Day 2 From the Lake District!

Phew!  It was touch and go whether I would ever find internet connection to post yesterday's blogpost!  I sat inside our cabin and was so happy when I managed to find a BTFon connection - logged on fine, paid my money for access and then....poooof!  The connection disappeared as if it had never been there at all!  Grrrrrrrr!  I then spent a rather chilly 30 mins trying to connect using my phone as an access point - which has always worked really well in the past - but, nope - just toooo many hills!  Despite me waving the phone around, climbing on the patio table to put it on the roof of the cabin (yes, really!), I still couldnt get enough signal to post up!  Eventually, we drove out a ways and managed to post up the blogpost from the carpark of the Rheged Centre using my phone!
Here's hoping this one will be easier!
My next notable passage, is when Oliver is apprenticed to the local funeral director.  He has to put up with such hardships, but it is only when his dead mother is insulted that he really strikes back...
"Crimson with fury, Oliver started up; overthrew the chair and table; seized Noah by the throat; shook him, in the violence of his rage, till his teeth chattered in his head; and collecting his whole force into on heavy blow, felled him to the ground.
A minute ago, the boy had looked the quiet child, mild, dejected creature that harsh treatment had made him.  But his spirit was roused at last; the cruel insult to his dead mother had set his blood on fire.  His breast heaved; his attitude was erect; his eye bright and vivid; his whole person changed, as he stood glaring over the cowardly tormentor who now lay crouching at his feet; and defied him with an energy he had never known before.
"He'll murder me!" blubbered Noah.  "Charlotte! Missis! Here's the new boy a murdering of me! Help! Help! Oliver's gone mad! Char-lotte!"
Noah's shouts were responded to, by a loud scream from Charlotte and a louder from Mrs. Sowerberry; the former of whom rushed into the kitchen by a side-door, while the latter paused on the staircase till she was quite certain that it was consistent with the preservation of human life, to come further down.
"Oh, you little wretch!" screamed Charlotte: seizing Oliver with her utmost force, which was about equal to that of a moderately strong man in particularly good training.  "Oh, you little un-grate-ful, mur-de-rous, hor-rid villain!"  And between every syllable, Charlotte gave Oliver a blow with all her might: accompanying it with a scream, for the benefit of society.
Charlotte's fist was by no means a light one; but, lest it should not be effectual in calming Oliver's wrath, Mrs.Sowerberry plunged into the kitchen, and assisted to hold him with one hand, while she scratched his face with the other.  In this favourable position of affairs, Noah rose from the ground, and pommelled him behind.
This was rather too violent exercise to last long.  When they were all wearied out, and could tear and beat no longer, they dragged Oliver, struggling and shouting, but nothing daunted, into the dust-cellar, and there locked him up.  This being done, Mrs. Sowerberry sunk into a chair, and burst into tears."
It's a strange passage to stand out, but it does so for a few reasons.  It's obvious from the telling that Oliver is not equal to the fight and, indeed, has not shown a previous inclination to fight, despite numerous taunts to himself.  It is the insults to his mother which finally propel him to take action.  Every mother knows the battle they face with their sons to persuade them that we don't need anyone to fight our battles and that we can do so ourselves very nicely thank you!  The passage tells of the close bond between mother and child and shows us that this bond has existed throughout time and situations.
Again, on a personal level, Charlotte's manner of striking Oliver in between each syllable, reminds me of sitting in the back seat of our car and arguing with my big brother....my dad would turn round and do exactly the same thing to us!  "If (wallop) you (wallop) don't stop (wallop) arguing (wallop) then (wallop) I will (wallop) pull this car over and (wallop) give you BOTH (wallop) a good wallop (wallop)".  However you look at it, this approach was very effective at making us stop arguing!  In fact, as I type this, my big brother is fast asleep on the sofa, having driven up to join us!
Finally, there is that tongue-in-cheek humour again - the description of Charlotte beautifully conveys her bulk and the dramatics from Mrs Sowerberry when all is over. 
So, yes, it was not the most typical passage to pick as a notable one - but for me, there were things that were so poignant and personal.  And, I guess, that is one of the appeals of Dickens - he speaks to us on many different levels (often in ways we are not consciously aware of). 
I am going to go and nudge my big brother (and now my mother!) awake, go and find my child (who has taken himself off to the stream) and go and have a nice meal out!  Then, I need to find somewhere and somehow to upload this blog post! 
I do so hope you have located your copy of Oliver Twist - I hear that Havering Libraries may have a few available!