Page 18 - PBCOctober2013

Pickwick Bicycle Club Magazine. Volume 10 No.3 October 2013

26. See Chapters XXXVIII and XXXIII 'Fanteeg, a worry or bustle. Also, ill-humour—Various
Dialects.'—Halliwell. 'Prooshan blue' probably refers to the colour of dress-coats. 'Which gentleman
of your party wears a bright blue dress-coat?' inquires the Boots, in Pickwick, Chapter II. Thus Sam
Weller's 'Prooshan Blue* is a finely-dressed fellow of the Pickwick-Weller period.
27. See Chapter XXIV.

28. See the opening of Chapter XXII.

29. See Chapter II.

30. See Chapter XX.

A Conundrum:
We have a rather excellent collection of Dinner menus, tickets and general paper items in the club
archives. These date from the very early days of the club, but some can be very misleading in the
dates they bear.
th
th
For example: The ticket for the 10 Annual Dinner was for the 29 . December 1879. The menu for
th
th
the 12 Annual Dinner was dated 7 December 1881.
This implies, to our current thoughts, that the first Annual Dinner would have been in 1869, just a year
BEFORE the club was founded !
There were, however, Season Opening and Closing gatherings, or Runs, and maybe the first few
were considered to be the Annual Dinners – no, I doubt that. Surely it is just possible that there had
been two or more Annual Dinners in a year?
Answers on a postcard, please.

Un air de parfaite béatitude \\
(“an air of perfection”)

‘Mr.Pickwick goes to France’ and has
done so since 1888, with sometimes
more than just a trio.
-
But, he always enjoys his French food

Surtout, interrompit Dambrois, si un
agréable causeur..

(“Especially,interrupted Dambrois, if
a good conversationalist.”)