Why is Bob the builder playing in my head?
As I was walking to uni a faint tune started to float about my head. Before too long I was singing the theme tune to Bob the builder - out loud I may add. At this point it doesn't even surprise me, I've gotten used to my mind over the years... or so I thought. My mind doesn't stop there. As soon as I reached "Lofty and Wendy join the crew" I start to doubt my memory/assumption that Bob and Wendy are married. How can they be married if Wendy has just joined the crew? As soon as I was home research had to be done. Long story short is there are hints of a romantic relationship for sure. For more info here's a link: http://btb.wikia.com/wiki/Bob-Wendy_Relationship
It doesn't stop there for my mind. the next line is "Bob and the gang have so much fun" and now I have images of Bob the Godfather running a gang. The show's catchphrase "Can we fix it? Yes we can!" takes on a whole new meaning with "fix" also meaning "to take an injection of a narcotic drug" and also "to influence the outcome of (something, especially a race, match, or election) by illegal or underhand means."
This story, whilst random, is quite apt at introducing you to my mind and how the children's tv show can brighten up my morning years after I've watched it.
A way of passing the time with a particular close friend of mine when really bored is to get all nostalgic about children's tv shows. We both have younger siblings so the songs are perhaps more recently heard than others and so the back and forth of other theme tunes sparking off forgotten memories of shows begins. I can't remember watching shows and yet I will find myself knowing all the words to it.
Most recently the two of us were caught singing along to Roly Moly from the Fimbles up in a cafe in Belfast when my girlfriend arrived. I loved when Roly Moly casually tumbles on down to his den and my friend and I just looked to each other and burst out laughing. Here's a link to the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ceUPl3c7DA
That's a full episode so skip to 10:00 for the song I'm talking about although the opening song brings back a lovely bit of nostalgia for me too.
As silly and weird we may be thought of by onlookers to be doing this it leads me on to a more serious point, dare I assume you have any respect for me after watching that clip, although it is so catchy I hope it's stuck in your mind now. In that moment, singing along with my friend to a silly song about books by one chilled out purple and green mole, I wasn't worrying about anything, I wasn't stressed, I was happy. That's what I love about music. It united me and a friend and our days were improved and I now have a lovely memory.
Believe it or not, I love listening to classical music, particularly in my breaks from work. Again it helps relieve stress and puts a smile on my face and I am so thankful for that. At church this week there was a deaf man. I was able to say hello and sign my name but my sign language is limited to the alphabet. (Sidenote: it blew my mind when I realised alphabet was just the two first letters of the Greek alphabet "alpha" and "beta"). However, my encounter with this man made me so grateful for my ability to hear. As I meditated further on the thought of being deaf I began to become more thankful for just hearing other voices and being able to here people laugh and my girlfriend say "I love you."
I remember hearing a quote along the lines of, "you'll never find a really happy ungrateful person." I concluded that growing in genuine gratitude increases happiness and contentment, and as my mind went back to the Bible's exhortations to be thankful I realised learning to be grateful was God commanding us to do something that would make us more joyful.
May I suggest you take a moment, put on a song you love and can get lost in, and just take time to write out a list of things you are thankful for. If you can't think of anything think about things that if you didn't have you'd be really unhappy about. Clean water, food that keeps you alive and food you just love so much, clothes, technology that helps you stay in contact with friends and listen to any song you want to at the drop of a hat, films, toothpaste, a car and a fridge. I recently moved house and we didn't have a fridge and I didn't realise how awkward life was without one and now I am so grateful to have a fridge.
Songs and thankfulness. The most beautifully I've seen these things work together is when my darling girlfriend does her thing of singing as she leaves the room because she is in a blissful state because, she tells me, she's so happy with me. What a beautiful sound I get to hear when her happiness overflows into song.
Bob the builder is a pretty good tune too.
