P&O Cruisers - What are things like where YOU are?

[Harry Peterson]

36 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

Today looks like it will be as interesting as yesterday, my niece's 11 year old daughter asked for a sewing machine for her birthday because she wants to learn to make "things" so I was invited to go with them to get one yesterday because my niece has no idea about anything to do with sewing.  She has just phoned to say that she is dropping her daughter at my house this morning so that I can teach her how to use it.  I now have to sort out some of my left over bits of fabric for her to practice on.

 

I am starting to feel sympathy for my mum when I decided that I would learn to sew almost 60 years ago, though in those days it was on an old Singer treadle  machine

 

That’s good though, isn’t it. My wife’s an obsessive fabric collector and sews for England. Loves it, and our granddaughter was starting to learn when Covid intervened. My wife’s sewing skills have been absolutely invaluable over the years for the entire family, as I’m sure yours have, and it’s good to see youngsters getting interested. Maybe it’s the Sewing Bee thing?

 

And the price of really good machines such as Janome these days makes it very affordable too.  Good for her!

[Adawn47]

1 hour ago, Josy1953 said:

I am starting to feel sympathy for my mum when I decided that I would learn to sew almost 60 years ago, though in those days it was on an old Singer treadle  machine

 

That was my first sewing machine too. Dad bought me a Jones portable (if you're a weightlifter🥴) electric sewing machine for my 21st birthday. Metal and wood, weighs a ton, it's used often and still going strong 53 years later. Things were to built to last, now it's a throw-away society.

Avril

Edited August 17, 2021 by Adawn47

[Peanut006]

2 hours ago, SarahHben said:

I wish!! A week in Devon at the end of September for me, and all 3 ‘children’, son in law & grandson are coming too. 
 

We are going next Friday to IOW with my daughter, her partner & four grandchildren. They are getting excited 

Michelle

[Peanut006]

5 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

That was my first sewing machine too. Dad bought me a Jones portable (if you're a weightlifter🥴) electric sewing machine for my 21st birthday. Metal and wood, weighs a ton, it's used often and still going strong 53 years later. Things were to built to last, now it's a throw-away society.

Avril

I remember my mum having a singer treadle sewing machine!! Both my mum and Grandma always had a sewing machine, I remember my mum making outfits for dancing class shows when I was little. I am not great at sewing though, the most I managed was a pair of curtains for my daughters bedroom.
We had needlework classes at school as well as domestic science whilst boys did woodwork, metal work and technical drawing

Michelle

[ann141]

35 minutes ago, Peanut006 said:

I remember my mum having a singer treadle sewing machine!! Both my mum and Grandma always had a sewing machine, I remember my mum making outfits for dancing class shows when I was little. I am not great at sewing though, the most I managed was a pair of curtains for my daughters bedroom.
We had needlework classes at school as well as domestic science whilst boys did woodwork, metal work and technical drawing

Michelle

We also had needlework and domestic science classes at school which I hated.I am not very good at practical things and am sure nowadays would be labelled as dyspraxic.In the 2nd year we could do German instead of needlework which I gladly opted for!

[Adawn47]

I enjoyed the domestic science and needlework classes, but then again I've always loved, and still do love, being a 'housewife'. I'm never happier than when I'm in the kitchen cooking, baking, experimenting with new recipes or making up my own.😊

Cleaning, eerm not so much😬

Avril

[SarahHben]

4 hours ago, Peanut006 said:

We are going next Friday to IOW with my daughter, her partner & four grandchildren. They are getting excited 

Michelle

It is lovely to have a family holiday, I hope you have a great time! Where are you staying?

[Harry Peterson]

10 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

I enjoyed the domestic science and needlework classes, but then again I've always loved, and still do love, being a 'housewife'. I'm never happier than when I'm in the kitchen cooking, baking, experimenting with new recipes or making up my own.😊

Cleaning, eerm not so much😬

Avril

I'm lucky enough to have a wife like that, Avril - loves cooking, sewing, gardening, making things etc, but hates cleaning and general housework. Entirely understandable too - as she says, when she cared for dying patients nobody ever said 'I wish I'd had more time for housework.'

 

As for me, utterly useless with anything involving DIY - she, however, is brilliant at it.  Learnt from her father how to make practically anything out of whatever's lying around.  Used to take me an fternoon to change the oil in our old Beetle, and that usually involved a trip to the garage when something went wrong!

