Knowledge

I just included this photo from last weekend for the benefit of our son-in-law, who's doing semaphore in the background. I'm not entirely sure why he was doing it. He seems to be signalling Q. It's a long time since I did semaphore - in the Guides - and it's never come in handy till now. Or come to think of it, not even now. But I'm fond of the lad and it's nice to see his smile.

There are quite a few things that I've learnt and never used. Algebra, for example. Geometry. Well, most school things, I suppose: the imports of France and the date of the Reform Act and the Latin for "My girlfriend's sparrow is dead." ("Passer mortuus est meae puellae.") And I suppose that knowing what metaphors and similes are isn't vital for one's continuing existence either. It's quite satisfying to know about these things, though, as a sort of compendium of vaguely familiar knowledge. However, there are lots of things I don't know that other people probably consider rather important. Who was in Status Quo; what colour an earth wire is (everyone ought to know that but alas, all I remember is that it's not brown - which is the obvious colour for it to be, in my opinion); how to change a tyre (well, I think I know that in general principle but I wouldn't attempt to do it); how a computer actually works; who the Home Secretary is (I might remember after a while); most stuff about well-known films.

I've just come in from a pleasant evening hour in the garden, driven in by tiny biting beasties. That's something I don't know: what's the point of tiny biting beasties? Yes, yes, to feed birds. But could birds not eat tiny non-biting beasties?