I lived in the countryside and when I was young we were a much more rural economy. Agriculture employed thousands of people and they knew where their food came from and what went on in the countryside. Now most farm buildings have been turned into holiday lets. My family has some tents in the woods for glamping – and one punter recently asked my daughter-in-law if there were any dangerous animals in the woods. She said, as though expecting to impress with her general knowledge, that she knew there were no tigers or lions, but how about bears? I presume she was thinking of the old song:
“If you go down in the woods today, you’d better not go alone
It’s lovely down in the woods today, but safer to stay at home
For every bear that ever there was
Will gather there for certain because
Today’s the day the teddy bears have their picnic”
I think she may have missed a key word there!
I heard a couple of other things recently that made me despair about the level of knowledge regarding the countryside. One was asking about chickens being pregnant and the other was someone thinking that potatoes grew on bushes! Mark you my brother was, like me, a farmer’s child, and he once drew my father a picture of a duck with four legs. When I was at school we didn’t have Sex Ed but we learnt about reproduction in rabbits. My grandchildren know far more about the sex lives of humans than I did, or probably do even now, but I’m probably way ahead of them on rabbits.. I’m still confused by binary and non-binary – and please don’t try to explain – I think this should be on a need to know basis and, and I have no need, or indeed needs in that direction. Approximately 17% of us live in rural areas. I have no idea why I have started looking up all these percentages – I think it may have something to do with my addiction to Google. As a child the encyclopaedia Britannica played a very important role in our lives. We constantly looked things up but the whole world ran at a slower pace then and facts remained the same for years. Roger Bannister broke the 4 minute mile and that record stayed in place for 46 days!! So,Mr Google has proved that things did change even then, but I’m pretty sure it would have remained in the encyclopaedia until the next edition came out.
Food is another area where I am rapidly becoming a minority. I don’t have any allergies or intolerances – unfortunately I can (and do!) eat everything, much to the despair of my doctor, who patiently explains to me that in order to lose weight I have to eat less – who knew! I am (obviously) an omnivore in a world increasingly full of vegans, vegetarians, pescatarians and flexitarians. These statistics are fun! I have just found out that 44% of people have allergies and about another 10% have intolerances. And on top of that 10% are vegetarian and 4% are vegans. Not sure what difference all that makes to my assertion that I belong to a minority group.
On top of all of this, I was privately educated at boarding schools – which means that my parents paid a fortune for me to receive a cursory education – but I did learn how to address a duchess, to curtsey and how to answer an invitation – and to live under the most appalling conditions with one bath a week and inedible food! That was privilege in those days – presumably it was meant to toughen us up and in that it was pretty successful. My peers and I don’t whinge (much). I’ve managed to live a more comfortable life since then but if I had been sent to prison for any reason in the years immediately after leaving school it would have been a piece of cake! Just for fun let’s see how many of us had the advantages (using the word loosely) of a private school. Apparently it is just over 5%. Needless to say, I was expelled from school for reasons that I don’t need to go into here!
Moving on to tattoos – something I don’t really understand. I’m a great believer in freedom of choice and it appears that an awful lot of people are enamoured of tattoos but I can’t understand why. I can imagine that a percentage will get them after a drunken night out when it seems like a terrific idea. I’m getting addicted to these statistics and I’ve found out that 42% of women in this country have tattoos versus only 29% of men and that seems surprising), but there don’t seem to be any figures about regretting the inking.
And finally, I live alone – something that only 14% of us do in this country. It is surprisingly restful living by oneself. If my husband was still alive it would be wonderful but nobody could be a substitute for him and even if I could find someone I’m fairly confident that they wouldn’t fancy living with me!!
Has Anyone Seen My Glasses? 
Thoroughly enjoyed your blog (is that the correct term), what percentage of people in their 50’s are being left behind with pc (computer not politically correct) terminology. Binary has a different meaning now to the meaning I learnt years ago. Totally agree with all you’ve commented on, especially the blue eye shadow (I too never understood that choice)!! Brilliant. Thanks. Fun read.
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Thank you so much – it is lovely when people comment – particularly if they are nice ones!!!
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Well it is a nice way of keeping in touch too. I did dream about you last night after reading your blog, we were all on diets and you were on one that made you lose a pound an hour, do let me know which diet you were on, the alarm went off and I woke up! 😜☹️Simon enjoyed your latest blog too, no doubt you will hear from him soon, love Elaine. (Are you allowed to put personal content on blog replies, or are they read by all and sundry)?
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They are read by all and sundry, but as I don’t have that many followers it is not a huge audience!!! If you have the dream again can you find out what the diet was? xxx
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Simon reckons it’s the crematorium diet!!
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My sister and I were discussing the art of letter-writing recently, and how we were taught it at school, and how much superior we were for it than ‘young-people-nowadays’ – lol! It’s curmudgeonly good fun (curmudgeonly gets a bad rap!). This hasn’t got much to do with your blog, but it made me remember it 🙂
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There are so many things about one’s youth that have disappeared – including letter writing – the poor old postman must get depressed knowing that about 90% of what he delivers will end up in the bin! Glad it triggered some memories.
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Another absolute gem Stella! Keep them coming and thank you. Xxxxxxx
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Thank you! Just trying to keep the brain from going to complete mush!
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