My Fair Lady

is not the sort of musical most of the younger generations  has even heard of but the Senior Cat once knew it very well. He even participated in productions of it. 

It has to be said here that the Senior Cat is definitely not particularly musical. He cannot sing in tune and he has no sense of rhythm. Class music lessons under the Senior Cat were not fun. He tried but he still tells the story of how he could not dance a horn pipe of some sort and was thus left out of a class performance. (Nowadays he would have to be included and he says that would have been more embarrassing.)

But the Senior Cat likes the musicals of that era. He is a Gilbert and Sullivan fan too - and was once known for being one of those who could change the lyrics to include very up to date political witticisms. 

Yesterday he phoned me. When was I coming over again? He knew I would not be in yesterday. Tomorrow? Good. Would I please find the DVD of My Fair Lady and bring it over. Yes of course. I was surprised he did not have it there but it was in his little stack of DVDs. 

And what did he want it for - apart from to watch it yet again? I knew there had to be a reason.  

I could almost hear him purring. He's teaching English to two members of the staff. They are actually staying behind for twenty minutes after their shifts end. Twenty minutes is long enough for them and for him. He is going to play a short excerpt to illustrate a point he wants to make. Right. I don't know what they will make of it but he obviously hasn't lost his ability to prepare short lessons and teach them.

The staff there who don't speak English particularly well will stop me and ask me. They will stop Middle Cat too. Like the Senior Cat we "do English" (as one of the staff put it) naturally. I have to stop myself from correcting people publicly, judge whether they are someone who will appreciate being told quietly that "in English we  say....". I can sometimes say, "In Portuguese you say but in English we put it this way" or "In Indonesian you put the words that way around but in English we do it this way." And no, I do not speak these languages. I really know very little about them. There are just things I have managed to learn over many years. The Senior Cat works in other ways. His lessons tend to be rather more formal. He thinks about other things - like grammar and vocabulary. 

H..., who works there and does speak English as her first language, told me, "You have no idea how much it helps that your father is taking an interest in helping them with their English." 

Oh I know, I really do know. You have no idea how much it helps him.