Time and Space

Hi Readers,

Another gap between posts but I have an extremely legitimate excuse, and one that I share with immense pride and joy.

Jen and I became Grandparents again last week and it has been a rush organising myself to get up to Qld to see our son Sam, his wife Phoebe, grandson Henry and new grandson Angus John. Needless to say, my attention has been completely focussing on them and my blogging has definitely had to take a back seat.

I'm as happy as a dog with two tails at the moment, it has been such a joy seeing Sam and Phoebe add to their family, and to watch and listen to Henry talk about his new brother.

 

              After all the rough and tumble that I enjoy with Henry, I had to quickly adjust to being quiet and gentle with Angus. I realised how much I'd lost my baby skills!

Now, back to the focus of this post, "Time and Space"

Just over a week ago it was our wedding anniversary, 36 years together. I still count the years together since losing Jen, so that's why I don't stop counting at 34 years.

Anyway, I went up to the cemetery to place fresh flowers at her grave, have a drink, play some of our songs and generally just have some time with her.

Nearby was an older man who looked to me to be doing pretty much the same thing, minus the music. He looked across, gave me a gentle nod to acknowledge my presence then continued to sit quietly. I'll point out here Readers that my music was turned down so as not to interfere with any other people.

I only had one can of drink and when I finished it after 10 mins or so, I noticed this man coming towards me. Clearly he took the finishing of the drink as an appropriate time to approach me.

I can't even remember the first thing that he said, but it was gentle and welcoming.. Something like "It's a nice place to be". We made some initial small talk before he told me that he was visiting his wife who was buried nearby and who passed away 6 months ago. He asked me politely who I was visiting, and when I said it was our anniversary I started to tear up and find it hard to talk. 

All he did next was just place his hand on my shoulder and said nothing. He just gave me the time and space to get myself together again. He was a master of judging when to talk again and didn't push for me to talk when I couldn't, or to reveal things that I'd rather not.

I eventually discovered that he and his wife had 60 years together, what a great effort 👏👏

As I composed myself a bit more the discussion flowed and we talked about lots of things. Eventually it came out that I was a teacher, and he asked where I taught. When I told him he said that his grandkids had gone to school there. When I asked about them it turns out that I conducted the interview for the twin girls when they were enrolling a few years ago. I clearly remember one of them crawling around under the table while I did the interview with the other one, and when it came to swap over the one who had just done the interview told the other what to say and do for each activity that we were asking them to do. It's not a formal interview, just a few questions and activities about numbers, letters, colours etc just to give us an idea of what they could do already.

Suddenly this random person and I had a closer connection and this enabled us to talk about things a bit more deeply as we both had an unfortunate thing in common, having lost our partners. He even shared the same name as my late brother, a name that is not very common at all, and I've only ever known 3 people to have the same name. Ironically, one of these was a recent student at my school. We shared our experiences and thoughts for 15 minutes or so, and I could tell that he knew when it was time for us both to have some time to ourselves again.  

Time and Space.

He went back to his wife's grave for a moment, then came back past me and shook my hand saying that he was looking forward to seeing me again. After he left I went over to see his wife's headstone, and lo and behold I knew another of his sons whose children I taught at another school 20 years ago and had a lot to do with. If I'd known this when I was talking to him we may have ended up chatting for much longer than the 15 mins we had.

This is why I chose this title for the post today. This man clearly knew the importance of giving people time and space, and he taught me a lot about it as well.

Readers, I', not suggesting that we all go and hang around a cemetery looking for someone to practice this on, but what I'm suggesting is that it isn't hard to apply it to our everyday lives.

For example, this week is our last week of holidays before school begins again next week. As such, many teachers have been out at school getting their classrooms prepared for the first day. For me, I prefer to get out there, smash out whatever I need to do then get out. I generally don't want to get stuck having long chats with others as I just want to do what I need to do and then enjoy whatever remaining holiday time I have left. I'll still go and say hello to any others in the building but I will be so conscious of not wasting their time as they may very well be wanting to do the same as me.

There have been times when I've gone out there to do some work, got involved in a long chat then came home with nothing getting done at all, meaning I need to go back again to get done what I intended to do in the first place. I know this sounds selfish, but just as much as I want to get my things done, I'd hate to stop someone else from getting their things done. 

By saying to them in the first place something like "I'm just out here for an hour or two to get things done, so I won't hold you up" enables me to keep the distractions to a minimum.

