However, by the middle of this year the site had become so popular that the original host requested that I upgrade to a more expensive level, which would have been appropriate for a commercial site, but which I simply could not afford. I approached Jim, and he is now providing the computer storage space for the site. He also hosts a number of other sites concerned with petticoat discipline and related matters, and so the reader will find links to these on the top of the Contents page. These unobtrusive and elegant banners can be changed by simply right clicking on the mouse, and selecting 'Reload', or 'Refresh'. The reader is invited to have a look at these sites, as there should be plenty to interest him or her.
Like so many of the people who manage non-commercial sites concerned with petticoat discipline (Tessy Staylace is an excellent example, and, of course, Saffy) my host is a person who writes well, and has considerable literary sensitivity. The quote on the Contents page of the September issue was taken from a letter which he wrote to me. I would not wish to deal with somebody who lacked these (to me) all-important qualities.
September was a painful month: the process of changing hosts is much more complicated than I could ever have thought possible, and the abominable attack on the United States hurt me a great deal - I am, in spirit, a New Yorker; it is a marvellous city, friendly, comfortable, and intensely cultured, and I have always felt at home staying at the Seafarer's International near Union Square, which is my kind of hotel. It has no air conditioning, and no television in most of the rooms, but it does have a tiny private chapel, an in-house library of particularly quirky and old-fashioned books, and a Doctor of Philosophy available on the premises for any guests who may need the answer to some complex theological question in the middle of the night. It is blissfully sedate and quiet, and even posts the shipping lists every morning in the foyer, continuing a venerable tradition going back to the gilded age of the great liners, for those interested in what ships are in port today. 'Only in New York...' as New Yorkers are wont to say.
The World Trade buildings were special favourites of mine; their simple, elegant beauty was matchless, and they demonstrated that even a rectangular skyscraper in the 50s and 60s style could be exquisite. The style of two towers rather than one was remarkably original in its day, but it has since been much copied for greatly inferior buildings, which somehow failed to get it right. The 'Twin Towers' looked like friends, or real twins, while the copies of the style just look like two towers. And, as is often the case with real twins, they died within seconds of each other...
Anyway, I will leave it at
that. I know readers are anxious to see 'Petticoat Discipline Monthly'
return to its normal content. And there is plenty for you this month: nine
letters, including some pictures of Penelope that will make you go weak
at the knees, and a number of special features, including the introduction
of a new 'Petticoating Posters' page, this time by Chris Teen. There are
more to come, and I am sure that readers will love them. There is also
a brand new petticoating poster from Janet, and, from Baby Janet,
'The Good Husband's Guide to Household Management', which I strongly recommend
to all my readers, male and female.
I would like to remind all
readers, especially Paul, Saffy, Cissy Williams, Barry, Marcia, and Julie
Anne, who have been such sterling contributors in the past, that the Christmas
Annual is now not far from publication. Do you remember when I said that
Christmas would come around again sooner that you would think? I was right,
wasn't I? So please put your thinking caps on, and see if you can come
up with some new stories, drawings, puzzles and games, scenic photographs,
and recipes for this year's Annual.
Susan MacDonald
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