Setting out from Berlin 1796

Family meeting…

Rene: Berlin has limits, but London… it’s buzzing with ships, trade, and opportunity for an underwriter.
Father: Clearly, nothing we can say will dissuade you. And this… Lloyds, you say, will be your base?
Rene: A coffee shop. It’s where all the shipping news is daily shared. 
Mother: I still worry about highwaymen.
Rene: Berlin to Hamburg by carriage, then sail across the North Sea to London. The sea journey is long but safer.
Sarah: And what if soldiers stop you, getting suspicious of travelers amid all the unrest?
Rene: I have proper papers, explaining my journey as a merchant.
Father: And lodging? London isn’t kind to newcomers without a roof over their heads.
Rene: I’ve heard of cheap rooms near the docks where many sailors and traders stay. It’s humble but close to the action.
Genevieve: It’s brave of you to try. Better a life of risks and chances than one of waiting. I wish I were a man.
Father: Just mind your pockets on the road and your wits in the city.
Rene: I’ll keep my pockets tight and my wits sharper.
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Voice-over
The family wishes Rene well and sister Genevieve hopes that London can change his destiny and perhaps hedge the family fortune in these troubled Napoleonic times.

Gunpowder, Treason and Plot

Bonfire Night…
George: What’s Guy Fawkes all about?
Bruce: He was part of a group that tried to blow up the English Houses of Parliament in 1605. They wanted to overthrow the government.
George: Was Grandpa named after Guy Fawkes?
Bruce: No. But my brothers and I used to chant this rhyme: “Guy, Guy, Guy, stick him up high, hang him on a lamp post til he die…”
George: Really? How did Grandpa Guy feel about that?
Bruce: He didn’t like it. He’d say “That’s not nice.”  We just thought it was funny.
George: Funny? Sounds a bit disrespectful to me.
Bruce: Yeah, it was. We didn’t realize how much it bothered him. But we were kids. And kids sometimes don’t think too much.
George: So, was Grandpa Guy sympathetic to Guy Fawkes’ cause?
Bruce: I don’t think so. Even though he was a bit anti-government, he didn’t condone violence. He just didn’t appreciate us making fun of his name.
George: Well, having your name chanted in a rhyme about hanging isn’t fun. Did you ever stop chanting it and apologize?
Bruce: Eventually, yes. We realized it upset him. But we never got around to apologizing. Just one of those things that slid by.
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Voice-over
Respecting people’s feelings is important. Shame that Bruce and his brothers couldn’t have apologized. Now more obedient souls see Bonfire Night as celebrating the triumph of plots being foiled and order over chaos.

Guido jumped from the scaffold

Toad Hall Café

At a roadside café…

Gina: Some healthy-looking dishes. But why call it Toad Hall?

Natalie: Recalls The Wind in the Willows.

Gina: I read it as a kid. But why an eatery?

Natalie: Probably for its whimsical and playful connotations, rather than any direct association with Toad. I mean, he’s looks cute up there, right?

Gina: In the book Toad was a recklessness, arrogant, and impulsive character. A kind of caricature of the wealthy upper class of England.

Natalie: Agreed. He steals cars, drives recklessly, and even ends up in jail. 

Gina: There are people who do that today. Go further in fact. Use the car to ram raid shops. Better order.

Natalie: Think I’ll go for Toad’s recommendation: Smashed Pumpkin.

__________

Voice-over

Toad is a character foil to his responsible friends, Ratty, Mole and Badger. Symbolically he can represent the human struggle between impulse and responsibility. His character arc involves learning lessons about the consequences of his actions and growing as an individual. As part of growing, people learn to balance their desires and responsibilities in life.

Richard King and John King

Seasonal greetings time again…

Chamberlain: Two brothers I was at school with, Richard and John LeRoy sent greetings.

Tania: From that long ago?

Chamberlain: For some reason they wanted to reconnect. They were both successful in their different ways. John stayed close to home, founded a business, chaired a couple of charities and finished his career as director on half a dozen companies.

Tania: And Richard?

Chamberlain: Richard left school and departed the country, studied in the US, returned to become a professor. Started a company. Collected a string of letters after his name: Ph.D., FRS and so on.

Tania: Success can be found both near and far?

Chamberlain: Exactly. Don’t measure yourself against what others achieve. Focus on what you do well.

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Voice-over

Know yourself and polish your potentials, burnish the abilities. Not all Richards were good and Johns were weak. Sometimes they were equal but had different strengths and weaknesses. As were the brothers King Richard (1157-1199) and King John (1166-1216).