 Maybe it's just being professionally rude !!

Going back to my opening comments about our new Grandson arriving, as much as I wanted to be around them celebrating this wonderful event, I also needed  to be conscious of the time and space needed for our son and his family.

Who doesn't want to nurse the newborn baby ? But when there are other family and friends visiting too one needs to be very aware of the time and space that each person needs. I have in the past been told about arguments starting between families because "they had more time with the baby than we did".

Luckily I get on so well with the maternal grandparents and nothing like this happens. 

When I flew up to Qld our son said I should stay at his house, but this was something that I had earlier decided was not on the cards. It's busy enough with a 3 year old tearing around the house, and then bringing home a newborn, as well as having regular visitors. So, I booked into nearby accommodation that was walking distance away. I could be there for as long or as little as I wanted, being able to pick the times when they needed some peace and quiet and just time to themselves. Also, if I feel that I'm crowding someone I get so uptight, so that's less stress for everyone !

I've mentioned in previous posts that when we see kids walking to the classroom each day we cannot always tell how they are feeling just by looking at their expressions. Who knows if they have just had the worst/best morning before coming to school ?

So, if we have some suspicions we cannot just barge in and drill them with questions about how they are feeling. A bit of time and space is needed in order to subtly inquire as to where their mindset is at rather than putting them on the spot and possibly erasing any chance of having a successful interaction.

I hear some of you thinking "Yeah that's okay for you as a teacher, but how does it affect us?"

I'm sure you have seen a colleague at work looking a bit down some days, or not as energetic or cheerful as they normally are. Rather than charging in with "Wow, you look shocking today !", how about a more patient and respectful approach ?

Before barging in with saying this straight away, as it can be confronting for some, how about some gentle small talk to set the tone ? Just like the man I met at the cemetery. He could see that I wasn't in the greatest place, but his calm and measured approach enabled us to talk so well to each other.

Time and space.

If you'd asked me to suggest this 10-15 years ago I would have laughed you off. Men don't talk about this stuff !!! Yeah, right.

For so long we have had this macho image to maintain, that men don't cry, display their emotions or talk about their feelings. I get that this was how things were for so long, but realise now that it is so important to be able to do these things and to be vulnerable.

It's not everyone's cup of tea and takes time to be able to settle into it comfortably, but the statistics don't lie when we hear about suicide and self harm rates. Being able to check in on each other and to openly discuss things and support each other takes courage as it is still something many people have trouble with.

I've been so lucky at my work to have so many male colleagues who are prepared to do this, especially after the events of the past two years. Often the support is greatest at the most innocuous time. I was sitting in my classroom one lunchtime catching up on a few things when a particular colleague came in and sat down and just asked "How are you travelling?" I could have flippantly said "I'm fine", but it was in the way that he entered, sat and then respectfully put the question forward that I knew that he was genuinely concerned about me. Just by being able to respond to him by the way he approached me meant that I was able to talk about some things that were concerning me, and he was able to listen and help. If not for him stopping by I may have suppressed those things for even longer.

Time and Space.

We all know that person who enters a room and is loud, bouncy, always upbeat.

But sometimes this can be a bit of a pain as well. I read a bit lately about being aware of "reading the room", meaning we need to quickly survey the mood of the room or group of people or individuals we are approaching. It need only take a second or two to do this, but can have a huge impact on how we are received or acknowledged.

Just because someone looks downcast doesn't mean that we act all happy and positive around them hoping that they will soon be like us. Just read the room and provide that necessary time and space. Some things just take time.

Well Readers,

After reading back through this I realise it sounds very self indulgent, but after spending much of the holidays in situations where I have noticed the need to give people time and space it has really resonated with me.

I also drove back from Qld, leaving at 6.00 am in the morning and getting home at 12.30 am the next day. 17 and a half hours in the car alone with my thoughts, listening to podcasts about this and generally throwing ideas around my head for this post.

I didn't plan on driving for that long, as I planned to stop overnight somewhere along the way. I was going so well and had a few rest stops for fuel and coffee that I just didn't get tired at all. But the next day...😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫 !!!!

I hope that you can all continue to be aware of people around you and know when some need time, others space and some both. I know I need it !!! Plus give yourself the time and space to be who you want to be.

Until my next post,

Cheers 😁

What's Your Story?

