Sunday, October 26, 2008

Dib dib dib


I reckon I'd be a great boy scout or girl guide. As it was, I never graduated from the lowest ranks having left the enclave following a tense 'discussion' between my Dad and the leader of the group about a cement mushroom...

Anyhoo, so now I'm in my summer years, I find when I leave the house I'm quite literally prepared for anything.

Doesn't everyone carry around spare tea bags? An even number of panadols (so I always have the correct dosage of two)? An entire Bodleian Library of shopping lists? Random keys from forgotten doors? A range of non-perishable foodstuffs (with bag-fluff attached)? Enough chargers to form a make-shift clothesline (perhaps to drape your shirt over while you sew on the replacement button you've been carrying around for longer than you've known how to tie a shoe, using the little sewing kit you stole from a Best Western in 1984)?

Mercy, last time I looked I even found a badge, never worn, that I bought for a conference in 2005. Says the badge: "Ars longa, vita brevis" which I'm pretty sure translates to "life is too short to carry around a badge for three years".

On reflection, it's not about being prepared (afterall, if I'm away from home and a situation arises I can simply exchange money for goods and services, right?) but about being a borderline nutbar hoarder, and frankly, that's a whole lot easier to explain than a cement mushroom.

4 comments:

Senji said...

I dig that cement mushroom.

Kettle said...

Of all the things a small child can skip around, they chose a mushroom? Perhaps if the Democrats had similarly chosen an idol from the Fungal Kingdom they would have had more success...

Anonymous said...

So what was the mushroom 'discussion' about?

Kettle said...

Excellent question, Anon. The mushroom discussion was about the fact that one should be able to send their child/ren to naff activities without said child/ren receiving head wounds from cement mushrooms. Anyhoo, it was the end of a naff childhood activity, and I was ok with that.