I went to a quiz in a nursing home,
And it quickly became clear to me,
Song questions followed a syndrome,
To know any, you had to be 73.
The questions on books were a fiddle,
Because all of them were pre-43,
And so they became a bit of a riddle,
Unless you’re an author, like me,
Then there were pictures of statues,
And you had to say which town they were in,
All I can say is thank god for a Carer or two,
One from Russia, and one from Berlin!
We identified lines from a nursery rhyme,
And musical intros to Disney movies,
We found our minds wandering back in time,
I confess that I found this quite groovy.
Far more fun to kick start a recalcitrant brain,
And consider Biggles, a wonderful story,
Than something more current, but more arcane,
Like whether Nick Clegg is a Tory…
I really enjoyed my Quiz Night tonight,
You certainly couldn’t have called it boring,
When the main reasons for not getting a question right
Were your “youth” or that someone was snoring!
Quiz Night
09 Saturday Feb 2013
Posted in poetry
LOVE. Is there ANYTHING you can’t take on? BTW, go to a quiz night most Tuesday nights and take my mom in her 80s. We both find it difficult to handle all the pop culture questions. Her due to her age and me due to being a little “out of touch”, lol…
It was terrific fun! And I like a challenge!
Caro, I love the picture of you, composing this poem in your head, sitting in a nursing home, surrounded by dozing residents! My family and I have a small bluegrass band and we do occasional gigs. I think the one where we sounded the BEST was at a nursing home, and nearly our entire audience of elderly folks, was asleep! We really let loose, I think because we knew that nobody was listening. Very fun! 🙂
Thank you Amy! It was cracking fun….we just waited for the oldies to give the answers, if they didn’t know them, then us youngsters (a euphemism!) waded in….
Well done. Both the poem and the sentiment. I used to work in catering at a prestigious retirement home. I didn’t see many of the residents aprat from mealtime, when they were impeccibly behaved.
Thanks Francene….it was fun!
I love this idea of Quiz night. I can only imagine the memories these elders have locked away in their minds. Oh, to tap into those stories! It seems this game is a great tool to keep their minds sharp and to promote community. Great poem!
It was great fun! And we had lots of raucous singing along!
Hahahaha classic darling, best lines ever ‘ When the main reasons for not getting a question right
Were your “youth” or that someone was snoring!’ xx
Thanks my lovely! It was blooming good fun… You’d have loved it… Endless raucous round of classic songs that “stopped play”!! Xx
My 85 year old mother in law would have loved that quiz, I bet!
I’ve no doubt she would! It was fun!
Lol, I bet the only questions I would have gotten right would be the Disney movie ones!
What a lovely way to trigger happy memories for elderly people in a nursing home. I hadn’t thought of that as an idea for a quiz night. I’m so pleased you shared it – thanks Caro.
Thanks Tracey! It was fun!!