The Garden Fence - proper Old Style support and chat!

pollyanna_26

Mar You're allowed to be trying under the circumstances . That attitude got you from the hated city to your wee haven up the hill . It no doubt got you through many ups and down down the years too . There are those of us who will never fit the sweet old lady image . The difference between putting up with things and changing what you can to find a different life is honed by hard times and never ever giving in . It even helps when illness and ageing comes along as we don't take any prisoners and do what we can .
It's sunny here after a wet morning but not that awful humidity . It's amazing how much better I feel today after a rare two nights sleep in a row .
The children and I spent many happy hours lying on the grass either in the garden or park cloud watching . I often hear of all the heavily planned and wildly expensive things parents plan as activities for their offspring and although I know life is different now than in the seventies both safety wise regarding the ease a child can be picked up and driven off by a stranger . I still think my four had a much better deal mostly free . In the holidays my son would pick up his football and bike and head off with his mates until his stomach brought him home . The girls would be out and about and sometimes we'd just head to the park or the lake or down to the sea for the day .
That was the 70s and 80s and to my mind the best time for children .Back in my fifties childhood like many I would mostly be out with my younger sisters in tow , shopping or keeping them out of mums way , if I stopped to join in a skipping game or throwing two ball against the wall the howls would begin . I had caring parents but there wasn't that knowledge that a child needed a chance to just be themselves and sit in the library or wander alone .
Well I've waffled on a bit there , look after yourself and in view of the dizzy spell keep water to hand in the heat and drink it .
polly:)

camelot1001

Talking of ladies shoes - I saw a very tall, skinny chap in The Netherlands last week riding a bike in teeny weeny shorts, a crop top and ladies white platform sandals. The mind boggles!

ivyleaf

It does indeed camelot

Hester Brilliant news re the job :T I hope CHS isn't too sore about the knees today.

It's rained on and off today and looks as if it's just thinking pf having another go.

pollyanna_26

Camelot That's the second market I mentioned to Hester . DD had mad money offers from both .
BTW I must point out none of the three daughters ever had smelly feet . I think the sniffing must be down to pheromones or something . If my mother could see me now :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:Life wasn't like this in our parents day , well it probably was but it wasn't on their radar .

Hester Everything will be firmly crossed for the job if it turns out to be the right thing for you . I'm not sure if CHS has any reason other than waiting for retirement to stay at the school specifically . I'm trying to reread all the new posters posts as once the thread turned a bit feral I lost memory and focus .
The post from MMF007 did make me thing of you both . Her work seems to cover a lot of your joint skills and if this job doesn't suit you could be a starting point for a lot of thinking . It will still be a pain for you to work out those last weeks but he needs to be rescued from the never ending chaos and the effects on his mind and body .
Too many chiefs and not enough indians there and also pretty cruel and weird staff . I don't expect you'll be baking cakes for the day you leave unless you come across some handy hemlock or aconite on the river bank . Ooh less likely to find you in trouble Laxatives , very strong ones which will kick in when you leave the building for the final time . Blame it on your poor eyesight .
polly

monnagran

Now, where were we?


Oh yes, Polly dear, there is a reason why I never quote "and when she was bad she was horrid." Of course it never applies to me as I am always very, very good. I'd have thought you would have realised that.
Oh, and just for information, some of us, or to be precise, one of us is indeed a sweet old woman.
I know I must be really sweet because Pickle tells me so. Well, she doesn't exactly say that but she did say that she liked it when I smiled because when I stopped smiling the "smile creases" we're still in my face.
So there you have it - a sweet old woman without wrinkles but with smile creases.

Who's next?
Oh yes. Mar, or "Herod" as you should be renamed. If we ever hear of " the massacre of the ducks" we will know just where to direct the authorities.

Hester. Did he fall or was he pushed? Just asking.

