August 10, 2025 • 25 mins
Oh dear - the situation is a bit chaotic at Happy Pants HQ today. Geraldine was running late because she couldn't find her keys ANYWHERE. Thankfully Maddie had a set and was able to open the doors so they could present this week's program.
Help Geraldine find her keys - and find out about other forgotten things - on this week's show. Maddie shares one of her favourite poems, plus there's a delightful story about Mog, the forgetful cat, and some fun songs.
Keep wearing those happy pants, and we'll catch you next time... Unless we forget!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:13):
One, two, three. It's happy pants.
S2 (00:29):
Good day. And welcome to Happy Pants, a show especially
for kids and especially for you. My name is Geraldine.
S3 (00:37):
And my name is Maddie. And together, we're your happy
pants team for today.
S2 (00:43):
Good morning. Maddie. I thought I'd be so late this
morning that you'd have to start without me.
S3 (00:50):
I heard you rush in. What held you up?
S2 (00:53):
Well, I couldn't find my keys. I looked and looked,
but I couldn't find them anywhere.
S3 (00:59):
Not on the hook by the door. Did you look
in the bag you had yesterday?
S2 (01:03):
Well, I looked everywhere and I still can't find them.
I'm glad that you had a spare set. I spent
nearly an hour running from place to place, looking.
S3 (01:13):
I bet you were saying. Oh, where did I put them? Oh,
where did they go?
S2 (01:18):
And when I ran out of breath, I'd stop and
think of somewhere else to search. And off I'd go again.
S3 (01:25):
That sounds just like a piece of music, I know.
Perhaps if we all try to find those keys while
we listen to the music, they might turn up.
S2 (01:33):
Oh great idea, Maddie. We can all say, oh, where
did I put them? Oh, where did they go? And
the music tells us. And then run and check every
hidey hole within reach.
S3 (01:46):
Every now and then the music gives us a little
bit of take a rest and think time so we
can work out another place to search before we scurry
off to look.
S2 (01:57):
Well, let's try it. Maybe those keys will turn up.
S3 (03:14):
Oh, that was some workout. And you found them. It worked.
Where were they?
S2 (03:19):
In my raincoat pocket. Last evening the forecast said it
would rain all day today. So I put them in
my raincoat pocket so I wouldn't forget them this morning.
S3 (03:31):
Then you forgot.
S2 (03:33):
Then I forgot. It wasn't until we were all running
around with the music that I felt something jiggling in
my pocket. And there they were.
S3 (03:43):
Happy pants. Must have heard the forecast too. They have
given me waterproof happy pants. I can feel drops still
clinging to them, but I'm quite dry underneath.
S2 (03:54):
Our happy pants match our raincoats today a bright yellow.
Everyone can see us, even if it is pouring down.
S3 (05:20):
Geraldine. We haven't checked our happy pants pockets yet. They
always have clues hidden in the pockets.
S2 (05:27):
Good thinking. Maddie. I was so distracted looking for those
keys that I forgot to look for clues.
S3 (05:37):
Big word alert. Distracted means unable to concentrate because you
are thinking of something else.
S2 (05:44):
Well, aside from the keys, there is a pack of
post-it notes and. Oh, it's a daily diary.
S3 (05:54):
The same as mine. I already have a diary at home.
A brailler where I can write down things that have happened.
Thoughts that I have had and wishes I have made.
It has a password so no one else can read
what I have written. A daily diary only has enough
space to write a very short note for each day,
(06:16):
and anyone could open and read it. I use Siri anyway.
She's great at reminders.
S2 (06:24):
That's it. Maddie, your diary is for writing down the
things you have done.
S3 (06:33):
And a daily diary or Siri is for writing down
the things you will do in the future. So we
don't forget.
S2 (06:42):
Which explains the post-it notes. We can jot down reminders
and stick the notes where we'll see them.
S3 (06:49):
Like make s'mores for Maddie and stick it on the
fridge door.
S2 (06:55):
Or keys in raincoat pocket and stick it near the
door handle.
