How did I get to this age and not know that?

Yesterday, I spent the day listening to nurses make small talk with their patients. A lot of conversation were about how fat everyone had got over Christmas.  This, I could relate to.  However, things were said that made me wonder how the nurse I was listening to had managed to get to 50 without knowing those things.  For example, she should have known that saying, "Where would you like your little prick?" was going to make everyone laugh, even if she was holding a syringe.

It always surprises me how unaware of the natural world people can be.  How can people live for half a century and not know that acorns grow on oak trees, blackberries; ready from the end of August  are wonderful free food, and that red sky at night means it's going to be nice weather the next day?
"You know, it's funny, my dad always used to say 'Red sky at night shepherd's delight. Red sky in the morning shepherd's warning,' and when I was walking from the car park I noticed the sky was really red and now the weather's awful," the nurse said, "so maybe it's true."

Today, I was back at work and I learnt something new.  I am quite old and I was surprised that I didn't know this thing. Today the children asked me how old I was and, as usual, I told them to guess.  There were guesses in the 90's, 70's and they finally plumped for two years older than my real age.  They even insisted that I was older than the most senior teacher in the school.

What was it I learnt? It was about friendship.  Siting in the morning assembly, the only other adult in there apart from the headteacher, noticing how tired all the children were I marveled at how you could give the head a telephone directory and he could find a moral in it. He played Elbow's Golden Slumbers and asked the children where they'd heard it before. None said the Beatles' Abbey Road album. Some did mention the Sing movie but most knew it was in the John Lewis advert. They're good listeners.

Then he played the advert. He told the children that the advert was about friendship.  He paused it at different places.  We watched the boy being scared of the monster under the bed.  Then the children laughed, the bed rattled, he pressed pause and said, "Then something happens and they become friends."

How did I not know that?  If you want to make friends, you just need to fart.  Maybe that's why so many people like my dog.