Most certainly the seventies and eighties were the last decades that we could allow our children to take themselves off into the woods with a packet of sandwiches and a bottle of squash, to spend a happy day making camps, waging wars, being Tarzon and enjoy being free.
We did the same in the forties. At the end of our road there were the"brickfields". I think that there was originally a brickworks there. There was certainly a search light station there during the war and it was a wonderful wild space for us as children. It had streams, cliffs (or so it seemed to us), stunted trees, BlackBerry bushes, boggy bits, newts and tadpoles, grassy stretches, everything that children could desire.
Health and Safety would have had a blue fit if they had been in existence.
We have memories that our grandchildren will never have. To spend whole days with our friends, unsupervised by adults, we learned how to get on with people, how to make our own rules and the reasons for obeying them, how to keep ourselves safe and how to organise ourselves. If we fell out we had to sort it out ourselves. If someone attempted to bully us we sorted them out. I something went wrong we had to make decisions how to put things right. Older children looked after younger ones, weaker children were given a helping hand and anyone who behaved in a way that was unfair or frightening were soon shown how unacceptable that was.

I'm getting carried away again. Utopia it wasn't, but I'm glad that was my childhood.

x

Hard_Up_Hester

I grew up in the 50's but didn't have that sort of childhood, I was an only child and didn't play out much with other children.

CHS is still in pain and badly bruised, he's had a hot shower and some arnica cream applied, hopefully he will feel better in the morning. Brrrr, it's chilly now, it's rained all day on and off, but it's still beautiful.

I'm still crocheting a baby blanket and sat wrapped in a bigger blanket I made a couple of years ago.

Today apart from the job offer I was also given a wonderful gift, a brass tiller pin in the shape of a witch, very appropriate don't you think.

I'm hoping something will happen jobwise for CHS, he is only 61 and doesn't get his state pension for another 7 years but I don't think he can keep doing the job he does for that long.

Even if I get/take the job that I've been offered it isn't enough to keep us both afloat, on the upside, the tenant doesn't seem to have had any more problems, fingers crossed, so her rent can now go towards paying the mortgage and building some savings.

[Deleted User]

You really don't have to spend a fortune to make kids happy, Zebra (although he's only 3) is happiest when we're all playing and making dens with old cushions and throws, indoors or out doesn't matter. Being read to, playing with his 'play food' and cash register, playing hide and seek or just chase in the garden are all far more to his idea of fun than days out. When mine were small we put up an old sheet between the washing line and the fence for a shelter and they played schools out there, had shops out there, an old cardboard box was a boat and they sailed the seven seas in the back garden. They made 'perfumes' with gone over flower petals, made mud gardens in plant pot saucers with anything they could find, made scarecrows with newspaper and outgrown clothing, even just laid on an old towel and watched the clouds/stars if it was getting dark and all their friends loved coming to do all these things too. If it was wet the sofa cushions were a sleigh/spaceship/carriage and they had dressing up clothes, put on plays, had a 'box of bits' like loo rolls/boxes/tissue from round fruit/sweetie wrappers/egg boxes with which to make 'things' , board games, jigsaws, books to read and they had such fun. Kiddlers will always be kiddlers and a little time NOT spent in front of the TV with mum/dad NOT glued to their mobile phone but actually giving the small ones some undivided attention will always be a winner!

monnagran

Couldnt agree more Lyn.

I still treasure the sight of my boys sitting in our armchairs with the poker pushed down between the arm and the cushion as their gear stick driving all through some imaginary town.

Pickle has a room full of toys but I have never seen her so happy as when we had a huge empty cardboard box. She played with that for days.

Jazee

Evening all.

There is a chap locally who cycles in summer wearing just speedos so he actually looks naked and it's not that warm in North Yorkshire.

Being in a small village the kids round here spend a lot of time out and about on their bikes and build dens in the lanes by the farmland.

pollyanna_26

Jazee The guy on the bike was a perfect example of true Northern Grit . Or perhaps a deluded tourist who didn't know how the weather could turn . Rarely see a child playing out in this area now , just see them getting in and out of cars . Walk up the road and there are farms , walk in another direction and your at the beach with the sea at hand . Very sad but it is a different time with what seems a fast and demanding lifestyle now .

Hester What a lovely and appropriate gift . Take it as a sign and lets hope for better times .

Monna and Lyn I enjoyed your posts so much . It brought so many memories flooding back . For many they were golden years and the memories live on .
Not Utopia but possibly Housman's Land of Lost Content .

Only returned as I remembered poor Monna was still sitting on the norty step . Following her first sending there by me some time ago I forgot about her a few days . So to avert numb bum syndrome you can arise Monna , unless you've fallen asleep . Remember three strikes and you're out . Unless you want to drag your little curl , your wrinkle free skin and your utter perfection across the threads in search of sanctuary be very careful .
Night all , sleep tight
polly