S3 (07:00):
We all forget things sometimes. Mum often says I would
forget my head if it wasn't screwed on when I
was really little. I tried quite hard to unscrew my head,
but it wouldn't come off.
S2 (07:13):
I've often forgotten where in the supermarket car park. I've
parked the car. Quite a few times, actually. Especially those
underground car parks.
S3 (07:24):
The most forgetful thing I have done was to forget
to close my windows before I went to bed, when
the forecast was for rain. It took days to dry
out the curtains and carpet.
S2 (07:36):
Oh, and it's easy to forget to take the clothes
out of the dryer too. And they end up all
creased and crumpled.
S3 (07:45):
Mum forgot to check the fuel level in the car
one day. It was a long walk to the petrol station,
and then she had to carry a can of fuel
all the way back.
S2 (07:56):
And kids often forget things like football boots or swim
gear when it's sports day at school or homework.
S3 (08:03):
Kids sometimes forget to bring their homework to Back to school.
S2 (08:08):
My dad packed us all into the dinghy for a
river picnic one Sunday. We were tootling along in the
middle of the river when mum noticed water swirling round
her feet. Dad had forgotten to screw in the drainage
plug and the boat was filling up. We all had
to bail furiously with anything that scooped water, while dad
(08:30):
steered us to the nearest jetty so that he could
drain the boat. He screwed that plug in really tight
and we set off again for our picnic. For years,
we teased him about it every time he took the
dinghy out.
S3 (08:46):
One of my favourite poems is about forgetting things. It
was written by Ken Nesbit and it is called something
I Need to Remember. There's something I need to remember.
But somehow it seems I forgot. I'll sit here until
I recall it. I won't move an inch from this spot.
It's sleeping. The thing I've forgotten. Did I not remember
(09:09):
to eat? Did I take a shower this morning? Is
all of my homework complete? Should I be at home
or at school or watching a show on TV? Are
some of my friends coming over? Is anyone waiting for me?
And why am I sitting here thinking, not moving an
inch from this spot? I'm sure that there must be
(09:32):
a reason, but somehow it seems I forgot something I
need to remember by Kenn Nesbitt.
S1 (09:40):
Happy pants is a special radio show just for kids
like you and me.
S2 (09:45):
All of those things are small things. There must have
been lots of big things people have forgotten.
S3 (09:53):
There is one thing I've often wondered about. Camels.
S2 (09:58):
Why camels? Maddie?
S3 (10:00):
Well, one lot. The camels that come from North Africa
and Arabia have one hump and we call them Dromedaries.
The other group of camels come from further over in
Asia and they have two humps. We call them Bactrian camels.
S2 (10:18):
One hump dromedaries. Two humps. Bactrian. So what's the question?
S3 (10:25):
Well, did the Dromedaries forget to put on their second hump?
Or did the Bactrians forget that they were already wearing
one hump when they put on the second?
S2 (10:36):
Maddie, that is quite a question.
S3 (12:05):
Another kind of thing that has been forgotten is a
whole city. And I wondered how that could happen. I've
been reading about Troy. You know, the place where they
had that famous wooden horse.
S2 (12:18):
That wooden horse is probably just a great story, but
Troy is a real place. It's in what is now
known as Turkey and was first built about 5000 years ago.
It was destroyed by earthquakes and fires several times, but
was always rebuilt. Troy used to be much closer to
(12:40):
the sea than it is now, and it was a
great trading place. The land around it was good for
growing grain and other crops, and horse breeding and sheep
herding were very profitable for the Trojan people. Troy had
two big problems. First, its riches made it a place
warlike people from surrounding lands wanted to invade and plunder.
(13:03):
And the second was that the rivers that had watered
the plains carried huge quantities of silt into the sea,
which became shallower and shallower until ships could no longer
sail there. The sea drew further and further away from
the city, leaving dry, salty soil behind. Being attacked, so
(13:26):
often shattered by earthquakes are no harbour for ships made
Troy are placed. Most of her people wanted to leave,
so Troy was abandoned. Over the years, the buildings crumbled
to rubble and were eventually completely covered by dust and grit.
