Nice people thread 2 - now even nicer

lemonjelly

tomterm8 wrote: »

I am always surprised how much people will spend on chicken houses. Maybe there is a business there, making faux palaces and bungalows for chickens.

Pity I am not handy.

OK... so yesterday was the annual shorning of the sheap (we get someone in to do it), plus all maintenance tasks... Always interesting when you have to cut the rams hair


And there are talks about that I need to learn french for work... after years of school in french, where I came out without the ability to ask for a packet of crisps in a shop, I am not confident. Has anyone actually ever managed to learn the language, I find it hard enough to use our own.

Yes, I too am suprised by the cost of these chicken coups.

And we were all suprised by the price of duck houses, as, erm, advertised in the telegraph.:)

French? Why learn french if you're english? We hate the French! We fight wars against the French! Did all those men die in vain on the fields of Agincourt? Was the man who burned Joan of Arc just wasting good matches?;)

PasturesNew

tomterm8 wrote: »

I am always surprised how much people will spend on chicken houses. Maybe there is a business there, making faux palaces and bungalows for chickens.

Pity I am not handy.

You don't need to be handy ..... you need to know somebody who is and get them to fulfill orders you receive. So ... do you know anybody who IS handy?

tomterm8 wrote: »

OK... so yesterday was the annual shorning of the sheap (we get someone in to do it), plus all maintenance tasks... Always interesting when you have to cut the rams hair

I saw something on the telly 2-3 months back about sheep that don't need shearing. They are self moulting. It was on Countryfile, but you probably saw it.

tomterm8 wrote: »

And there are talks about that I need to learn french for work... after years of school in french, where I came out without the ability to ask for a packet of crisps in a shop, I am not confident. Has anyone actually ever managed to learn the language, I find it hard enough to use our own.

Stop eating crisps.... everybody knows how to order Pommes Frites.

My take on learning foreign languages is: look what a b4lls up foreigners make of it here, I can rarely understand their accents. So why should I be any better in their place? Also, although one can create a sentence and say it .... the beggars then reply and you've no idea what they just said.

Get a gadget .... there are some instant translators these days. It'd save you going to the coast and asking "Where's your b1tch?"

Edit: I hate the filters.... couldn't say b1tch....

lostinrates

PasturesNew wrote: »

I saw something on the telly 2-3 months back about sheep that don't need shearing. They are self moulting. It was on Countryfile, but you probably saw it.

There has been a lot of hoohah about this, and in modern sheep breeding it IS a big deal...but, sheep were around before man bred them for increased crazy fleece. Self shearing breeds have been around for, well.....about as long as sheep have I guess, the media were not very clear about that.

lostinrates

I've just had some trees arrive, a housewarming gift...please tell me there is no sort of bad luck with getting presents before the occasion? edit: especially excited as we have agreed that any purchasing we do should concentrate on productive things (food or firewood) so to have frivolously beautiful things is delightful.

another edit....I think this fits in wih the fancy chicken house theme...dh wants to build a grotto....for himself of course.

SingleSue

I acted as a French translator when I was 15....unfortunately, time and the non use of it since I left school means it's very very rusty. I have forgotten more than I know!

When we have been over to France however, I don't speak any English..only French and the boys have had to do the same.

I know bits of quite a few languages, more of a case of having to as I have to moderate a few sites where Swedish, Danish, Polish and goodness knows what else is used...ok, it's mainly swear words (in Polish) and greetings but you get into tune pretty easily and pick up the gist of what is being said.

With Danish, I once arrived in Denmark only being able to say congratulations, happy birthday....less than 48 hours later, I was reading a Danish newspaper and understanding it (only to forget it and get out of tune again once home!)

PasturesNew

I've never needed to know a foreign language, I've never been abroad.

I have, however, learnt (and never ever used) French, German, Arabic, Russian, Spanish, Japanese ... and even looked at Esperanto and I think Swahili. Long time ago. Never used any of them whatsoever outside of the classroom, so no point.

That's the trouble with learning anything, if you don't use it there's no point.

lostinrates

PasturesNew wrote: »

That's the trouble with learning anything, if you don't use it there's no point.

I don't agree with this PN. Learning trains the brain. One of the things animal trainers and behaviourist might do is train, including tricks. Now personally, I couldn't give a monkey's if my cats can sit n command or not, but training it did help them ''learn to learn''. That's what most education is, learning to learn. An undergrad degree, likewise, isn't just what you learn, it should be training te student to research, to look for what the answer is, not memorise it.
Learning to learn was part of what brought me to this boards, I could have typed rubbish anywhere, what was important was that I was typing, using words, linking words into sentences and trying to follow conversations through, rebuilding my language skills. It just so happened some of this stuff was interesting.:D

carolt

treliac wrote: »

Jeez, PN, 19!, that's the time for 9 year olds these days!

..................

Don't you dare tell that to my 10 year old!

Their official bedtime is 7.30pm - for all 3 - or we'd never get little one into bed...

But the bigger 2 actually read/talk for about another 1.5-2 hours more. I'd be weeping if they were still up at 10.30, though...

Biggest one is off on a school trip this week, though, so middle (who shares a room normally) now has no-one to talk to to keep her awake, or wake her up early. She's been sleeping 8pm - 7am, while her sister's away. Poor love - she must be so sleep-deprived normally. :eek:

PasturesNew

bouche wrote: »

They taught you all those languages at school, in the classroom?? In this country??? I don't believe you!

& as you've never travelled outside your own county, I hope you've learnt that learning is a waste of YOUR time.:)

No. French and German at school, to O level.
Russian I joined an evening class, that was then cancelled as not enough people were on it, so I found another one and joined that - and that closed down too.
The rest I taught myself bits and pieces, from library books - so no idea really what the languages sounded like (I didn't have a tape recorder, not access to a radio or tapes).

I can still say Hello, how are you, my name is ... goodbye in Russian. And count to about 3. I did that about 30 years ago.

silvercar

We tried giving elder one a curfew, until he pointed out that it was far safer to be coming home with his friends (later) than alone at an earlier time. Younger one is difficult to reign in and most of his friends seem to be ones whose parents that we vaguely know of. Seems harsh to be the one to call "time" when parents that I would have thought had similar standards to us let them roam until unspeakable times. Night after the last GCSE he rolled in about 1.30am!