All ye oul wans and oul fellas out there! Wakey wakey, rise and shine!

Just got home from work and the answer machine was beeping to show I had a phone message.

Listened to it and now I wanna cry.

Insurance company have written off my nice new car that I have owned for a month.

Excuse me while I bawl my head off.

Ah that's a shame Rube. You should get the value of a nice new version of it shouldn't you? Would you really want to be driving a car that had been hit by a nuclear submarine though? Even mended? (Please note that the exaggeration is for sympathetic effect). Hope things work out for you and you soon have a shiney new motor

Aww thanks looksee I think I need to get a longship and go raiding (Partly for the money but mostly cos I wanna use a dane axe on something)

Oooh can I come?

Of course, I need help in finding a suitable target

Oh by the way I thought you may like this place it is about an hour from where I live. (Well it would be if I had a car LOL)

http://www.theknightshop.co.uk/catalog/aboutus.php

I was part of a group doing welcome for the Teeshock during some particularly protesty type times a few years back. There were gardai all over the place minding him, but those of us dressed in Viking kit were just wandering around, all of us armed to the teeth, even the women had a knife of some sort, and one of the fellas with a dane ax was standing about 4 ft away from himself, not a bother. Nobody even checked to see who we all were :eek:

We had a similar experience at an event where everyone had to wear a badge and be checked off, except us and the caterers who were freely going in and out of the back gate. Two of the delegates were minding the VIP (an ex-president of the US) and were wearing badges marked 'Secret Service'.

WOW something to tell the grandkids

I thought the idea of wear wearing a tag marked Secret Service was hilarious, and kinda self defeating!

Just a bit LOL Russian Spy badges also available lol

Hilarious security Looksee! It sounds like an episode of Get Smart!

I hope your insurance will replace your chariot Rube. I feel your pain. But we would all bawl our eyes out if 'twas you that had been crunched. Be thankful, and look forward to your next chariot.

What a great website Rube, loads of stuff there I'd be thrilled to have :rolleyes:, like the spell globes for casting spells on my unsuspecting victims, a knitted heml....hem....hemlet, pelmets, no, its h-e-l-m-e-t-s! a bottle of mead (mmmmm hunny mummy), medieval handcuffs for when I go to see '50 shades' :P (not a blimmin' chance in hell!), maybe a chastity belt (never knew there were male ones, now that's a turnip for d'bukes!), a scramasax, a dirk or two, a burgundy princess headband (of course for prittiness

), and of course a colouring book but I think they must be out of stock 'cos I couldn't find any on the site.

Sad to say Rube that particular shop is not ranked very high in 'places to buy historical stuff'! Mostly because it frequently fails to be historical...

Edit, I am completely ignoring JB having a go

Was NOT 'having a go'. I never even mentioned the word 'larping', so there! :P

"imagines JB in a knitted helmet and chastity thingy. Takes a big gulp of his tea.... then settles back to watch the football

To be honest Jellybaby I am simply furious about the car. They have had it longer than me

Here I sit in my knitted helmet and chastity thingy, toasting toes in front of the fire and sipping my tea! Well, I think I look quite fetching!

Hope you get sorted out very soon Rube.

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

Here I sit in my knitted helmet and chastity thingy, toasting toes in front of the fire and sipping my tea! Well, I think I look quite fetching!
.

As my mum would have said (not one to mince words

) 'yes, probably fetch about 3/6 lb' :P

(to any youngsters reading, that's three shillings and sixpence, pronounced three-and-six, per pound weight - about half a kilo)

bonzodog2

looksee wrote: »

As my mum would have said (not one to mince words ) 'yes, probably fetch about 3/6 lb' :P

(to any youngsters reading, that's three shillings and sixpence, pronounced three-and-six, per pound weight - about half a kilo)

I can remember minced beef being 4/6 a lb. And 'split-top' unsliced white loaves were 10d :eek:

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

Hope you get sorted out very soon Rube.

Thanks hon xx

looksee wrote: »

As my mum would have said (not one to mince words ) 'yes, probably fetch about 3/6 lb' :P

(to any youngsters reading, that's three shillings and sixpence, pronounced three-and-six, per pound weight - about half a kilo)

You'll get a lot for your money!!!!

Speaking of money. With all the talk about the EU, Greece, and Euroland. I vote we bring back the 'ould pounds, shillings and pence in this green and pleasant land. Come on, are yiz all with me? I still miss them, especially the 'ould farthings (no offence lads!)

Ah JB, do you remember doing mental arithmetic in primary school, standing in class trying desperately to multiply £1.11.9d by 2? I don't think they do mental arithmetic now, but decimal is so much easier. And there were 960 farthings to £1!

When my sister and I were little we would go to Kate's shop (a shed affair at the end of the road!) and our limit was 3d for sweets. Which was not enough for a Mars bar or a bar of Cadbury's dairy milk, both of which were 6d.

I remember never being good at mental arithmetic, I always had to write things down. This was explained to me by a tutor in a class only about seven years ago who told me I had a 'creative mind' and that's why I preferred the visual. Basically it's the reason I'm more into crafting than accountancy!!!

