Amazon exiles discussion
Amazon exiles
Isabella - now you mention the slow moving fashion of this place it reminds me that I don't help matters with my - less than frequent - posting! Suppose I should look a bit closer to home when (as in my second post t'other day) I'm grumbling about nobody speaking. It's usually a matter of days rather than hours/mins between my posts... that's when I post anything at all!Thanks for the reply anyways. Appreciated.
Duke - thanks for that vote of confidence bud, tis much appreciated. It takes balls to say to yerself 'Well I'm gonna communicate with him/her regardless!'
Nice one dude.
Val - March? I knew it wasn't Jan but thought it was maybe next month. No worries, it'll come around fast. It's easy to forget your seasons are all t'other way round down under. Of course you'll say that it's our seasons that're buggered up... and I'd be inclined to agree with you.
I look forward to the AFL season cos it gives me a reason to come back and post more often, and that in itself can lead to possible extra interaction with others and on other threads. More inclination to take part and so forth. Type of stuff I need to do at the moment.
Thanks muchy m'dear. Will be in touch.
Blastronaut Mk2 wrote: "Tech - I don't doubt you're correct about that, but my (twisted?) mind tells me that some might feel they're above talking to the likes of me. Maybe that's an incredibly paranoid thing to say - self analysis is something I spend my time doing - but then again, one never knows for sure,,, I mean six of us in a council semi? Just screams 'WHITE TRASH' to anyone even slightly snobbish!I do apologize - to whomever it may concern - if I got that terribly wrong.Cheers bud anyways"
Blastro, I was raised for the first few years of my life by my Great Grandmother in a Cottage in Ireland that consisted of just two Rooms. We had no indoor Loo, or Electricity, and our Water was brought in by Bucket from the Well at the bottom of the Garden ... and I look back with nothing but a heart that is full of pride and would not swap my early years with anyone else for all the Tea in China ;o>
You are raising a family as best as you can, Poppet, creating a vital part of the future generation and, even though I am not a parent myself, still I know that to be just about one of the hardest and the most challenging jobs in the world.
So, hold your Head up, Blastro, and stand proud! Your Kids will always remember that, no matter what, they were loved. And sadly there are an awful lot of kids out there will never ever get to experience love and family like that - some of whom who may even have just about everything else that they could possibly ever want from life ... except for the one thing that they desperately crave and that they need most of all ... love.
Your family are your true blessings, your real riches, and also are your lifetime's achievement in this world - and a loving family is something to always be admired, and even envied too, and especially by those of us who sadly have not got to have families of our own, Blastro ... x x x
Ah bless ya Suze, you're one of life's 'good guys' no doubt about it. And I wished I had a fraction of the spirit/courage you show when slapping the face of adversity. You got the 'sunshine' bit absolutely spot on! I too have memories of outdoor loos and such. When I wuz knee-height to a grasshopper my folks and meself (only child) lived in a house (terraced) with the toilet, not just outside, but at the bottom of the bloody garden! We had a bucket for No 1's, I don't remember what we did for No 2's but I'm guessing that on long winter nights we either held on till morning or braved the dark and cold if it couldn't wait.
I remember us having this tin bathtub ('bout the size of yer usual tub) that used to come out on Sundays; musta been a nightmare to fill up considering the size of the thing. We have a photo somewhere of me sitting in said tub and our pet budgie perched on the end. Used to take an interest in bath-times did our budgie - think his name might've been Sparky but not sure; mother don't remember and dad's long gone God bless him.
Are we showing our age talking of such things as outdoor loos and 'Sunday bath-times' m'dear? : )
Blastronaut Mk2 wrote: "Are we showing our age talking of such things as outdoor loos and 'Sunday bath-times' m'dear? : ) "Well? - it's going to the big 5 0 Birthday for me in June ;o>
Our family home, for many generations, in Ireland very sadly no longer exists anymore as it was pulled down. It finally got Electricity via a Generator in the late 1980's but Water was still brought in from the Well right up until the day that it was sold off in 2006 after the death of the last member of my extended family to live there.
When I first met my future husband in 1967 he and the family -mum, dad, sis - lived above a baby-linen shop in Everton. There was a living-room/kitchenette, a bedroom and an attic room. The lav was at the bottom of the yard, no hot running water, just an Ascot heater. Baths were a tin bath by the fire. J. had the very damp attic room which led to him getting rheumatic fever when he was 12. Had a year off school.