(13:46):
People gradually forgot all about the real Troy and only
remembered the stories. It was rediscovered a couple of hundred
years ago, and thousands of tourists go there every year
to see the ruins. If you stand on the highest
place and look far into the distance. You can just
(14:07):
make out a blue line on the horizon. That's where
the sea is now.
S3 (14:13):
The same sort of thing happened to Petra, the rose
red city. I've read something about that lost city, too.
It's in North Africa, tucked away deep in the desert.
The whole city was carved into the soft red sandstone
mountains starting about 4000 years ago. The people of Petra
(14:34):
used a wonderful system of dams, channels and clay pipes
to capture water from rain and underground springs and carry
it into the city. They had lush gardens and bathing
pools right in the middle of the desert.
S2 (14:53):
Well, something awful must have happened to Petra if it
became a lost city.
S3 (14:58):
It sure did. A series of earthquakes shattered the water
systems and destroyed the springs. Without water, the people of
Petra couldn't live there, so the city was abandoned and
forgotten for hundreds of years. Desert sand drifted in and
the city was only found again about 200 years ago.
S2 (15:20):
It doesn't surprise me that sand can swallow a city.
I dust my furniture each week and there's always just
as much dust there again. Next time I dust, I
reckon if I forgot to dust for a month, there'd
be a centimeter of dust over everything.
S3 (15:41):
If there was one centimeter in a month, how much
would accumulate in a year?
S2 (15:48):
Big word alert. Accumulate means to collect together. Mhm. One
center in a month and there are 12 months in
a year. So 12. Lots of. Oh. Silly me. 12.
Lots of one is still 12. There would be 12cm
(16:09):
of dust on my furniture. I could grow potatoes in
that much dust.
S3 (16:15):
Imagine if you went away and forgot it for ten years.
How deep would the dust be, then?
S2 (16:21):
Well, I hate to think 12cm in one year. So ten.
Lots of 12. That's 12. Well, that's 120cm. That's more
than a metre of dust. No wonder forgotten cities disappear.
(16:42):
Thousands of years of dust would bury anything.
S3 (16:45):
I love reading stories about those ancient cities and how
they came to be forgotten. Machu Picchu, Angkor Wat, Babylon, Pompeii.
So many forgotten things to find out about.
S2 (17:00):
Our story today is about something forgotten and about the
cat which forgot it.
S4 (17:07):
Yay! Story time.
S2 (17:09):
Mog the forgetful Cat by Judith Kerr. Once there was
a cat called Mog. She lived with a family called Thomas.
Mog was nice, but not very clever. She didn't understand
a lot of things. A lot of other things. She
forgot she was a very forgetful cat. The garden always
(17:32):
made Mog very excited. She smelled all the smells. She
chased the birds. She climbed the trees. She ran round
and round with a big fluffed up tail. And then
she forgot the cat flap. She forgot that she had
a cat flap. She wanted to go back into the house,
but she couldn't remember how. In the end, she sat
(17:57):
in the flower box outside the kitchen window and meowed
until somebody let her in. Afterwards, you could always tell
where she'd sat. This made Mr. Thomas very sad. He said,
bother that cat. But Debbie said she's nice. Once Mog
(18:21):
had a very bad day. Even the start of the
day was bad. Mog was still asleep when Nicky picked
her up. He hugged her and said, nice kitty. Mog
said nothing, but she was not happy. Then it was
breakfast time. Mog forgot that cats have milk for breakfast.
(18:45):
She forgot that cats only have eggs as a treat.
She ate an egg for her breakfast. It was Nicky's egg. Mrs.
Thomas said bother that cat, Debbie said. Nicky doesn't like
eggs anyway. Mog looked through her cat flap. It was
(19:09):
raining in the garden, Mog thought. Perhaps the sun is
shining in the street. When the milkman came, she ran
out and the milkman shut the door. The sun was
not shining in the street after all. It was raining.
A big dog came down the street. Mog ran, ran.
(19:32):
The dog ran to me. Ran right around the house.
And the dog ran after her. She climbed over the fence.
