Jack continues with his pursuit of marrying Wendy – – –

At the end of last week’s episode our intrepid heroine was heading to Newfoundland to start her PhD in Folklore at Memorial University in St. Johns. This to add to her degree in journalism, her other degree in German and her masters in education (mine at that point were a certificate in education and a diploma in painting and decorating!).

She set off from her parents’ house in Knoxville in her ancient and bedraggled Toyota – with non-working windows, a muffler that didn’t muffle, a headliner that draped over your head and engine that broke down frequently. I was a bit worried!

As her travels progressed the car did breakdown often and, at one point, she caught a serious cold. Luckily that happened in Maine where I was able to contact friends who organized a garage and accommodation until she recovered. There were no cell phones back then so contact was sporadic and sometimes when I phoned her Mom, who sounded very like Wendy, to find out how she was doing I would think I was talking to Wendy. Her Mom found that highly amusing!

Eventually she arrived at Memorial, found somewhere to stay and started her studies. The first class was in transcribing field recordings to be made by her and her fellow students of local ‘worthies’, but this was October in Newfoundland and the snow was already higher than the houses! As her fellow students donned their gear and headed out she remembered an evening in Tennessee and a Scottish guy. That’s how our first meeting is a fully transcribed tape lodged in the folklore archives of Memorial University and cross-referenced under ‘courting rituals’.