!yaD sdrawkcaB yppaH

January 31^st is Backwards Day.

Truly... who thinks up these things?

Incredibly, after several minutes spent “Googling” Backwards Day, I was unable to find much information on this day of celebration.

I guess, sometimes... It’s fun just to do something and not worry about the whys and whos!

So... ideas...

Wear your clothes backwards... go on, I dare you!

Have breakfast for dinner and dinner for breakfast

Play a game – starting at the finish

Paint an upside down picture

Watch a move backwards

Read a book from the back page to the first page

Say the alphabet backwards

Sdrawkcab secnetnes etirw

Walk backwards along the beach

 

Another suggestion was to learn some palindromes.

(Think – A man a plan a canal Panama)

Palindromes read the same backwards or forwards!

Here are some palindromes I found while searching for the reason behind Backwards Day:

kayak

race car

never odd or even

do geese see God?

a Toyota

was it Eliot’s toilet I saw?

a nut for a jar of tuna

aerate pet area

Dennis sinned

Madame, not one man is selfless; I name not one, madam

I guess we may as well celebrate Backwards Day -

it's technically Forwards Day for the next 365 days!

Pop Pop Pop

I almost missed this one!

(Thanks for the reminder!)

Bubble Wrap

Is there anything more fun than stamping all over a huge sheet of bubble wrap, setting of a fire-works-worthy noise!  Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day is celebrated on the last Monday of January each year. (Yes... each year! This is an annual event!  It started in 2001 – a Radio Station was responsible for the creation of Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day.  I can’t believe it took this long for Bubble wrap Appreciation Day to come about... Bubble wrap has been around for over 50 years!)

Bubble Wrap was invented in 1957 by two guys who wanted to make plastic wallpaper with a paper backing.  Great idea, right? Well, unfortunately, the idea did not take off, but... Marc Chavannes and Al Fielding had accidentally created a cushioning packaging material.  Now this is an idea which did take off!  They raised $9000 to fund a developmental production line. Today, their company is the leading worldwide manufacturer of all kinds of bubbly-wrap-stuff.  Their $9000 has become an annual revenue of over $3billion.

And for the quirky fact:

Apparently, “One minute of popping bubble wrap equates to the same tension release as a 30 minute massage!”  What an incredibly time efficient tension reliever...

and cheap, too!

Get thee to the Bubble Wrap –

Before the cat has all the fun!

Inane Answering Message Day

I have to admit...

I had no idea what this could be about and considered letting the day pass quietly by.  But... I persisted, Googled it and found some interesting information.

I’m not good with telephones. I don’t like calling people and am reluctant to answer a ringing phone if I don’t know who’s calling me.

When I finally prepare myself to make a call -  

The worst thing that could happen....

The answering machine.

Now I’m off my game...

How long does the beep last? Did I say everything I needed to before hanging up?  Did I leave my name? My number? Ohh, the pressure!

Now... imagine this...

I dial someone.

There’s a voice answering my call...

“Hello?”  I start talking, only to be interrupted mid-sentence with “Hello?”  This continues for some time before the voice finally admits that no one is home and I am to leave a message.  By now, I feel stupid and can no longer keep track of my thoughts and hang up.

This is one example of an Inane Answering Phone Message.

Another, is a whole group of people all yelling at the phone that they are not home and then giggling at the fun of it... Or maybe, there are two people, newly in love, saying a sentence at a time... Maybe a pet gets to leave their own message... National Inane Answering Message Day was set up to rid the world of the awkwardness of these terrible messages. (Imagine a world with no stupid messages...)

 Unfortunately, the Day’s title is ambiguous.

Some people have taken it to mean that the world needs more inane answering machine messages and whole masses of people take to their ‘phones in order to create stupid, impractical voicemail messages.

 Of course, there’s always the interpretation that sends some people to their phones to make prank calls... leaving crazy messages for people they don’t know.  I’m hoping that I won’t get a flood of such messages today!

There is a young lady who feels the opposite of me in this regard.  She has set up a website, requesting people leave her unusual and ridiculous messages.  Her name is Sarah Manolis.  Her website has the phone details if you want to listen to some strange messages... or even leave her one yourself!

