Frozen bananas

Some childhood beliefs leave quietly. Others wait until you’re an adult to slap you in the face. The moments of realisation tend to stick in the mind, too. I turned beetroot red during my turn for roll-call in grade 2. It’s pronounced Penelope, not Penny-lope. (Mispronouncing words you learned reading is a whole sub-genre here. Good luck, Siobhan) Col’s primary school mate Tim thought bands played their hit songs live at the radio station for every broadcast. I genuinely slapped my forehead when I realised pipe-cleaners aren’t just for craft. They also… clean pipes. The beauty of these childish realisations is they continue into adulthood. Hopefully at reduced frequency. There’s a great xkcd comic about treating these moments with reverence. If you laugh at someone’s embarrassing adult discovery you’re training them not to tell you next time. And you miss out on the fun. I first saw a pineapple plant with Ed in Thailand in my mid 30s. It blew my mind. I thought they grew like bananas! (Please comment if you’re just now finding out they grow on the central stalk of a spiky bush. See also: cashew nuts.) There’s a right way and a wrong way to tie your shoelaces (I’m going to make a video about this). Blake’s shoelaces kept coming undone on our New Zealand hiking trip. I gently enquired about his technique. “I’ve been tying my own shoelaces for TWENTY FIVE years Cam!! I know how to do it!!”. He did not. On a camping holiday in the mid ‘10s, we discovered TWO people in our group independently thought molasses was a type of sea creature. They were both from the UK. Coincidence?? Also, the frozen bananas in The Simpsons are sold AT THE AQUARIUM. Embarrassing adult realisations are a source of immense joy. Once the shame dissipates. We’d love to hear your best “Wait…. WHAT??” moments.