 

If we had any sense at all, we'd make domestic life skills and basic financial skills mandatory for all children.  I'm all for education, but the word's being far too restrictively applied - without those two skills you're stuffed!

[Peanut006]

We are staying in a bungalow, sleeps 10, called The Orchard, part of Island Riding Centre near Newport. They have other properties to rent there too 

Michelle

[SarahHben]

6 hours ago, Harry Peterson said:

That sounds fantastic, Sarah! Lovely place to be, great time of the year to be there,  and family too. Perfect.

 

We did a similar thing in north Norfolk a couple of years back - one of the best holidays we’ve ever had.  
 

Something really good for you to look forward to, and a better bet than cruising at the moment.

Absolutely, I'm really looking forward it. We're going back to Westward Ho! I love it there even in wet windy weather, lots of bracing beach walks!

[Peanut006]

Just now, SarahHben said:

Absolutely, I'm really looking forward it. We're going back to Westward Ho! I love it there even in wet windy weather, lots of bracing beach walks!

I love Devon too, and all those Devon cream teas are an added bonus 

Michelle

[SarahHben]

5 hours ago, Josy1953 said:

Today looks like it will be as interesting as yesterday, my niece's 11 year old daughter asked for a sewing machine for her birthday because she wants to learn to make "things" so I was invited to go with them to get one yesterday because my niece has no idea about anything to do with sewing.  She has just phoned to say that she is dropping her daughter at my house this morning so that I can teach her how to use it.  I now have to sort out some of my left over bits of fabric for her to practice on.

 

I am starting to feel sympathy for my mum when I decided that I would learn to sew almost 60 years ago, though in those days it was on an old Singer treadle  machine

 

You'll have a great time. A family friend, I used to call her my Auntie Nanny, taught me to hand and machine sew when I was young. I got my first sewing machine, a Singer hand crank machine when I was around 8 or 9, I have always owned a sewing machine ever since. It's a great skill for your great neice to learn!

Edited August 17, 2021 by SarahHben

[SarahHben]

13 minutes ago, Peanut006 said:

We are staying in a bungalow, sleeps 10, called The Orchard, part of Island Riding Centre near Newport. They have other properties to rent there too 

Michelle

Sounds lovely, that's quite a central location isnt it? Very handy for getting around. I hope the weather is good for you.

[P&O SUE]

5 hours ago, Josy1953 said:

Bus rides are really exciting because children are not used to buses so much now.  I remember taking my niece's son on a bus  for a 10 minute journey when he was 3 because he kept asking to go on one every time we passed a bus in the car.  David dropped us off at the bus station and met us with the car when we got off the bus.  We also did the same with a train, going just 1 stop but he could see the train from their house and was unbelievably excited to see their house from the train.

Yes that’s what I say, it’s a treat for them to go on the train or bus. When I was a child it was a treat to go in a car 😊 Joshua nearly trips over his feet in his excitement to get to the bus stop!

[Peanut006]

10 minutes ago, SarahHben said:

Sounds lovely, that's quite a central location isnt it? Very handy for getting around. I hope the weather is good for you.

Thanks Sarah, really looking forward to it. I think it is quite central, the photos look nice so fingers crossed 

Michelle

[Adawn47]

13 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

I'm lucky enough to have a wife like that, Avril - loves cooking, sewing, gardening, making things etc, but hates cleaning and general housework. Entirely understandable too - as she says, when she cared for dying patients nobody ever said 'I wish I'd had more time for housework.'

 

As for me, utterly useless with anything involving DIY - she, however, is brilliant at it.  Learnt from her father how to make practically anything out of whatever's lying around.  Used to take me an fternoon to change the oil in our old Beetle, and that usually involved a trip to the garage when something went wrong!

 

If we had any sense at all, we'd make domestic life skills and basic financial skills mandatory for all children.  I'm all for education, but the word's being far too restrictively applied - without those two skills you're stuffed!

Unfortunately Harry, that's the way of the world now, we're living in a throw-away society. Why bother repairing? - throw it away and buy another. Why bother cooking? - buy it ready made or dehydrated and nuke it or throw boiling water over it. Not for us I'm afraid, we're old school.

