Preparedness for when

[Deleted User]

I rather like the title The Godmothers........... with reference to a certain Cosy Family in Sicily... pretty perfect description of most of the 'Old Dears' I know including Moi!!! Mwahaaahaaaa!!!!!

moneyistooshorttomention

Memory_Girl wrote: »

Mmm .... I have a group of retired ladies over the wall that refer to themselves collectively as the "Old Dears" ... so I do too.

Mind you .. they have since "rebranded" themselves as the "Silver Saltires" .... so I guess this could be one of those geographical language things across the four countries ....... I bit like "hen" in Glasgow or "duckie" , "sweetie" or "darlin".

MG

Very much a language thing. It may differ in different parts of Britain (yep...I just sat there puzzled wondering what was meant by "the four countries":think:). I'm still getting used to having moved from one part of the country (England) to another part of same country (Wales) and finding I have to clarify that when I say "country" I mean Britain and when I say "Government" I'm picturing the House of Parliament in London, as a lot of people are using the language the same way I do and have done for over 60 years without anyone ever meaning anything different to me by those words (ie before I moved across our country to a different part of it), but others in this part of the country sometimes dont (depends who I am talking to).

When I leave the "environs" of late middle age and have to start describing myself as "old":eek:, I think I'll go for "little old lady" and then wink and grin wickedly.

mardatha

Everybody is "hen" to me

ivyleaf

Memory Girl It sounds to me as if your Old Dears were using the expression ironically They sound great fun.

Love the idea of "The Godmothers"!

To me, "old dear" conveys "old, and therefore silly; can be shamelessly taken advantage of, and there is no need to take seriously anything they say".

Perhaps it's just me

jk0

Anyone hear Graham Norton's story about when he got his mother tickets to Strictly Come Dancing?

He drew Bruce Forsyth's attention to his mother in the audience. Graham's mother was very put out that Bruce said 'Hello dear' in a patronising voice. 'He's older than me!' she fumed.

Memory_Girl

LOL - to be fair .. he is pretty much older than everyone!!

I am going to suggest "Godmothers" to them .. seeing as they refer to my generation as the "Mummy M a f i a " .... cos we run everything around here LOL


MG

thriftwizard

Thanks for all the condolences; we will miss him, but it was as good an end as anyone's ever managed, so now we can get on with celebrating his life and all the good things he achieved & left behind.

Mentioning this very quietly, because I know the tin hat brigade elsewhere will give the usual knee-jerk reaction of "bl**dy scroungers don't deserve anything anyway" but I find this story somewhat disturbing. Almost Nazi-ish, in fact., and very thin-end-of-the-wedge. It doesn't take much imagination to see where else they could go with this kind of idea, if they can get away with this...

moneyistooshorttomention

Hmmm....I admit to also being puzzled by some recent references I have seen in which obesity is being classed as an illness or disability. Huh....I'm still a couple of stone overweight at the moment:( and its because I opened my mouth and threw another glass (or two) of wine down it, but I'm certainly not ill or disabled or anything. I've just been a bit weak-willed about it.

I will say that I think it would be very useful to have a scientific study as to the causes of obesity. Because, right at this moment, its being said on the one hand that every single case is the persons own fault on the one hand v. it being something that is imposed on them by factors not under their control on the other hand.

I would hazard a guess that the vast majority of the time the problem is weak willpower (yep....well I suppose many of us have an Achilles Heel and opening our mouth to another slice of cake or glass of wine is it) on the one hand. On the other hand then a certain proportion (5%/10%????? - but we simply don't know) will be down to "nothing to do with the person themselves" (eg caused by steroid drugs for a condition that cannot be treated any other way for instance).

I've been awaiting that scientific study for some time now, in order to establish the facts...but I'm not going to hold my breath.:cool:

I don't understand why this study isn't being done personally and then we can establish the truth as to why most people are overweight for sure and certain and how to tell the difference as to why someone is, be it Achilles Heel on the willpower front or some "outside factor".

I know personally that current trends of thought on this are quite worrying as to just what is Truth in this matter. For instance, in more than one place recently I've read about "being fat" as an illness its possible to "catch" and that is the single most worrying thing I've read about it recently and definitely got me thinking personally. I've carried on by thinking "Oh...must be able to continue making friends with/generally associating with whoever I decide" but every time another little article comes up saying its a "virus/transmittable" then I worry again.....

Am much happier thinking its just down to personal willpower - or lack of - and there cant possibly be anything else to take account of here...and "Just keep off the steroids and make sure that you keep taking the beneficial bugs to keep gut flora healthy and NO problem"....

GreyQueen

ivyleaf wrote: »

Interesting post RAS, but please don't call people "old dears". It's incredibly patronising. You've read about GQ's neighbour whom she refers to as Supergran; would you call her an "old dear"?

SuperGran is five foot nothing and 70 in few weeks. She gets a great deal of amusement from being overlooked by the local crims and ne'redowells. Little do they know that she's nursed in war zones as a volunteer and is so savvy that the local CID contact her if they're stumped on the grounds that if they dunno, she'll probably have a good idea whodunnit. She beetles about her business pretending to be old and helpless but in reality.............:rotfl:Her favourite line to me, said with a wicked twinkle in her eye, is : I'm just a little old lady, what do I know?

I have a group of passers-by at the allotments whom I've been passing courtesies with for years, I don't know any of their names but they are all ladies of very mature years and I collectively think of them (but not speak of them) as The Dog-walking Ladies.

Thriftwizard, I'm sorry that your stepfather has died but it sounds as if it was as peaceful as it could have been. Sending all good wishes to your mother and the wider family at this sad time. And yes, being ready to hit the ground running is what it's all about, isn't it? Emergencies don't have to be the world ending, they can be highly-localised, but being able to be with your mother in half an hour must have been such a comfort.

Was in a supermarche this aft which had a member of staff on the door, asking if we were intending to pay by cash or card as we entered? Reason being their card-readers were down and had been down for 24 hrs already. Not a prob as always deal in cash anyway (don't want the minions of the state knowing about my chocolate habit ) but a minor example of how it's good to have options re payment methods.

[Deleted User]

I find the discrimination mounting against those of us of a chubby disposition, I wonder whether being rounder than the gubment decrees is acceptable will mean banishment or punishment? It's so manufactured as an accusation, I wonder if they know my Doctors surgery doesn't even have a weight clinic to help with the problem and recommend joining a slimming club instead, very helpful, NOT!!! As a chubby me and as a person who doesn't and never has smoked, dosen't drink and has never gambled in her life and also never been in debt or claimed benefits for any reason, when did I become part of public disgrace britain?