Trivial Pursuits

A very dear friend of mine, would often comment on the things that I say, as "Trivia".
"Trivia" he would say, and shake his head.

Probably, most of what  most of us say, most of the time, can be considered trivia . A kind way to look at it is probably, that it's just a way of building bridges between us all. We don't want to get ourselves in deep water (one of my Dad's favourite warnings) by saying controversial or potentially upsetting things so we engage in small talk. Trying to cheer each other up, to communicate.

We always loved playing the board game, Trivial Pursuit. Another very dear friend introduced us to it one Christmas. It's very well known now, and there are lots of different versions. The questions are often quite difficult. They are mostly based on General knowledge.
I suppose you could define General Knowledge as "things everyone knows something vaguely about".
One Christmas, we were playing the children's version with my children from Italy and their English cousins. My children were getting more and more despondent, "they knew nothing " as Manuel says in Fawlty towers. They hadn't got a clue what Miss Muffet sat on, or who Zebedee was. Then one of them got the question "What do you not do when you fast?" they misheard the last word, they were in full "Whoopee " cushion phase and so all the tension was dispersed by their hysterical laughter.

Now the Whoopee cushion was a last minute Christmas present that I'd put in their stocking. It was an instant success, all other presents discarded. Their father didn't really approve,which only seemed to add to their amusement. What is it about the chaps and funny noises?
One year, I came upon a fart machine in a toy shop. Just the writing on the box made me smile.
"New improved noises, hours of office fun". It was remote controlled. You can imagine the fun.

How did I get here from Trivia. Well, as my dear lovely friend always said to me "Trivia".