Christmas Lights...

Oo-aar, oi'd fergaart'n thaat, Mistur Sharpscout! :lol:

Mo - oh, don't you like your new name? I'm sorry. How about Smallchange? :lol:
 
That's funny you say 'Osgob', Mo. No, seriously! For a few years when I was a young kid, we lived next door to a family called Osgarby. It's the only time I've ever heard of the name. And, rather wonderfully....






... they were Scots! :D
 
Indeed they were, and highly amusing at parties, too. Mrs O. was able to undo a box of matches and light her cigarette using only her toes. I've found the Scots to be great fun at social events ever since, even if this has occasionally ranged into involuntary bare-knuckle fighting, Mr. Winklepurse.
 
Originally posted by krizon@Dec 3 2005, 12:18 PM
Indeed they were, and highly amusing at parties, too. Mrs O. was able to undo a box of matches and light her cigarette using only her toes.
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Hah, that's nothing, Ms Swaybottom. When I was younger I could knit a scarf using my legs as knitting needles.
 
Seems its a West country thing? this scrooge thing.....(Jules) and seems like its catching.... I read in one of the rags today, that they have banned kids from giving Xmas cards to each other... the school was....Bournville community infants school in Weston-super-Mare Somerset... :angry:

The reason being it uses too much paper!!! in making them............... h:)
 
To be fair, Merlin, I'd want to know more about the context in which the decision was made. It could be something as simple as a delivery of paper being late, therefore relative to other educational priorities at the time, it might well have been the correct decision.
 
Well as per usual I will be the odd one out and say I think you lot must have loads of spare time if all you can moan about is people who choose to light up the Christmas season! What a miserable bunch you are! Charles Dickens would be ashamed of such attitudes! Obviously some of you must have by passed reading Dickens novels, through his novels he tried endlessly to bring to the attention the less fortunate in life.

There is nothing wrong with people who choose to make the most of the season by decorating both the inside and outside of their homes, kids always enjoy it and some adults too.

To suggest they are either chavs or pikey's smacks of upper class attitudes looking down on middle class and working class people.

Definitions of Chav on the Web:
Chav is a derogatory slang term in popular usage throughout the UK. It refers to a subculture stereotype of a person who is uneducated, uncultured and prone to antisocial or immoral behaviour. The label is typically, though not exclusively, applied to teenagers and young adults of white working-class or lower-middle class origin. Chav is used for both sexes, where a male chav is sometimes referred to as a chavster and a female as a chavette. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chav

Definitions of pikey on the Web:
Pikey is a pejorative slang term used in the United Kingdom. The term, a contraction of the word "turnpike", was originally used to denote Irish Travellers, but in recent years the definition has become looser and is sometimes used to refer to a wide section of the (generally urban) underclass of the country, particularly those on whom the lower middle classes look down. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pikey

I say good luck to them, I hope they enjoy decorating their homes for all to see.
My grandson loves to see the houses all decorated, guess he's either a chav or pikey - what a reputation to have at a mere 12 months old!

Not everyone celebrates the season with champers and caviar.

"I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep
it all the year. ... Or, as Tiny Tim would put it, "God bless us, every one!
 
In the small hours of every xmas morning The E. Dead Group select and kill a father and leave him, propped up against the tree, for his wife and children to find in the morning. They plant a webcam in the room so they can view the heartbreak. Such is the vile, evil sickness within this group.
icon_eek.gif
 
Originally posted by mark@Dec 4 2005, 05:10 AM
To suggest they are either chavs or pikey's smacks of upper class attitudes looking down on middle class and working class people.
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Don't presume to assume "upper class attitudes", Mark. We are all entitled to our opinions, & mine is that it is predominantly pikeys that persist in lighting up their houses to look like a cheap version of Blackpool. I have no objections at all to those that decorate their house tastefully, with a few tasteful white lights on a tree, for example - but this unnecessary circus of lights that is getting all too common is tasteless in the extreme & crass. If you must bring it to a class issue - is it merely coincidence that these revolting displays tend to appear in the lower class areas?

I also find it amazing that you very rarely post over here and when you do, it is for the sole purpose of having a snipe at the forumites on here that you don't like; that is when you are not slagging off the forum in general. If you don't like it, don't bother posting here - there's very little need for you to pop up once in a blue moon just to have a dig, surely? Smacks of small-minded pettiness to me.
 
Originally posted by Shadow Leader@Dec 4 2005, 12:34 PM
If you must bring it to a class issue - is it merely coincidence that these revolting displays tend to appear in the lower class areas?
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Like my road :shy: :shy: :shy:
 
They're predominantly in the 'nouveau riche' areas up here so read into that about class as you will.

I don't think it has anything to do with class, more to do with taste. I wouldn't do it to my house, but when she was very young, I used to take Moette on a drive past a few places I knew that decorated the outside of their house to help give her a feel for Christmas.

