Archive for September 2011

Today in my maths class we learned about algebra, but why will i ever need it !?! and did any grandads have to learn it too?

Sep 29th, 2011 | By grandad | Category: Your questions answered!

I certainly did - I think most Grandads will have done.  There are many things you learn at school that you might think you will never need to know once you have left.  Names of the worlds rivers, the speed of light and the periodic table.  Unless you think you are going to be an [...]



Whats the connection?

Sep 27th, 2011 | By grandad | Category: Memories/Experiences

What was the connection between my dads roses and our coal fires? The answer is DUNG! The coal man and the milk man had horse drawn carts and I had to run out after them and collect the horse dung in a bucket to put on the garden!
It was cheaper than buying manure from a [...]



Parsimonious

Sep 24th, 2011 | By grandad | Category: Grandads Word of the Day

Parsimonious – an adjective meaning – to spend as little money as possible.
Example – Oh come on Dad! £1 per week pocket money is really parsimonious of you!



Malarkey

Sep 15th, 2011 | By grandad | Category: Grandads Word of the Day

A lovely noun meaning - nonsense - foolishness!



Toilet Paper

Sep 15th, 2011 | By grandad | Category: Memories/Experiences

Worst of all was – toilet paper! Not soft like today’s but hard shiny paper called IZAL – not on a roll but in separate sheets! (It made brilliant tracing paper!) If your mum has got any greaseproof paper for cooking – it was just like that. Sometimes we didn’t even have that. I [...]



My first camera

Sep 15th, 2011 | By grandad | Category: Memories/Experiences

I remember my first camera. It was a ‘Brownie 127’ it was box shaped and took black and white pictures. There was no video of course – but we did have ‘slides’ and my dad had a little projector and a few jumpy reels of Mickey Mouse films that he would play onto a white [...]



Washing

Sep 15th, 2011 | By grandad | Category: Memories/Experiences

We didn’t have washing machines or tumble dryers or dishwashers. Cloths were washed by hand in the kitchen sink or boiled in a big saucepan on the cooker – and then put through the mangle to squeeze most of the water out before being hung on the cloths line in the back garden to dry. [...]



After the expenses scandal politicians are still referring to each other as ‘honorable’ and ‘right honorable’ – is that even remotely justified?

Sep 15th, 2011 | By grandad | Category: Your questions answered!


Milk and Nibs

Sep 12th, 2011 | By grandad | Category: Memories/Experiences

At school we had a small bottle of milk every morning. We wrote with cheap pens with nibs and real ink in ink pots! But not until you were older, before then you used a pencil.



Air-raid shelters

Sep 12th, 2011 | By grandad | Category: Your questions answered!

Question: Did you use any air-raid shelters in the war?