Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin … a month of odds, oddness and oddities

Hands up if you recognise those first seven words. No? Then you’re not as old as me. You didn’t settle down to hear ‘Listen with Mother’ on the radio – sorry – wireless, after lunch every day when you were too young for school.

I’ve chosen this picture to be my first response to Becky’s ‘Squares’ challenge, which this month is Odd. It shows a sofa at a bus stop in Gyeryongsang, South Korea. Koreans don’t do fly-tipping, or litter. They didn’t, until recently, do sofas either. We needed to get used to restaurant meals taken seated cross legged on the floor, though thankfully, many places provided western-friendly chairs and tables too. So this thoughtful addition to the bus stop’s furnishings seemed rather odd, and worthy of a photo.

You’ve got a month of odd photos ahead. So are you sitting comfortably?

Not just for Becky’s Square Odds, but also XingfuMama’s Pull up a Seat Challenge.

Author: margaret21

I'm retired and living in North Yorkshire, where I walk as often as I can, write, volunteer, and travel as often as I can.

54 thoughts on “Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin … a month of odds, oddness and oddities”

  3. I love your sofa!

    I do remember ‘Listen with Mother’ but until this morning I thought that recollection was because my mother often talks of it fondly listening to it with my siblings and possibly also her own childhood although she was 13 when it started. I didn’t think I had ever listened myself, however see it was still going when I was into double digits so maybe my memories are of when I listened to it rather than my mother’s stories 🙂

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      5. I think the only reason Mum did was because the family who owned the house they were renting a few rooms in, or may have just lived on the upper floors had a TV.

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  4. I remember singing “Gingy John “ to the introductory music!
    What do you think of the Boris Show so far?
    Hope all well with you all.
    A X

    Sent from my iPhone

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  9. A comfy sofa at the bus stop is odd in capitals! `Brilliant capture.
    Recently I read somewhere that people who belong to cultures where it’s traditional to sit or squat on the floor were found to be more flexible into old age. I’ve been using a standing desk for over seven years, but think it’s too late for me to swap the sofa for the floor.

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    1. We were always astonished at seeing very elderly grandmotherly types squatting – apparently comfortably – in markets selling their baskets of produce. We’ll definitely go for the sofa option.

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    1. As I’ve just commented to Jude, we had a bus route with a bookshelf, but Covid put a stop to that, sadly 😦 . And any bookshelf full of Korean books would be no use to me.

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  15. I was one of the youngsters who had the luxury of listening and watching with mother! No nursery schools for us. I fell in love with the Woodentops! Always wanted a spotty dog. And actually did get one many years later.

    Great oddity to start with, can’t see a sofa looking good for long though and Peter is right, it needs a bookshelf!

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    1. Ah. Our 36 buses always had a bookshelf for bookswaps. Then Covid came along and stopped all that. We had no TV throughout my childhood (and indeed till I was 30) so no Woodentops for me.

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  16. A great photo to start the challenge! And of course I remember Listen with Mother and even some of the stories on it. I believe My Naughty Little Sister started out there – certainly that’s where I first encountered here 🙂 There was a boy with a blue bag too, I half-recall?

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