Whatever the interpretation...

might turn my phone off today.

I found info. here and here.

Chip Crumbs and Riddle Answers

Earlier today

I posted some puzzles

on this blog.

Now for some answers...

 

1. a towel
2. a cob of corn
3. Those hand rails you hold onto
when you walk up stairs
4. a cold

5. a nose
6. a newspaper
7. a postage stamp
8. a sponge

Puzzling Chips

So... In mere hours,

I will be back at work. 

My time will be scheduled for me. 

Like Pavlov’s Dogs, I

 will be responding to the ringing of bells.

Already, my head is starting to prepare itself for the thousands of questions, instructions, pieces of information, schedules and upcoming events which will start flooding in, with the ringing of the first bell, on Monday morning.

My almost-working brain

has also turned itself to The Hairy Cow....

the poor, almost neglected Cow.

This year, I’ll blog about interesting people I discover and interesting things that happen.  I will continue to recognise important dates and occasions.  Many of these were set up as fund-raisers for sad situations, like sickness and early death... So, in order to add a little wacky-cheerfulness, I’ll blog about crazy celebration days too.  Why not? Every Special Day was thought up by someone and there are so many, that people have started to recognise ridiculous things.

I’ve felt a few moments of regret this afternoon. 

I can’t believe how many wonderful days

I was unable to celebrate this year. 

I’ll list a few:

Run Up The Flagpole and See If Anybody Salutes it Day...

 Humiliation Day...

Drinking Straw Day...

Trivia Day...   

Peculiar People Day...  

Step In A Puddle and Splash Your Friend Day...

Ditch New Year’s Resolutions Day...   

Answer Your Cat’s Questions Day and

Measure Your Feet Day.

Luckily, I didn’t miss today’s events!

It’s Puzzle Day! 

And... It’s Corn Chip Day.

Corn chips?  Well, we’ve been

eating them for 50 years,

so ... why not?

And puzzles...  Way back in 1760 John Spilsbury lived in London.  He was an engraver and a map-maker.  He created the first jigsaw puzzle.  He mounted one of his maps on some hardwood and cut around the borders of the countries.  We’ve come a long way since that first jigsaw puzzle.  So, today’s challenge... grab a bag of corn chips and your favourite puzzle.... could be a cryptic crossword, a jigsaw, a find a word, a rubrics’ cube or some word puzzles.  Munch on the chips as you solve the puzzle.

If you don’t have any puzzles...

Try these:

1.  What gets wetter and wetter the more it dries?

2.            You throw away the outside and cook the inside. Then you eat the outside and throw away the inside. What did you eat?

3.            What goes up and down the stairs without moving?

4.            What can you catch but not throw?

5.            I can run but not walk. What am I?

6.            What's black and white and red all over?

7. What goes around the world but stays in a corner?

8.            I have holes in my top and bottom, my left and right, and in the middle. But I still hold water. What am I?

How’d you go? Did you finish those chips?

There’s a house in Australia where people go to be terrified.  They go there to spend the night – but they don’t get much sleep.  The house has ghosts.

Monte Cristo is arguably

the most haunted house in Australia.

In 1876, Christopher William Crawley acquired some land in a remote area.  By 1878 the Great Southern Railway Line was running through the area and Crawley’s Hotel was making him rich.  Crawley wielded so much power over the area that he was regarded as the Town Founder and owned almost all of the land.  He was generous, financing the construction of several civic projects, including a church.

Crawley needed a home worthy of his wealthy status, and so Monte Christo was built.  The home certainly stood out as the best in the area.  It sat atop a hill, overlooking the surrounding land, symbolic of Crawley’s position within the town.

The house was built from sandstock bricks fired on site and laid with a drystone foundation. (I’m not certain what this means, but after a century – not one crack has appeared in the brickwork!)  The upper and lower walls are made of brick.  The upper walls are 9 inches thick while the lower walls are 18 inches thick – 18 inches!  The ceilings are 12 feet high.  Needless to say, it was a “fancy pants” house and more information on its glory can be read here.