She ran through the garden and jumped up outside the
garden window. She meowed a big meow. Very loud and
very sudden. Mrs. Thomas dropped a pot. Mrs. Thomas said,
(19:56):
bother that cat. That Debbie said it wasn't her fault.
Mog was very sleepy. She found a nice, warm, soft
place on Mrs. Thomas's best hat and went to sleep.
She had a lovely dream. Mog dreamed that she had wings.
(20:17):
She could fly everywhere. She could fly faster than the birds.
Even quite big birds. Suddenly she woke up. Mrs. Thomas
said bother that cat. Debbie said, I think you look
nicer without a hat. Debbie gave Mog her supper and
(20:39):
Mog ate it all up. Then Debbie and Niki went
to bed. Mog had a rest too. She went to
sleep on the TV with her tail hanging down, but Mr.
Thomas wanted to see the fight. Mr. Thomas said bother
that cat. Mog thought nobody likes me. Then she thought,
(21:03):
Debbie likes me. Debbie's door was open. Debbie's bed was warm.
Debbie's hair was soft like kitten fur. So Mog licked
Debbie's hair. Mog forgot that Debbie was not a kitten.
Debbie had a dream. It was a bad dream. It
(21:25):
was a dream about a tiger. The tiger wanted to
eat Debbie and it was licking her hair. Debbie shouted.
Mog jumped. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas said bother bother bother
that cat. Debbie said nothing. She was still crying because
of the bad dream. Mog ran out of the room
(21:46):
and right through the house and out of her cat flap.
She was very sad. The garden was dark. The house
was dark too. Two mugs sat in the dark and thought,
nobody likes me. They've all gone to bed and no
one to let me in, and they haven't even given
(22:07):
me my supper. Then she noticed something. The house was
not quite dark. There was a little light moving about.
She looked through the window and saw a man in
the kitchen. He was wearing a mask and putting their
(22:29):
best spoons in his big bag. Mob thought perhaps that
man will let me in. Perhaps he'll give me my supper.
She meowed her biggest meow. Very sudden and very, very loud.
The man was surprised. He dropped his bag. It made
a big noise and everyone in the house woke up. Mr.
(22:53):
Thomas ran down to the kitchen and shouted. a burglar!
The burglar said, bother that cat. Mrs. Thomas telephoned the police.
Debbie let Mog in and Nicky hugged her. A policeman
came and they told him what had happened. The policeman
(23:14):
looked at Mog. He said, what a remarkable cat. I've
seen watchdogs, but never a watch cat. She'll get a medal.
Debbie said. I think she'd rather have an egg. Mog
had a medal. She also had an egg for every
(23:36):
day for breakfast. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas told all their
friends about her. They said Mog is really remarkable and
they never well or almost never said bother that cat.
S3 (23:53):
That was a reading of Mog the forgetful Cat. Written
by Judith Kerr. The reader was Geraldine. So why have
we done today?
S2 (24:02):
I've forgotten.
S3 (24:03):
You haven't.
S2 (24:05):
No, I just remembered. We explored quite a lot of
forgotten things, though.
S3 (24:11):
We sure did. Things we have forgotten. Things other people
have forgotten. And cities which have been forgotten.
S2 (24:18):
We worked out how something as small as grains of
dust could bury a whole city. If you forget it
long enough.
S3 (24:26):
We had two big words, too distracted, which means to
lose concentration and think of something else and accumulate, which
means to gather together.
S2 (24:37):
Our story was about Mog, who never could remember her
cat flap.
S3 (24:43):
And we talked about whether Dromedaries forgot to put on
a second hump or Bactrian camels forgot they already had one.
S2 (24:52):
If there was anything in today's program about which you
would like to know more, you can find us on radio.
S3 (25:03):
Keep wearing those happy pants and we'll catch you next time.
Unless we forget.
S5 (25:23):
Pants is produced on the lands of the Whadjuk Noongar people.