 What's Your Story?

Hi Readers,

As usual I go hell for leather for a few days then go missing for a few more ! I do have a few chores to do today, but I was just looking at some blog stats and saw that there was a spike overnight of readers from the USA that surprised me. This has happened a few times in recent weeks where there has been a sudden increase in just one day from a given area. Last night there was a hit of more than 80 readers from the USA, and if you're one of these readers I'd love to know how you got onto my blog and what you think.

Criticisms are always welcome, but thank you also for taking the time to read!! Just hit the comments tab at the bottom of the post, and it can all be done anonymously, as a number of you have taken the opportunity to do so.

This shows where my readers for the past 24 hours have come from.

And this shows what time the spike in the USA occurred.

As I've said in previous posts, I'm not overly fussed if I have no readers, just one or more than 100. I just hope I leave you with something to think about.

Well, back to the point of this post. In many of the books that have inspired me over the past two years, a common theme has resonated with me and changed my outlook on so many things, and how I choose to live my life now, and how it has influenced my mindset as I have grown up. 

We all have had various things that have occurred in our lives and these are often the things that make us who we are. They could be events that happened when we were very young, or even as recently as yesterday, and in this post I'm going to describe some things that have happened in my life that have contributed to who I am today.

Importantly, I hope this triggers your own thoughts, and that you can reflect on stories in your own lives and then start to realise "Ohhh, so that's why I'm like that".

These are in no chronological order, or order of importance. They are just more of my random waffles and ramblings that regular readers are now so accustomed to!

Probably one of the biggest things happened to me very early in my teaching career when I was making ice cream with my class for a maths lesson. A kid in the class who generally struggled quite a bit with maths was having a ball and really getting involved. During the lesson this child came up to me and said "Mr K, these numbers all make sense now!"

WOW !! That was a slap in the face, and although we often thought that we were hitting the mark with our lessons, this moment really made me realise how important it is to make the learning meaningful, relevant and enjoyable for the kids. This doesn't always happen, but it's a mantra that I always keep coming back to. It influenced how I approach my maths teaching, and all other areas where possible. Maths is my main strength, but there are still days when I stop a lesson and openly tell the kids "Let's pull the pin on this now, I'm not doing it well enough, we'll do something else and I'll be better prepared tomorrow"

In a recent post I described how I'm not the greatest teacher of Literacy, but that doesn't mean that I don't give it my best each day. I just go in with the same attitude of trying to make sure that I hit the mark in the best way possible for each kid in the class, and we all know that each student needs a slightly different approach.

So to that child in the ice cream lesson so many years ago...Thank You !!! You have probably saved hundreds of subsequent students in my classes from being subjected to endless days of boredom and drudgery (although some of you may say that I'm still doing it !!!)

I also spent 4 years at boarding school from the ages 14-18.

I was always pretty good at maths all through primary school and really loved it but this was well and truly knocked out of me at secondary school.

It was such a dull and lifeless experience, and the teachers I had made it a 'sink or swim' experience each lesson, or at least hat's how it felt for me.

At one stage in Year 10 we were given a test, and the purpose of this was to see who should go on and do the more advanced maths in the following years, and who should be placed in the "General Maths" group. 

"Vege Maths" was what it was called, and it was for the maths dunces, and I was in it up to my neck.  We were often looked upon as those who were just dumb at maths, and it was openly joked about, even by ourselves. Even now when I catch up with old schoolmates we still joke about having to do 'vege maths'.

This also affected me when I was at Teacher's College as I continued to struggle with maths and actually failed it in my first year, then again in my 2nd year. It wasn't looking great for me in my 3rd and final year, and there was a very real possibility that I wasn't going to graduate as a teacher. Thankfully, Jen ( who I had been going out with by then for 2 years) made me pull my finger out, and without her support and encouragement I doubt that I would have ever become a teacher in the first place.

That experience from secondary school really made me aware that I had to be a better teacher than I was a student, and that I didn't teach like I was taught. 

Hopefully that has been the case.

For those of you who know my family, you'd know that I grew up in a large family of 8 kids. That seems really strange now, but when we were growing up it just seemed that everyone had a large family, but we didn't really see it as large at all. Looking back now I sure do, as Jen and I had our 3 boys and I just couldn't imagine what it would be like to throw in another 5 kids on top of that!!

Anyway, I've digressed again. 