The Crawley’s seven children were sent to equally fancy pants schools and were all very talented in the music and art fields. The boys became doctors and solicitors.

Like many fancy homes, servants complained about their harsh treatment by the family.  Today, stories of torture, murder and suicide help to increase interest in the home.

William Crawley died at the house, on the 14^th of December.  He died “from heart failure, secondary to blood poisoning caused by a carbuncle on his neck becoming infected from rubbing up against a starched collar”. (There’s a lot to be said for not using starch!)

For the next 23 years, Mrs Crawley left the house on only two occasions!  She died in the house on the 12^th of August.  She was 92.  She died of “heart failure, secondary to a ruptured appendix”.  Monte Christ remained a family home until 1948, but the fancy pants days were over.  During the next decade, furniture was sold off, the house lost its shine, was vandalised and neglected.  In 1963 it was purchased by Reg and Olive Ryan.  Ryan loved the home so much that he spend countless dollars returning the ruined home to its former glory.

They sometimes returned home and discovered their new home blazing in lights – even when the electricity was disconnected.

Now, it’s a ghost house... There are reportedly at least ten ghosts living within the building.  People travel from all over the world to sleep in the bedrooms of the Monte Christo.... some of those people eventually fall asleep in their own cars, parked down the hill and far away from the home.

Many mediums have reportedly run, screaming from the home...

The stairs seem to be an especially haunted area of the house. ... Especially for children, who often scream as they move up them.  Often children without asthma suffer severe asthmatic reactions.   People have reported feeling unseen forces, preventing them from climbing the stairs.

Reassuringly, Reg Ryan has never had a bad experience from the ghosts he shares a home with.  Proof to me that, a ghost can live in your home ... peacefully... leaving you to live your own life.

A group of ghost hunters spend a weekend in Monte Christo.  They did not capture any ghostly evidence on their visual or audio devices.  They did discover a floorboard, used by Reg Ryan to trigger the opening of a cupboard door.  Neat trick for scaring paying guests...

I can’t help but wonder what other tricks are used to create scary sensations during the night...

But, would I like to spend a night in the Monte Christo?

No.

Bumpy Nights

.

Flickering lights...

Dripping taps...

Cold patches...

Ghosts. 

The last few nights, I’ve been super-sensitive to the things that go bump in the night!  Each time the fan flicks the sheet... each time my hair brushes my face.  I’m sensing things that aren’t there... or ... are they?  I went to Google in search of answers.  The first thing I learned, was that my sudden on-rush of nerves as the minutes approach midnight are... unnecessary!  Midnight’s not the ghost time!  It’s really 3am!  (Knowing that, I still find myself rushing to get myself into bed before ten to midnight – Just in case!)

So, this 3am thing seems to be related to Christianity... 

I wonder when the ghosts from other religions start to visit?

Apparently, Jesus Christ died at 3pm.  3am is the direct opposite time – and demons and evil spirits are the opposite to Jesus...So, the scariest time of the night is 3am.

It seems that everyone agrees that ghosts are the spirits of people who’ve died and that if there was violence when they died, the ghosts will be more likely to stick around to haunt the place.

Something I didn’t know – there are two kinds of ghosts: residual and walking.  The walking ghosts roam around, while the residual ones are the kind to stick to one place. Residual ghosts relive an event again and again and seem unable to react with a living human.

I guess that makes the walking kind scarier!

Strangely enough, if you have a ghost hanging around, scaring you.... You can tell it to leave you alone!  If you want it to leave the building forever, you have to say that.

Before it seems that I have taken on a mocking tone, I should admit to saying these words...

out loud...

with conviction!

(repeatedly!)

I lived in a house where I didn’t feel welcome.  There were a few indicators of this.  Apart from the constantly dripping tap, there were no other stereotypical signs of a ghostly presence.... But, I knew something was there.

I knew it when my feet were touched and when I was pushed and when I saw flashes of white.

So, photographical evidence?  I’m sceptical of photos plastered online – unless they’ve been examined and scrutinised for fraud and tampering!

I’m more tempted to believe photos taken many, many years ago, when tampering was a little more difficult.  I found some cool pictures!

