That moment......

[ohareward]

at the side of the road was a the most beautiful robin singing his heart out

How nice.

Robin

[Wombat]

Nice share Boots.

Inspiring and very much appreciated. (insert *Hug* smiley)

Nev

[Jack]

Gidday

Well I answered this earlier today but it didn't get onto here so I guess I betta be careful cos I must have said somethin that shouldn't have bin said.

First, Thank you very much Nev for sharing that. It really takes guts to be weak enough to share your personal weaknesses. And when you do, you gain a beautiful strength Eh!

Now about that robin singing. At one time long ago, in my life, I was having to mow lawns in the city for an income. Whilst doing that we had a bit of a party out at our place where people came out from the Church I was attending.

One man said how much he just loved coming out to us in the country, where he could sit and listen to the birds singing. Now that really amazed me, as I said I was mowing lawns in the city with a motor mower, not the quietest sorta thing, and that meant that I had to wear ear mufs also.

Now I have always remembered what that joker said because I distinctly remember how even with the mower still running and the earmufs on I would often stop to listen to a particular bird singing, sometimes a bell bird, sometimes a tui and sometimes even an old blackbird or thrush.

Perhaps I am lucky enough to be so in tune with nature.

But here is a challenge to all ewe jokers.

DONT WAIT FOR A TRAFFIC JAM.

[ohareward]

Hi Nev, I have just read your post. It must have taken great courage to be able to bring that out in the open. I take my hat off to you mate. For an Aussie, (all B..ls..t aside) you would be a good bloke to know.

Robin

[Wombat]

Hi Nev, I have just read your post. It must have taken great courage to be able to bring that out in the open. I take my hat off to you mate. For an Aussie, (all B..ls..t aside) you would be a good bloke to know.

Robin

I'll take that as a compliment Sir Robin *bows low*

Nev

[Millymollymandy]

You're all so good with words. Are you touchy-feely, open and huggy type of people in real life? I can't express myself in either spoken or written words.

[Jack]

Gidday

Me touchy feely, go to hell with that sorta thing.

I hate it. The only touchy I feel O.K. with is a good hard handshake.

But what is wrong with stopping to listen to nature?

[Wombat]

You're all so good with words. Are you touchy-feely, open and huggy type of people in real life? I can't express myself in either spoken or written words.

I am very touchy feely, but only with women , which has gotten me in trouble , so these days I am only touchy feely with Mrs Wombat.

Nev

[Millymollymandy]

No I don't suppose guys would ever admit to being touchy-feely except in the way Nev has!

Jack I wasn't so much talking about birdsong as about Nev's post and the responses to it.

[ohareward]

My second boy had been overseas for about four years and he came home. We met him at the airport and as we approached each other I gave him a big hug. He pulled back to look at me and saw that I was really pleased to see him, and then he hugged me back. Before that we just used to shake hands. I have no problem showing my affections in public. My oldest son, who lives in Japan, and I, always hug and kiss each other on the cheek when we first meet.

Robin

[Millymollymandy]

I, too, much prefer to give people who I care about a good hug than this silly two or three kisses on the cheeks (don't forget I live in France so the British do this kissy stuff here too). If I see the people often I think the kissing is even more silly but it is the custom. Some of my French friends only do 2 because they think any more is a waste of time, so you never know round here whether to do 2, 3 or even 4!

[the.fee.fairy]

I'm not good at expressing myself in a sensitive way either m3 - that's why i've stayed quiet on this thread!

[red]

these days I am guilty of spending too much time standing and staring - watching a bumble bee disappear into a foxglove, or the shine on a beetle's back or the way the rain hangs off the leave or the colours of autumn etc etc. Only I don't feel that guilty either.
I've been resisting replying to this thread for fear of seeming a bit twee or over dramatic.. but here goes anyway..
About a decade ago - the doctors decided that my son's muscle disorder was likely to be a particular nasty one. this being before google, I had to stand in a bookshop and read about it in a family medical book - not nice at all - the children with this disease were unlikely to make it past 10.. (the good news is the tests eventually proved he does not have this disease) however.. there I am with this news, the doctors are pretty sure... and I came home and it must have been spring time cos there are my daffodils bobbing away happily in the sunshine and the birds tweeting away and I know it sounds daft - but I was cross with them! how dare they be all happy and sunny when the bottom has just fallen out of my world!
But then of course I realised that they were innocent, that they didn't know that something bad had happened to someone else, they were just doing what they do.
That was a moment that changed me. I do now spend alot of time standing and staring and enjoying what there is to enjoy, and also - we dont have a diagnosis for my son, all tests showed nothing, but we are happy with that, as not knowing makes everything possible - sometimes ignorance is bliss.

[Thomzo]

Thanks all you guys for sharing these very personal feelings. I really appreciated reading your experiences. It does help so much to understand your own feelings if you know that others feel them too.

My experience sounds really trivial compared to some of you but it really did help me to understand a massive amount about my personality.

I had always had a bit of a phobia about the telephone, or rather about making phone calls. It sounds really silly and I felt really silly. My OH couldn't understand it and my friends took the micky out of me, but I hated making phone calls. If the phone rang I could pick it up but initiating a call was a real problem.

Then, a couple of years ago, I was working in a house where there was a young family. One of the children wanted to telephone a friend. Her father was helping her to look up the number and make the phone call. I suddenly realised that when I was that age my parents wouldn't have let me use the phone as we couldn't afford it. My "phobia" wasn't a phobia at all, simply that I had been trained as a child not to use the phone. It made me realise just how much of my adult life had been affected by the way my parents had brought me up.

Cheers
Zoe

[Millymollymandy]

I hate making phone calls too, always have done and always will, and I flatly refuse to do them in French! I don't think your answer fits for me though. I'm glad you worked it out for yourself; I wish I could have some revelations about my hang ups.