carolinephillips

Does she iron swimming costumes??? I got my first grown up costume with padded bra when I was 13, and had saved up for weeks for it. My mother ironed it and melted the inserts so I had crinkly boobs.

These days I wear racing ones, not fashionable ones, and iron things as little as possible. Just delaying doing a mountain of ironing right now.

TiddlyPom

My parents were talking the other day and I said 'You don't sound like you have any fun at all in your lives at all' ... and fall over backwards, they agreed!
They just don't 'do' ANYTHING other than 'minister' to other people.

I have very little in common with her and everything is to do with 'the church'. Typical conversation will go...

'Do you remember so and so from church?'

'Er, no.'

'Well, he was having a really hard time of it, and off he went to London for X years and we were praying so hard for him all that time, and then this amazing thing happened and he got this job with these people and it turns out they knew so and so from church. Do you remember so and so? Yes you do, the guy that had one arm... his cousin's sister is the aunty to so and so... remember so and so? You don't? Oh, well anyway, he was at church this morning standing there telling everyone his story and he's going out with whatsherface... Do you remember whatsherface? You know, you babysat for her once when she was 2. Well anyway, whilst he was telling this amazing story, he proposed to her. Isn't that incredible? Got down on one knee and everything, had a ring....
So, don't you remember them? No? Oh well.'

So we endure these massive long diatribes about god and people I have no idea who they are when the entire thing could be cut to one sentence 'A bloke at church proposed to his gf this morning at the service.'
Cut to the bloody chase!

And every time she sees me she keeps repeating 'Oh dear, oh dear' over and over again in this woeful voice. It's broken, not cancer. And then we'll hear about her hysterectomy because naturally if I am injured, she must be the centre of the conversation.

Thankfully, this visit, she's been quite sane. When she arrived last time, she was encouraging my then husband to stop doing things for the kids so that I would have to take over, talking about me with him and generally siding with everything he said and did, whilst our marriage broke up.
Of course, we must all forget her shitty behaviour and she'll never apologise or mention it because she is always right and cannot be told.

Cheetah7

I am wondering if this is a generation thing or an old age thing. My Dad is so negative it is beyond belief, in fact I never realised how negative he was until I moved to Australia.

Last night I was telling him about the time we had to get our stuff in order as we came close to evacuating due to a bush fire 3km away and the neighbours and myself were organising who we would drive to the meeting point at the beach - as in elderly neighbours, those without a car.

'You wanna be careful, they will pack up all their stuff and you wont fit in your car' - Dad, I replied - they are not of that mentality here.

Then when it was the big fire in the hills, I offered my spare room out for anyone that needed it and I have a huge garden so offered to take animals as well. Dad said 'You wanna be careful they dont rob you' - Dad I replied, we dont think like that.

Then when one of our clients said I could take photos of his rig - I love trucks and road trains, Dad said to me 'Be careful he doesnt think you want to have sex with him' (yes he really said that)

The list goes on and on, he tells me how lonely he is yet wont go out, he can go out - he is fit enough but chooses not to.

Is it an age thing, a generation thing or both I wonder, but all I know is that he makes everything dangerous, mistrusts everyone and thinks everyone is out to jump my bones.

eddie007

My parents are lovely... Not negative... Not lonely.... Not mentally old..

I lobe hem....

Kooky.

When my Mum died my sister said one of the most sensible/enlightened things she's ever said. Discussing the service with the vicar (who knew Mum) it suddenly dawned on her, she was so negative that "we know far more about what she didn't like than what she did". Even choosing the flowers was a nightmare, we just knew it hadn't to be roses.

Well my in-laws landed in Sydney early this morning. Thankfully they took off for New Zealand about 2 hours later but they'll be back in a fortnight and you're all making me very thankful that they're so lovely - even if they do make me feel obliged to iron the towels and buy napkin rings.

slapphead_otool

I'm sure half the boys here will be happy to let you photograph their rig - just blur out the faces and tattoos

Cheetah7

<snort>

You are so very naughty and have secured a place in my next story.

TiddlyPom

My mother is incredibly negative. We were in a cafe the other day and a little boy, perhaps 2, nearly 3 yrs old was squealing with delight at this little garage his dad had got him from the op shop. Ya know, the usual 'little boy' thing they do...
My mother turned around and shot this guy and his little boy a real horrid look, then turned back and was saying 'Ugh, dreadful, so noisy,'.

I said I thought he was just being a normal child and she said
'You should get on top of that kind of thing whilst they're young, otherwise they grow up to be hoodlums' or something similar.

I laughed and said that Australians were very tolerant of children and I'd met some lovely kids here.

She said something along the lines of 'Well we're not tolerant of that sort of thing in the UK'....

Sheesh, I thought, maybe that's why you had all those kids rioting then... but didn't say it.

It's an 'old school' 'old person' thing. It's like they've stagnated into being crotchety old people and yet my husband is only 3 years younger than her and the life and soul. They have no fun. Their entire life revolves around 'incidents' that happen, other people doing things at church...
If I ever do that, shoot me. God forbid there's ever a day where I can't be tolerant of a child's delight, or not learning something or doing something.
Cheetah, you're right... we don't think that way in Australia, or perhaps in the Aus where you and I live.

My mother's a trained SRN. She should go and inject babies with polio vaccine in Africa. That'd shut her up.

Cheetah7

Oh I have a catalogue of things Dad has said to me, when my next door neighbour told us she was having her first child, Dad said 'You wanna be careful she doesnt have you looking after her baby'

I have told him time and time again "I dont wanna be careful of anything'

He didnt want me going horse riding, camping, snake catching and tries to advise me on snake catching and I have told him I am a registered veterinary nurse, licensed in wildlife rehabilitation and snake removal and will absolutely not take advice from anyone not trained in these areas - especially anyone in my family.

I used to be ever so negative in the UK and it has taken a long time to get that out of me and I am proud I have achieved it, Dad cant accept I dont think like that any more.

Or could it be an English thing as well as an age thing? Probably not actually, but I know I do think differently here.

TiddlyPom

If I ever did think that way in the UK I sure don't here.

Cheetah7

I still fret about some stuff, some habits are hard to change but I just think 'sod it' now, no point in worrying.

Someone in the UK mentioned how much 'dreadful luck' I had been having, what with the recent health diagnosis and all the other stuff. Bollox to be honest, bad luck is when you get a diagnosis far worse than what I have, bad luck is when you dont have support in the form of friends/partner.

Shit happens, wherever you live - and yes it has been very hard for me/husband but we have huge support network and as it is all linked, I see it for what it is, a bad situation that will not go on forever.

But even Dad has said 'I bet this makes you hate Australia'.

TiddlyPom

Funny isn't it... I wouldn't think it would make you 'hate' a country but I bet it sure makes you hate people who abuse their power and think they'll get away with it!

Perhaps he'd be happier if you hated it and then more likely to return to the UK...?

Cheetah7

Yes I think so, he mentioned watching something on TV about a British couple in Australia that came back to the UK for a few years to 're-group' and I said I would rather eat my dog than do that.

Re-grouping? No thanks.

TiddlyPom

Shoot, regroup in the UK? I can think of nicer places to do it!!!

slapphead_otool

Can I sit on your knee when you tell it?