A brand new metal bucket and spade, suppose they make them all out of plastic today but when I was growing up we had good old sharp implements to move sand. One lack of concentration and Oops, off goes a toe, that's why adults of my age (ancient) walk a little wobbly it's got nothing to do with alcohol whatsoever.
Anyway, first day at Great Yarmouth, I remember it as if it was yesterday. Bucket at the ready and using the best sand from the edge of the sea I built a castle, it had a keep, moat and four turrets. I stood back with pride to admire it and to watch a dog nonchalantly walk up and destroy the drawbridge with a torrent of wee. See, memories are made of this, if I had just built the sand castle and nothing happened I wouldn't necessary have remembered it.
It's the fault of the sunny weather, it's got me remembering all sorts of things from over the years. In Blackpool at the boating lake in Stanley Park we watched an old lady trying to retrieve her false teeth that had come out attached to a sandwich which was amusing enough but had then she plopped in the water after tipping the balance a little too far trying to retrieve them. She surfaced covered in mud but clutching her teeth, the only bit of white left. She used the boating lakes tap to clean herself off and rinse the teeth before popping them back in.
We went to Prague and ate a lot of sausages and looked at fancy clocks. During our visit we had a private guide and car to take us around all the historic sights which was great. Our guide though bore a striking resemblance to Rosa Klebb from the bond movies so I developed a nervous twitch every time she shuffled her feet after having flashbacks to the steel point that shoots out of them in the film. She showed us such a lot hidden from the tourist trail on a four hour tour that took us through the streets in the car and on foot, she even added a few of her own personal stories from WWII which were quite moving.
As the car turned down one of the narrow streets obviously not used to traffic the tourists slowly parted but at the end of the street out stepped two armed guards. It didn't look good, they both stood blocking the street brandishing their machine guns and pointing in our direction. Frantic babbling came from our guide and the driver which of course we didn't understand a word of but by their tone it didn't sound good. Tap,tap,tap. A third guard was tapping on my window with his gun, he'd approached from the back to make sure we couldn't reverse. Luckily I had bought a change of pants so that was my least concern, I looked at Jayne then back at the barrel of the gun. OMG!
To cut a long story short I didn't get shot and I didn't need any new pants. What followed was an heated argument with plenty of fingers hovering over triggers as our guide explained our reasons for cruising past an Embassy on high alert in an unofficial car. Nothing like a bit of danger to clear your head, needless to say we all sighed with relief as we turned the corner, they never did realise our guide worked for SMERSH.
Back in England, this time Blakeney, Norfolk and a chance to see the high Spring tides engulf the streets. A spectacle itself as Blakeney suddenly ends and the sea starts. We have stayed in Blakeney for many years but this was the first time we had seen what was to be one of the highest tides they had seen for many a year. I made a little paper boat and set it to sea from the high street, not something you could do everyday but it made me remember it even more.
In Filey I was accosted by a rampant horse on the beach and in Whitby, North Yorkshire found a blue lobster and saw the only surviving hand of glory in the world, which if you don't know is a pickled hand of a criminal that had been cut off whilst they were still on the gallows. The idea is you use it like a candle and light the fingers of a house you are about to burgle, if any of the fingers refuse to light then the occupants of the house are awake. As long as the fingers remain burning then the householders will sleep.
See, it's often the strangest or simple things you remember so I tend to try to do things differently to create a memory, mundanity makes things forgetful. The paper boat in Blakeney is typical, simple but memorable. So today create a memory, do something off the wall to remember it by. It doesn't have to be anything dramatic or life changing just something out of character or fun. The more you do it the more fun it gets and pretty much you will start to build up a mental image of warm memories.
Anyway, as part of the task above a few days ago I noticed that a sculpture I had made out of card, Quavers and Wotsits had started to look a little shabby as the colour and I assume fat leeched out of the snacks so I started an experiment to see which leeched the most over three days.
As you can see its starting to look a little grim, it's even worse when you remove the snacks.
A massive stain from one whilst the other has left barely anything. Pointless I'd admit but it's furthered my knowledge of corn based snacks although the jury's still out on if that's a good thing or not. Why do it all though? Well, its all down to keeping things interesting and memorable. It may seem childish and irrelevant but without these little diversions things can get a tad boring. This blog acts as a catalyst for my creativity, filling the blog with stuff, some of it irrelevant, requires a lot of thought and this in turn kickstarts my creativity processes for the day and stirs my memories. Go on, do something different today!
www.petersmithcollective.co.uk Home Of Foreverbunny and the Impossimals
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