedby a spoken version of the message,although the voice goes much faster thanthe display. It is a good piece of shorthandpractice material and I sometimes findmyself doing mental outlines for all thestation names. Firstly I look at the displayand think how each word should be written,and then after that just follow the voice onthe next repeat, and visualise the outlines.Being entirely place names with no ordinarywords between, this can be a bit of achallenge. A learner obviously does notneed to know obscure place names but it isgood practice in the art of gettingsomething for everything, even if it is* only
a mental picture of what might be written.When a particular word defeats your effortsat bringing to mind a readable outline, thebest method to follow is to write a separateoutline for each syllable, and so prevent agap in the notes. A gap causes disturbanceto the rest of the notetaking, so it is betterto write something, however small, ratherthan nothing.
* "LED" Preferable to use lower caselonghand for such abbreviations, unless it ispronounced as a word like "Nato"
* "if it is" Note that "if" can be halved ordoubled for such phrases, whilst "for" doesnot, to help differentiate them
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We are now in that in-between period afterChristmas and before the New Year. Only afew days ago I discovered that there is aname for it, Twixmas, the period "betwixt"the two celebrations. I do not know howlong this word has been about, but itexactly fits the situation. If there* were noNew Year afterwards, it would be temptingto pack up the Christmas things quickly andget on with normal life*, but we need allthe trimmings to remain for a while so thatthe New Year celebrations are also full oflight, colour and sparkle. The word seemsto be* British slang introduced by thetourist industry and no doubt this word wassorely needed to avoid* having tocontinually use a long phrase such as "theperiod between the 27th of December andthe first of January". If you Google theword, most of the entries will be
advertising holiday breaks and get-aways.I think it is in the process of escaping fromits former existence as tourist industryjargon and has found an exciting new life inthe winter holiday brochures and adverts.
* "if there" Note that "if" can be halved ordoubled for such phrases, whilst "for" doesnot, to help differentiate them
* Omission phrase "normal (l)ife", seemore at www.long-live-pitmans-shorthand.org.uk/phrasing4-omission.htm#OmittingRepeatedSound
* Omission phrase "seems (to) be"
* "avoid" "evade" Vowels helpful as theseare similar in outline and meaning
Mind The Gap
Buses also use standard voice messages,and I have often wondered whether theyare recordings of real people or computergenerated. I use a good quality text tospeech programme to check my typedparagraphs against the scanned shorthand,and although it is excellent for this purpose,the voices are not always accurate either inpronunciation or, more often, correctintonation. With this in mind, my besteducated guess is that they are voiceoveractors. I then looked up the subject onlineand the link below reveals some interestingfacts about the origin of some of the Britishtravel announcements. On your regularjourneys, such announcements will alwaysbe the same ones, an ideal opportunity to
consolidate knowledge of outlines, if youprepare your list and look up the outlinesbeforehand*. Two half-hour journeys a dayadd up to five hours of extra practice aweek, which seems to me* a profitable wayto redeem the travelling time. You not onlyarrive at your physical destination, but alsoat your desired speed destination. (796words)
* "before(h)and" Optional contraction
* Omission phrase "which seems (to) me".Advisable to insert the vowel in "me" asthere is a similar phrase "which seemsimportant"
‘Twas the night before Christmas. I lookedout of my window at twilight*, just beforedarkness fell. The stars began to twinkle inthe clear night sky. I heard a late blackbirdtwitter in the tree and a lone robin tweetingfrom the top of the twining and twistingvine growing on the fence. I twisted thebelt fastening on my twill fabric skirt andgave it a twirl before the mirror. I searchedtwice for my new tweed coat, a present
from my twin sister. I twined my scarfaround my neck. I felt a twinge ofhesitation at the door, before going out intothe cold. The twinkling frost made me feeleven colder and my nose twitched as if tosneeze.
* "twilight" Upward L to keep the originalform of "light". Compare with "twill" below,and "dwelt", both downward
Twixmas
This leads very well* on to some revisionon how to represent this particular pair ofinitial sounds. Sometimes the stroke Way isused to get an outline that is clearer toread back and sometimes the semicirclesign is the correct form, which, as it ismostly omitted in writing, results in a fasteroutline. Writing shorthand does not in themain involve creating outlines, it involveswriting ones that you already know, andthe best way* to do that is to practise themin bulk. It does help if you concentrate onsets of words that have a similar rule orsound, as each one consolidates knowledgeof the others in that group. There is not* a
large quantity in this set, so practisingthese paragraphs several times should beno hardship. Once they are more familiar, itwould also help to make up your ownsentences using more of the derivatives ofeach word.
* Omission phrases "very (w)ell" "bes(t)way"
* "not" It is safer to always insert thevowel in "not", especially in phrases, so it isnot misread as "no" or "any"
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Today is the twenty-first* of January, theday of the shorthand exam. Some of myfriends think my writing is nothing buttwaddle but I have not been lazily twiddlingmy thumbs. I have been practising sincethe twelfth of September last year andfilled up twelve notebooks in the first twomonths. I have tweaked my examtechnique and cleaned out the pen withtissue paper and tweezers. So here I am atthe college at twenty to ten on the dayafter the twentieth of the month. Thesaying goes "Many a slip twixt cup and lip"but I am sure that by the time the twigs onmy apple tree are in bloom I will have my
certificate in my hands. I will not let myenthusiasm dwindle and I will continue topractise betweentimes* and, as you mighthave twigged* already, by next Twixmas Iwill have doubled my shorthand speed.(790 words)
* Omission phrase "twenty-(fir)st"
* "betweentimes" Halving for the T of"times"
* To twig means to find out or suddenlyrealise, derived from Irish or Gaelic
Twixmas
I was going to meet my friend Edwina fromGhana, whose first language is Twi, andwho speaks with a slight twang in herEnglish. She will be bringing her brotherDwayne who is an expert guitar twanger.In fact* he twanged* his first notes at theage of six. He is also an enthusiastictwitcher, which means he likes to spot allthe rare birds on his list. His dwelling in thecountryside has a garden planted withdwarf shrubs to attract the birds and hishouse is dwarfed by a huge oak tree.Twitching is a healthy outdoor hobby*, butI would feel like a proper twit and twerp*standing in a muddy field for hours lookingfor a bird, twisting my neck skywards, andtwirling the binoculars left and right. Iwould rather sit at home* with a cup ofTwinings tea, eating a Twister ice lolly, andreading a twee little book on the featheredtweeters in my garden.
* Omission phrase "in (f)act"
* "twanged" Stroke Ing cannot be halved
* "hobby" Helpful to insert the vowel, so itis not misread as "habit" which has asimilar meaning
* "twerp, twirp" was current in the mid20th century, meaning a stupid or ineptperson
* "at home" The H is always omitted in thisphrase, although it can be inferred by thefact that the vowel is against the M and notafter the T