I never went there as they were moved out to a new soul-less housing estate way out of town away from family and friends.
Blastro: our budgie (Timmy) liked to bathe in a bowl of lettuce.
My dad was born in Antrim, Northern Ireland, one of those small farming communities, not even a village really, a half dozen or so houses along the road. Real back of beyond stuff! Anyway when I was about 8/9 years old my dad took me over there to one of his brother's farm for a holiday. Not a very big place, about three large fields that led from the main road down a rudimentary path to the house on the River Bann with absolutely no facilities. Water was obtained from a pump in the yard, in the evening some lamps to provide light, cooking was all done on a huge open fire in the kitchen/living room. Some time during the first day I asked my Aunt Mary where the toilet was to which she pointed to the door with a wave of her hand. "Out there son, pick a spot! " she said blithely.As for our own house we had the luxury of two toilets, one indoor with sink and bath and another outside in the back garden.
Things I have learned - never judge by appearances. My parents came from humble backgrounds, Mum on a farm with no running water or gas or electricity. Dad wasn't allowed to go to grammar school when he passed the 11+, he had six brothers and sisters. There were nine of us living in a council semi when I was 16 and that's a long story that reflects only good on Mum and Dad. The fact that our parents were red hot on education, for girls and boys, let us aspire to the positions we're in now, successful by most definitions but we never forget that this didn't come except by hard work (not just ours) and a healthy helping of good luck. Not everything has been smooth, so the appearance of a perfect life is just that. There are some people who should be embarrassed by their circumstances but until we know just what the story is behind them, we shouldn't think we can tell who those people are.
My husband was the only boy in his immediate neighbourhood to go to grammar school and was teased mercilessly by the other lads. His sister, a very bright girl who’d easily have passed the 11+ refused to sit the exam and stayed off school that day. She didn’t want to go to a strange school which she thought would be ‘posh’ and didn’t want to leave all her friends.
It's easy to forget just how comparatively affluent we all are now compared to many decades within living memory. Certainly in Scotland (and I'm sure in Ireland too) conditions lagged way behind England. Outside wash-houses (a stone sink) were common in the 50s and I'm talking Edinburgh and Glasgow, not country areas. In the 1970s my Uncle and Auntie and their two children lived in a council tenement in the Royal Mile, just down from John Knox's house, with a single toilet on every second landing. In the 1980s another Uncle and Auntie were live-in caretakers for a primary school in the Borders. They had to cart their water for domestic usage from the local burn. My Dad grew up in an Edinburgh tenement with his parents, seven siblings, two cousins and a Great Dane(!) in a 3-roomed, first floor "hoose". His Ma and Pa slept in "the room" which was also kitchen and living room, the children shared the single bedroom and tiny boxroom. The place was unchanged when I lived there in the 70s but at least it was just my grandad and me; I got the bedroom, he had the box room - but indoor plumbing had arrived!
My Dad was the bright one of the family and got a place at the local Academy. He hated it, separated from all his pals. When war was declared in 1939 he had the perfect excuse (aged 13) to leave school and join his Dad delivering coal from a horse and cart (and carrying sacks of coal up many flights of stairs).
I think we're all a bit soft now. As an aside, this discussion brought back memories of that wonderful play "The Steamie"
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Steamie-DVD-...
"Hilarious classic comedy"??? - then how come I cry every time I watch it?
As I commented somewhere recently the old "dublin sink" seems to be very much in vogue at the moment replacing the standard stainless steel sink and drainer which has been the mainstay for several years for what I would regard as the traditional fitted kitchen of modern times. Fitted carpets are another victim and are being replaced by wooden flooring or tiles,also wood burning stoves seem to be quite popular. Watching Bargain Hunt recently I've also a growing trend that genuine antiques are being usurped by what I can only regard as being old tat. Rusty metal cabinets and large metal light fittings from factories, warehouses and offices of the 60's and 70's going for a few hundred pounds upwards, battered old trunks and suitcases from the 50's being used as coffee tables. Just another part of the modern world that severely boggles my mind and leaves me mystified. Anybody else feel like a square peg in a round hole these days?
