Dirk Star
Group: Members
Posts: 1331
Joined: Sep. 2007 |
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Posted: Feb. 17 2010, 03:35 |
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Quote (wiga @ Feb. 16 2010, 11:49) | Talking of teeth, I remember watching my grandad crack Brazil nuts with his teeth - I was fascinated, and my reaction made him laugh all the more. He was a Polish man and maybe they have good teeth in their genes, most British grandads at that time had false teeth, but he was very much of that culture that wanted to feed you and watch you enjoy, and he had a table full of pickles. My other grandparents (or parents) didn't engage me quite like he did, he was a colourful man - like a Red Admiral!
Dirk, I've not heard the "upstairs for big dinners" one - I'm thinking that the dining room was upstairs, like in those "Upstairs Downstairs" middle class homes. |
I loved the Red Admiral story Wiga,and I suppose in many ways it gives you more reason to look forward to those summer months even more.I was slightly reminded of an early Peter Kay routine though where I think he talks about one of his uncle`s passing away..."He absolutely loved cheesey crisps,you could`nt move in his cupboards for bloody quavers" And then of course on the day of his funeral his mother and auntie are talking about seeing an empty packet of wotsits or something blowing across the road outside the cemetery.."That were im`" one of them remarks,hilarious stuff.Irish Catholic again there though with Peter Kay,I think his mother probably supplied him with at least 50% of his best material.
Yeah the "upstairs downstairs" thing sounds perfectly feasible as well,it`s probably been handed down from generations old.Another one I still use that came from my grandmother is "Boggin`s Bits".Apparently they would regurlaly visit some friends of their`s on a sunday afternoon known as the Boggins for tea.I think they walked quite a few miles to get to their house as well,back in the days when people still did that sort of thing.Anyway they were renowned for being a little on the "tight" side to say the least,and would offer them the most tiniest pieces of cake you can imagine.You know, a little tiny sliver of battneburg or something laying limp on the plate there.In conversation afterwards on the long trek homeward these meagre offerings henceforth came to be known as "Boggin`s Bits" .Now even though I have absolutely no idea who the hell these "Boggin`ses" were? We may even be related to them for all I know.It`s still widely used throughout our family today.I was talking to my sister a few weeks ago,and she dropped it into the conversation when she was talking about a meal that she`d been out to.. "There was next to nowt on the plate,it was like Boggin`s Bits" Completetly cracked me up when she said it,I love stuff like that.
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