23 SEPTEMBER 1955, Page 26

Country Life

BY IAN NIALL IF the boys sitting on the walls and standing at the crossings on Sunday afternoons in little villages in my part of the world used to specu- late where the cars came from, they were denied their innocent speculation this season with a vengeance. The cars advertised where they had been by the pennant craze, and there were laughs to be had for those who knew some of the places. X is only four miles from X, although the innocent in far-off Z might imagine them to be leagues apart. So many people had been to X and stopped at Y, and a score of undistinguished necks of the woods besides, that their pennants plastered almost every part of front and rear windows. If there was any interest in their approach, it was to see whether they would miss the bridge and go into the stream, and this seemed bound to happen sooner or later as a driver searched frantically for the peephole in his gaudy paper. The craze did not reach a logical end, however. It follows that next season cars (with periscopes?) must surely carry an indication of their destination as well as pennants to show where they have been, and the spectators will then know all about these extrovert travellers.