General Chat

Have some sympathy on the poor English language teacher driven to distraction trying to explain to foreign students odd verbs such as these:-

*to toe the line

*to foot the bill

*to knee someone in the...

*to leg it

*I couldn't stomach it

*to shoulder responsibility

Plus many more no doubt!

*Eye someone up

*Get a load of lip

*Nose around

Hi everyone, it's freezing here today, we've got a really strong cold wind.

Marilyn, that sounds really painful, hope you get it sorted on Thursday.

Mo, I hope your SIL realizes he may have lost his daughters. At least your daughter still has the love of her children.

Shelly and Linda, your dustmen arrive really early, ours are due today but they won't get here until later this afternoon.

Good idea to keep yourself busy Rita, it might help to take your mind off the operation. We'll all be thinking of him.

Good to see you back Jean, I thought you'd done yourself and injury.

Cath, make the most of your morning, you'll have no time for yourself this afternoon.

Pat and Maddie both at work, well, somebody has to earn the money to give the tax man.

Very interesting Dermot, it must have been a good life being brought up on a farm. Do you miss it?

This thread's just not right without our Stephen is it? It's not just your lovely cooked breakfasts Stephen, we miss your scintillating personality as well.

Give someone the elbow....

Two left feet.....

Itchy fingers....

Tongue in cheek...

Through gritted teeth......

NINE WORDS WOMEN USE

(1) Fine: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

(2) Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

(3) Nothing: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.

(4) Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don't do It!

(5) Loud Sigh: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to # 3 for the meaning of nothing.)

(6) That's Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements a woman can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

(7) Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say you're welcome. (I want to add in a clause here - This is true, unless she says 'Thanks a lot' - that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all. DO NOT say 'you're welcome' . That will bring on a 'whatever').

(8) Whatever: Is a woman's way of saying: SOD YOU!

(9) Don't worry about it, I got it: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking 'What's wrong?' For the woman's response refer to # 3.

LOL Dermot, all sooooo true!!!

I usually put a couple of them together for a better effect, as in...


Fine........... whatever

good after noon all

LOL im still thinking about what dermot has put and were i fit in to any of it

My remark would be Yeah Yeah Yeah I have heard it all before.

I was always the first ready when I was going out with my husband, he always stopped to fine something ? do something ?or argue with someone not me, or search for the car or door keys.
Lol

Good one Dermot.,

Afternoon everyone I was sure I would come on and find Stephen back on the thread how wrong can one be ?

I Have had a busy morning just wrapping things up now till tomorrow
you look at old maps and there are not clear, of course not you were not born in 1895 0r 1870 so you wonder ? where is that chapel in Chaple end ? what use to be there ? didnt know there was a foot path through that bit of the road. Then I find Church End I was looking for was infact names Crouch Cross End . Then I found the first black person to be christened at the church I was christened in was a Sarah Eco christened in 1723 .I found the Parish reistered I had been searching had began in 1569. then I found the poor relief act of 1601 made the church wardens responsible for the welfare, so if your looking back in your own Town beware someone has been playing chess and moving the bits about or changing the names.
I sent an email to my sister and asked her to visit Brent Archives and look at the bigger maps so I can see where it all was .

Rita

Rita, are you able to look at old maps on-line? When I try to look at any, it just tells me how much they are to buy, don't actually get to see the map.

Our Feathered Friends - Part 4:-

On our way home from school, we used to pass a house which had a stuffed pheasant on the window ledge. It look so natural & appeared to be just standing there looking out at us.

If you are sober at this point & don‘t have any loose false teeth, try out this well known tongue twister:-

‘I am a pheasant plucker & a pheasant pucker’s son. I’ve come to pluck your pheasant till the pheasant plucking’s done’.

Ah come on now - say it a bit faster! Repeat it a few times to work colleagues tomorrow especially when they are really busy. They will surely appreciate a bit of light relief.

In springtime when ploughing started, the crows & seagulls would follow behind the plough looking for rich pickings of disturbed worms or worse. How the seagulls managed to hear of a field, many miles from the sea, was being ploughed was unbelievable. No e-mails, text messages or facebook. Anyway, they were there by the hundreds flying & swooping to catch their prey. Their flying ability would outshine any Spitfire.

They particularly liked the day we were sowing oats - their favourite food. We made-up scarecrows & stood them in strategic locations around the field hoping to frighten off the horde of scavengers. We mustn’t have done a very good job because the birds came anyway when our backs were turned & took their expected share of the grain. My dad didn’t seem to mind too much. He had a good sense of the natural order of things & knew that these birds played their part in keeping bugs & insects at bay.

