Whose Memory Is Correct?

  Many years ago I started to write some of my memories from my youth down (and they are still around somewhere on Floppy Discs,) but I was discouraged when someone challenged my memories and so I stopped. Recently however, I have been encouraged by my son to jot some more down on paper. Well at least, on the computer. So I am currently doing so now, but in no particular order or chronology, but simply when currently inspired to jot them down. This brings me to the point of this particular Blog. Whose Memory is correct?

 Often, as I found to my discouragement, others memories disagree with ours. Yes, this can be so, but does that make any of them/us fully right or fully wrong? Remember these memories are of how one particular person experienced a certain event, and often people can experience the same event from a different angle or perspective to you and have a completely different memory to yours.

When I was not even a month past 11 years of age, the 1962 Bushfires passed around our house and so has become an indelible time line in my life, with just a few memories before it and a host after it. Getting married; Becoming a believer In Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour; Going to Africa; and coming back from Africa, have also become major defining times in my life.

 Going back to the 62 Fires, are my memories of it correct? Depends it seems on who you talk to. For instance I was talking to my two brothers earlier this year about the 62 Bushfires.  My oldest brother was there at the time, as was I, but our other brother was on Holiday with a mate and his family at Philip Island.  During our discussion earlier this year I mentioned one aspect about the Fire and a certain Gentleman who was there and who took charge of things where I was. My oldest brother started to disagree strongly saying that the person whom I mentioned wasn’t even there then. At which point our other brother (who wasn’t there at the time of the Fire) backed my story, saying that dad had often mentioned that the man I had mentioned, had indeed been there, and taken charge of things because initially, dad was not back from fighting the fire elsewhere.. At which point my older brother remembered that he and I, had in fact been on different sides of the Creek and with a different group of people, hence our experiences and memories differed greatly. Not because either of us were wrong but because both of us saw and experienced it from a different side of the Creek and from a different angle and perspective.

 So, if someone’s memories differ from yours, it is possible that they or you are wrong but more likely that they have seen and experienced it from different angles. So please check your facts before commenting and if they, or even I, have gotten the facts wrong, please forgive and please gently correct where needed. However, do remember that even though many people may experience the same event, that doesn’t mean that they experienced it in the same way or angle as you, and thus may well remember it differently to you. Again this does not make either of you right or wrong.  It just means that you may have experienced it from different angles.

Do you know/understand what a virgule is?

I feel/ suspect that you, like me till today, have no idea what a virgule is. Nor how to properly pronounce it (\VUR-gyool\) But while you may not know/understand what a virgule is, I believe/know that you see and use them regularly.  In fact in just reading this far, you have seen/read six of them so far and will see another five before you finish. If you finish!

So what is a virgule? According to Word of the day for July 28/2016, a virgule is 1. a short oblique stroke (/) between two words indicating that whichever is appropriate may be chosen to complete the sense of the text in which they occur: The defendant and his/her attorney must appear in court.
2. a dividing line, as in dates, fractions, a run-in passage of poetry to show verse division, etc.: 3/21/27;

 So a virgule is a thing most of us use regularly without knowing its name and are happy enough about that so far, not to even want to know its name. Which is fine for things I guess but not fine when we treat people like that, is it?

I wonder how many of us treat people like we treat the virgule. We see them, even use them or their services, but barely recognise them, let alone know their names. Maybe you are even being treated like a virgule yourself. What say you from your perspective and what can you do about it. Wood love to hear from you on this subject. TOWPG.

Aspidistras Again.

 Here is something  I wrote about 18 months ago but obviously forgot to post then:

 About five years ago now I wrote a Blog called, “Aspidistras making a comeback again”, describing how a plant once very, very popular in the early part of the 20^th Century but then had gone out of favour by the late 20^th Century, only to come back into fashion again this century.