I'm going to use different dates in this next story just for privacy issues, but you'll get the drift.

I always had my birthday on June 5th, but when I turned 15 I got reported playing football for doing something stupid or rough, I can't even recall what I did.

Overseas readers, this means that I got sanctioned, or sort of being given a red card. You are still permitted to continue the game, but must face a tribunal a few days later where you are either cleared or given a suspension.

Anyway, as I was only 15 I was required to provide proof of age by way of my birth certificate. Imagine my surprise when I see on the certificate that I was born on June 4th, and NOT on June 5th, the day I had been having my birthday for 15 years !!

When I pointed this out to my mum, she was not fussed by any means, and just responded with a laugh and said something like "Well there are quite a few of you ! "

It struck me there and then that Mum was not going to let something like this cause any concern, let's just get on with life. When I asked her what we were going to do about it she said that I could keep having my birthday on the day I had incorrectly been having it on, or swap to the correct date next year.

I chose to go with the correct date, and this took some getting used to as I already had my 'birthday date" locked in my mind, and changing to a new one did take some adjusting.

And what did I learn from this?

Some things just don't really matter !! Move on, suck it up, grow a pair !

When things might appear as elephants, stop and see if they are actually ants (see recent post) And it summed up the attitude that our Mum always had, she didn't let little things worry her, and it made her more capable to handle the bigger things in life, something that she covered so well.

I hope that she has taught us to do the same.

As regular readers would be aware, I do love my sport and throughout my life, or since I was about 15 I have always loved running. Unfortunately, my love of it has contributed to many of the ailments that I'll now carry with me for my remaining years. All my own fault Readers, so I'm not for a moment complaining .

This came about by chance to be honest.

Once again, it was at Boarding school and our athletic sports were approaching. We were in class (probably one of my hated 'vege maths' lessons ) when a call came over for volunteers to trial for the 1500m race to assemble on the main oval. Do you reckon that class emptied in a flash !!

I'd never shown any interest in longer distance running, but always enjoyed the aspect of endurance through football training. So we did the trial, I finished somewhere in the middle, but realised that I enjoyed it.

In the subsequent days I found myself and a few others going for runs after school, and then this progressed into keeping it up during holidays, and the rest is history.

I have completed a number of marathons and what I have learnt in terms of dedication, persistence and perseverance has stayed with me since.

Even now as I struggle to walk properly 12 months after major ankle surgery, the lessons that have stayed with me over these years still give me a positive outlook in terms of being able to complete tasks. Sure, I doubt that I'll ever be able to run again, but at least I can hop on a bike. Swimming is going to be a challenge, but I haven't given up hope on that.

Just by skipping that class to trial for a 1500m race has given me untold joy for more than 40 years, and I hope that it has shown our boys how much I value the impact of sport and exercise on one's wellbeing. And to do so much of it with each of them over the years made it even more special.

Now Readers, I'm sure that you have done loads of ultra dumb stuff throughout your lives that you look back at now and wonder "What were we thinking then?"

As early teens, and growing up in a small country town, we all pretty much had to create our own fun. 

When I tell the kids in my class what it was like when I was their age they just cringe, and say things like "So what things could you do?"

For example, there were shows on the tv in the morning, but only for an hour or two, then the tv test pattern would come on until the late afternoon when programs began again. No tv during the day, so it was usually outside creating your own fun.

I do realise that things gradually changed over the years, but I remember my childhood as predominantly an outside existence, often doing things that would get us in trouble these days.

For example, we'd go out in the block behind our place ( we had the pub in our hometown) with friends, grab a couple of air rifles and shoot tin cans, bottles etc. Imagine driving around town today and seeing a bunch of 10 year olds with guns !

We'd also make shanghais and have 'wars", often getting hit in all sorts of places, but just getting on with it as that was expected. Our place had a few olive trees, and they provided an endless supply of ammo for a good part of the year.

A favourite pastime was to get the olives when they were really ripe, go up to the balcony of the pub and shoot at anyone or anything that passed below us in the street!

There was (and still is) a big irrigation channel running through the town. It's roughly 25 metres wide, 3-4 metres deep and usually had a firm current. We'd spend endless days swimming in this murky water, jumping out of trees and having a great old time, even though the pool was right next to it. These days one would be in shock if they saw young kids jumping off the bridges as we have become so sanitised and more safety conscious.

