Author Topic: personal profiles (Read 58498 times)

Hugh_Jones · « **Reply #20 on:** December 08, 2003, 19:24:25 »

Did you manage to shoot down many Zeppelins, Tim?

tim · « **Reply #21 on:** December 08, 2003, 22:28:49 »

1. I did NOT mean to hog this patch. But -
2. Love you Hugh!!! And to think that our boys were flying at night without all the instruments that we have taken for granted?
3. Ozzy - funny you should mention seats - spent much time with Martin Baker, bringing in the rocket seats. He liked his 'medicine' too!
4. How? Over the side - straight and level, 160kts, but on fire. The plane went in at Chidham fast enough to bury itself. But it was found because the 8 machine guns surfaced 100 yd further on. I have ammo from the un-fired guns! And other bits that they keep sending me. As though I need to be reminded!!
5. Funny thing - Leslie Irvin, inventor of the 'airchute', was a great family friend - pre-war - and he sent me my gold 'caterpillar' whilst I was still in hospital.
6. Channels? Totally ignorant.
7. Nicotine? Gave it up 20 years ago - replaced it with 'medicine'. Better for the paintwork?! Tim

Palustris · « **Reply #22 on:** December 08, 2003, 22:54:24 »

Heavens, you interesting types don't half make it hard for us boring so and so's.
Nearest I ever got to flying was when I fell down stairs.

Hugh_Jones · « **Reply #23 on:** December 09, 2003, 00:23:15 »

Just a jest Tim. Still, I did experience some of the joys of aviation when our C.O. (hoping to improve his promotion chances) sent all us junior officers up in a `Wimpey` (Tim will know), complete with parachutes on what we thought was a `jolly` - only to be invited by the accompanying Flt Sgt to jump out at 2,000 ft. Happily we were all able to resist temptation. But that was a bit later than Tim`s exploits.

However, I would have welcomed Tim and his mates up above on the night in June 1940 when an enterprising Luftwaffe pilot missed the local steelworks by a mile and dropped his bombs on my family home. It was quite a salutory experience spending a few hours buried and unable to move under several feet and umpteen tons of assorted rubble while the local NFS and a bunch of neighbours dug their way in by hand. Fortunately we didn`t have compulsory counselling in those days so the trauma was short lived.

teresa · « **Reply #24 on:** December 09, 2003, 00:32:14 »

Oh God days in the WRAF going out on a test flight to make sure the plane was safe to carry passangers.
They needed body weight so a friend and I signed a piece of paper to say if anything happened to us it was not the fault of the forces. The good old days ha ha then came the curcuilts and bumps where they dropped so many feet and regained control and landed with legs of jelly. The good old days.
Tim have you written your life story for your children and grandchildren? My dad has and he was on the other side makes some good reading my boys loved it.
Teresa

Mrs Ava · « **Reply #25 on:** December 09, 2003, 02:01:14 »

Hell, how boring am I! Truth is, I am an open book! A ladette in my younger days busy_lizzie...would hope that at 33 I am still in my younger days! (and I do behave more like a 23 year old!) ;D But yes, you actually read me quite well - I am cheeky, wouldn't say confident, altho a total flirt, a domestic goddess, nutty mum of 2.5, and still a ladette! What more can I tell ya, worked in the music industry for 9 years before becoming a mum and gardened passionately since I was a child thanks to my gramps. Thats it...what more do you wanna know???

tim · « **Reply #26 on:** December 09, 2003, 11:36:09 »

1. How is it that so many folk are up after midnight? Got to finish the bottle I suppose?
2. Noone is boring - only bored by default?
3. Eric - I fall downstairs these days more often than I fly - family won't allow their 'pension' airborne!
4. Hugh - makes my (one of many!) disasters seem quite mundane. My Mum got the same treatment in the West End.
5. Teresa - would love to read it. Me? No - several books have snippets in them. New one by Patrick Bishop has the Chidham episode in it. Amongst some things of real interest. And BTW, I think your little r/deer thinks I'm it's daddy?? - Tim

campanula · « **Reply #27 on:** December 09, 2003, 14:45:23 »

