I remember my own nephew making a similar response to my "I haven't got a clue" comment. And as a sproglet myself, I didn't understand the "which was against the rule" line in Mary had a Little Lamb. I knew that "against" meant leaning on or touching, but what was this "rule" that was being leant on, and what did it have to do with a lamb or a school? "Up went a shout" in Two Little Boys had me imagining a large shutter that lifted up to let the horses out of the stable. Well, I was only little.

There must also be an age where children start to recognise squiggles on paper as letters rather than random patterns too. We had old salt and pepper pots that we played with in the garden, but I couldn't understand how people would have known which was which - the ones we used in the house were different colours. "It's in the holes on the top" my mum explained. I was none the wiser. I couldn't see that the pattern of the holes formed S and P respectively. Or maybe it was just me.

In the news in the last few days was a report that it now takes only seven days to move your bank account to another bank. "But you still have to change your bank account number - they haven't solved that problem yet". This is an example of the commentator not understanding. Bank accounts aren't some random set of digits. They are linked into the accounting system - Chart of Accounts, I think, is the technical term. And they include two check digits*, calculated on the sort code and account number. So if the sort code changes, at least two of the digits in the account number would have to change.

*A check digit is a digit calculated by an algorithm on the other digits. It makes sure that the number entered is valid, and so prevents mis-keying.

It was Remembrance Sunday on Sunday and I was on parade in Andover. Only two casualties - though both took quite a while to sort out. I didn't realise, but someone quite high up in the echelons of SJA / Order of St John was sitting close to one of the casualties. He sent a complimentary email congratulating our prompt and skilful attention. Of course, he could have been somewhere else and confused us with another unit...

Christmas shopping beckons this weekend. Wish me luck. I've already ordered some stuff online, and need to remember to collect it from the local store. Actually, I need to look up where the local store is. It must be a while since I ordered anything from this particular retailer - the address on my account was still Eastleigh!