Don't get me wrong, I agree with it too, but these years were so formative for us, not just for the risky behaviours we engaged in, but also in the way that we learnt to look after each other, build relationships across year levels and learn to create our own fun rather than wait for, or expect someone to do it for us.

So how did these few examples in my own life contribute to making me who I am today?

In some respects it made me more aware that I have to get off my arse and make things happen and not be someone who expects something from others all the time. The stories in our own lives can hopefully help us to be able to contribute to our lives and the lives of others more rather than always looking for something to take.

In this post Readers I have tended to focus on events that generally occurred throughout my early and late teens, which kind of makes sense as those were the years when I was really starting to find out who I was. There have been other periods in my life that were just as significant, such as raising our 3 sons, the most important people in my life now who I am incredibly proud of and love dearly. Now that I am a Grandparent, it is a new era, that will change even as early as this week as Grandson number 2 is expected any day now. We welcomed Grandson Henry 3 years ago as a couple, so this time will be vastly different as I do it without Jen to share the joy with. This will no doubt be another story in my life that will further influence who I am and who I want to be.

Speaking of our Grandson, he said something to me over Christmas that really left me thinking about what things he must be thinking about me.

His other Grandmother is also called Jenny, and he calls her Granny Jen. In the car one night he just looked at me calmly and said "Where's your Gran?" He was obviously wondering where his other Grandmother was and saw that while his mum had her parents there, his dad didn't have his 'Gran' with him'. Over time he will come to understand what has happened in recent years, but this has taught me the importance of keeping Jen's memory alive for him. His parents are already doing an amazing job with this.

If anything, losing her has been, and will be the biggest thing that will confront me in my life, and how I navigate what lies ahead of me is still a huge question mark. It's one of the stories of my life that I wish never happened, but it did and I must now continue to face it and learn from it. If anything, it has been the biggest perspective pill and every day I get up and know that whatever presents to me today will be minor to what has happened recently.

So Readers, the stories in our lives help to make us who we are. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. I hope that by reading this that you can reflect, have a laugh, cringe, shed a tear, whatever! It's amazing how when one thinks of a particular event in time it can also trigger so many similar memories from that time also.

I hope it makes you smile.

A big week coming with a new Grandson any day, our Wedding Anniversary on Tuesday and another trip to Qld. 

Life is good.

Until my next post,

Cheers 😁

 Out of Reach

Hi Readers, Another day and yet another post. Talk about motivated and organised!

Well actually, I'm just slopping around the house this morning and doing a bit of a clean up as I have family from interstate coming to stay for a few days.

Do you ever wonder how parts of your house can begin to look untidy even if you rarely or never use them? This frustrates the living daylights out of me, because I'm okay cleaning up after myself, but cleaning up after no-one ??? There must be a ghost living here with me somewhere !!!

This post will be relatively short I feel as I want to do some other things that are not cleaning related, plus this post stems from just two sentences I read last night in a new book that I alluded to in my last post.

I fully realise that I might be jumping on a quote too soon rather than reading the entire book, but it just made me think so much of my own future, as I have no idea what tomorrow will bring let alone next year !

I also might be reacting too much to what may appear to be just a simple comment, but I don't mind. I just love the fact that I'm coming across books that really make me think about the bigger picture, whatever that may be.

To give you some context about the quote, in the opening pages Nedd is only a few hundred km's into a 4 000km fundraising run across Australia. Already his body is under intense stress and he is doubting his own ability to successfully complete what he had set out to do. His mental strength is being challenged just as much as his physical strength. 

I'm sure we've all been like this at times after a really hard workout or physical exertion. Usually we are struggling after just one day of doing it, or just an hour or two. 

Other times it might just be the mental stresses that we encounter in our daily lives.

Nedd is running 100 km a day, and doing this each day for 40 or more days, and at the point of the book right now he has just finished 500 km and already he is fighting his body to get it up and prepared each day for another long day on the road.

I think the pictures help to provide the context.

He is talking about how he needs to be able to shut down his mind and body at the end of each day so that it can fire up again the next day so that he can do it all again.

Now I hear you wondering, what on earth is the quote that is so important????