Vision Australia Radio acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
as the first Australians, and the traditional owners of the
land across our working area. We pay our respects to
elders past, present and future in maintaining their cultures, countries
and their spiritual connection to the lands and waters. Vision
Australia Radio acknowledges and respects the genuine diversity and richness
(25:47):
of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across Australia. Happy
pants has been made possible with the support of the
Community Broadcasting Foundation.
One, two, three. It's happy pants.
S2 (00:29):
Good day. And welcome to Happy Pants, a show especially
for kids and especially for you. My name is Geraldine.
S3 (00:37):
And my name is Maddie. And together, we're your happy
pants team for today.
S2 (00:43):
Good morning. Maddie. I thought I'd be so late this
morning that you'd have to start without me.
S3 (00:50):
I heard you rush in. What held you up?
S2 (00:53):
Well, I couldn't find my keys. I looked and looked,
but I couldn't find them anywhere.
S3 (00:59):
Not on the hook by the door. Did you look
in the bag you had yesterday?
S2 (01:03):
Well, I looked everywhere and I still can't find them.
I'm glad that you had a spare set. I spent
nearly an hour running from place to place, looking.
S3 (01:13):
I bet you were saying. Oh, where did I put them? Oh,
where did they go?
S2 (01:18):
And when I ran out of breath, I'd stop and
think of somewhere else to search. And off I'd go again.
S3 (01:25):
That sounds just like a piece of music, I know.
Perhaps if we all try to find those keys while
we listen to the music, they might turn up.
S2 (01:33):
Oh great idea, Maddie. We can all say, oh, where
did I put them? Oh, where did they go? And
the music tells us. And then run and check every
hidey hole within reach.
S3 (01:46):
Every now and then the music gives us a little
bit of take a rest and think time so we
can work out another place to search before we scurry
off to look.
S2 (01:57):
Well, let's try it. Maybe those keys will turn up.
S3 (03:14):
Oh, that was some workout. And you found them. It worked.
Where were they?
S2 (03:19):
In my raincoat pocket. Last evening the forecast said it
would rain all day today. So I put them in
my raincoat pocket so I wouldn't forget them this morning.
S3 (03:31):
Then you forgot.
S2 (03:33):
Then I forgot. It wasn't until we were all running
around with the music that I felt something jiggling in
my pocket. And there they were.
S3 (03:43):
Happy pants. Must have heard the forecast too. They have
given me waterproof happy pants. I can feel drops still
clinging to them, but I'm quite dry underneath.
S2 (03:54):
Our happy pants match our raincoats today a bright yellow.
Everyone can see us, even if it is pouring down.
S3 (05:20):
Geraldine. We haven't checked our happy pants pockets yet. They
always have clues hidden in the pockets.
S2 (05:27):
Good thinking. Maddie. I was so distracted looking for those
keys that I forgot to look for clues.
S3 (05:37):
Big word alert. Distracted means unable to concentrate because you
are thinking of something else.
S2 (05:44):
Well, aside from the keys, there is a pack of
post-it notes and. Oh, it's a daily diary.
S3 (05:54):
The same as mine. I already have a diary at home.
A brailler where I can write down things that have happened.
Thoughts that I have had and wishes I have made.
It has a password so no one else can read
what I have written. A daily diary only has enough
space to write a very short note for each day,
(06:16):
and anyone could open and read it. I use Siri anyway.
She's great at reminders.
S2 (06:24):
That's it. Maddie, your diary is for writing down the
things you have done.
S3 (06:33):
And a daily diary or Siri is for writing down
the things you will do in the future. So we
don't forget.
S2 (06:42):
Which explains the post-it notes. We can jot down reminders
and stick the notes where we'll see them.
S3 (06:49):
Like make s'mores for Maddie and stick it on the
fridge door.
S2 (06:55):
Or keys in raincoat pocket and stick it near the
door handle.
S3 (07:00):
We all forget things sometimes. Mum often says I would
forget my head if it wasn't screwed on when I
was really little. I tried quite hard to unscrew my head,
but it wouldn't come off.
S2 (07:13):
I've often forgotten where in the supermarket car park. I've
parked the car. Quite a few times, actually. Especially those
underground car parks.