Today's old tat is tomorrow's genuine antique? I quite like this new fashion for 'upcyclling' what would otherwise end up as landfill, although not so keen when it's accompanied by silly prices. Have you seen that programme where they wander round recycling centres and carry off the most unlikely stuff to be reworked by various artisans and sold as designer gear? It's a bit daft, but entertaining, and sometimes there's something I would actually give house room to.
Val - re The Steamie, it reduces me to a blubbering wreck every time! Certainly can't watch it at Hogmanay.
Blastro - it looks like we're all White Trash on here! I was brought up in a tiny 'croft house' - a tied cottage belonging to the local farmer -with an outside dry closet and tilley lamps for light. When I was five we moved to a council house, but still had no electricity. I can still recall the wonderment when it was eventually installed.
nocheese wrote: "Today's old tat is tomorrow's genuine antique? I quite like this new fashion for 'upcyclling' what would otherwise end up as landfill, although not so keen when it's accompanied by silly prices. Ha..."Yes, I know the programme youre talking about, have caught the occasional tail end sometimes in the morning (morning tv - how decadent - one of the guilty pleasures of being semi-retired!) Things have certainly got better in many ways over the last half century or so for many of us, it's such a shame that for others much of what we take for granted is out of reach. When I see the streams of thousands of refugees fleeing the terror and destruction of their homes, towns and villages, torn apart by the bombs and bullets of a faceless war that defines their world with cruelty and deprivation. A pitiless enemy who have no saving human grace in their souls, they are less than animals, merely demonic denizens of a modern hell.
My daughter was recently wandering round an "antique" centre and sent me a photo saying "Haven't you got one of these?" - it was a metal cover for the external water meter.
They wanted twenty quid for it! Maybe I should bring ours indoors.
I often wander round big soul-less shopping complexes thinking "I wonder how things are in Africa today." It's a great way of saving money.
NC - White Trash it is then! : ) Is a croft house one of those buildings that one usually finds in the middle of nowhere, possibly near lochs and such? Afraid I can't go back as far as no 'lectricity but do remember our first VCR - around '78-ish which would've made me about seven or eight. Also, when I was a kid, me dad set me up with a CB radio (ha ha another red flag there for White Trash) in me bedroom and I often marvel at how far we've come from me talking to friends over a radio to my kids 'Skyping' theirs over t'internet.
Never fails to amaze me how clearly I remember stuff from childhood but can't remember what I did last week!!
Lez - ha ha budgies are pretty cool creatures. We've had a cockatiel (Spyro) for around fifteen-sixteen yrs now and he's never really offered to make friends. We did spend a lot of time on trying to change this but I guess he prefers his own company, well that and the mirrors which I presume he thinks is another bird. Only time he'll not try to peck off yer hands is when ya feed him, in which case he doesn't seem to mind using yer fingers for a perch. Never had him say anything - which I believe some cockatiels will do - but he'll happily converse with us via exchanging certain whistles, the 'wolf-whistle' obviously being the first one he learnt. Budgies seem to be a tad more chilled... dare I say more friendly.
Our Timmy liked to sabotage my knitting by perching on the needles. He also enjoyed a ride on the carpet-sweeper, liked to yodel with Frank Ifield and join the chorus of Bobby Vee’s Rubber Ball. By ‘eck, simple pleasures 😀😀
it is, blastro, like a wee farmhouse/small holding or such. bothy can also apply.i remember my granny being the first person in kilmaurs to have a colour t.v. - less need, more show, a peculiar old bird - she refused to have a fridge (she had a perfectly good pantry!), but relented when my parents bought a new one and dumped the old one on her - from then on everything went in - salt and pepper included! if she ever heard a whisper of a commodity shortage, she'd send my grampa out to buy all remaining stocks of it. y'know, nice sideboard, what do you keep in it? hauf ton o' sugar! trying to tell her this behaviour was causing shortages was futile.
Is the program y'all talking about the one with the female presenter/designer who hangs around waiting for folk to open up the back of their vehicles and then takes their tree trunks and old dressing-tables and such to carpenters and upholsterers etc? I love the way she walk up to the person's door at the end to show em what she's done with their items and it's like "Oh hello fancy seeing you here!" like they've not been rehearsing ten mins ago... like they don't know she's coming to the door. Always tickles me does stuff like that.