I admire anyone who is prepared to go to some lengths and expense to try and cheer up those around them and I'm sure that's why the majority do it, rather than trying to out-do another neighbour.

We all need a little bit of brightness and cheering up in the deep midwinter.
 
Originally posted by Maurice@Dec 3 2005, 11:09 PM
To be fair, Merlin, I'd want to know more about the context in which the decision was made. It could be something as simple as a delivery of paper being late, therefore relative to other educational priorities at the time, it might well have been the correct decision.
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Mo here it is in its entirety its on teletex as well.............

Kids have been in tears after being told the festive greetings are a waste of paper.

And irate parents say staff are acting like Scrooges.

So our latest asbo-style Crimbo, which stands for Christmas Must Be Observed and is issued to festive killjoys, goes to Bournville Community Infants School in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset.

Staff removed the pupils’ post box and got each class to make one bigcard to sign. Kids can only exchange cards in their own time as the school believes the practice clashes with its recycling drive.

Joanna Price, 35, whose son, Jake, five, is a pupil, said: “The school is behaving like Scrooge. It’s all very bah humbug.” Another parent said: “My child came home in tears.”

Acting head Janice Taylor, said: “Staff decided to support the recycling consortium in protecting the environment. It is important to instill recycling principles in children so they grow up to be environmentally aware.”
 
Don't presume to assume "upper class attitudes", Mark. We are all entitled to our opinions, & mine is that it is predominantly pikeys that persist in lighting up their houses to look like a cheap version of Blackpool. I have no objections at all to those that decorate their house tastefully, with a few tasteful white lights on a tree, for example - but this unnecessary circus of lights that is getting all too common is tasteless in the extreme & crass. If you must bring it to a class issue - is it merely coincidence that these revolting displays tend to appear in the lower class areas?
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:o
I think that's just about the most snobbish comment I have read on this forum ..
 
Thanks, Merlin. It really just does look like the school has taken things too far. It happens. Most schools have a policy item aimed at doing their bit for the environment. I'd be interested to know how much paper is wasted in the school through unnecessary internal memos, documents printed single-sided, etc. There is a frightening amount of paper waste in schools these days.

Also, some schools encourage the kids to buy charity cards to give each other rather than make them themselves.
 
Shadow Leader - it was you that first remarked about Chavs and Pikey's therefore it is not me who makes this a class issue. Personally I have seen quite a few tasteless deocrations on extremely expensive homes, having money doesn't mean you have taste.

Have you never thought, considering that you say "is it merely coincidence that these revolting displays tend to appear in the lower class areas?" that those less well off people try to enjoy Christmas as best they can? So what if they have to buy cheap decorations from a pound shop, not everyone can afford the high street prices, especially when they have kids. It is such a snobbish attitude. Let's hope you never fall on bad times and need to frequent such places.

I remember reading in a local paper about a guy who complained about a friends neighbours home a year ago, how dreadful the decorations where - he was over heard by the neighbour who came out and told him, our daughter is dying of cancer and we wanted this to be the best and brightest Christmas she can remember, that guy wanted the ground to swallow him up!!

Now I am not suggesting every home that is decorated is done for this reason, but live and let live. What may look tacky and crass to you is a wonderful winterland for kids, they love those cheap tacky santas and reindeers, and at such a young age would not appreciate a more tasteful decorated house. Christmas is more about kids than adults, most adults use the season as an excuse to get off their heads on booze and over indulge on food - that is far worse than any decorated home, causes more problems for the general public and encourages violent behaviour.

Seems adults have all too evidently forgotten what it's like to be a kid at Christmas.

As for your other comments about me rarely posting over here, I do still come and have a read now and then and if a subject interests me sufficently then I will post.
 
Originally posted by mark@Dec 4 2005, 10:14 PM
Shadow Leader - it was you that first remarked about Chavs and Pikey's therefore it is not me who makes this a class issue.
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How'd you work that one out?? You accused me of making this a class issue with "upper class attitudes looking down on middle class and working class people. " For starters, I wish I were upper class!!!! :lol:

Secondly, I was making an observation & giving my opinion, which also agreed with all the previous comments on this subject that said these lights are crass and tasteless. Which in my opinion (and many others) they are.

They are also a massive waste of energy which (as also pointed out on this thread) we are constantly being reminded to conserve, even by advertisements in the media! As a critic of global warming in the past, does this needless excessive wastage of energy not worry you slightly?

Lastly, I have no problem with Christmas at all, I love it in fact. However to me Christmas is spending quality time with the family; roaring log fires; roast turkey with sausagemeat, chestnut & cranberry stuffing; houses smelling of christmas spices; a real Christmas tree giving off it's aroma; mistletoe; holly; enjoying yourself & life. Not cheap, tacky, energy wasting, light polluting, in-yer-face lights, illuminated Santas in hot air balloons & lit up inflatable Homer Simpsons in a Santa costume.
 
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