The Penguin Lessons: What I Learned from a Remarkable Bird by Tom Michell

Author:Tom Michell [Michell, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781101967416
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2015-10-27T04:00:00+00:00

“Motorbikes are definitely not compatible with explorers who have penguins as traveling companions.”

At the start of each new term all the boys were generally fit and well, but after a while an “off-games” notice began to circulate, listing boys with illnesses and injuries. Such youngsters were still expected to get out for fresh air and exercise, if they could. Depending on the severity of their affliction, they would be encouraged to take a gentle turn round the games fields or a more energetic walk down to the river.

It wasn’t long before a small group of off-games students came to ask if they could take Juan Salvado with them as they exercised around the fields while the other boys were playing rugby. And so it was that Juan Salvado was introduced to that “game for hooligans that is played by gentlemen.”

The particular match they took him to see was between two under-14 teams—a match I was refereeing. Juan Salvado stayed with his little group of minders as they moved up and down the touchline offering encouragement and advice to their friends, such as “Get stuck in, you lazy slob” and other helpful comments.

For what reason Juan Salvado always stayed on his side of the touchline and remained close to his companions, I cannot say. The fact remains that he attended many rugby games with different minders, and although he would rush up and down the touchline, keeping close to the play as though keen to miss none of the action, never did he encroach onto the pitch or get too close. If a sudden change of play caused a rush of players to bear down on him, willing hands would snatch him from the ground and move him to safety.

Of course, it didn’t take long for St. George’s under-14 team to realize that a penguin was precisely the sort of macho mascot that a fearless rugby team needed to strike fear and dread into any opposition. So Juan Salvado became the official team talisman and doubtless brought luck to his adoptive players. (Or perhaps that should be “adopted,” for I am really not sure who adopted whom.)

—

One warm and balmy Thursday afternoon not long after, I was at the end of refereeing a “possibles” versus “probables” practice game in preparation for an important match, under the careful gaze of our mascot, when a chilling message arrived.

In those days telephone calls, like international air travel, were extremely expensive. To get an idea of relative values, you have to understand that the London–Buenos Aires return flight on a BOAC VC10 (magnificent aircraft though it was) cost more than £1,000 at a time when the average income was about £50 a week.

International phone calls were not simply an indulgence but prohibitively expensive—maybe fifty or a hundred times their cost now—and personal calls were only made in dire circumstances. This wasn’t a terrible inconvenience; airmail letters took no more than a week on average to arrive at their destination but could take as little as two days if one happened to catch the post just right.

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