"How can you train yourself to approach things that way (talking about the strain he is putting himself through), when the future feels perpetually out of reach? You can't"

This really slapped me between the eyes, just like any other quote that resonates with me. As a result, I couldn't even finish the paragraph as my mind was racing with how I was interpreting this statement. Readers, this is why it often takes me so long to read a book as when I come across things that really get me thinking, I put the book down and let my thoughts just wonder about what I have just read. Jen would get just so frustrated with me when I did this, especially if she was waiting to read the book after me. More often than not she'd read a book first before recommending it to me, otherwise she'd be waiting forever !

So what feels out of reach for us?

* Winning Lotto?

* Losing weight ?

* Getting that promotion or job ?

* That new car or holiday ?

etc.

The ones that I mentioned are mainly material things, and sure I'd love to win Lotto ( I'm not that dumb to deny that still !!) but after lying awake for a long period of time last night pondering this I began to understand the statement a bit more.

I don't get out of bed each day striving to win a bucketload of money ( I actually won $8.50 the other night !!), because that's pretty much out of my control. Sure, if I buy a ticket my chances improve to 1:134 490 400 in a $12o million Powerball, very remote, but still a chance.

What I have taken from Nedd so far are more personal goals, dreams and ambitions, and that I just can't do nothing about them, but need to prepare myself each night to do what I can the next day to get the ball rolling again.

As I said earlier, what I'm doing next year is a total blur to me. I have got no idea at all. Do I still want to be teaching? Do I go part-time? Do I look at doing the Barrista course that I've longed to do ( probably not now with my hands the way they are) Do I stay living in Bendigo? 

There are just so many 'what ifs' floating around my brain and at least I have been lucky enough to learn that I have to be careful not to make impulse choices, like I nearly did last year with the ute and caravan !!! (Read previous post for that story!)

What other things in the future feel perpetually out of reach then? Can I train myself to achieve them? Apparently this is too hard according to Nedd, and I'm not saying that you have to agree or disagree with him, but perhaps just wonder about it.

The way I see it is to not see them as perpetually out of reach, but rather as things that I can get part of the way, or as much as possible in reaching them. Striving for something that we see as achievable is much easier to go to sleep with at night rather than creating further anxiety aiming for the impossible.

Sometimes it does feel like this!!

After the events of the past 2 years I still go to sleep at night wondering many things. Will they happen at all? What do I need to do the start things happening?

They won't happen if do diddly squat about them, so there needs to be action and effort from my part.

And this is where I'll digress for a moment Readers (I haven't done that for quite a few posts !!)

Warning !! Vulnerability alert!!

One of the things that has sustained me since mid 2021 has been this blog, and the regular, and more often than not, irregular posts. It is my release and helps me to understand things more clearly. People have said to me things like "Why do you need to write it down?"

I find that when I write it down I think more clearly about it. It works for me, and if that bothers them...not my problem!

I have also had people take me to task about mentioning Jen so often. I can't avoid that as it is the one thing that has affected me the most in my entire life, so I can't ignore it. Think of the events in your life that have affected you the most - do you talk about them or push them to the side? To spend 10 months watching someone fade away and not have it affect you is something that I just cannot fathom. Most of it was done on my own, and now I need to try and find some level of happiness that often feels out of reach, but I mustn't give up on it. Every single day is still incredibly hard, but I'm committed to having a crack at making the most of whatever lays ahead of me. Putting it in the "too hard basket" is not what Jen would want, and neither would anyone around me as I'd be a total loser to them all.

After my recent light hearted posts this one has ventured down "Vulnerability Street", something that I'd never thought I'd be able to do in recent years, but now feel totally comfortable in doing. I hope you understand, and are able to identify things in your own lives that you really do need to take care with how you approach them, but don't give up on them.

We are two weeks into our holidays and while I did get away for a week in Qld, yesterday I just had this nagging feeling that I couldn't put a finger on, until it sort of came to me last night.

For the first time in 18 months I actually have enough mobility to go and do things, and here I am sitting at home. I am looking forward to having family here for a week or so, but it has been the being at home alone that has bugged me, when I should be out doing things. I think I just got used to being at home unable to do much, but that is going to change I can tell you!!!

Admittedly I do have to be in Bendigo for doctor appointments, but once they are done a new bike is on the cards, another trip to QLD and hopefully some totally random trips away. When one has been incapacitated to some degree it is so easy to remain in that space even after recovery ( using that term loosely Readers!!) 

This where I am reaching out for the things that have seemed perpetually out of reach. Sure, running is the one thing that I'd dearly love to do again, but I'm realistic enough to realise that is out of the question. I now look for substitutions for the things that I want to do. They might not cut it like the things that I was once able to do, but as they are still within my reach then I'll go for them.