The wren was generally disliked mainly because it deceived the eagle. Folklore tells us that the birds called a meeting in order to elect a king - a general election of sorts, without the canvassing. It was decided that the one who could fly the highest would be deemed to be the winner. There was a lot of betting by the birds as to who might win & quiet quickly, the eagle’s odds plummeted. The bookie birds thought he was bound to win the title.

As expected, the eagle flew very high in the sky & it was obvious from the referee’s vantage point up on a tall tree that the eagle was the winner. Nobody had noticed that the little wren was on the eagle’s back all along & at the last moment, he flew up and away from the eagle. So, when all the birds came back down to earth, they had to reluctantly name the wren as the ‘King of the Birds’.

The wren further blotted his book in his betrayal of St Stephen by giving away his hiding place to his enemies. St Stephen was arrested & became the first Christian martyr. So, remember him on St Stephen’s day 26th December - otherwise known as Boxing Day.

We had our own ‘Swan Lake’ close by. We used to sit & watch the swans as they relaxed on the lapping lake waters. We took the opportunity to bath our feet in warmer days. Occasionally, you could hear the strange sound of these wild geese flying overhead. They always travelled in a V-formation, each bird taking a turn at the front.

From childhood, we knew the story about King Lear’s children being turned into swans by their wicked step-mother. We wondered if any of those swans were King Lear’s children. Their grace & beauty were lovely to behold.

dermot as any one not told you
that you are only alowed to post about 5 lines LOL

Very good Dermot. What do you do for a living, is it anything to do with writing?

If not........... you've wasted a talent.

Hi everyone,
An interesting day at work! A digger went through a cable in the vicinity of where I work. Consequently the phones went off and the server went down.
In the afternoon the electricity went off completely. I did my work the old fashioned way-by hand! The leccy came back about 4pm.
Dermot,your description of birds is amazing.
When I was in Lemington Spa for a visit I saw swans and geese on the pond in the park.
I look forward to Bird stories part 5!

evening pat and pauline

Dermots stories of our bird life is great. Most of our birds around here are scavenging pigeons.
The darned things sit on the roof's of our local shopping centre, hanging their bottoms over the edge, and do their business on any passing shopper.
The last time it happened to me, I bought a lottery ticket thinking it would be lucky, but guess what, no such luck, just a dirty coat for my troubles.
Keep up the good work Dermot, but can we please have some more of your childhood escapades as well. Living where you did,must have
held such excitement for you.

I wonder how Marilyn got on at the dentists today, and also Pete at the hospital.

Cooee to Stephen~~~~~~~~~not forgetting you.

I hope everyone is o.k, and that all the workers are now home in the warm.

Pauline I brought the Maps from Brent Archives last time I was there
Old Ordance Survey Maps dated 1894 . i looked the prices on line and they were twice the price paid two years ago for old maps of Willesden.

Rita

I thought the earliest Stephen would be back was tomorrow which is incidently Burn's Night!
I've cranked the fire up and I treated myself to Fish and Chips. It makes Mondays seem an awful lot nicer.

Evening all,
great stuff Dermot keep it coming. Really enjoying reading your stories.
Well folks have stronger anti-inflammatories to try and ease knee pain while I wait for another x-ray appointment. Also need tests for thyroid trouble which is news to me.
Marilyn how is the troublesome tooth?
Rita you sure have been busy.
Hope everyone is ok
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ to Stephen

Cath xx

Dermot your bird stories are really great.you have to have a little laugh at the descriptions you give. you can picture them all just doing as you have said.
I lived in Norfolk for 22 years and we had so many different birds about.I use to stand on the clift with my dog and watch them coming across the sea. I carried a little" I Spy book "and they had drawings of the birds so I noted them down. I had a book on" Seals! as well I did a seal watch for the Marine museum and noted down where they were? how close to the beach they were ? how many were in the group? and the date and time.?
I had to report two dead ones. one day they had been shot in the head. and left to die on the beach, I phoned from the beach box and waited till the men arrived to deal with it. not nice.
I find myself connecting with your birds in the fields having farms around me as well
carry on please.?

Pat when you dont have the morden equipemt to use it comes hard. have you every been in one of the stores ? when the elctric or computor Tills have gone down. they shut the shop as the girls cannot add up. ? many times that happend to me. M & S in Great Yarmouth was the worse many a time I have had to leave my shopping basket on the table because of this.

Rita