S3 (07:24):
The most forgetful thing I have done was to forget
to close my windows before I went to bed, when
the forecast was for rain. It took days to dry
out the curtains and carpet.
S2 (07:36):
Oh, and it's easy to forget to take the clothes
out of the dryer too. And they end up all
creased and crumpled.
S3 (07:45):
Mum forgot to check the fuel level in the car
one day. It was a long walk to the petrol station,
and then she had to carry a can of fuel
all the way back.
S2 (07:56):
And kids often forget things like football boots or swim
gear when it's sports day at school or homework.
S3 (08:03):
Kids sometimes forget to bring their homework to Back to school.
S2 (08:08):
My dad packed us all into the dinghy for a
river picnic one Sunday. We were tootling along in the
middle of the river when mum noticed water swirling round
her feet. Dad had forgotten to screw in the drainage
plug and the boat was filling up. We all had
to bail furiously with anything that scooped water, while dad
(08:30):
steered us to the nearest jetty so that he could
drain the boat. He screwed that plug in really tight
and we set off again for our picnic. For years,
we teased him about it every time he took the
dinghy out.
S3 (08:46):
One of my favourite poems is about forgetting things. It
was written by Ken Nesbit and it is called something
I Need to Remember. There's something I need to remember.
But somehow it seems I forgot. I'll sit here until
I recall it. I won't move an inch from this spot.
It's sleeping. The thing I've forgotten. Did I not remember
(09:09):
to eat? Did I take a shower this morning? Is
all of my homework complete? Should I be at home
or at school or watching a show on TV? Are
some of my friends coming over? Is anyone waiting for me?
And why am I sitting here thinking, not moving an
inch from this spot? I'm sure that there must be
(09:32):
a reason, but somehow it seems I forgot something I
need to remember by Kenn Nesbitt.
S1 (09:40):
Happy pants is a special radio show just for kids
like you and me.
S2 (09:45):
All of those things are small things. There must have
been lots of big things people have forgotten.
S3 (09:53):
There is one thing I've often wondered about. Camels.
S2 (09:58):
Why camels? Maddie?
S3 (10:00):
Well, one lot. The camels that come from North Africa
and Arabia have one hump and we call them Dromedaries.
The other group of camels come from further over in
Asia and they have two humps. We call them Bactrian camels.
S2 (10:18):
One hump dromedaries. Two humps. Bactrian. So what's the question?
S3 (10:25):
Well, did the Dromedaries forget to put on their second hump?
Or did the Bactrians forget that they were already wearing
one hump when they put on the second?
S2 (10:36):
Maddie, that is quite a question.
S3 (12:05):
Another kind of thing that has been forgotten is a
whole city. And I wondered how that could happen. I've
been reading about Troy. You know, the place where they
had that famous wooden horse.
S2 (12:18):
That wooden horse is probably just a great story, but
Troy is a real place. It's in what is now
known as Turkey and was first built about 5000 years ago.
It was destroyed by earthquakes and fires several times, but
was always rebuilt. Troy used to be much closer to
(12:40):
the sea than it is now, and it was a
great trading place. The land around it was good for
growing grain and other crops, and horse breeding and sheep
herding were very profitable for the Trojan people. Troy had
two big problems. First, its riches made it a place
warlike people from surrounding lands wanted to invade and plunder.
(13:03):
And the second was that the rivers that had watered
the plains carried huge quantities of silt into the sea,
which became shallower and shallower until ships could no longer
sail there. The sea drew further and further away from
the city, leaving dry, salty soil behind. Being attacked, so
(13:26):
often shattered by earthquakes are no harbour for ships made
Troy are placed. Most of her people wanted to leave,
so Troy was abandoned. Over the years, the buildings crumbled
to rubble and were eventually completely covered by dust and grit.
(13:46):
People gradually forgot all about the real Troy and only
remembered the stories. It was rediscovered a couple of hundred
years ago, and thousands of tourists go there every year
to see the ruins. If you stand on the highest
place and look far into the distance. You can just
(14:07):
make out a blue line on the horizon. That's where
the sea is now.
