The Garden Fence - proper Old Style support and chat!

MingVase

*Scratches head*

MingVase

.....Which is not easy when you've got a vase on it.

monnagran

burtha love, take no notice of Nargle, if you are going for gold presents raise your expectations above gold toiletries and Ferero Rochas.  24carat  gold rings, gold watches and tiaras at the very least.  You know you're worth it.

Polly, your elephantine memory amazes me.  However, I'm with you on the reading old books as if you've never seen them before.  I have hundreds of books that I simply don't have room for, so thought lockdown was a good opportunity to go through and weed a load out.  I started to read the first one and could swear that I'd never read it before.  Same with the second one.  And the 39th one.  I am so pleased that you are the same.  I thought that the dreaded dementia had not only caught up with me, but overtaken me by a mile.
Now I just need lockdown to go on for another 2 or 3 years so that I can finally prune my shelves.

If we are going to party again I suppose I will have to dust off my hot waiter.  On the other hand, if mardy-pants cant even remember what she did with the police dog, never mind the elephant, maybe I won't risk it.  He's safer in my wardrobe.

pollyanna_26

MingVase said:

*Scratches head*

I believe the Nitty Noras are thin on the ground in the current circumstances. You need a good nit comb or if not available thick hair conditioner and a fine tooth comb. Oh the memories!

pollyx

Nargleblast

VJsmum said:

Ooh a party - count me in.

I was thinking about this thread this morning and then up it popped - weird.

Now, VJsmum, I've told you before about using that ouija board!

pollyanna_26

monnagran said:

burtha love, take no notice of Nargle, if you are going for gold presents raise your expectations above gold toiletries and Ferero Rochas.  24carat  gold rings, gold watches and tiaras at the very least.  You know you're worth it.

Polly, your elephantine memory amazes me.  However, I'm with you on the reading old books as if you've never seen them before.  I have hundreds of books that I simply don't have room for, so thought lockdown was a good opportunity to go through and weed a load out.  I started to read the first one and could swear that I'd never read it before.  Same with the second one.  And the 39th one.  I am so pleased that you are the same.  I thought that the dreaded dementia had not only caught up with me, but overtaken me by a mile.
Now I just need lockdown to go on for another 2 or 3 years so that I can finally prune my shelves.

If we are going to party again I suppose I will have to dust off my hot waiter.  On the other hand, if mardy-pants cant even remember what she did with the police dog, never mind the elephant, maybe I won't risk it.  He's safer in my wardrobe.

If we prune our books at a later date. Are we safe to do so? At some point we may have need of them again and find we still don't remember characters , plots etc? Same with knitting yarn and craft stuff. Youngest is currently knitting a tea bag hat after I dropped off a very big bag of wool when the I need wool plea arrived by email.

I forgot a few things. Brian Bilston. I used to  start my mornings looking at his Twitter feed followed by your Thought for the day. Sometimes those thoughts made me think and other times choke with laughter.

I've finally remembered Brian Bilston today when I remembered our discussions about him. Had a look and oh dear he had a new book released yesterday "Alexa what is there to know about love?" The bit I saw was very funny. Do I or don't I?

I've found my mind wandering back to the things I've never really known the full picture of. Not having any memory of the years between my only brother dying when I was about 3. Vivid memories of the ambulance men taking him out of the post war prefab we lived in. My next memory is sitting at a table years later. Living in a terraced house and experiencing my first street party. it must have been the Queens Coronation. I've wondered why a number of years were blanked out. No more gardens and dads allotment though the grandads stil had theirs. A couple of months ago I had a sudden memory of our then family doctor talking about Asbestos. Both my brother and dad had bronchitis and pneumonia on an ongoing basis especially in winter. Brother was born with Spina Bifida and although he often had a smile on his face hadn't had access then to a lot of the treatment and management now available.

Those post war prefabs were modern and lovely but made of Asbestos so I seem to have worked out why we moved but still no memory of the missing years. I have some photos of my cousin and I on our 3 wheeler bikes but no idea if that garden was our prefab or his parents.

The wandering back over different times and unknown reasons led me to wonder if this was your life flashing before your eyes. I pondered that for a while then told myself It's lockdown. Get a grip.

Keep your waiter in the wardrobe monna. I'm a bit concerned about gold body paint. Wasn't there a thing in Goldfinger where you had to leave a gap or the person would die? Maybe not the film but the actress in the film.

pollyx

pollyanna_26

Shirley Eaton played Jill Masterson in Goldfinger the character in the film died of skin suffocation having been completely covered in gold paint. The actress was fine. Every day is a school day.