I am a bit mystified by some of the anxieties concerning the many many whack jobs 'out there'. I mean, how manyof you use 'loyalty cards' at the local supermarket.? Buy stuff using credit cards? I just cannot see how a quick biog. of anyone's life is gonna make much difference to privacy. I mean, why should anyone really get worked up by knowing that: I have three children, 16, 21, 26. Work as a landscape garden and designer (having worked with homeless people for 25 years, finally sick to death of the whole corrupt system where many people get rich off the sufferings of the disenfranchised) and like bizarre music by the likes of the Third Ear Band, Captain Beefheart and Stackridge (early days) and (more recently) the Beta Band.
I paint, knit, sew, garden(of course, but that is a comparatively recent obsession/sickness), walk my border collie and live with Reuben,my sweetheart of 20 years. Fave plants - campanulas(No surprise there)
Fave veggies - sweet peppers.
Odd beliefs in tree magic and my all time hero and role model would have to be Winstanley, the English Civil War Digger who liberated Cobham Hill, Surrey - although, William Walwyn, the Leveller comes a close second (did history for my degree at Sussex as a mature student - great days). I believe in keeping close to the earth, the source of intellectual,physical, mental and emotional nourishment.
Really, not that much to get all exercised and paranoid about!
Go on then, tell me more - Although I live in Cambridge now, I was born in Lancashire and consequently, have nosiness as part of my heritage.
Not hiding behind my user name - I always thought that nom de webs were de rigeur!
So, cheers all, Suzy

busy_lizzie · « **Reply #28 on:** December 09, 2003, 15:25:04 »

Well! Here I go - me revealing all! I am in my fifties, married to a retired civil servant. We have two children, both in their twenties, both living away from home now, but nearby so we see them a lot. We have one dog, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, who is very old now and two cats. We have lived in Berkshire and Lancashire for a while but we are Geordies born and bred so came home to Tyneside fifteen years ago.

I have always had a great interest in Complementary Therapies and I am a qualified Reflexologist (special massage done on the feet ), have practised for about nine years. Also dabbled in homeopathy, Reiki, Crystal Healing and a few others. Used to do short teaching courses in Reflexology for the local authority.

I have always loved gardening, and plants and nature. My grandad had a big allotment, which I remember when I was very small. My mother and her sister used to go around the streets with a barrow selling his fruit and vegetables when they were young. Wish I could talk to him now, as I am sure he would have many pearls of wisdom to impart.

In 2001 was suddenly struck down by a Chronic Fatigue illness and at one stage had difficulty walking - was too weak. Gradually began to improve and though still lacking in any real energy, made this dramatic pronouncement to my family in February 2003 that I wanted to get an allotment. Everybody thought I was mad, and was aiming too high in my recovery, but I was determined, and with my Husbands' help got one. It was the best thing I ever did, and I am sure weeding and pottering in the summer sunshine has been a fantastic help to me. Started off not having the strength to do any digging, but by the end of the summer this year was digging away like a goodin'

Next year we have plans for the allotment to be bigger and better. I have put my Reflexology talents on hold for the moment. My daughter used to say I was embarrassing as I used to look at those in open toed sandals and bare footers on the beach and try to read their feet - you can tell an awful lot about a person by looking at their feet. My family has always joked that I should set up a little tent on the Sands and do "foot reading". One other quirky thing about me, before I finish, is I collect kitchen whisks and have about 65 of them all shapes and sizes., so if I want to beat an egg no problems in our house for an implement. Hope that all doesn't sound too boring! busy_lizzie :D

tim · « **Reply #29 on:** December 09, 2003, 15:35:56 »

ooooh - you can do my feet any day?
But, seriously, a fascinating story - Tim

campanula · « **Reply #30 on:** December 09, 2003, 16:11:32 »

not at all b.l.
BTW, I am always curious about what books people read - usually swoop on their bookshelves... so what's yours. I am an avid Sci-Fi reader - phasers set to stun - and loved Robertson Davies books - also, as a gardener and SF fan, John Wyndham's Day of the Triffids - seriously creepy (GM foods!!)

legless · « **Reply #31 on:** December 09, 2003, 16:36:58 »

wow you are all dead exciting, this is me...

i am 27 and live by the sea near whitley bay. i am happiest growing things (i have the lushest back yard in my terraced street ;D) and always have since i grew up on a market garden cooperative in lincolnshire. i went to agricultural college in hampshire to study fish farming and worked as a goldfish and koi carp farmer in cyprus for a bit but eventually had to admit defeat - its very hard to be a girl fish farmer.

so i went to university to study marine biology in plymouth where i met my husband (we got married in january). we moved up to the north east 4 years ago so he could do his PhD and now he works at the university devising collision avoidance systems for cars.

