happy thoughts, whenever the wind blows

I am feeling a little out of sorts today. We have moved into our new apartment as of yesterday morning and now have to furnish it and find an Argos or Woolworths equivalent for boring but necessary stuff and sadly this is proving to be a major headache. I am feeling sorry for myself and wishing I already had vast amounts of local knowledge so every easy thing wasn't made so difficult. This is not really the frame of mind to be in, and wallowing in my own self pity helps not a jot. So I have been focusing on my happy thoughts so I can beat the Dementors.

When my younger brother finished his A Levels, he decided to send all of his teachers thank you cards, but being an inarticulate hormone pumped seventeen year old, he struggled to know what to write to express his personal thanks for all the help his teachers had given him. The card he wrote to his Biology teacher Mrs Risby read as follows:

Dear Mrs Risby,

Thank you very much for all the help you have given me with my Biology A Level (there is some artistic licence here, it may have been slightly different, but you get the general impression)

So far so good (and normal which is a bonus), then it struck him that this formality did not do justice to the teacher / pupil relationship which they had formed and said nothing of the respect he had etc, so he finished with, what would become to me the immortal words….

Whenever the wind blows, I will hear your name, Risby.

To say we mocked him would be the understatement of all time. When I had explained to him at length and in between floods of mirth-tears (what a good expression, I’ll use that again) that she would actually be freaked out by this and may issue a court order against him, he was utterly, utterly mortified. They never spoke again. I like to think though that she would have in fact known exactly what he was like and probably be flattered, but it was important that he learnt this lesson. It has done him no good at all.

The list of his social misdemeanours rivals mine and that is my happy thought for today - I am in truly excellent company.