Nanny Diaries 3 - Pride and Prejudice

An Enlightening Walk

Miss Ford was a walker. She believed in exercising her litter, as well as making sure that we got the right amount of rest, and as the summer holidays drew to a close, and she got her feet under the table, we had a walk most days. Normally, if the weather was clement, we walked down the lane, past the new school, and came back through the park, where we would stop off for a play, whilst Nanny had a coffee. She always took a child-carrier with her, one of our four-seaters, so that none of us had to walk the whole way, and she put the four who were toddling along with her in reins, just to make sure that no one got run over, or strayed too far away from her. On the Saturday before our return to Deepdene on the Monday, we set off not long after we finished our breakfast as it was a lovely early September morning, and Nicola, Caris, Naomi and I were walking in the reins. Pacifiers in, obviously. And that meant that we got a good look at the first boarders arriving at Deepdene as we reached the far end of the village, and the new main entrance. Apparently, the boarders had to arrive on the Saturday, so that they could be settled in by the time lessons started on the Monday. And as we took the footpath down towards the park, which was right next to one of the new boarding houses, we ran into Annie, who had two very familiar girls in her hands as she walked over to say hello.

"Good morning, Miss Ford...how are you settling in?" Annie asked, as Nanny stopped the child-carrier and put on the brakes. The two girls were Sarah Peters and Emily Carpenter, both of whom I had looked after during my time as a nanny. They were both wearing the familiar Deepdene summer uniform, boaters as well, and had pacifiers in their mouths, and both were staring at me. In reins. Dressed as and behaving like a nursling.

"I can find most things...normally within the opening of one or two wrong doors first...but I love it...even if I am looking forward to handing these seven little munchkins over to you on Monday...I am looking forward to some time off." Nanny said, moving forwards to hug Annie hello. She was wearing her usual skirt and blouse uniform, and Annie, amazingly, was wearing a simple dark blue gown, protected by a white apron, which looked it might be the staff uniform at Deepdene. They had obviously become quite friendly. "And who are these two cuties?"

"Emily Carpenter...who is a cousin...and knows Daphne, and Nicola, especially well...and Sarah Peters...two of our senior alpha boarders." Annie explained with a smile. I blushed, as I sucked on my comforter, because Emily and Sarah were both still staring at me. My sisters and I were wearing sky blue dresses with white collars, and matching summer coats and bonnets. I was also wearing the leather reins harness, which attached me to the child-carrier. "They are about to enter the school...from where they will not emerge until December...front of house is strictly out of bounds once I get them inside."

"I take it you have everything ready for them?" Miss Ford asked, taking my hand.

"Oh, yes...these two will be in dorms sleeping six nurslings...and they each have one nursery nurse assigned to their dorm...they were both in special care at Charlesfield, but I think they will find this is a step up."

"I am told the facilities are impressive?"

"Very...the children only have access to certain areas...the doors all have sensors...so, out of lessons, they are restricted to their own areas. Security is total...the building is huge, and it encircles a large play area, split into paddocks for each unit. So, even when they are allowed outside, they are within the school...and they can only mix with who the staff choose. These little angels will only see other nurslings, and they will have adult supervision twenty-four-seven, with cameras everywhere, and a lot of staff." Annie explained enthusiastically, smiling at Emily and Sarah, who did not seem to share her excitement. "Do you want a tour? We could put your litter out in the paddock and I will walk you round?"

Nanny said yes, of course. She was interested in the childcare aspects of the new boarding school, as I would once have been, but the new me had a rather different perspective. I had got to talk to Sheila Radcliffe many times, as an adult, and then as a maiden, about her ambitions for first Charlesfield, and then the new Deepdene, and I knew that she wanted to provide a safe environment for all girls to learn, within the dictates of the doctrine, and get a good all-round education, whilst growing at their own pace. Like all Reformists, she believed in protecting all children from the pressure of modern life. She detested kids watching too much television, or going online too much, and she was against them having mobile telephones. Her basic objective was to fill her boarder's days with work and suitable extracurricular activities, but when she arrived at Charlesfield, in the wake of Nicola's debacle, she had to introduce special care, and generally increase the quality of supervision and discipline. Both of us agreed with that, more or less, because even then, before I committed myself to the community, I could see the benefits of keeping a child as a nursling. In Caris and Nicola, I had two examples of what could quickly be achieved, and I certainly had no qualms about extending that process to boarders at a school like Charlesfield. But even as we walked through set after set of electric doors, I could see that the new Deepdene facility was something else. More prison than Mallory Towers.