The treating of tradesmen

[Anna]

Ooh, you need to come over the mountains and enjoy a regular weekly collection like one has yurr in Herefordistan, then!

But, we have no need of weeky collections as everything, yes, even the bones of the ducks and goats, are recycled, to be eaten by worms who produce lovely compost. So I put my (ordinary bin) out once a month.

Honestly Mr. Hinton, your faux-Herefordistan accent, to be honest, sounds more like some Peasant from The Forest of Dean!

[ahinton]

But, we have no need of weeky collections as everything, yes, even the bones of the ducks and goats, are recycled, to be eaten by worms who produce lovely compost. So I put my (ordinary bin) out once a month.

Ah, well, at least that aspect of life is clearly much more civilised in Wales!

Honestly Mr. Hinton, your faux-Herefordistan accent, to be honest, sounds more like some Peasant from The Forest of Dean!

What?! My dear Ms Anna, are you referring merely to "yurr"? In fact, I couldn't do a faux-Herefordistan accent, let alone a genuine one! (not that I'd particularly aspire to do either) and, as a matter of fact, I understand that even Rory Bremner once said that the one thing he can't do is a Hereford accent (maybe that's because there's no such thing - I'm not sure). Anyway, for the record, I am a peasant from the forests of Dunfermline, not that of Dean! Look you.

[ahinton]

well your drivers certainly deserve something.
Our bus company give up if there is a slightly dodgy 5 day forcast.
I think we will all need helpful bus companies and drivers a good deal more after the economic meltdown. you are wise to stay on good terms !!

There's not a lot of point in that if you have no buses to start with!

[Anna]

Anyway, for the record, I am a peasant from the forests of Dunfermline, not that of Dean! Look you.

Oh, there's Lovely! Another Peasant Forest dweller. But North of the Border, so bound to be even more gloomy. No, only teasing! Yurr OK, quite funny, in yurr own way! It is somehow endearing.

[cloughie]

I recall relinquishing the conductorship of a home counties Choral Society in the late 1970s. Whenever I met the elderly accompanist in the following year or so, he would tell me, dismissively, how the choir was doing under the baton of their new 'conductress'. Yes, he probably was sexist, but it's what elderly, middle-class, middle-England men thought in those days.

Long after the 1970s, I fear some of those thoughts have not totally gone away!

[teamsaint]

There's not a lot of point in that if you have no buses to start with!

too true . We are relatively lucky in the village where I live. about 8 buses a day to the nearest city.
However, travelling at night or a sunday is something you do in a car.

In my view, this country would become a much better place if there was substantial investment in bus services, and in reducing fares........perhaps by cutting spending on wars.I use my car for work, but I would love to use the bus more for leisure travel. But at £5 for a return journey of 7 miles each way, it doesn't make any kind of sense.
what an easy and beneficial thing investing in buses would be, as well.

[Segilla]

When I did an OU course in the 1970s the Social Science module went to great pains to explain the difference between sex and gender. Since then it seems that 'sex' is usually replaced by 'gender'.

A good example of this is the frequent request to state one's gender, whereas years ago 'sex' was asked for.

Generally speaking, I'm content to restrict the use of gender to nouns.

[scottycelt]

Anyway, for the record, I am a peasant from the forests of Dunfermline, not that of Dean! ..

I have not been previously aware there are any forests and/or peasants in Dunfermline ...

There is a nice wee wood by the Abbey, though, where I trust the indigenous Red Squirrel still abounds.

[ahinton]

Oh, there's Lovely! Another Peasant Forest dweller. But North of the Border, so bound to be even more gloomy. No, only teasing! Yurr OK, quite funny, in yurr own way! It is somehow endearing.

Why, thank you muchly, Lady Anna of Powys! We folk from north of the border are not all gloomy, you know! Far from it, indeed - and with all that amber nectar and those delicious raspberries and loganberries, can you wonder at it?! But I'm no lopnger a peasant forest dweller; I mentioned my origins, not my current or recent habitat and, for the record, I left my native land for this place that some people call Loegr moree years (yurrs?) ago than I can or care to remember.

[ahinton]

I have not been previously aware there are any forests and/or peasants in Dunfermline ...

There is a nice wee wood by the Abbey, though, where I trust the indigenous Red Squirrel still abounds.

I was joking, of course - although I hope that the red squirrel is still around those parts too (not that I have much idea whether red ones taste any better than grey ones or black ones)...

[scottycelt]

I was joking, of course - although I hope that the red squirrel is still around those pars too (not that I have much idea whether red ones taste any better than grey ones or black ones)...

I wouldn't try tasting one as Reds are a protected species, ahinton ...

[Chris Newman]

Sadly, in this PC society, the jobs I have worked in over the last 30 years have carried strongly worded clauses in the contracts about not accepting gifts.

[ahinton]

I wouldn't try tasting one as Reds are a protected species, ahinton ...

Not in France, they're not! And anyway, I wouldn't shoot one myself, any more than another composer would have done the same to a swan...

[VodkaDilc]

Sadly, in this PC society, the jobs I have worked in over the last 30 years have carried strongly worded clauses in the contracts about not accepting gifts.

So you're not Chris Newman, MP?

As I teacher I became an expert on cheap bottles of wine, aftershave and novelty boxer-shorts.

[teamsaint]

So you're not Chris Newman, MP?

As I teacher I became an expert on cheap bottles of wine, aftershave and novelty boxer-shorts.

you can always tell if someone is a teacher by the 3 kitchen cupboards groaning with novelty mugs...........