Nice people thread part 3- Nice as pie

neverdespairgirl

PM me? I might be able to help.

John_Pierpoint

Be careful about what you dig up.

My sister and I discovered an example of perfidious behaviour by our grandmother and our mother (both deceased) and let our uncle know what became of his war time "lover" (?)

He did not say much, but I could tell he had been struck with an emotional hammer.

Beware if the "friendsreunited" effect - sometimes it is better to let sleeping dogs lie.

John_Pierpoint

Davesnave wrote: »

For a moment there I thought NDG had written 'Tesco.' Ironic that it's probably about the last place they'll open an Express.

I had to go on a bit of a tour of Ireland and was surprised and shocked to discover that in the small towns, beyond the pale, there are precious few supermarket branches.

It was like something from the 1960's

More likely to find a Tesco branch in Slovakia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pale

lostinrates

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

discover that in the small towns, beyond the pale, there are precious few supermarket branches.

It was like something from the 1960's

They should talk more abut that in their tourism advertising.


I went to a village shindig yesterday.. I lie near really lovely people. It was the open gardens and we were invited to prowl around asking questions. Kicked myself for not taking a camera. I'm sure I've seen one of the gardens before in a Vogue photoshoot. People were so generous with their gardens, and time.

I was however SHOCKED at how direct people were. We were asked how much we paid in the end (answer obviously was ''hohoho, too much'' I was too polite to say ''check zoopla yourself!'' and how much land we have, and one person ''how much do you earn?''. (the kind of thing I' not overly coy abut but still think its a bit ''off'' to directly ask in open conversation with someone you've just met!). We had a couple of ''that's going to cost a fortune, how much is your budget?''

What has happened to the British?

But, in between questions we found a garden that is perhaps the closest to horticultural heaven I've EVER been. Hilariously among my unvoiced questions were ''how much would you have to earn to afford this?'':D

edit: oh, and in answer to the what do you do? question, that dh and I both really hate....well....I spend too much time posting on an internet forum and dh has decided to start saying ''the fandango''

misskool

If people ask me what I do, I just tell them I create genetic mutants. It's mildly true and shuts most people up quickly

lostinrates

misskool wrote: »

If people ask me what I do, I just tell them I create genetic mutants. It's mildly true and shuts most people up quickly

Funnily enough that's very similar to how I describe my chicken breeding hobby.

PasturesNew

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

PM me? I might be able to help.

Bizarrely, your offer of help suddenly made me realise my paternal aunt is HEAVILY into this - and might know some other small sliver of detail... so I'm going to risk asking her to look into it. Bit scared now as she might know more than I've been told and it might be 'sensitive', but as he came back 40-50 years ago, she might even have been told at the time, or after (unlikely), but you never know.

So I'll ask her and see what happens.... I'll try to get the b4lls to email her later.

lemonjelly

When people ask what I do, I make every effort to avoid talking about my job(s). I find it amazing that we tend to define ourselves by our occupations, and it seems to be a very british thing. I'm not well travelled, but have met many diverse people, and it isn't a common human trait (imo of course).

Cooler & more overcast. I'm now wondering what kind of summer we'll have.

Spent the weekend playing bowls, going to buy a new mattress (want it now, but 2 weeks til delivery...:mad:), baking scones (mmmm) repotting lots of things, and a little reading and stuff.

Got a busy day/week/month. Hell of a lot to do both at work and home at the mo. Can't wait til I get some awaydays in the so called summer, if I could only decide on where to actually go!:o

Glad to see John back.

Hoping Malcolm is well if he is/has popped in...:)

Wheezy_2

Wonderful, it's been raining all nite here, just eased off now.

Garden soaked, water butts full, Wheezy happy

michaels

Be careful what you wish for, having complained about the lack of rain and how hard the ground was my builders are now complaining that they can not finish the foundations this morning due to the rain...

We had children's friends over to play last week (half term) and one of the mother's when picking her child up asked us directly how much the extension was costing which again didn't seem very British (then again said lady seems to have started talking to us more no we are having an expensive extension so clearly our social standing is rising)

It is a shame that we judge people on their employment but I am as guilty of it as the next person although I have done the whole range of jobs and salaries and would do so again if that was all that was available so I hope I am not as bad as some.

Edit: not sure if this has been discussed but it seemed extremely true http://www.spectator.co.uk/alexmassie/6950390/negotiating-with-the-british.thtml