The Enid Blyton Society

Courtenay wrote: Actually, what I at first found really disorienting — literally — is that the sun is on the other side of the sky here. I kept wondering why my sense of direction (which is normally very good) kept going awry as I was walking in London... I finally realised it was because I was instinctively assuming that the sun was in the northern half of the sky!

Also, the water goes down the plughole the opposite way...

Courtenay wrote:what I at first found really disorienting — literally — is that the sun is on the other side of the sky here...:

I don't quite understand this - I am quite dim though!

Here at our holiday cottage the sun sets in the west in front of us.We had assumed west was directly behind us a few miles from the sea.

We have obviously got our geography hopelessly wrong - perhaps due to all the twisty,winding lanes that we followed to get here!

That police 'panda' cars were all fiat pandas.

(I never believed this for 38 years until last week when I found out it was to do with the old colours....honest!!!)

Eddie Muir wrote:As a young child, I remember being told that swallowing fruit seeds could cause appendicitis.

See, now being told that wouldn't have bothered me. The thought of a tree growing in you was offputting and scary, but the thought of appendicitis just created a reaction of 'I can be off school sick and watch tv!'

I did believe for a little time, as a very young child, that if you stepped on the grating over a drain in the pavement, you'd slip through the bars and fall in. I think it was my big sister who told me that...

Hayleymoomin wrote:That police 'panda' cars were all fiat pandas.

(I never believed this for 38 years until last week when I found out it was to do with the old colours....honest!!!)

Back in the 80s, one of the mothers drove her son to school in a Fiat Panda. Except that for years, I misread it and thought that Flat Panda sounded a really strange name for a car!

Stephen wrote:and thought that Flat Panda sounded a really strange name for a car!

Yes - you'd expect it to be Flat Hedgehog!

Or the Australian version would have to be Flat Blue-tongued Lizard.

(Popular joke when I was little: Q. Why did the lizard cross the road? A. To see his flat mate.)

I used to believe that Dr.Spock and Mr Spock were the same person.

That sounds logical...

Courtenay wrote: Or the Australian version would have to be Flat Blue-tongued Lizard.

(Popular joke when I was little: Q. Why did the lizard cross the road? A. To see his flat mate.)

Yeah - same joke when I was at school - Why did the hedgehog cross the road? To see his flat mate!

Ah, well, see, we don't have hedgehogs in Australia. We do have echidnas, but they're shy and usually stay well away from the roads! Big lizards, on the other hand, think a sun-warmed road is a nice hot place to bask, so...

Back to daft things, I remember my mum telling me that when she was little, she believed Kiwi brand shoe polish was made from ground-up kiwis. (The birds, that is, of course. We almost always call the fruit "kiwifruit" in Australia and NZ so as not to get confused.)

Courtenay wrote: Back to daft things, I remember my mum telling me that when she was little, she believed Kiwi brand shoe polish was made from ground-up kiwis. (The birds, that is, of course. We almost always call the fruit "kiwifruit" in Australia and NZ so as not to get confused.)

I used to think that too! When I was little I used to see the Kiwi on the lid and assume it was somehow made of kiwi birds!

Couples who want to be parents fly up to Heaven on chariots made of clouds and choose the soul they like best to be their baby. Don't even ask.