Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

Cor Jem ..imagine you a possible male witch wiv all that power..but oddly enough that brought a recall about an old much respected gypsy that used to visit us once a year. I can't remember anyone refusing to buy a little something from her be it a lavender sachet or carved clothes pegs...they simply bought. Some cos they wanted to, others cos they were scared not to.

Being an inquisitive youngster I wanted to know about her way of life and despite my mothers dire warnings would ask the odd question hoping I would not disappear in a puff of smoke...or worse turn into a knobbly toad. Most folk are scared of a gypsies curse so I asked her about that and her reply was..."You dont lay a bad curse as it will come back to you twice fold. Food for thought there and well remembered. .

Anyhow it's that time of year when you decide on the NY resolutions....or not

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

To Scribbblers, their loved ones and to Mags for popping in daily

My best wishes to each and everyone for a Healthy and Happy 2020

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

Thank you for that lovely sentiment Solo, and the same to you and yours, not forgetting the Milktray Man and Mags.
Lang, is that where that famous golfer Bernhard Langer was born?
I won’t tell you what the word Langer implies over here, say nah more Jem.

I had an encounter with a real gypsy and his old gypsy-set signet ring many years ago, I wrote it down and I’ll try to find it later on, very strange it was too.
I’m terrible at writing things down and then not naming the files or where I put them, some of the posts here trigger off an old memory and I jot it down so as not to forget it again, then it gets lost in the works somewhere, I must learn to be more tidy on the computer.
I have to keep the old brain ticking away for fear of the dementia setting in, I regularly play online dominoes to keep it active, following the horses with all the different names helps to keep it busy too, so far so good.
My dear mother was 73 when she was diagnosed with the dreaded thing and I’m 74 now, her mother and two of her sisters had it and there’s more of my mother in me than my father so it’s a sort of runs in the family thing. There has never been a case of it on the father’s side, he was 93 when he died and his memory was nothing short of fantastic for his age, especially if you owed him a few bob.

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the Kitchen, and buy a Barbecue.

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

Ahhh families. They have a lot to answer for in more ways than one.

I have a similer genetic inheritance which I have always called 'Guess your fate' as one side lives long and t'other lives short so it's anyones guess which side wins.

You could worry about this but worry they say shortens your life or you could see one of these clever know it alls who will scare you witless with loads of 'probabilities'and then a long will come some unexpected diagnosis that will take you completely by surprise as no one from both sides of the families popped off from that one and that gives you chance to .....do all the things you had stopped doing for fear of some family infliction carrying you orf.

The certainty of knowing when your train leaves has a comforting ring about it and beats this guessing game hands down and the chances are by not worrying so much you might also beat the odds and annoy everyone by living longer.

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

You could worry about this but worry they say shortens your life or you could see one of these clever know it alls who will scare you witless with loads of 'probabilities'and then a long will come some unexpected diagnosis that will take you completely by surprise.

I have a saying you know, forget a prognosis or diagnosis, only a fool would fail to recognise they are in trouble when Probability outweighs Possibility.

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

Then if your lucky enough to beat all the bad inherited stuff there’s always the possibility of being knocked down by a No. 9 bus.
I reckon that if we go the whole natural hog we live three lives, when we’re children, when we’re adults, and when we’re old people, three different existences in the same world in a body that’s self adjusting to each life. if you are the contented type you will have enjoyed each life, if you are the greedy type you’ll be tearing out your hair on your deathbed having to leave all your possessions behind so your lazy relatives can live it up, oh I just love when that happens, and believe me I’ve seen it happen quite a few times.

Watched Norman Wisdom in “Up in the World” on TV yesterday, I like Norman Wisdom’s slap stick style comedy, he’s very skilful at it, and I’m not knocking him, I’m obliged to him for plenty of laughs, but when he starts to sing his singing is so false, every syllable every word he tries to get out has to be perfectly pronounced, suddenly from an ordinary Joe Bloggs we get an explosion of elocution, his mouth has to warp and twist into strange shapes to achieve this in his mostly crappy love songs, if you turn down the sound he looks like an eager speech trainer in full swing, “The rain in Spain falls mainly…”, for an ordinary humble lad like him it’s all so unbelievable.
When he’s singing he’s a completely different character to the characters he plays in his films, one would expect him to be like Benny Hill and burst into something like “Spitty the fastest milktray man in the west”, but no, out comes a mushy love song, and his mouth dances a ballet to it.
But then maybe it’s just me who notices these small things, anyway I never liked the idea of a randy crooner singing into a woman’s face, most of the women look mortified trying to smile and pretend they are enjoying it, come to think of it one of the wife’s sisters went out with a fella who used to “sing” to her at the gate when he left her home, she nearly died of embarrassment one night when her mates passed by and yerman was in full swing with “Love thee dearest”, but then he was a real odd ball and she dropped him after that night, as she said to me years later “Ah yes, I remember poor Harold, he hadn’t a note in his head nor in his pocket”

This is an example of what I mean from “Follow a Star” don’t mind his eyes watch his mouth go all over the place getting the words out ever so properly.

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

I think all the Ladies and Gentlemen on the Shop Floor in the Factory had a very "Matter of Fact" approach to Life and Death. They could not wait to "Clock Off".

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

Norman Wisdoms style of acting never appealed to me Jem let alone his over egged singing efforts..but not for the reasons you see. He was a man who never seemed to know what to do with his hands and maybe you noticed in that clip...he twiddles and strokes that mic....and not in a nice way.

Now don't get me wrong I like a good stroke along with the best of them but his way of stroking is uncomfortable and I can't abide a fiddler at the best of times. You want to say " If you don't know what to do with the blasted thing Put it down"

Still there is always a bright side to everything as I suppose it does distract from that mobile gob of his so that you don't notice it going in all directions.

Now spitty I never had a job where you had to clock in and clock out but had friends who lived and died by this method.


Dashing to clock in on time and counting the minutes to clocking out. Got nowt for clocking in early and nowt for clocking out late either...and that was a matter of fact but at least you knew you had been to work instead of wondering into some place...doing a bit of work for a few hours ..then wondering out again. Something to be said for old methods when it kept you on the daily hop

Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)

Talking about clocking in and out, I never worked in a place where that was done, all small workshops and no need for it, if you were late you were late and as you had to pass the offices on the way to your bench you were noticed and docked accordingly on the Friday.
There used to be a character over here who worked in the building industry as a labourer, he never stayed in a job for long and was known as “Jackin up Jack”
A newspaper got wind of him and sent a reporter out to the site where Jack was working at the time. When the foreman pointed Jack out to the reporter Jack was five stories up on the scaffolding boards, the reporter shouts up to him
“Hey you up there!, are you Jackin up Jack?”
“I sure am, hang on a minute and I’ll be down for me cards”