I have a memory of when I was eighteen. I had some flexibility, was wrinkle- and debt-free, and could easily get away with wearing horizontal stripes. I was at a dance in my home town and this song came on, and a male school friend exclaimed, 'I LOVE this song!', and I am pretty sure we danced to it (we also danced many years later at my thirty year Year 10 reunion, but that's another story). Back then, I didn't love the song; I considered it naff and performed by an attention-seeking androgyne whose talent was debatable.
Fast forward to today. I was trudging around the supermarket, wondering whether my knees would creak and crackle like a roll of bubble wrap in the hands of a hyperactive kid, and colour me flabbergasted when that song came on Coles Radio! Making the connection that something I danced to as a teen is now supermarket fare brought me to the lugubrious realisation that I'm getting old.
The song? Why, none other than the silly Calling Your Name by some dude who called himself Marilyn. And he was a damned sight prettier than many of the girls who danced to it. I realise that as a woman who has Everybody Wang Chung Tonight in her play list, I should probably not deride things as naff, but Calling Your Name was as naff and kitschy as a velveteen figure of a cat playing fiddle and sitting on a toadstool. Also, if it ends up as elevator muzak, I'm taking the stairs.
Speaking of songs, I attended a trivia game last night. I haven't played at this establishment before, and wanted to scope it out. I was playing on my own, and came in third out of five teams, so I'm quite chuffed with myself. There are times when it comes in handy to know Vilnius is the capital city of Lithuania. Getting back to songs, I was able to identify the mystery snippet as Kashmir by Led Zeppelin, and gave the correct year of release for Counting the Beat. I regarded the other contestants, mainly twenty-something hipsters, and crowed, 'It comes in handy being old!' Well, we were given pictures of album covers, and had to write down the titles of said albums. I got none of these ones correct. Apparently that album by 50 Cent is not called Unlistenable Tone Deaf Shit. But not to worry, I scored enough correct answers to come in third which earned me some cred with and admiration from the other players; not to mention the ticket for a glass of the house wine and a fifty-dollar voucher for a meal at the pub bistro (and the bistro does some good meals, so Mr Bingells and I are going to have a belated birthday dinner for me tomorrow night).
If one is to maintain any kind of sanity in this world, one must focus on the good and light hearted stuff, and remember there are nice things out there in a world where some unspeakable monster jumps into the vehicle that holds his three children and their mother, and then douses them with petrol, and burns them to death. What a horrific way for these poor babies to die! I have been shaking my head and blinking back tears over it. Their mother also passed away, and in a macabre way I'm glad she did because she will be spared the grief of her children's fate. Their father stabbed himself, and was unable to be revived. How I wish he had lived, so he could face the consequence of his actions. I cannot fathom a world where people consciously do this to their own family.
Rest in peace, beautiful children and mother.
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