I really am blessed with the family that I have here in Christchurch and of course the others further afield. I have been in a reflective mood today as I prepare myself for my operation on Monday, but that’s another story…
My cousin and I have become really good friends since we moved closer to her. We have discovered that we have a lot in common and really enjoy getting together and having a laugh.
In preparation for my surgery, I decided to undertake the daunting task of sorting out my ‘not so walk in wardrobe’ not so, because it was a mess and a hazard for someone currently with a walker. Also, not the best even without, but with compromised mobility. So, I decided it needed tidying, so that if anyone was helping me to shower and dress on my return home, that I didn’t end up getting sued for a workplace hazard! It was quite cathartic as it happens. My cousin – bless her – would hold items up one at a time and asked if (a) I liked them and (b) Whether it was feasible I would be able to downsize sufficiently to fit them. She was very honest and we soon developed a short form in our decision making of what pile went where (c) What goes to the charity/Op shop pile and what goes to the sell pile for label items that might be worth selling.
It was a mammoth task, but we broke the back of it in one session, with a bit more to work through when time and energy allows. We were chatting backwards and forwards and she was remarking on how nice some of my clothes were and described some as elegant. The next thing I know she said, ‘elegant elephant’ and I said ‘pardon? Are you calling me an elegant elephant?’ The next thing, I was in fits of laughter to the point where – I don’t know if you do this – I was silently laughing and cracking up. She assured me she hadn’t called me that, but I suppose if you have to be compared to an elephant, at least I was an elegant one! Sorry, cuz, but you know that our conversations often turn into blog or pod fodder, you just give me such gems!
Then we started to talk about funny sayings that develop between couples and/or family members. I told her about a favourite of my husband’s when talking to me about my love of shopping. We were in the airport waiting for a plane somewhere and I had a look around at a souvenir shop that also had some lovely marino ponchoes. I could see them from where I was sitting and said that I would just go and have a look. Of course I came back with one. From that point on, my husband coined the phrase ‘shopportunity’ – an opportunity to shop. Henceforth, whenever we are going anywhere and he doesn’t want to be dragged around shops as part of it, he will often say, ‘this is not a shopportunity’
My cousin liked my word and went on to share one of hers and her partners. I think it’s a goodun’. You know when you are at work and you are trying not to snack between meals? Then there appears something too yummy to resist and you don’t mean to, but you have a ‘snacksident’ – a snack you didn’t mean to have! Gold, pure gold.
We had funny sayings when we were kids and a lot of them – I didn’t find out some of them till I met my very English husband – originated in England. I grew up with a very English father and he had some funny sayings, which I thought he had made up when I was a child. Turns out they are common English sayings, and many of them were Cockney rhyming slang. You get an ear for it over time and sometimes it takes a bit of working out. For example, someone might refer to your face as your boat. Bear with me. Rhyming slang. Boat race face shortened to Boat! Whistle and Flute = suit. Shortened to whistle. Like I said, you sometimes need to work it out. We’ve tried it on our granddaughters and they just think we are crazy.
So, it was a confusing time when I first got together with my husband. Me, being a kiwi girl/child of a Pom father and kiwi mother my now husband had to (a) explain to me some of the English sayings he used and (b) ask me to explain some of our kiwi sayings. Even 20+ years on, we still have the odd surprise come up.
So, here’s a podcast as well if you want to listen. By the way, my cousin and I often refer to ‘Blogs and Pods’ or if just podcasts ‘poddies’. 🙂
My journey with Parkinsons 