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Like most people my age… OK – take that back. Like a lot of people my age – or maybe just a few people my age – I have what we term ‘grey’ moments. Or perhaps that should be ‘beige’.
For quite a while now I’ll be driving somewhere and will suddenly realise that I don’t have a clue where I am – and I do not mean on long journeys. This has happened driving through the village I live in. I will suddenly find myself upstairs trying to work out what it was I went up there for. Or stride purposefully out into the garden to perform some task that has vanished from the memory banks.
The plaque in the picture sits in the middle of what is left of our village green. It is a metal plaque and rather heavy and it has clearly been there since 1992. I walk past it often – in fact, I probably walk past it most days. Except for one day a couple of years back when I didn’t exactly walk past as I discovered when the corner came firmly into contact with my head. That was when I discovered how heavy and firmly anchored in the ground it is! And as I staggered to a bench, blood dripping freely down my face turning my glasses red and opaque, I clearly remember wondering who it was that put this damn thing there before remembering that it had always been there.
All of which is irrelevant to what I was going to say. It was the date that caught my eye yesterday. 1992 being the last tine my village won the award which, I am told, it had won several times before. I hope it is purely coincidental that I moved here in 1993.
Andy..I don’t wish to be unkind but…does your village have a resident idiot?
Thuds last blog post..Birthdaze
@Thud: Actually – as it happens – it really does have one!
Although I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that a few people think I’m at the very least, somewhat odd or eccentric. I mean that’s what my family think…
Too funny. What you called a “grey” or “beige” moment is called a “senior” moment in the United States. And I’ve never seen a “Best Kept Village” sign in my life. We have “Yard of the Month” awards within a subdivision of homes, usually awarded by the association of local homeowners when there is such an association. Lots of subdivisions don’t have one at all, and therefore no “Yard of the Month.” It’s considered by many to be an elitist thing, more a source of disdain than pride. But maybe that’s just jealousy rearing its ugly head. So just who would be empowered to confer a “Best Kept Village” award?
Oh, and the best way to figure out what you went upstairs for is to return to the place you started (do I hear T. S. Eliot?) and it will usually occur to you all of a sudden what it was that you needed.
Glad to be of assistance.
Bob Bragues last blog post..I have received another award
@Bob Brague: “So just who would be empowered to confer a “Best Kept Village” award?”
Well – as this is local government we are talking about here, there is no doubt some sort of ‘Environment Committee’ who have a ‘Rural Village Affairs’ sub-committee who in turn have a ‘Keep our Villages Tidy’ action sub-committee who probably have a ‘Best Kept Village Award’ sub-committee that meets once a week and has lunch in a village pub.
Or… it could be some spotty faced kid who works in the Mail department and picks the village name out of a big sweet jar once a year.
But knowing a little about local authorities, I go for the former!