Friday 31 July 2009

All Great Men Make Mistakes. Winston Churchill

We called in at Worcester last week on our way back from Wales. Seems a nice little place, Worcester. Plus my wife saw a gorgeous handbag in a shop window, reduced from £4.99 to £3.99, an absolute snip. I don't mind treating her at that price! But just as we we going into the shop I noticed it was a Jaeger shop and they certainly don't give anything away. The revised price was of course £399, some difference! Two silly old geriatric plonkers who probably should not be out unacompanied. There again there is a saying, the man who never made a mistake never made anything.I looked up 'lifes mistakes' on the internet. Evidently there are 35,700,000 references. It seems we are in good company.
I suppose there are not many of us who tried to dry their hands in the toilet by sticking them up the opening of the contraceptive machine. (see blog dated 1st February 2009)
Plus I wince at winding down the motorhome window on a dark and dismal night travelling north from Bath and enquiring of a bystander,'Gloucester?'
'No, Cheltenham' came the puzzled reply. Mind you, I blame the sat-nav. Confusing it's rights and lefts is bad enough. And I swear the thing's dyslexic. So there, it's not our fault!
(A friend of mine, much cleverer than me hired a car in Chesterfield to go to a wedding in Newcastle. Sailing merrily along the M1, it was only when he saw the signs for Luton that he realised he was travelling south not north. And he's got an honours degree. What in I'm not sure!)
The dictionary definition of mistake includes: to recognise or identify incorrectly; based on error; wrong.
Thomas Carlyle said 'Do not be embarrassed by your mistakes.nothing can teach us better than our understanding of them. This is one of the best ways of self education.' Though I doubt he was in our league when it comes to mistake making.
Life is full of choices, to marry or not to marry for instance. A friend of mine has been married four times. How many mistakes there? One, two, three, surely not four? I would imagine this comes in the category of 'serious mistakes.' Marriage for me has been far from a mistake so I must be doing something right. (I once arrived late at a wedding and sat in the back of the church for fifteen minutes before I realised I was at the wrong wedding. Stupid, yes, but serious, not really.)
Our visit to Wales was in the main enjoyable, marred by ignorant, rude, over zealous parking attendants who issued us with a parking fine for a technicality on a car park in Dolgellau. Perhaps I should not have returned to Wales after an absence of over twenty years. Perhaps it was a mistake; who knows.
Lets give the last word to Oscar Wilde writing in 'Lady Windemere's Fan.'
Dumby: Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes.
Cecil Graham: One shouldn't commit any.
Dumby; Life would be very dull without them.
And less expensive Mr Wilde!
Dare you admit some of your mistakes in life, serious or otherwise. Surely I'm no more mistake prone than anyone else out there. Or am I?

23 comments:

The bike shed said...

Very funny.
Seems to me that our mistakes pale when compared to those in power.

Jennytc said...

Sorry you had such a poor reception in Wales, Ken. It's not like that everywhere - honest. :)

Nota Bene said...

With the number of mistakes I've made, I must be a very great man indeed! Love this post

Bernard said...

As an engineer....
“If a first, you don’t succeed….
Remove all evidence that you ever tried.”

Rosaria Williams said...

This is grand. I'm glad I took a detour from Fhina's blog. I think I'll hitch a ride, if you let me.

Valerie said...

Loved this post :)
Worcester isn't too far from where I live, an easy run up the motorway. It's quaint.

VioletSky said...

Some of my best 'mistakes' have been getting lost and finding a new treasure.

Frogdancer said...

My best 'mistake' was my fourth son. He's angelic. (Well... as angelic as any 12 year old can be without rupturing something!)

Grumpy Old Ken said...

Mark
Very true though if you seek power you take the consequences

Jennyta
Very true. You ought to see the letters I've had from the Tourest Board etc, they are not amused.

Grumpy Old Ken said...

Bene

Thanks, you cheer me up.

Dickie
Very good, where did that come from?

Grumpy Old Ken said...

lakeviewer.
Thanks and welcome

Valerie

Hi. We enjoyed Worcester. They tell me the Christmas thing is very good.

Grumpy Old Ken said...

VioletSky
Unusual, what sort of treasure I wonder.

Frogdancer
Great. can you imagine life without children?

Anonymous said...

Unless you have a legitimate business and can extract your funds immediately, accepting
or paying with checks or credit cards is risky.
We provide quality and affordable web data extraction applications.
You are using Outlook and sent an email containing important images of your hotel.


My weblog: facebook email scraper

Anonymous said...

Pretty element of content. I simply stumbled upon your blog and in accession capital to claim that I
acquire actually loved account your weblog posts. Any way I'll be subscribing to your augment or
even I achievement you access persistently rapidly.

my homepage :: weber gas grill

Anonymous said...

Hello there! Do you use Twitter? I'd like to follow you if that would be ok.
I'm absolutely enjoying your blog and look forward to new updates.


Feel free to surf to my page repossessed cars for sale in nh []

Anonymous said...

I wanted to thank you for this very good read!!
I certainly enjoyed every little bit of it.
I've got you book-marked to look at new things you post…

my web site ... hemorrhoids treatment otc

Anonymous said...

I think this is one of the most vital information for me.
And i'm satisfied reading your article. However want to statement
on some common things, The web site style is perfect, the articles is in reality great
: D. Excellent process, cheers

My weblog - diy home renovation (http://www.homeimprovementdaily.com)

Anonymous said...

WOW just what I was looking for. Came here by searching
for cogenial

Feel free to surf to my site phen 375

Anonymous said...

Somebody essentially assist to make critically posts
I would state. This is the very first time I frequented your website page and so far?
I surprised with the research you made to make this actual submit amazing.
Magnificent job!

Also visit my site ... important reason care ()

نقل عفش واثاث said...

http://www.prokr.net/2016/09/marble-polishing-companies-12.html
http://www.prokr.net/2016/09/marble-polishing-companies-11.html
http://www.prokr.net/2016/09/marble-polishing-companies-10.html
http://www.prokr.net/2016/09/marble-polishing-companies-9.html
http://www.prokr.net/2016/09/marble-polishing-companies-8.html
http://www.prokr.net/2016/09/marble-polishing-companies-7.html

John Oneal said...

HP Printer Support Canada
Epson Customer Service Canada
Brother Printer Customer Service Number
Microsoft Edge Customer Service Number
Mozilla firefox Customer Service Number

Anonymous said...

jordan 13
curry 6
air jordan
kd shoes
off white outlet
jordan shoes
goyard bag
bape official
goyard
hermes outlet

Anonymous said...

fear of god clothing
curry shoes
goyard outlet
curry 8
kyrie 8
air jordan
off white shoes
golden goose
kyrie 7 shoes
jordan 1 low