Ask Grandad!

Ideas for Grandad

grandad — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 14:20:26 +0000

My grandchildren know that I read a lot – for my recent birthday one of my grandsons bought me “River out of Eden” by Richard Dawkins. It is just fantastic - a really easy to understand explanation of evolution – I think everyone should read it!

First day at school

grandad — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 11:59:40 +0000

On my first day at infants school, more than 60 years ago, my classroom was the open shelter in the playground because there were not enough classrooms inside! I remember it was snowing and the teacher had a blackboard on an easel. All us kids sat shivering on small chairs at wooden desks.

Good ideas for presents

grandad — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 11:46:47 +0000

The secret of brilliant presents for parents and grandparents – presents that will really mean something and really please them, is the measure of how much effort you have put into them!

So – a present you have made yourself would be best. The more obvious the thought and effort involved the better it will please them.

It DOESN’T have to be expensive!

Cost is not it!

Thought and effort is!

Of course, if you are old enough to go to the shops by yourselves and you have some pocket money you have saved and you know exactly what your parent or grandparent would like – they will be very pleased that you thought enough about them to have made the effort to buy that present for them.

But as I said – its NOT the cost that’s important – it’s the thought and effort!

Rationing

grandad — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 10:25:52 +0000

Hello grandads What was rationing like for you?

Smog

grandad — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 11:49:15 +0000

I remember ‘smogs’ so thick you really couldn’t see your ‘hand in front of your face!’ I saw a bus conductor walking along the edge of the pavement with a rolled up newspaper alight so that the driver could follow the light!

Telephones

grandad — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:48:19 +0000

Only the wealthy had telephones at home. The rest of us had to walk to the nearest public phone box. You had to put your money in and then dial the number you wanted. If it was answered you pressed button A and you were connected – but when the money ran out you were cut of – in the middle of the conversation. If the phone wasn’t answered you pressed button B and got your money back.

My Best Car

grandad — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 22:45:02 +0000

My first car, in about 1970 cost me £55 it was an ancient clapped out Vauxhall Velux . The bodywork was mostly rust. I spent a fortune and endless hours patching it up with glass fibre! A couple of years later when it eventually died I bought a gold colour Ford Granada - it was brilliant - apart from the colour - until I wrote it off. Over the years since I have had a series of Granadas and then the much improved Scorpios. My present car is one of the very last Scorpios Estates made in 1998 - 2.9 Cosworth engine and lots of toys it is just a fantastic car. Comfortable, fast and reliable - if only Ford hadn’t stopped making them I would have a newer one now! Mine is now 13 years old - its still great, but I guess it won’t last for ever! What do I replace it with when it finally gives up?

Lugubrious

grandad — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 12:07:13 +0000

An adjective meaning mournful, doleful, dismal.

I always think of the comedian Tony Hancock as haveing the best example of a lugubrious face!

Greatest inventions

grandad — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 22:08:56 +0000

Aside from Fire, the Wheel, and medical discoveries/advances, what are the greatest inventions of your lifetime, and why?… Jet Engine, Computers, Mobile Phones, Dyson?

Hendrix

grandad — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 21:19:10 +0000

With technology, media and globalisation, how comes no-one has found a better guitarist than Hendrix since he died in 1970?