Onomatopoeia

[Timbo]

Fong, twonk, twerble, donk, bing and an all round arrrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhhh! These are the sounds a woodworker makes when he's spent hours making tight joints, carefully routed and sanded his project then applied several coats of varnish, gone to make a cup of coffee...made a roll up, lit it, sat back to relax and look at his handy work and realises he's forgotten to drill and countersink four large holes to mount the frame he's just made to the cast iron legs! There are also a multitude of expletives that thankfully he has the Yorkshire accent to deliver them with vehemence! 

Burble,wibble and scrut!

[YnysMon]

What beautiful craftsmanship!  Not surprised at the onomatopoeia!

[Timbo]

Thanks Helen. I can't take all the credit as it's a restoration job. It was a bench we bought to remember our Grandson Oscar. His Mum and Dad keep a small section of the garden that we all call 'Oscar's Garden' and on what would have been his birthday the whole family... aunts, uncles, grandma's, Timbo's, cousins, Mums, Dads and all of the children go for a day out (over twenty of us not including kids). Each year is different... there has been The Deep, The Zoo, A Day at the Seaside, Bowling etc. This year was trampolining (I watched). At the end of the day we usually buy something to put into Oscar's Garden and make a donation to Sands. After all, I suppose it's all about family.

The bench we had bought five years ago was getting decidedly shoddy so putting some of these skills Doug has been teaching me to good use I stripped everything back. Rubbed down and undercoated all of the metal and then started to build up layers of paint and finally dry brushed it to make it look bronze...ish to match the centre panel. I discarded all of the timber and made a new back and slats from spalted ash. About eight coats of varnish, buffed up the brass plaque and of course I was two bolts short when it came to putting it all back together. Just the stays to fix tomorrow and the plaque to mount...and then give Daddy a lecture on varnishing wood of course!

[LondonRascal]

Ahh! The bench restoration - I know this well.

A few years back my Dad had bought a bench - wrought iron study legs with 'claw' feet and beautiful sculpted ends to the arm rests, the slates smooth and light in colour it looked very nice.  He also wanted to ensure it stayed that way, so it was only allowed out in the garden in the summer - and to be brought back in once the sun set to stop the dew getting on it. 

I kid you not this bench lived its life in out 'conservatory'.  Being brought in and out over the years needless to say the paint had chopped the slats had got scratched and I duly asked:

"Dad, can we please put the damn thing in the garden and keep it there and I will strip and re-varnish and paint it up all nice."

He agreed.

I duly spent the weekend sanding, varnishing and painting it - it looked great - I put it in the corner of the garden by the bird bath and fitted in just perfectly, come Sunday evening I am called down to the kitchen:

"Robin, look it's got dark now and we will be leaving for London in the next hour so get the bench back in"

Taken a back at this I reminded him that he agreed if I stripped and varnished and painted it we could keep it in the garden - straight faced and deadly seriously he looked at me and said:

"You're right I did, but just for the weekend you don't think I am leaving that out all year do you!"

It now lives in the Garden Shed - hardly used but still pristine.

[ChrisB]

You reminded me of my mother Robin. Mother had a number of items that were "Too Good" to use. One such item was a Royal Doulton Rondelay dinner, tea. Coffee you name it she had it.

I would joke that the only time it would get used was at her funeral, a prophesy that was actually to prove true.

What happened to this ceramic treasure trove? Well the gravy boats, butter dish, toureens and all that stuff are in the loft and the rest I use every day. I often wonder what she would say to me eating my bacon and egg off it on a Sunday morn. Funny thing is while I, my late wife and our two sons have, over 45 years of marriage, broken all sorts that we wish we had not, not one piece of "Mother's Rondelay" has been lost!!!

[Polly]

My grandma made new curtains, in those days linings were not used in our  street. 

They were lovely, but she hung them so that the 'right' side faced the street, and she had the wrong side to her room.

' What the neighbours think' was a mantra often recited.

[Timbo]

11 minutes ago, Polly said:

My grandma made new curtains, in those days linings were not used in our  street. 

