Lost socks seeking sole mates

Sorry for the pun! Are you celebrating National Lost Sock Day?

I love National Awareness Days (NADs)¹. They provide a unique insight into our culture, and they highlight community concerns. They are an excellent way to raise public awareness of important social, health, and environmental issues. Examples include Prostrate Cancer Awareness (June) or World Stroke Day (October). However, there are also some odd and downright silly NADs.

Some of my thoughts and recollections from Scotland. I hope they will encourage you to share your own Motley Stories about the everyday things in your life, and how things change. Our ordinary lives will one day become significant and contribute to history. So, let’s share our stories, add captions to our photos, and preserve them for future generations.

I have no idea how NADs are decided, but there are some of the odd ones.

• Lost Sock Memorial Day on 9 May, commemorates the thousands of socks lost around the world. Gillian Johnson’s story ‘The Lost Sock’ describes how lost socks are carried off to a magical place, where they find companionship and form a community.

There are several kissing or hugging NADs.

• Kiss a ginger day (a red haired person) on 12 January

• National Hug a Plumber Day on 25 April. Why not all tradespeople?

• International Kissing Day is on 6 July.

A kiss causes our brain to create a chemical cocktail that can give us a natural high.” What’s in a kiss? The science of smooching by Emer Maguire.

Sometimes Awareness Days clash.

• Ginuary takes place throughout the month of January. It is advertised as a unique event dedicated to the appreciation and enjoyment of gin.

• However, the better known Dry January is an annual health campaign that encourages people to abstain from alcohol for the entire month of January.

A further assortment of entertaining National Awareness Days.

• 🛁 I adore a regular bubble bath, and therefore fail to see the significance of having a designated Bubble Bath Day on 8 January.

While this may be a children’s book, it will strike a cord with every mother of small children!

Five minutes peace by Jill Murphy

I used to think that everyone appreciated the joy and relaxation that comes from indulging in a bubble bath’s frothy, bubbly, delightfulness. I love to relax in the bath with a good book, and my collection of wrinkly books is a testament to that. Astonishingly, not everyone appreciates this simple pleasure.

One day, after my husband had a particularly stressful day, I decided to treat him to a relaxing bath experience. I prepared the bath with scented bubbles, and supplied a candle, quiet music, a book and a glass of wine beside the bath. Less than 5 minutes later, he emerged dripping from the bath, completely unimpressed, declaring that he was finished!

• 🦥 Nothing Day on 16 January, it is on the same date as Blue Monday (the most miserable day of the year). Proposed by San Francisco Examiner columnist Harold Pullman Coffin in 1972, he wanted National Nothing Day to be observed in the USA “by doing nothing”. That I can do.

• 🍢 Something on a Stick Day is on March 28, celebrates things on a stick (usually food), such as a marshmallows or kababs. Although it seems a little early in the year to cook on sticks over a barbecue.

• 💦 There seem to be a variety of Puddle Jumping Days. National Jump in Muddy Puddles Day is on 1 April. Various places hold Puddle Jumping Championships including at Wicksteed Park in April, although children can also submit a video if they can’t attend. Puddle Day is on 2 May. Jumping in Puddles for Cancer does not have a specific day.

• 🖖 Star Wars Day on 4 May. The date originated from the pun "May the Fourth be with you", from the Star Wars catchphrase "May the Force be with you”. I would be thrilled if the origin story was true - that the phrase originated in the UK after a congratulatory message was sent to Margaret Thatcher!²

• 🪐 Pluto Demoted Day on 24 August. “On this day in 2006, the International Astronomical Union voted to demote Pluto from the ninth planet from the Sun to one of dozens of known dwarf planets”, quote from History.com. 😢

• 🏴‍☠️ One of my favourite NADs is International Talk Like a Pirate Day on 19 September. Here are some expressions you could use;

  • Arrr, matey, shiver me timbers

  • Cor Blimey! (An expression of surprise).

  • Yo ho ho!

  • What are ye doing ye slimy bilge rat?

  • Ye scallywag!

  • Don't get yer doubloons in a wad, me hearties.

My daughter and I loved this Pirate book when she was young.

The Pirate Cruncher by Jonny Duddle

• However, if none of these dates suit you, 26 March is Make Up Your Own Holiday Day. Think of a thing, person, animal, phrase or food and create a holiday to celebrate it.

What National Awareness Day do you think should be supported?

Other Viewpoints

• Miranda W
  who writes Root Stories, talks about Lost Sock Memories.

“I have other place memories without context. Vivid, technicolour memories of the detail of a door handle or the pattern of wallpaper in a bedroom. But I have no context for these memories. No larger space to contain them. Detached from time and place their purpose is lost. I refer to these as “lost sock” memories.”

• I wrote an article last year about Lost Sock Memories, that included prompts to help you find out more information from old photographs.

• Have you ever thought about the courage it takes for a sock to escape?! This YouTube video A Sock Escapes may make you think of lost socks in a different way.

1. National Awareness Days and dates may differ from country to country. Disclaimer: I have not invented any of these awareness days; they are all from on-line sites. But while I cannot guarantee their authenticity, who can say that any awareness day is ‘legitimate’.

2. “May the fourth be with you” originated with a message to Margaret Thatcher - Wikipedia said so!