That’s the one Blastro. I can’t bear to watch it, it drives me mad to see people chucking perfectly good chairs and tables. Haven’t they heard of charity shops? The Sally Army and Shelter are crying out for stuff to furnish accommodation for the homeless. Same with home makeovers when whole kitchens are ripped out and chucked in skips. Nobody says anything!
She came to Stockport for one programme and I was absolutely amazed at just how wonderful our Landfill site scrubbed up and looked at it's finest on the TV! - LOL!!! ;o>I was also amazed too that she wasn't chased off or rugby-tackled to the ground by the resident Gypsies who are genuinely lovely folk for the most part but they do tend to race up to and dive into Cars and Vans dropping stuff off for anything that might possibly be of any use or value to them.
I did wonder if they were bribed, perhaps by the Council, or the TV Company into moving their Caravans and disappearing for a couple of hours while the Cameras were running? ;o>
Hmmm? - is it just me or are Email and Website Notifications not being updated or registering for everyone else today?
Email and Website Notifications are not being updated or registering for everyone else today!:)
Okay ... I don't mind almost half so much now ;o>
Speaking of e-mails, I recently decided to eliminate certain sections as I was getting so much from various sources it was piling up to a ridiculous level. Some of it was from months ago, sorting through and deleting was taking up so much time I decided enough was enough and drastic measures were required so apologies to anyone who has been communicating with me and not received a reply.
It took me ages to figure out just what was what on here, Martin - the Default Settings on first joining Goodreads meant that I was getting hundreds of Emails a day for the first fortnight! ;oO
I’ve just deleted and cancelled most of my survey emails after cashing in all the worthwhile ones. I was getting at least 15 a day and just got overwhelmed. I’ve only kept Nectar as they mount up quickly, plus Scotpulse which are local and quite interesting.
Martin wrote: "Life's just too short Suzy!"Yep! ;o> ... I opted for getting Website Notifications only on all of the Threads that I usually post on or are still really interested in - and Email Notifications sent to my Inbox on just 4 of my most favourite Threads so that I can use them to catch up with whoever is around, what's going on, and also to log into them much more directly by clicking on them ;o>
WOO-HOO!!! - the Notifications are all working again!!! Unfortunately though I am getting the whole day's worth in one go! - LOL!!! ;o>
I'm getting back-timed Emails sent to me every few minutes and have just noticed that some of them now (the NES Thread) show what the Post says as well as just the Link to them? It must be an upgrade on the Notifications that Goodreads have been busy working on today.
If you hear the muffled roar of an ocean wave followed by the sound of jelly impacting on a hard surface dont worry, it's just my head exploding.
Now you know you will annoy Mrs o'B if you make a mess, Martin! ;oO
Hi Blastro!*note to oneself...must check other threads more often!*
Duke - thanks for that vote of confidence bud, tis much appreciated. It takes balls to say to yerself 'Well I'm gonna communicate with him/her regardless!'
Nice one dude.
Friendship accepted mate!
Sent you a message...as I've mentioned in it...I no idea what the hubbub is about..having not been around as long as some others...so I'll be happy to see you about..mibbe on the music games, when you wish to do so.
As fer the 'white trash' discussion.....I don't think I can lay claim to that in my childhood....both my parents were civil servants working in various government ministries. But I've always regarded myself as working class bloke....except i'm not now..thanks to my knackered eyesight...so what does that make me now..i wonder?
I had a decent childhood, but not luxurious (although compared to some of you, it probably was luxurious!)..but these days I appear to be going backwards!
I grew up in a quiet pretty hamlet near Cowbridge, in a 4 bed Dormer bungalow....which had.....erm (looks sheepishly)...water, electricity & 2 bathrooms and 3 toilets! Not an outside loo to be seen anywhere...although the modest property I now live in does still have an one.
Don't judge me for it....I was only little 'un...then!!