The Brown Lady rates as one of the best ghost pictures ever.

The ghost is believed to be Lady Dorothy Townshend, wife of Charles Townshend, 2^nd Viscount of Raynham.  They lived in Norfolk, England in the 1700s.  It’s reported that Charles suspected her of infidelity.  Legally, she died and was buried in 1726, but it is rumoured that the funeral was a sham and he had her locked up in a room for several more years!  Obviously, she was not impressed!  Her ghost was seen in the early 1800s by King George IV and again in 1835 by a Colonel.  Three more people saw her a few years later.  The famous photo was taken in September 1936 by Captain Provand and Indre Shira.

It’s hard to dismiss that photo...

(And King George IV saw it!)

The next picture was taken on the 16^th of November 1968.  The solid looking man was giving a speech and the shadowy looking guy is supposedly his brother, who died in 1944.  (Apparently, the critics accept it as an unaltered photo) 

The photo I most enjoyed was the one of the WWI soldiers.  The soldiers posed for a photo – not realising that there was another person posing, too.  I zoomed in on the photograph and the “extra” person was clearly there!  He’s in the top row, behind the man fourth from the left.  The extra man is apparently Freddy Jackson, who’s funeral had taken place earlier the same day this photo was taken.

Strangely enough, I’ve discovered that telling people to be gentle when they visit me works!  I’m expecting another visitor soon... I invited him.  What I’m starting to worry about, is that I didn’t tell him to be gentle.  He enjoyed playing pranks – so... I’m almost expecting him to pull the sheets from my bed!  I know the fear is irrational... but so are the pre-midnight jitters and I can’t stop them!

So... all ghosts out there... Could you please pass on my request for gentle pats and no funny business!

Second Chances in Bangkok

I went on a bike ride once.

It was a sunny day... 

I passed some waterways,

a few groves of trees and some incredible people.

I was in Bangkok... ... and I was riding through the slums of Klong Toey.  Piles of rubbish lay on the greasy streets, alleys were stinking of urine and homes were built from whatever scraps of timber and tin that could be found.  The people living in the slums were dressed in simple clothes.  Some of the children held grubby stuffed toys, while most played in the dirt by the railway.

I was an expatriate, working in a Thai school.

At the end of my two years,

I packed up my stuff and left.

Many, many years earlier... I was living in the North East of Thailand.  A Canadian friend of mine was leaving our small town in the North East.  She had thrown away her shirts, filthy from constant wear in a hot, sticky town.  So I was stunned, the next day, when I saw a man wearing her shirt as he walked down the road.  He’d obviously found her clothes in the garbage, washed them and was making use of them.

Sometimes, it’s easy to forget

just how much

“good stuff” we have.

 

Jodie, Chris and Family

I recently heard about Second Chance Bangkok.

An Aussie couple (Jodie and Chris) have been living in the slums of Klong Toey (Bangkok) for a few years now.  They have set up Second Chance Bangkok to help the people living in the slums.

The basic idea seems to be that people donate the stuff they no longer want... and women in the group resell the goods.  The money they make, helps them provide for their families.

Clothes are sewn into bags or toys... clothes, home-goods, skateboards and toys are resold... and dignity and hope are restored.

 

baby boy

Second Chance Bangkok provides a solution to the unwanted stuff that people end up packing, storing, and then... eventually... throwing away.  Unwanted items can be donated (and there is even a “pick-up” service!) – saving the stress of packing the “stuff” in the first place! The donation of these items means that people find jobs, money becomes available in a community stricken by poverty, children are given a chance.

Another great opportunity provided by Second Chance Bangkok, is the Summer Break Holiday Programs provided for the children of the slums.  The kids are given the chance to watch movies, go swimming and participate in camping and crafting activities.

Money raised goes to projects that support needy children and their families... Children with special needs are assisted... education scholarships are awarded... medicines can be purchased.

Jodie and Chris have taken “sustainability” and “recycling” to a different stage.

Having seen that man wearing my friend’s ratty old shirt... I know that the people of the Klong Toey slums must be so grateful for the new chances they are being given.

Great job, Second Chance Bangkok!