VJsmum

Polly - I love Brian Bilston (a pseudonym, I'm led to believe).  He always seems to hit the nail on the head.

I think lockdown is having a profound effect on many, if not most, people.  I can't believe it is still January - this month has been a long year, no?  I had a weird dream last night featuring many friends i've had in the past - most of whom i'm not friendly with now (only because we grew apart).  Most odd and strangely disturbing.  

Perhaps your missing years are a bit of self-preservation.  Your parents must have been devastated.  I've been doing some ancestry and realised that my mum's older sister died when my nan was pregnant with mum and sister was still a small baby (not even a toddler).  My mum was the sibling (of 8 surviving childhood) that had the worst ill health and you can't help but wonder if there is a connection - was nan so distraught that she did not look after herself?  I find myself wistful that i only had my nan till i was 18 and there is so much i didn't think to ask.  I'm thinking of doing a DNA test as i have many unanswered questions about my ancestry - although more so on my father's side.

pollyanna_26

VJsmum said:

Polly - I love Brian Bilston (a pseudonym, I'm led to believe).  He always seems to hit the nail on the head.

I think lockdown is having a profound effect on many, if not most, people.  I can't believe it is still January - this month has been a long year, no?  I had a weird dream last night featuring many friends i've had in the past - most of whom i'm not friendly with now (only because we grew apart).  Most odd and strangely disturbing.  

Perhaps your missing years are a bit of self-preservation.  Your parents must have been devastated.  I've been doing some ancestry and realised that my mum's older sister died when my nan was pregnant with mum and sister was still a small baby (not even a toddler).  My mum was the sibling (of 8 surviving childhood) that had the worst ill health and you can't help but wonder if there is a connection - was nan so distraught that she did not look after herself?  I find myself wistful that i only had my nan till i was 18 and there is so much i didn't think to ask.  I'm thinking of doing a DNA test as i have many unanswered questions about my ancestry - although more so on my father's side.

I agree lockdown is having a profound effect on many. From simple things like not remembering what day it is or sometimes what month. This month has seemed never ending. I've revisted my years in school, my teenage years and different times in my life.

I think though we're living in strange and unfamiliar times there seems to be some headspace that was never there before and the mind wanders.

It probably was a form of self preservation when my brother died I can only think I blanked it out.

I had good, loving parents but my mother never spoke about my brother. She had one tiny photo of him in his wheelchair and although my dad would sometimes mention him she didn't.

I had two younger sisters born some years later who for many years were unaware I wasn't the eldest. Dad died when I was 15 and mum rarely mentioned him either. I think she carried her hurt deeply inside her. When she died we found boxes of wartime letters between mum and dad one glance showed they were too private to keep reading. Openly loving and missing each other while dad was in the navy.

On one hand I learned the family history back through generations as both parents were from large families. It was my early years that were always a mystery. At one point I wondered if I had done something awful that no one spoke about. My youngest aunt put my mind at rest about that.

Like you I think about the different generations and ponder their lives. It was only at my mothers funeral I discovered 3 of my aunts had been trapped in violent marriages. One of my dads sisters was ok until her husband came home from the war mentally damaged, one of my mums brothers was the same and her sister in law had a very changed man to cope with as did one of my mums sisters.

Too late for me to hear that. I'd married 2nd husband thankfully finally sent on his way with a final injunction with lasting power of arrest.. We can't change the past but do wonder and it seems many are wondering at the moment.

pollyx

ETA Brian Bilston has done many book shop appearances including a number at dd1s stores . I've no idea how he managed it but he has kept his identity secret as far as I'm aware. I asked my daughter a number of times if he was in disguise? Like Pratchett and others she never took to she didn't reply..

monnagran

Polly, I think that we all have little snapshot memories of our lives in retrospect.  We don't remember what came afterwards or what led up to them, just moments of our history frozen in our minds.
My DIL keeps urging me to write about the family for the sake of the grandchildren.  She loves to hear the family stories and is desperate not to lose them.  I might, but quail at the task.  I am naturally lazy.

Another Bilston fan here, but I've never thought of starting the day with him.  I'm glad you enjoyed the Thought for the Day.  I might start up again some time.  I stopped because I thought people must be bored with them..