Day Tripper

No I’m not offering them. The closest thing I’ve got to a coach is a 5-seater 4x4 with a wheel bearing that makes a racket.

I’m talking about day trips whether with family or with school.

I used to get taken on a LOT of day trips when I was a kid. My Mum was a member of the local WI and they organised what seemed like an inordinate amount of trips. Usually to stately homes and usually in summer holidays.

Some were ok and interesting, others it was a case of “why are we going again?” “Because it’s heritage” came the response.

Hmm.

To me I was on a coach trip where very few other kids actually went along and the average age was 60.

And I didn’t relish the thought of going again, even if it was to a different place.

I have no clue which stately homes I visited over the years and once there I often let my imagination run away with me, mainly out of boredom listening to the tour guide waffle on.

BYGONE AGE 

My thoughts would turn to the era, although I had no clue what era the house and decor were, I wasn’t listening.

I would look at pictures of ages gone by and how the people in them dressed. I imagined myself as one of those dressed up in what seemed like a Disney ballgown.  I would imagine I was the “lady of the house”.

“The lady of the house unfortunately met an untimely and gruesome end” said the tour guide.

Ok, maybe I didn’t want to be the lady of the house after all.

Maybe I’d be a maid or in the kitchens, just imagine what conversations they would overhear!

However, if you were to repeat those conversations “gossip” if you will the punishment was severe. For instance “The Brank” as it was known in Tudor times was a metal cage that was placed on the head of the gossiper. It had a metal strip that fit into the mouth and was either sharpened to a point or had spikes on it so any movement of the tongue would cause injury to the mouth (bit of history for you).

Nice!

No wonder I never liked gossip and never had anything to do with it as I got older. Gossip hurts.

Interesting thing is though as I grew up and was of the age where I could stay at home during the summer holidays I chose not to.

I went on the day trips with my Mum and her WI gang.

I liked to escape into another era. I liked to let my imagination run wild – and it could run pretty wild when you consider an “untimely and gruesome end” what really happened?! Who did it? Did they get caught? Who spilled the beans?

The possibilities were endless, especially when it was never determined who the perpetrator was.

MIND THE GAP

When humans don’t know the outcome of an event they make it up. They use their imagination, their thoughts, to close the gap.

When I disclosed some of my thoughts I was told I was a wild daydreamer.

Nothing wrong with that in my book.

My wild daydreams over the years have landed me some amazing experiences.

But my wildest daydreams happened in those houses of years gone by. The stories the walls could tell if only they could speak, so as walls couldn’t speak I’d make them up instead and sometimes putting myself in the picture.

Maybe day trips by coach weren’t so boring after all.

At the end of the day you can make the experience whatever you want it to be.

Choose your thoughts wisely and you can have an experience that unleashes creativity. Or you can focus on the negative thoughts and be bored stiff, wishing you were some place else.

Thing is though, you can always take yourself some place else no matter where you are.

You have an imagination.

You don’t always need to go on a day trip.