It was getting a bit like a Monty Python sketch, wasn't it? " 'Ole in"t road? Thee were lucky, we used to dream about living in an 'ole in t'road'
THREE Toilets?!! - well, I never!!! ... one for M&D, one for the Kids, and one for Guests only? ;o>
suzysunshine7 wrote: "It took me ages to figure out just what was what on here, Martin - the Default Settings on first joining Goodreads meant that I was getting hundreds of Emails a day for the first fortnight! ;oO"I've never got any Suzy, nothing changed on here since I've joined....or maybe I haven't been paying enough attention! :)
Our outside lav adjoined the coal ‘ole and was for when me dad got caught short in the garden.
suzysunshine7 wrote: "THREE Toilets?!! - well, I never!!! ... one for M&D, one for the Kids, and one for Guests only? ;o>"
Well...one was in the garage..which I rarely frequented, cos it was poorly lit & full of spiders!!!
Yeah..i know...my Dad was an ambitious man...so he rose through the promotion ranks throughout his life. He used to work for the Ministry for Agriculture Fisheries and Food...now known as DEFRA. Needless to say he was fairly well paid...although, saying that...we moved out of Cowbridge when I was 11, cos he couldn't afford the rising cost of living there anymore!
So we moved to another quiet seaside hamlet near Aberystwyth...in a much cheaper house..but even bigger than the one in Cowbridge! Still only had the 2 bathrooms and 3 toilets though!! But the 3rd one, this time, was in the downstairs cloakroom. We had a room just for a pool table in that house too, plus the largest living room I've ever seen...it was a big house! The kitchen was ancient though..he never changed that in all the years we lived there (18 years)...that was installed in the 1960's! :-D
Ahhh...those were the days! Pity he got cancer and we had to move out....but hey ho, the little place I now live in, is nice enough! :)
Hiyah Gordon! ... x x xI'm not sure how else to get hold of you except by posting to you on the main Group Thread. Would you mind moving a new Thread that I've set up called "The Gone But Not Forgotten RIP Thread" from where I put it in 'Music Chat' over to being in 'The Holding Pen' for me please?
It has been decided to open the Thread up to Memorials to everyone that Group Members would like to pay their respects and post tributes to, rather than only just to people in the Music Industry, and so 'The Holding Pen' would seem to be a much better place for it ;o>
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Blastronaut Mk2 wrote: "Classic...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l6ko..."
That's brilliant Blastro! I don't remember seeing that although I probably did back in the day.
peerless python! sheer genius, and so much funnier than benny hill! :)
Tech wrote: "peerless python! sheer genius, and so much funnier than benny hill! :)"Back on zon, many many threads went right by me without my knowledge (mostly due to the 'Recent Discussions' box that I tended to just stick to) but the Python/Hill affair was certainly one that I was aware of. Didn't much bother with it as I assumed it'd be MOT spouting something like 'Benny Hill is better than Monty Python' over and over ad infinitum.
Was I wrong Tech? Was there much substance in said text? : )
Blastronaut Mk2 wrote: "Was I wrong Tech? Was there much substance in said text? : ) ..."Tech's contributions to that thread were always full of some substance.
By the way, Blastro, Foe was wondering where you were over on the Voting threads > Cream of 2017 - Round 9 - NOMINATIONS. You see, there is always someone somewhere missing you.
ha ha, no blastro, nothing more than a nod to m.o.t. and his tendency to spout a load o' shight! strangely i kinda miss him and his bizarre ideologies! he was ripe for ripping the pish, is what i probably mean! :)but python? been a huge fan ever since it started showing when i was wee.
For what it's worth....Python any day! :-) Although I wasn't born when it first appeared on TV.
Life of Brian.....a work of genius!
"He's not the messiah, he's a......."
........all together now! :)
Very Naughty Boy!
Amazon exiles
Books mentioned in this topic
A Boy's Own Story (other topics)A Boy's Own Story (other topics)
How Amazon fucks over its publishers (other topics)
In Dubious Battle (other topics)
Cheers bud anyways.
Suze - Sorry to hear your folks came down with this particular nasty, and it is a nasty one; I've just hit the skids a couple of days ago. Like I say - a slow moving affair as it takes yonks to creep and crawl around biding it's time and then outta the blue it takes it's next victim. Once it get's ya tho, there's no messing around - in like bloody Flynn!!
My understanding of it was that it's just this latest type/strain of flu that the jab seems to be useless against but if you've always done alright without it, I guess there's no point fixing what aint broken!
Cheers m;dear.