I was asked
to give several experiences back in the day, but I was
never asked to change or embellish any of them – looks like I was in a
minority. But I was aware of many who would exaggerate almost everything. On
one occasion a brother approached me and said, “so I hear you were chased down
the road by a vicar the other day”. At first I had no idea what he was talking
about. Here's what actually happened. A young brother and I had called on a house
where a vicar lived, and after a fairly lively ten minutes we left and went to
the next house. Within minutes the vicar had come out, and from the street
called out to this householder not to listen to us because we were bonkers. He
then went back inside and I thought no more of it.
Some people are renowned for exaggerating and they obviously know who they are. On one occasion in general conversation with a small group I made the observation that as exaggerating is designed to give a false impression, I considered it to be the same a lying. I wasn’t directing that remark to anyone in particular, but one of the sisters in this group immediately said, “are you saying I’m a liar?” I laughed inside, and thought, well if the caps fits.