Frank's the DIYer. The only time we have professionals in is for electrics and water. Being a retired joiner he can turn his hand to anything and will often use  some of the some old hand tools that were my fathers. We do the gardening together, well I say we do, Frank says he gardens, I just titivate. I deal with everything financial, even though maths was never my strong point, but only the basics are needed as well as a good dose of commonsense and restraint.

All in all, we've made a good team. Happy, comfortable and financially stable. Outdated ideas maybe, but sometimes the old ways are the best.

Avril

 

[Josy1953]

It has been a lot of fun teaching my greatniece to use her sewing machine but I am totally exhausted now.  I have taken her home now and she can drive her parents mad telling them what she has been doing. 

I was surprised how many of you did needlework and cookery at school, I would have loved that but I  was a grammar school girl so academic subjects were all we did.  My mum taught me to sew, knit and crochet.  Dad taught me to cook though it was nothing fancy but always good tasty food because he learned to cook in the navy, I love cooking and as I tell my friends anyone who can read can cook using a recipe book.

[P&O SUE]

2 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

It has been a lot of fun teaching my greatniece to use her sewing machine but I am totally exhausted now.  I have taken her home now and she can drive her parents mad telling them what she has been doing. 

I was surprised how many of you did needlework and cookery at school, I would have loved that but I  was a grammar school girl so academic subjects were all we did.  My mum taught me to sew, knit and crochet.  Dad taught me to cook though it was nothing fancy but always good tasty food because he learned to cook in the navy, I love cooking and as I tell my friends anyone who can read can cook using a recipe book.

I was a Grammar school girl and did cookery and needlework - I hated them both 😁 I wished I was at a mixed school because they did woodwork and I fancied that 😂

Although saying about academic subjects, I did academic O and A levels but we also had a good typing school there. I wanted to do 2 A levels and typing but we thought it wouldn’t be any good without the shorthand. How wrong we were! Lots of the girls who did shorthand and typing went onto get very good secretarial jobs.

[Josy1953]

2 minutes ago, P&O SUE said:

I was a Grammar school girl and did cookery and needlework - I hated them both 😁 I wished I was at a mixed school because they did woodwork and I fancied that 😂

Although saying about academic subjects, I did academic O and A levels but we also had a good typing school there. I wanted to do 2 A levels and typing but we thought it wouldn’t be any good without the shorthand. How wrong we were! Lots of the girls who did shorthand and typing went onto get very good secretarial jobs.

Unfortunately although it was an excellent  school my school was one that did nothing to prepare us for the real world where we would have to live and work outside of academia.  I would definitely have preferred cookery and needlework to Latin.

In retrospect it seems to me that the main aim of the school was to get us to university because talking to friends about their schools including the other local girls' grammar school most if them had the option to do practical subjects.

[gadabout60]

I went to a comprehensive school in Glasgow in the 1970s. In the first year girls got cookery and boys did woodwork - appalling now when you think about it. After second year if you were on an academic path you dropped cookery/woodwork.

However the standard was awful - probably the fanciest thing was scrambled egg! I remember one lesson was Angel Delight - literally whisking the milk into the powder. What a wasted opportunity to teach basic skills.

[gadabout60]

5 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

Unfortunately although it was an excellent  school my school was one that did nothing to prepare us for the real world where we would have to live and work outside of academia.  I would definitely have preferred cookery and needlework to Latin.

In retrospect it seems to me that the main aim of the school was to get us to university because talking to friends about their schools including the other local girls' grammar school most if them had the option to do practical subjects.

 

I loved Latin- studied Latin and Ancient Greek! Felt privileged to be able to do that. Latin did help me in my career and the Ancient Greek means I can read signs when I am in Greece! 

[AndyMichelle]

32 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

It has been a lot of fun teaching my greatniece to use her sewing machine but I am totally exhausted now. 

 

I used to write songs about sewing machines,.. 

I wanted to become a 'Singer' songwriter... 😊

[brian1]

7 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

I used to write songs about sewing machines,.. 

I wanted to become a 'Singer' songwriter... 😊

That stiched me up geeze.

[Josy1953]

1 hour ago, AndyMichelle said:

I used to write songs about sewing machines,.. 

I wanted to become a 'Singer' songwriter... 😊

🤣🤣🤣

[mercury7289]

3 hours ago, AndyMichelle said:

I used to write songs about sewing machines,.. 

I wanted to become a 'Singer' songwriter... 😊

Pearl,s the Singer!

Edited August 17, 2021 by mercury7289