Nice people thread part 3- Nice as pie

lostinrates

silvercar wrote: »

Son has back from uni in argumentative mood. I'm going to discuss all you've posted with him. He keeps quoting clever bits of his course (sociology and psychology) and I need ammunition.

Tell me how it goes

vivatifosi

lostinrates wrote: »

Assimilation allowing cultural memory to die is as tragic as being held prisoner by your culture. DH has the benefit of having lived in a culture not his own most of his life, sometimes his culture feels tentative and fragile, like now...as we launch into Christmas and DH feels the holidays as his own.

Apologies for shortening a beautifully written and heartfelt post with lir at her absolute finest. When you get on your soapbox you are so passionate and poetic its wonderful.

I just don't know what the answer is though lir. My roots have died. My inkling to question came too late. Another part of my family, not the romany lot, were insurrectionists in another country. I definitely feel that bit is genetically programmed. Sometimes I have to sit down and say "rein it in viva". I hope we don't ever have to live under conditions of revolution in my lifetime, I know I'll be dead within about six weeks as I'll be far too gobby:o. DH always tells me I don't behave like an English person, even though I was born here.

lostinrates

vivatifosi wrote: »

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I just don't know what the answer is though lir. My roots have died.

No. not while you are alive they haven't. Remember what you can, practise a tiny feature of it...I don't know how....a piece of art, a typical meal....cooking in a traditional way.... Share it with the next generation in your family, and your husband's...by marriage the connection is spread.

these cultural inheritances are not like cake..they do not leave less each time a piece is cut...rather they are loaves and fishes that grow with being shared....maybe I don't want a biblical one for that-its the tie of year...I feel my roots throwing a rosary at me..and bible passages in my own tongue :rotfl:...lets use Friendship bread instead....your roots are the starter...you share it with your family and they make the bread and pass the starter on. Its their wealth. My family might not have the big houses and the thousands of acres, but we have the stories, the genes, the recipes (so much of cultural inheritance is in the kitchen).

lostinrates

I'm longing after some of these ATM.
http://www.yvonnecoomber.com/slideshow.aspx

Its not going to happen, but I just keep flicking through them. I'm thinking of putting some of them on the mood boards for the architect. I'm looking at the proposals now and none of them are quite right yet, but really good starting points. Another way I know we have the right team now is I have no worry about getting out a red pen

vivatifosi

My God you're brilliant lir. I wish I could take a look around the contents of your brain! Sorry if that sounds a bit weird.

lostinrates

vivatifosi wrote: »

My God you're brilliant lir. I wish I could take a look around the contents of your brain! Sorry if that sounds a bit weird.

ROFL...my neurologist says much the same.

Having a good morning, it feels like there is room in there for actual thoughts. Its a weird thing.

lostinrates

Davesnave wrote: »

Some of us don't have much idea about our roots. My paternal family tree goes back to about 1894 and then there's an arrow that says 'Wales' At that point, with our surname, the genealogist gave up.:(

Haven't a clue where to start on the Scottish side. I have a nasty feeling that is complex.....rather a lot of 'aunties' who weren't!:o It was ten years before I found out that both my parents had been married before, and questions weren't encouraged.

Does it bother me? No.

In Wales and in Scotland I feel quite at home, particularly the latter. One of the great things about my 3 years house hunting in Wales was that it became familiar and comfortable. My parents never went there. More fool them.

Been thinking about this and I think its quite exciting. You get to to be in near the beginning of a legacy of tales of the family for your daughters' children...when in several generation people looka t a child and wonder where he gets his green fingers/sense of humour/draw to all things welsh, your descendants will nod sagely and say..that oes almost to the beginning to Great, great, great Davesnave...who had a life of music and education then grew things and we all stem from him.

Davesnave

lostinrates wrote: »

several generation people looka t a child and wonder where he gets his green fingers/sense of humour/draw to all things welsh, your descendants will nod sagely and say..that oes almost to the beginning to Great, great, great Davesnave...who had a life of music and education then grew things and we all stem from him.

Or, like my cousin who ran off with his secretary to study mosses & liverworts in the wilds of the north, they could say: "Oh that nutter!" and then add, "who went to the furthest reaches of Devon in search of his lost youth and disappeared in the Great Freeze of 2010." :rotfl:

Mind you, when he last wrote, my cousin is still greatly enjoying both his secretary and the local bryophytes, so maybe not so nutty, after all, eh?

PasturesNew

Did an 80 mile round trip today, to visit 3 shops. Totally unsuccessful day out shopping as they didn't have what I wanted. So, tomorrow it's an 80 mile round trip in the other direction, to see what I can find. Everything down here is so d4mned far apart and shops just don't have the range/stocks that you get up country.

GDB2222

On the other hand, try driving 80 miles in London!