Yes, we also went to the local shoppe with pennies in hand for sweeties. I think at most I could get a thrupenny bar of Cadbury's chocolate. Loved when my mother had a spare sixpence to give me and that's when I bought a huge Jaffa orange, loved 'em!

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

I remember never being good at mental arithmetic, I always had to write things down. This was explained to me by a tutor in a class only about seven years ago who told me I had a 'creative mind' and that's why I preferred the visual. Basically it's the reason I'm more into crafting than accountancy!!! Yes, we also went to the local shoppe with pennies in hand for sweeties. I think at most I could get a thrupenny bar of Cadbury's chocolate. Loved when my mother had a spare sixpence to give me and that's when I bought a huge Jaffa orange, loved 'em!

Absolutely with you there Jellybaby! Mental arithmetic was my nightmare too. Trying to learn my times tables was one of the labours of my childhood. It has been useful over the years though! But, yes, I have that kind of memory too, if I can see it and understand how it works, I can remember it! Random theoretical stuff just goes straight past though.

BrensBenz

I (ahem) can work with numbers AND creative stuff, in my head or in my shed. See, an aromatherapist once told me that I was a genius, thereby contradicting teachers, doctors, priests, buddies, girlfriends, customer service assistants, interviewers, bosses, boardies, ATMs, NCT Testers, children, Jehovah's Witnesses, online assessment sites, other drivers...........

Saunters off, into the sunset, with a John Wayne swagger, polishing fingernails on lapel and smug smirk on visage........

PS: Not sure about bringing back LSD though, especially since, in my day, the Punt had parity with Sterling so we had Irish AND British coins in circulation. The ones with aminals were Irish and the ones with the side of someone's face were British. Some Irish coins were the same size and colour as their British equivalent, some were completely different. At a tender age, figuring out all of that cr@p just to buy bullseyes, it's no wonder I'm a genius.

I dunno how you put up with us Brenz, us being so dim and all.

Ye have great patience with us. Any chance you could help me sort this letter from the tax people?

I liked the english thruppny bits, with the bunch of thrift on it. Nice, interesting solid little coin that looked as though it was worth something. The pennies were something else though, half a dozen of those in your purse and you would need wheels for your bag!

That was real money, that was! You never hear some of the old currency terms these days, ha'penny, a coupla coppers, tuppince, thruppince, fourpince, fippince, sixpince, sevenpince, eightpince ninepince, tempince, elevenpince, a shillin', a bob, thruppiny-bit, tanner, half-a-crown, a guinea, a quid. Everything in the shops was a penny short of the pound, i.e. 5/11d, 6/11d, 9/11d. The English language is the poorer for losing all those magical words. 'Cent' is so.....so.....so nothing at all really, and Euro is just a makey-uppy word. I hate this Euro currency! It has no soul.

Yes, thats a point, why was 3d the only one that had 'bit' added to it? Though occasionally you would hear 6d bit if someone was referring to the coin rather than the amount of money. Tanner was more usual. And half a dollar, which was 2/6, yet 5/- was never referred to as a dollar. I remember seeing one of the old white £5 UK notes once (in normal circulation) and being hugely impressed at the vast wealth it represented!

BrensBenz

looksee wrote: »

Yes, thats a point, why was 3d the only one that had 'bit' added to it? Though occasionally you would hear 6d bit if someone was referring to the coin rather than the amount of money. Tanner was more usual. And half a dollar, which was 2/6, yet 5/- was never referred to as a dollar. I remember seeing one of the old white £5 UK notes once (in normal circulation) and being hugely impressed at the vast wealth it represented!

My dad worked away from home and got home every Friday. After tea, he would give me three pennies to buy three lollipops for my sister, brother and me. One night he had no pennies and gave me a British thrupenny bit instead. "Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggghhhh" I said. "This won't work in the shop." "It's alright" he said. "It's a special lollipop coin. See the three lollipops on this side?" he said, pointing to the......emmm.....whatever it was!

Well, of course, it DID work in the shop but for quite a while after that, someone (ahem) thought he could buy a rabbit with an Irish thrupenny bit; a skinny dog with a tanner; a bull with a bob; a fish with a two bob piece; a horse with half a crown and a harp with any coin. Oh how I....I mean HE was mocked!

Maybe it's just nostalgia bit I thought the old Irish coins were nice. Even the humble penny had a beautiful, big, fluffy hen!

When I finally agreed to marry Mrs. BrensBenz, I wanted give her a crown coin to symbolise bestowing her with my worldly goods. I was disappointed to learn that Irish crowns were "not available". I don't know if we didn't mint any or if they were rare. I have a faint image of a giant elk on an Irish coin but maybe that was a decimal 50p(?)

Ah you old romantic Brens...what a nice idea!

Layinghen

POSTCARD FROM THE SUN

Greetings fellow inmates, having a wonderful time, 28 degs today. Lots of sun, sand and sangria ( well a nice chilled white Rioja).

Wish you were here.

Hen