Is anybody mourning the loss of Manly /Womanly arts?

CelticRambler wrote: »

Filmer Paradise wrote: »

However I intend to remedy this. I have a long held dream of going on a turf-cutting holiday!

I love physical hard work. My daily fee would be free board, a good feed of new potatoes & at least 5 pints of porter.

Also, at the end of the arrangement, I'd have to have to have a trailer load of the turf I'd helped out with.

My roof needs to be stripped and relaid - are you interested? I'll stand you the food and drink, give you a bed for as long as needed, and you can take away as many trailers of old tiles as you like!

Only one problem there.

I hate heights. ‘Tis my only phobia.

Thanks for the offer though.

It's not easy to get good quality poteen these days, years ago there was always someone in the area who could make/source out genuinely good stuff.

Tell me how wrote: »

Sweet lord, even those that claim to foot turf don't know how to do it right.
The above system means that 25% of the turf are effectively never footed.

"Correct" method =
Take two and stand them on their ends about 10 inches apart and leaning against each other at the top end.
Place two more in a similar fashion at 90 degrees to the first and also leaning against the first two.
Place 4 more sods in the same fashion at 45 degree angles from each of the first 4.
Place one sod horizontally across the top.



(obviously, the only right way is the way I was shown :pac: )

There's pro's and cons to both methods. In a wet year do you have sods thicker at the bottom? With the method I desribed most of yer turf is off the ground.

We'd often refoot the bottom two of three or four other footings.

Filmer Paradise wrote: »

Dreams & reality sometimes don't mix.

Also I'd assume that most turf is not cut with a slean anymore.

Still, something like that would appeal to me.

Much better than lying on a beach somewhere IMHO.

As a kid I got hit in the face with a sod of wet turf when they were cutting it. My own fault really, I stood in the way.

A lot of generalising and nonsense here. I can build a flat pack, make jam, bake bread, change a tyre, wire a plug, darn a sock, make soup from bones and light a campfire without matches. I can knit and crochet and plant vegetables and all manner of other things.

But so what if I couldn't? I can buy ready made, buy jam and bread, have the AA, plugs are nearly all plastic wired now, socks are cheaper than materials to darn them, I don't much like soup and can bring matches. There is no inherent worth in knowing any of these things, it doesn't make you a lesser person if you don't. Presumably the people you are criticising for for not knowing can do all manner of things that you can't that are equally or more useful in the 21st century?

Also, by the way, you can learn any and all of these things via YouTube, should you wish to. There are no secret arts anymore!

Tell me how wrote: »

Sweet lord, even those that claim to foot turf don't know how to do it right.
The above system means that 25% of the turf are effectively never footed.

"Correct" method =
Take two and stand them on their ends about 10 inches apart and leaning against each other at the top end.
Place two more in a similar fashion at 90 degrees to the first and also leaning against the first two.
Place 4 more sods in the same fashion at 45 degree angles from each of the first 4.
Place one sod horizontally across the top.



(obviously, the only right way is the way I was shown :pac: )

Yep that the way we were taught to do it as well, the old man would have made nothing of telling us to refoot the lot if he felt they weren't dry enough!

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

My brother has a new Merc. There is no spare wheel. So when he got a puncture, he had no choice but to call out their service guys to fit a new tyre.

Bizarre to design out independence and error tolerance.

Cars with no spare usually either have run flats or a small compressor and can of tyre weld in the boot.

mloc123 wrote: »

Every summer as kids/teenagers we would foot, heap and bag turf... I have no romantic memory's of it... Horrible work.

we still do turf at home. i do everything in my power to get out of it. i usually pay someone else to foot it for me ( or barter some work with my cousins) .
dont mind bringing it home though.

CelticRambler wrote: »

The real skill is surely finding people that'll allow you to splodge a load of body paint all over them. And then what do you do with them afterwards? It's not like you can hang them on the wall to show off to your Christmas vistors.

Depends on your budget..;)

sugarman wrote: »

Most new cars don't, but they come with repair kits with a can of foam which is handier than changing the wheel and will get you to a garage.

A can of foam is fcuk all use for anything other than a small hole.

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

My brother has a new Merc. There is no spare wheel. So when he got a puncture, he had no choice but to call out their service guys to fit a new tyre.

Bizarre to design out independence and error tolerance.

Compo culture has something to do with it too. Some car models no longer come with a spare wheel in some countries as too many people were suing them for getting injured when changing the wheel.

Can't find the link, I saw it on facebook a while back about a case in the US, it was established that the spare wheels (usually in the boot) weren't ergonomically stored for stress free lifting, and caused back problems when attempting to lift one out of the car. They sued, and won, and now manufacturers are pulling the spare wheels from cars.