As for my bike, I'm enjoying the opportunity of searching for what I think will best suit me.

And after buying a new bike for our Grandson Henry, I just can't wait to go for a ride with him ❤️

Well Readers, I went a bit deeper than I had intended, but as I said, this is what helps me to reach out for the things that may seem at times to be perpetually out of reach. I may not get there, but at least I'll have a crack.

I hope you do too.

Until my next post,

Cheers 😁

Things we just know, for no reason!

 Things we just know, for no reason!

Hi Readers, another day, another post. Quite a good way to spend the early days of my holidays after a busy week away to start with. I also think that the body is encouraging me to take things easy for a few days as there are a number of 'hotspots' crying out for some love and attention 😖

I left a little message at the end of my last post as to what this one would be about, but let me tell you where the idea came from to start with.

Last week I drove from the Gold Coast up to Caloundra in Queensland, a trip that took 3 hours each way for a number of reasons. On the way up the traffic was fairly slow all the way to Brisbane due to the severe storm damage from the night before, and the road was littered with tree debris.

After finally getting to Caloundra and fulfilling a long held promise to catch up with great friends Anne and Lee, it was back in the car for the trip home.

This was a nightmare, and after travelling at no more than 30 kmh for about an hour I definitely had plenty of think time while crawling along at a snail's pace.

There was a discussion on the radio and for the life of me I can't even remember what it was precisely about, but at one point a caller said that Sydney weather is more volatile than Perth's because Sydney is further north.

BANG!! My attention level piqued, because I know for a fact that Perth is further north than Sydney. Why do I know that?

I heard some people arguing about it one day, so rather than continue listening to the argument, I decided to find out for myself, and that fact has stayed with me since.

Maybe for some reason we perceive Sydney to be further north as there are more places to associate it with, or compare it to ?

Why? Probably because I didn't know myself and was interested to find out.

It is a piece of trivial information that has no bearing on my life, but by finding this one out, it dawned on me that there are so many other things like this that I now know, that 99% of the rest of the world could not give the slightest bit of interest to.

For the record :

   Sydney.  33.8688° S, 151.2093° E

   Perth      31.9514° S, 115.8617° E

And why do we remember these things???

I have no idea. Sometimes I have trouble remembering what I watched on television last night, but I can remember how may seconds in total that Dustin Martin had the ball in his possession when he kicked 4 goals in the 2020 Grand Final !!

They can be great discussion starters in those awkward moments of silence we all experience from time to time, but please, choose ones that are appropriate to each situation!!! You could use them when you feel that they can add further to what you are talking about, making you look pretty good with your "amazing knowledge" when in fact it may be the one and only thing that you know about that subject !

In recent years I have collected quite a few of these facts and figures, and many of them are prone to change as they might be feats of endurance, weather changes or sporting records just to name a few.

Added to this, I have been fortunate to have been able to present workshops at maths conferences in recent years, and I have used these facts and figures as ways to get participants interested to start with.

For all I know, they might have been the only interesting part of the workshops to start with !!!

So Readers, let me bore you with some of the things that have stuck with me, and then perhaps it might encourage you to think about things "that you just know" for no particular reason.

I bet that some of you might even check the validity of some of these, but as far as I'm aware, they were accurate at the time that I wrote them down back in July of 2023.

If you catch me out, I have no problem, I'm sure they are still pretty accurate. Just by getting you to challenge me on them is a great response, I'll embrace it !!

Here we go....

Now it's 2.00.35  !!!!!!!

For my overseas Readers, please forgive me for my indulgences with my favourite Australian Rules Football team, but it ALWAYS gets a reaction here !!!

There might be facts and figures here that interest you, or most likely they bore you to tears. However, I'm sure you must "know some things that you just know" that would similarly excite me !!🥱

Feel free to share some if you have the time!

That's about it for today Readers, I must admit I'm feeling really glad that I've been able to punch out a few posts over recent days, as it's clearly something I love doing, but just don't organise my time well enough to do it.

As for what my next post will be about, I'm unsure, but there's a very good chance that some inspiration will be coming from a book written by ultra distance runner Nedd Brockmann. Thanks for lending it to me Squidgy!!!

Until my next post Readers,

Cheers 😁