Lately I have seen how these once out of date plants come back into popularity with my own eyes. In my previous Blog I mentioned that although my mother grew it, it wasn’t particularly a favourite of mine. However when 3 years ago, when cleaning out the long overgrown ivy in our block of units I found a clump of Aspidistras that someone had dumped there. Loathe to let any, even if only semi desirable, plants die, I transplanted it into a 12 inch pot and more or less forgot about it until early this year when I decided it badly needed repotting as it was already splitting the plastic pots sides.

For the past 3 years my wife and I have been volunteering at a nearby Brotherhood of Saint Lawrence Opportunity Shop,; and knowing my intrest in plants and having some old pots they deemed unsaleable, they were given to me to use if I could. So I took these 3 unsaleable pots and divided up the Aspidistras into them, but also keeping a small clump for myself. I then took the other 3 pots of Aspidistras up to the Op shop where they sold within a week and brought in over $50 for Charity work.

So inspired by this, when my daughter asked me to dig out and throw away most of the Aspidistras in her Garden I brought them home, divided them up into 10 large old unused pots I had lying around and grew them on for a little while, before taking a couple at a time up to the Op shop to sell. A few weeks later I have 3 pots left that I still deem too small to sell, but the other seven have all been quicly sold and raised over $130 for Charity.

Not too bad an effort for some old pots, a bit of soil and some plants not wanted by one person but obviously still desired by others; many others it seems!

But enough of me, what about you? What things or plants do you have lying around that you don’t really want but don’t really want to throw away either? Perhaps, with a little effort on your part, you can clean or fix them up a little, or like with plants, pot and grow them on a little and then donate them to a local Charity, school or Church Fete etc?

 Over to you now for your thoughts on the matter. TOWGP.

Have you got the right Person?

My wife and I went up to the Polling Booth in our local Primary school this morning to Vote in Australia's Federal Election.  We went early to avoid any long queues and although I had no problem, the poor lady  handing out the voting forms, just could not get it through her head that  my wife was not our daughter. (They have the same two Christian names but in reverse order.) Even though our daughter has a different address and voting I.D. Number to what my wife showed the lady , it took her nearly 5 minutes to finally work it out despite a bit of urging from us.

 As an appendix, when our daughter went to vote at her local school, she was asked, not if she was her mother, but whether she was another person with the same two christian names (albeit with different spellings for both names) who it turns out was registered in the very next line to our daughter's name!

Moral to the Story? Not sure there is one; but it is a good reminder to us all, I think, to thoroughly check our facts and not just go with the first thing/name we see and assume it is the only one of that name etc.

What about you? Do you have any stories of mix ups with names?

Jacks Got A New Master

 Jacks got a new master, albeit only for a little while longer hopefully.  You may not know, but I have been walking the dogs (now dog) around  our area for the past 4 years now and in that time, have gotten to know a few of the other dogs and their walkers. Some, I have learnt the names of; others I only know in relation to their dog's names. Such as Ricky's mum & Jack's Master etc.

 Since our last dog has passed on, I have changed my then regular route and  so don't see some of them as much as I used to. Jack was one I used to see a lot of; and often even when driving would often see them.  Today I went to take CoCo for a walk, she stopped at the end of our drive looking at the Water Easement  exit across the road. Eventually I saw Jack come out of the bushes now growing there. As I hadn't seen him or his master for a little while, even though I was heading in the other direction, I decided to wait till his master appeared and say hello. 

Eventually a young lady appeared with jack's lead in her hand. A bit confused I called out and asked if that was indeed Jack. When she said it was I said I often saw him and his Master but hadn't for a while. She said that he was her father; and when I asked how he was, she said He was okay now and able to walk a little bit now. Turns out he climbed up a ladder to get onto the roof and the ladder went with him on it and he did his knee/leg in.

 Another reason why I won't get up on to the roof, (even though I do want to check it and the spouting) unless someone is around in case I too fall; and the weather/roof is a lot drier than it is now.

What about you now? Is there something you really would like to do now, but for health and/or safety reasons, really should leave for a better time?  Better to do so than pay the price like Jack's master is currently, don't you think?