They were lovely, but she hung them so that the 'right' side faced the street, and she had the wrong side to her room.

' What the neighbours think' was a mantra often recited.

My Grandparents were the same. Reminds me of Sir Terry

"You might not have much, but you could have Standards.  Clothes might be cheap and old but at least they could be scrubbed. There might be nothing behind the front door worth stealing but at least the doorstep could be clean enough to eat your dinner off, if you could’ve afforded dinner."

[ChrisB]

As I have said elsewhere my paternal Grand Parents were Miners from Upholland and Bryn Nr Wigan. My Father went on to own a building contractors with 1400 employees and was, let us say " Very Comfortable" 

He wanted to build them a bungalow but they were having none of it. In the end he purchased the freehold of the end of terrace where he and his four siblings were born.

He had drawings done of building a bathroom on top of a new kitchen out back. Grandma was having none of it. Owning it was a step too far and the convieniences remained at the bottom of the yard and the tin bath still hung on the outside wall. And so it was until she entered a home in her nineties, soon to pass away for no real reason. It is told that she was on her hands and knees " Donkeying " the door steps until a few weeks before. This Donkey was always a thing of wonder to my child's mind, I was so upset to find it was a scrubbing stone like pumice or blue stone.

[YnysMon]

17 hours ago, Timbo said:

Thanks Helen. I can't take all the credit as it's a restoration job. It was a bench we bought to remember our Grandson Oscar. His Mum and Dad keep a small section of the garden that we all call 'Oscar's Garden' and on what would have been his birthday the whole family... aunts, uncles, grandma's, Timbo's, cousins, Mums, Dads and all of the children go for a day out (over twenty of us not including kids). Each year is different... there has been The Deep, The Zoo, A Day at the Seaside, Bowling etc. This year was trampolining (I watched). At the end of the day we usually buy something to put into Oscar's Garden and make a donation to Sands. After all, I suppose it's all about family.

The bench we had bought five years ago was getting decidedly shoddy so putting some of these skills Doug has been teaching me to good use I stripped everything back. Rubbed down and undercoated all of the metal and then started to build up layers of paint and finally dry brushed it to make it look bronze...ish to match the centre panel. I discarded all of the timber and made a new back and slats from spalted ash. About eight coats of varnish, buffed up the brass plaque and of course I was two bolts short when it came to putting it all back together. Just the stays to fix tomorrow and the plaque to mount...and then give Daddy a lecture on varnishing wood of course!

That's really lovely, brought a tear to my eye.  Yes, it is all about family isn't it.  My 90 year old Mum has been in hospital these last few weeks and I've been doing a lot of reflecting on how blessed I've been growing up surrounded by people who have loved and cherished me.

I love the picture of the restored bench.  It looks really special, a lovely memorial of Oscar.

[addicted]

I'd like a pound for every time I got a telling off from my nan for stepping on the newly whitened front door step. Her opinion of the new neighbours next door was dependent on the whiteness of the washing on their line Sparkling whites would earn her abject admiration. Her own line of washing was largely dependent on me not pinching a length of it for a skipping rope! That earned me a good  good telling off too on many occasions. That didn't bother me much as I knew my dad was in my camp and not  a big fan of her washing lines strung all round his garden.

 

 

Carole

[Polly]

Our milkman asked a neighbour what she used for her washing, 'I use Tide' she replied a little haughtily, 'Oh I thought it was bloody Bisto,' he remarked, 'if my missis put up a line of washing like that, I'd cut the bugger down!'

[Polly]

Now a mum with a washing line of my own, 36 Terry nappies and a nosy friend across the fence, I pegged out almost all of the 36 early one morning. Horrors! They were a nasty tinge of green. Hastily removed, boiled again, pegged out again, green! Argh back in boiled again, as I was pegging out, by now mid-afternoon, my friend came to the fence.

'What are you doing? I've been watching you pegging those nappies out all day.' 

'Green! They're green!' 

'Er, which glasses are you wearing today?' she enquired.

I got the point! I wear glasses all the time, and had some tinted as sunglasses;  and so I  removed my green tinted specs to reveal a shining array of white Terry.  idiot!