Wednesday 5 October 2022

Chilly dismal day

The thermometer tells me it is warmer today but my body tells me something quite different.   It is grey and it is raining on and off.  A string of "beads" hangs along the washing line. It will be nice to get all closed up for the night - the doors locked and the curtains drawn and one or two programmes I enjoy on TV.   At the moment there is  a programme on to find the best woodworker in the country.   So far competitors have made a dining table in Week 1, a clock in Week 2 and now, tonight a toy.   They are such gifted people I am sad that people have to be eliminated.

I must also - as promised - tell you the book we are reading in this month's book group.   It is "The Night Tiger" by Yangsze Shoo - a story set in Malaysia.  Both my friend M and I are enjoying the book immensely. 

What a difference the sun makes.   As I have been sitting here doing my blog the sun has emerged and the wind has dropped and it is altogether a much nicer day.   I might even have a stroll along the patio.   See you in a few minutes...... 

Two hours later huge black clouds have loomed in and beads hang heavy on the washing line again.

A couple of days ago, when friend M called we were talking of what we did as children before television and we both remembered the same things.   On Winter evenings my parents and I (both my older siblings had by this time left home and were out in the wide world and friend M was an only child )played 'pencil and paper games' - and how it widened our general knowledge: capital cities of the counties in the British Isles, capital cities of the world, rivers of the world, wild flowers, birds, and many more topics,   I loved it (probably because I swotted up and usually won but I guess that is why my parents encouraged me to play.)    I do notice now that on University Challenge contestants have a very scant knowledge of these areas but incredible knowledge of much more 'serious' subjects.   How times have changed  I only am able ro answer when there is a question on wild flowers or birds;  my son beats me every week!

Time to get myself some tea - not sure what until I look what's available.   Until tomorrow:

17 comments:

Debby said...

I love hearing the stories of your childhood. Although I am 25 years younger than you are, our television reception was often down. I read. We played board games. We told each other stories. I wrote letters.

Rachel Phillips said...

I relied on my education at school and my father's atlas and European football locations where Man Utd went. I was mostly on my own except my youngest brother and I had a quiz book which was all general knowledge and we knew it off by heart.

Barbara Rogers said...

I don't know if the road games we played with my children were part of my growing up, or just the fun my husband and I enjoyed...name states, and the next state must begin with the last letter of the state just named. Same for capitols of state. (Not sure if we did countries.) Many more spelling and memory teasing games on long trips. 20 Questions.

Derek Faulkner said...

We were promised a couple of hours rain this afternoon but of course, it never happened, we remained dry. It's going to be dry and sunny tomorrow and the next few days and so our drought goes on and is beginning to look like it could endure into the winter.

Anonymous said...

My brother and I would make roads out of matchsticks on the carpet, for his Matchbox cars. It took a long time, then there was the game itself (he had quite a collection of these little cars), and to my Mother's delight in keeping us quiet, the time-consuming dismantling of many roads ,and packing away.
The card game Snap was always popular, as was Snakes and Ladders and Ludo, and road games such as Spotto.
-Pam

JayCee said...

Dad would play The Spelling Game with us. He would open the dictionary at random and read out a word. My sister and I had to take turns in trying to spell it correctly and also guess what the word meant. He always seemed to pick the difficult ones so we had to work hard at getting it right!

Tom Stephenson said...

H.I has become a bit obsessed with University Challenge recently. I think it was sparked off when she saw some old episodes with our current chancellor.

Heather said...

It was ridiculously mild this morning with a lively breeze, but by afternoon the temperature dropped and I was glad to put the fire on. Clearer skies tonight and I spotted one star and the moon. Both are rare as I live surrounded by street lamps, houses and trees which hide a rising moon.

Susan said...

Lucky you are to get your walk in the sunshine between showers. It has rained all day here. First, as children, our family always ate dinner together in the dining room. During dinner, we each had to talk about our day and exchange pleasantries. Dinner was never eaten quickly. That was my mother's rule. We played board games including: Monopoly, Scrabble and Chess. Occasionally, my father wanted a card game and he taught us how to play several games.

Ana Dunk said...

I was an only child. My dad worked long hard hours so he would go to bed earlier than my mother and I. I entertained my self with drawing, reading, and paper dolls. We seldom traveled so it was a treat to watch out the window at passing scenes - no car games, in fact very little interaction between the 3 of us. My dad did take us fishing. I would fish and my mom would sit on a blanket and read. I really did not know how to play with others as there were no children who lived near me. The few times we did visit another family, I preferred to sit on the floor and read their Encyclopedia Brittanica than to play with the other little girl. To this day I am an avid reader, sometimes to the detriment of doing more necessary things.

Cro Magnon said...

I was away at school from an early age so always had a good entourage. We played all the usual sports, and had masses of 'prep' every night, so no time to waste.

Anonymous said...

I hope Ana Dunk had a better time socially at school.
The families surrounding us all had boys, so I would have loved Pat's paper and pencil games with a friend, but my younger brother and his friends were not the type, and my parents too busy, so retreat into books was good, - I really became wonderfully lost in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S.Lewis, my husband when small was a Swallows and Amazons fan evidently, and loved board and card games.
Thanks for prompting interesting reports back Pat. -Pam.

Librarian said...

Although we did have a TV set when I was little (I was born in 1968), there weren't always things for us to watch, and when the weather was good and we were playing outside, my Mum would never call us inside for Children's Hour.
I loved reading as soon as I mastered it and could spend hours on end on my own, while my sister was doing other things (often reading, too). We also played with our lego and other toys a lot, and we had board games such as Monopoly. Like Ana Dunk, we loved paper dolls and often made our own.

CG said...

Children's Hour with Uncle Mac at 5 o'clock was an unmissable event.
Those wonderful BBC serials: The Eagle of the Ninth, The Pirates of the Deep Green Sea, The Bos of Delights - and many, many others.

Jennifer said...

Although I was born in 1975 and there were plenty of TV shows to watch, I don't remember watching a lot of TV as a child. (Of course, when I say there were "plenty" of things to watch, it was nothing compared to the endless number of shows and movies on offer 24/7 today).
Being an only child without even cousins my age, I spent a LOT of my childhood holed up in my room, reading. Books have always been my escape and refuge from the time I first learned to read!

The Weaver of Grass said...

Anon - when my son was young in the late seventies and early eighties his two passions - Lego and all the Swallows and Amazons series of books.
Tom did you watch Jeremy Paxman speaking about living with Parkinsons?
Barbara R - interesting games to play.
What interesting lives you had as children - I wonder what the correlation is between this and the fact that you are all blogging?

Thanks to one andall.

Rambler said...

We didn't have a TV until I turned 11, and previous to that Mum, Dad and. I played card games, dominoes - and Patience once Mum & Dad had other things to do.
These were a novelty for my grandchildren when they came to spend time with me in more recent times, a complete change from their phones, X Boxes and other technical 'stuff'.