S3 (14:13):
The same sort of thing happened to Petra, the rose
red city. I've read something about that lost city, too.
It's in North Africa, tucked away deep in the desert.
The whole city was carved into the soft red sandstone
mountains starting about 4000 years ago. The people of Petra
(14:34):
used a wonderful system of dams, channels and clay pipes
to capture water from rain and underground springs and carry
it into the city. They had lush gardens and bathing
pools right in the middle of the desert.
S2 (14:53):
Well, something awful must have happened to Petra if it
became a lost city.
S3 (14:58):
It sure did. A series of earthquakes shattered the water
systems and destroyed the springs. Without water, the people of
Petra couldn't live there, so the city was abandoned and
forgotten for hundreds of years. Desert sand drifted in and
the city was only found again about 200 years ago.
S2 (15:20):
It doesn't surprise me that sand can swallow a city.
I dust my furniture each week and there's always just
as much dust there again. Next time I dust, I
reckon if I forgot to dust for a month, there'd
be a centimeter of dust over everything.
S3 (15:41):
If there was one centimeter in a month, how much
would accumulate in a year?
S2 (15:48):
Big word alert. Accumulate means to collect together. Mhm. One
center in a month and there are 12 months in
a year. So 12. Lots of. Oh. Silly me. 12.
Lots of one is still 12. There would be 12cm
(16:09):
of dust on my furniture. I could grow potatoes in
that much dust.
S3 (16:15):
Imagine if you went away and forgot it for ten years.
How deep would the dust be, then?
S2 (16:21):
Well, I hate to think 12cm in one year. So ten.
Lots of 12. That's 12. Well, that's 120cm. That's more
than a metre of dust. No wonder forgotten cities disappear.
(16:42):
Thousands of years of dust would bury anything.
S3 (16:45):
I love reading stories about those ancient cities and how
they came to be forgotten. Machu Picchu, Angkor Wat, Babylon, Pompeii.
So many forgotten things to find out about.
S2 (17:00):
Our story today is about something forgotten and about the
cat which forgot it.
S4 (17:07):
Yay! Story time.
S2 (17:09):
Mog the forgetful Cat by Judith Kerr. Once there was
a cat called Mog. She lived with a family called Thomas.
Mog was nice, but not very clever. She didn't understand
a lot of things. A lot of other things. She
forgot she was a very forgetful cat. The garden always
(17:32):
made Mog very excited. She smelled all the smells. She
chased the birds. She climbed the trees. She ran round
and round with a big fluffed up tail. And then
she forgot the cat flap. She forgot that she had
a cat flap. She wanted to go back into the house,
but she couldn't remember how. In the end, she sat
(17:57):
in the flower box outside the kitchen window and meowed
until somebody let her in. Afterwards, you could always tell
where she'd sat. This made Mr. Thomas very sad. He said,
bother that cat. But Debbie said she's nice. Once Mog
(18:21):
had a very bad day. Even the start of the
day was bad. Mog was still asleep when Nicky picked
her up. He hugged her and said, nice kitty. Mog
said nothing, but she was not happy. Then it was
breakfast time. Mog forgot that cats have milk for breakfast.
(18:45):
She forgot that cats only have eggs as a treat.
She ate an egg for her breakfast. It was Nicky's egg. Mrs.
Thomas said bother that cat, Debbie said. Nicky doesn't like
eggs anyway. Mog looked through her cat flap. It was
(19:09):
raining in the garden, Mog thought. Perhaps the sun is
shining in the street. When the milkman came, she ran
out and the milkman shut the door. The sun was
not shining in the street after all. It was raining.
A big dog came down the street. Mog ran, ran.
(19:32):
The dog ran to me. Ran right around the house.
And the dog ran after her. She climbed over the fence.
She ran through the garden and jumped up outside the
garden window. She meowed a big meow. Very loud and
very sudden. Mrs. Thomas dropped a pot. Mrs. Thomas said,
(19:56):
bother that cat. That Debbie said it wasn't her fault.
