The very purpose of existence is to reconcile the glowing opinion we hold of ourselves with the appalling things that other people think about us.

To the memory of Fanny... Rescued headstones, St Davids Park, Hobart. January 2012.

Theme Thursday and we are talking about CHANGE. I could talk about the CHANGE from 2011 into 2012, but aside from the number ‘2’, what has CHANGEd?

No, CHANGE is more subtle than that. CHANGE is inexorable, inevitable and inescapable. Like that boulder in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (only in real life you’d be scraping Indy up with a trowel and sending him home in a jar).

Take the case of the loving memory of Fanny [see picture above].

You can be guaranteed that when they planted poor Fanny in the ground, there was a suitably somber atmosphere with nary a snigger, snicker or titter at the back. Fast-forward 136 years and you write TO THE MEMORY OF FANNY on a wall and you would raise more than a few eyebrows.

All because the meanings of words CHANGE. Words themselves CHANGE. Fanny used to mean one thing, and now it means something quite different.

When it comes to CHANGE it seems that we need to accept CHANGE. There is little point in fighting CHANGE, but some rationale in shaping CHANGE. Nudging CHANGE, influencing CHANGE and choosing which CHANGE to embrace and which to defy.

Whatever the case, fair play to Fanny.