Re-joining Twitter and my fight with Dyslexia

PLEASE NOTE that this is not a diary but an attempt to leave writings intended for future social historians in 2525 and beyond. The 2525 is taken from the song by Zager and Evans,,,,

In the year 2525
If man is still alive
If woman can survive
They may find…..

　
Just about to write my blog and you might guess it – David has just come in and wants his lunch. Until later.
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It’s now later and David will be off again in a while. As mentioned elsewhere he works on a Saturday and our weekend is Sunday – Monday.

David mentioned that he wanted to join Twitter so he could follow his favourite Grand Prix racing drivers. I used to be on Twitter but got fed up with it and closed it down. It is a social network site where you are supposed to put up what you are doing supposedly all the time. Hmm. I don’t think so. It is the same with Facebook but the trouble is now lots of programmes on TV and radio say go to ‘My Twitter or Facebook page’.

So I recently joined Facebook and last night I rejoined Twitter under a slightly different name. If I bothered with them all the time I would have even less time to do anything else constructive which might have tangible results. However I did go back to follow Stephen Fry and even sent a tweet reply on his last tweet. Brave!

I often think of something that would be interesting to write about and when I sit down I can’t remember what it is. I put it down to the dreaded old age creeping on but the other day I caught up with a programme I had recorded featuring Kara Tointon and her Dyslexia. Now this young lady has just won a series called ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ in which she was truly wonderful. She examined all sides of her problem particularly re reading and maths, and her troubles when young of being thought stupid.

Well she taught this old dog some new tricks I can tell you. I suffered agonies when young from school teachers and my father. Maths still pass right over my head in anything save simple arithmetic and spelling eludes me (God bless the person who invented the spell check!) Like Kara I was good at anything arty or physical. My mother had taught me to read very early in life and by four I could read almost anything. BUT she had taught me by the shape of the word and not dealt with the spelling. I can read at almost speed reading speed but I still cannot spell certain words. One of those is ‘school’ I still put scool. Did it just now.

I have tried to improve during my life and since the invention of home computers I definitely have got better. Even to the point of having two books published one by a top publisher. Of course it was after my dad had died so I never got to say ‘not completely stupid dad’.

But there were other things Kara taught me. Like her, I was unremittingly untidy in my younger days and in the Air Force it got me into all sorts of trouble. I, again like her was good at all things physical and to do with arts and crafts. In fact after a year at Art School I became a Physical Training Instructess in the WRAF. Arts and crafts have been my hobbies all my life. But there is a certain destructive element in my character that makes me chop and change. I am doing this at one time and something else pretty soon after. I have tried to stick to one thing but it never works and I think, according to this program, my dyslexia is something to do with it. Problems also with short term memory.

To make matters worse dyslexia can be inherited and my son did just that. Luckily, like Kara, he found some coloured glasses that help him and he now has lots of letters after his name and I am very proud of him. Me, I have had to fight though on my own and am proud of my abilities with computers and crafts. I love writing and don’t think I am too bad at it. I hope by 2525 children will never suffer as kids still do today being thought stupid and even ostracised for it my their school mates and bullied.

One thing my dear old dad did give me was a full vocabulary but he never understood why I could not spell it. He would send me back my spelling mistakes in letters I had sent hime at the age of forty! I think he was able because he had been taught Latin and Greek. I had a terrible education which started just as the second world war broke out. Between bombs and poor teachers I learnt nothing. Thank goodness mother had taught me to read.

Some of my Computer Art photo taken at Exeter Musuem and artwork done on Photoshop. Have acually sold a hard copy of this.