After a funeral and a significant birthday, I am left wondering when life becomes History.

One of my children said on the card,

"Life is measured by time,

But defined by spirit."

So simple but so true.

Maggie,i think your life starts to become history,when the time comes and you find yourself reminiscing about "the olden days"....!

Not long ago,my younger Son used to to say i wasn't old....i was a dinosaur!![he was about 11 yrs old then].

Now he is 40 yrs old in May coming,HE is at the point where he talks about things he used to do when he was a kid!

Noo,when he was 11 yrs old , I was 40...a dinosaur.....what am i now,? HE will be a dinosaur in the kids in the street's eyes,and ME.......?

Well.....I AM HISTORY!!!!!

Exactly right, our kids talk about their history.

My lot lived in Ridge Terrace for a few years, I am still apologising to the neighbours, they loved it and talk about all the people and places.

My history includes stories about them, which go down very well with the grandchildren, but not with my own kids.

When the grand kids are born I buy the days papers for them.

History starts there and then, whether they like it or not.

At the last Bedlington history session someone felt schools should do more on history.

I think it is up to us too.

Sting in a song said History Teaches us nothing, I think it does although I do think we repeat mistakes.

The trouble with our teaching at the Whitley School was,it was archaic.

History was,for me,great,cos we were learning about the Dinasoars,and fossils etc,and i used to go over to the Acorn Bank opencast site,Bedlington,[where the golf course is now],and collect fossils from the overburden heaps,mostly bracken leaves,but a lot of pineapple bark trees preserved in stone,

to take to school for the teacher.

Noo,when we went Westridge,suddenly,we were learning about the Crimean War,1854,and the Treaty of Paris 1856,[courtesy of Mr Abrahart!]....a bit of a jump from the Cretaceaous [?]period,to the Crimean War!!!

Consequently,i had no interest whatsoever,and considered History lessons to be an absolute waste of time...were it not for our brilliant teacher making it seem interesting by his dramatic displays!

Now,of course,in later life,i wish i had taken the time to learn more,cos i find History fascinating!

We all learn by our mistakes in life,don't we?

HPW - I hated school. I hated the teachers who were nothing more than bullies, at least some of them. But I loved reading and learning. I left school with no qualifications, as such. But when I was in my forties I put in for the Open University - History, Classical Studies, and got my Ba. I'm not bragging here, I simply wanted to prove that I could do it and given the right teaching and circumstances I could have made something of my life. Those years with the OU were some of the best I ever had.

Maggie - You are right about history - it does teach us something. We can look at the mistakes of the past and try not to repeat them. Unfortunately we do repeat them. It is part of the human condition.

i lived in Ridge Terrace from 1973 till 2007