i have mainly worked in volunteer management, particularly in mental health but recently gave up work and am currently enjoying 2 months as a housewife while i set up my own business as a photographer and messing about on the allotment.

we have 3 turkish van cats (supposedly swimming cats). i am passionate about formula 1 motor racing and i will read anything and everything. i have a curious reputation amongst my friends that whatever you want to know about i will have a book on it :D

Jo

campanula · « **Reply #32 on:** December 09, 2003, 19:16:44 »

hey. legless, in 1988, we went to Lake Van in Turkey and actually saw the cats - they were living in semi-feral colonies around the lake - very odd looking fat cats that milled about scrounging. Had a great time long before any probs with Kurds and Iraq

legless · « **Reply #33 on:** December 09, 2003, 19:44:35 »

my mum and dad now live in turkey but they won't let me go to Van (had an opportunity to go with an armed guard next year) but they will take me to see the cats in a zoo in Izmir.

its supposed to be a beautiful part of the country but as you say a bit too troubled to just visit now.

Palustris · « **Reply #34 on:** December 09, 2003, 20:41:31 »

You all sound so interesting. So here goes with the boring bit. Born in S.W. Lancashire, went to Sec Modern, then to Grammar School in Wales. Did a years teaching then on to College in Liverpool (where I got a Geordie accent). Taught in Primary schools. Married with 5 children ,2 boys, 3 girls. Now got 6 grandchildren of various sexes and hew. Collect books on Plants and Gardening. Read Terry Pratchett, Anne McCaffrey, Diane Wynne Jones, Piers Anthony and basically any thing printed.
Live on a bit less than an acre of garden in a tiny ex-farm workers cottage in the Midlands.
Even more boring bit. I suffer from agoraphobia (well sort of, its more like extreme stage fright really). Cannot use the telphone, open letters, go out on my own and anything else which requires decision making. But we manage.
More? About a stone overweight, allergic to alcohol, cannot eat dairy produce, or any members of the brassica family(tablets make em all bitter).
Final thing, got a sense of humour which has frequently got me into trouble. Always could see the funny side.
And any way how do camels hump?
Eric

legless · « **Reply #35 on:** December 09, 2003, 21:09:31 »

that's a lot to deal with eric, thank goodness for internet communication.

if you can't eat brassicas you wouldn't do too well with an allotment up here - some people only grow cabbages!

i really admire your garden from the photos you've shown us.

Palustris · « **Reply #36 on:** December 09, 2003, 21:45:20 »

The new super sweet Brussels sprouts are not too bad, but the old varieties are inedible. The tablets seem to concentrate the mustard oils in Brassicas, especially Spinch beet. I find lettuce bitter too, but that is not a problem as I don't like the stuff anyway.

tim · « **Reply #37 on:** December 09, 2003, 22:16:54 »

OMG! - The more one learns, the more grateful we should all be for what we've got - however miserable it may seem at the moment.

We're really getting down to the nitty gritty now?

But boring Eric? Non- sense! And thanks for your spiel. Sorry if my e-mail was unfortunately near the knuckle. - Tim

Ragged Robin · « **Reply #38 on:** December 09, 2003, 22:25:26 »

Well , if you can't beat them............
Here's my meagre synopsis.......
41yrs young (though don't look it), live in sunny SE london. Major confession now, I don't have an allotment, but do have a large veggie plot, with a large flower garden ...... jack of all trades ...Have one little girl, nearly 7, who is garden trained, and a great help. Recently seperated but currently working things out.
Just awaiting results for an Open University BSc,Hons, did 2 modules to complete degree started before marriage and children interupted, Life Sciences with a twist of environmental policy.Disasterous Exam in Oct, so might have to retake.
Apart from gardening, I dabble with watercolours, do needlepoint and listen to radio 4. I also smoke and drink! Reading tastes include anything from aga sagas to Hemingway, Wilkie Collins is a particular fave.
In my previous life, worked as a theatre nurse, but don't miss work at all; I'm far too busy .......
Well that's me, you can all wake up now!! ;)

By the way Robin is my real name and I've heard all the jokes and I hate getting christmas cards with red-breasted birds on them!!!

tim · « **Reply #39 on:** December 09, 2003, 22:44:36 »

- a rolling stone may gather no moss, but it certainly picks up some fascinating information?

Well done suzy! - Tim

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Author Topic: personal profiles (Read 58498 times)

Hugh_Jones

Hugh_Jones