people

I used to believe…

When i was 6 yrs old, our washing machine had broken down and i had run out of clean knickers, i had to wear my brothers Y fronts. I asked my brother who is 3 yrs older than me, what the hole was for, he replied that's were you keep your dinner money, true to form I did, and come lunch time, suprisingly, i could not find my 50p!!

I used to believe…

When I was about 9 my friend told me that she used to have a twin sister called Abby who dies when she was little, but I couldn't say anything to her mum about it because she would get really sad and start crying. So for many years I believed her and gave her mum a sad sympathetic look whenever I saw her!

I was born on my sister's second birthday. For years, when either of us went to a friend's birthday party, we could not understand why THEIR siblings weren't also celebrating a birthday!
We had assumed that all siblings were born on the same day.

I used to believe…

For a while - approximately when I was between five and nine years old - I was only to invite as many friends for my birthday party as I was old, i.e. six guests for my sixth birthday and so on. Since I was never the kind of person who has a million friends, that was reasonable and probably added to the ceremonial feel of my birthday, making me enjoy it more. I did wonder, however, where in the world I was going to find, say, 23 friends worth inviting for my 23rd birthday, and I thought that maybe part of why I couldn't remember a lot about the early parts of my life was that it simply wasn't worth it - what good is a birthday party with two guests?

I used to believe that when I turn 25, the government will send me a form that said I had to change my name (it was mandatory). I decided I would change it to Lucy.

I used to believe…

When I was little, I couldn't understand why I had freckles and my brother didn't. My dad told me I followed a cow too close and when he pooped it splattered on my face. I spent hours trying to wash them off.

I used to believe…

Adults used to tell me when I made an ugly face at the same time the little bell in Rome ran, my face would stay that way forever. One of the teachers at ellementary school had weird lips and I wondered that might be because she was showing an ugly face when the bell in Rome rang.

I used to believe that the name Geoff (Jeff) was pronounced Gee-off and I still sometimes
mistakenly say it that way even now. Also I used to think that the name Penelope was
pronouced like Pennell-lope (with the lope part sounding like antel(lope).

I used to wander what my name would be in other languages. I thought that names worked the same way as words.

I used to believe…

My 4 year old nephew kept asking me why his shadow follows him everywhere. I asked him to dance like the bear in Jungle book, shaking his butt real hard so he could shake the shadow off. Imagine his parents and me rolling on the ground laughing when he tried this real hard for 15 minutes!

I used to believe…

My birthday is in the middle of July, around the time of the British Grand Prix which takes place near the English village of Silverstone, occasionally my birthday fell upon the same day as the race. I knew that Silverstone was quite near to where we lived, but just how close was a mystery. Anyhow, each year the flying diaplay team the Red Arrows would fly around the area with their trails of smoke leaving pretty patterns in the sky, and my loving parents declared to me that they had organised the display in honour of my birthday. This made feel very special, as I was little. It wasn't until we moved to Silverstone, 4 miles down the road, in 1993 when i was 7 that I realised that my mother and father were compulsive liars and that the Red Arrows had nothing to do with my birthday, but were in actual fact to celebrate the British GP. They even drew hearts in the sky to "show you how much we love you". I'm 16 now, and more ignorant than naive.

I used to believe…

When I was a kid my good friend who was a couple years younger than me couldn't understand how I was older than her if her birthday was before mine. Her birthday was actually a couple of weeks before mine, she just didn't understand that I was born a couple of years before her.

I used to believe…

When he was small, my brother's hero was Nelson. I remember us being told that Nelson's name was really DAVID HORATIO NELSON (my brother's name is David), and we believed our parents. It was only recently when I was reading about Nelson to my own son that I queried with my husband why the name David was not mentioned in the Ladybird book - OOPS!!!!!

I was around 2 when my aunt started dating the man who eventually became my uncle David. He had really long, black hair (this was the early 70's) and I thought he was the neatest person. I got a doll not long after that with long black hair and I named her David. No one bothered to correct me. I got a doll for Xmas when I was 3 and I named her Yogurt Chevrolet. I thought that was the most beautiful name in the world.

I used to believe…

When I was small I used to go and stay with a friend called Pene. So on Monday morning when I wrote the usual �what I did at the weekend�, I would write �This weekend I went to Penis house�, I didn�t know how to write Pene�s so would just join the words pen and is together. Looking back on it I�m surprised my parents weren�t arrested, and I wasn�t taken into care :)

I used to believe…

When I was 5, sitting outside a hotel in a rented convertible, I saw a very fat man walk by. Much to my dad's embarrasment and to the fat man's amusment I quipped "Boy, if he was skinny he sure would be tall, huh dad?"
Apparently I thought people did not loose weight, they just rearranged it.