Mog was very sleepy. She found a nice, warm, soft
place on Mrs. Thomas's best hat and went to sleep.
She had a lovely dream. Mog dreamed that she had wings.
(20:17):
She could fly everywhere. She could fly faster than the birds.
Even quite big birds. Suddenly she woke up. Mrs. Thomas
said bother that cat. Debbie said, I think you look
nicer without a hat. Debbie gave Mog her supper and
(20:39):
Mog ate it all up. Then Debbie and Niki went
to bed. Mog had a rest too. She went to
sleep on the TV with her tail hanging down, but Mr.
Thomas wanted to see the fight. Mr. Thomas said bother
that cat. Mog thought nobody likes me. Then she thought,
(21:03):
Debbie likes me. Debbie's door was open. Debbie's bed was warm.
Debbie's hair was soft like kitten fur. So Mog licked
Debbie's hair. Mog forgot that Debbie was not a kitten.
Debbie had a dream. It was a bad dream. It
(21:25):
was a dream about a tiger. The tiger wanted to
eat Debbie and it was licking her hair. Debbie shouted.
Mog jumped. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas said bother bother bother
that cat. Debbie said nothing. She was still crying because
of the bad dream. Mog ran out of the room
(21:46):
and right through the house and out of her cat flap.
She was very sad. The garden was dark. The house
was dark too. Two mugs sat in the dark and thought,
nobody likes me. They've all gone to bed and no
one to let me in, and they haven't even given
(22:07):
me my supper. Then she noticed something. The house was
not quite dark. There was a little light moving about.
She looked through the window and saw a man in
the kitchen. He was wearing a mask and putting their
(22:29):
best spoons in his big bag. Mob thought perhaps that
man will let me in. Perhaps he'll give me my supper.
She meowed her biggest meow. Very sudden and very, very loud.
The man was surprised. He dropped his bag. It made
a big noise and everyone in the house woke up. Mr.
(22:53):
Thomas ran down to the kitchen and shouted. a burglar!
The burglar said, bother that cat. Mrs. Thomas telephoned the police.
Debbie let Mog in and Nicky hugged her. A policeman
came and they told him what had happened. The policeman
(23:14):
looked at Mog. He said, what a remarkable cat. I've
seen watchdogs, but never a watch cat. She'll get a medal.
Debbie said. I think she'd rather have an egg. Mog
had a medal. She also had an egg for every
(23:36):
day for breakfast. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas told all their
friends about her. They said Mog is really remarkable and
they never well or almost never said bother that cat.
S3 (23:53):
That was a reading of Mog the forgetful Cat. Written
by Judith Kerr. The reader was Geraldine. So why have
we done today?
S2 (24:02):
I've forgotten.
S3 (24:03):
You haven't.
S2 (24:05):
No, I just remembered. We explored quite a lot of
forgotten things, though.
S3 (24:11):
We sure did. Things we have forgotten. Things other people
have forgotten. And cities which have been forgotten.
S2 (24:18):
We worked out how something as small as grains of
dust could bury a whole city. If you forget it
long enough.
S3 (24:26):
We had two big words, too distracted, which means to
lose concentration and think of something else and accumulate, which
means to gather together.
S2 (24:37):
Our story was about Mog, who never could remember her
cat flap.
S3 (24:43):
And we talked about whether Dromedaries forgot to put on
a second hump or Bactrian camels forgot they already had one.
S2 (24:52):
If there was anything in today's program about which you
would like to know more, you can find us on radio.
S3 (25:03):
Keep wearing those happy pants and we'll catch you next time.
Unless we forget.
S5 (25:23):
Pants is produced on the lands of the Whadjuk Noongar people.
Vision Australia Radio acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
as the first Australians, and the traditional owners of the
land across our working area. We pay our respects to
elders past, present and future in maintaining their cultures, countries
and their spiritual connection to the lands and waters. Vision
Australia Radio acknowledges and respects the genuine diversity and richness
(25:47):
of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across Australia. Happy
pants has been made possible with the support of the
Community Broadcasting Foundation.
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