New bod to the forum.

General Chat Your Introductions!
19

@LongDriver Thanks for the welcome there was me thinking Golf maestro or pantechnicon navigator from your handle.

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20

@Muddy We few we precious few stuck up to our knees in the dustbowl whistling for the dogs that are nowhere in sight.

21

@Chilliboot I enjoy all manner of things but anything that requires some thinking usually will engross me at some point

22

A long time ago, I was a dab hand on the fairway and the longest driver in my playing group, but that was a long time ago and a distant memory.

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23

Big welcome, James, hope you enjoy it all.

Hope your sense of humour is in tip top form!

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24

Hey there, welcome to the forum! Nice to see a new poster.

Hope you have a fun time here.

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25

@Tedc oh ho I need a sense of humour to survive do I. Well I will turn it up to 11 (thanks Spinal Tap) and endeavour to amuse.

26

@butterscotch hopefully I can post some interesting snippets here and there.

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27

Hi James :grinning: a very warm welcome to Over50sChat.

Hope you’ll enjoy your time with us…

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28

Hi there James. Just jump in and enjoy yourself, nobody bites. Well except for him.

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29

Hi James and welcome from me too. I’m the grumpy old Scotsman.

30

@Mags I am sure I will, thanks for your welcome.

31

@EZ_Rider I’ll jump right in then.

32

@Besoeker as a sassenach who has spent many hours in Speyside I have found the grumpiness declines as the level of the whisky bottle diminishes or maybe its just me that’s drunk.

33

I’m sure you’re right! Speyside is famed for its distilleries but I’m sure you know that. I lived in Scotland in the Grampians on our hill farm. School was Kirreimuir and the town was the home of Sir James Barrie, the author of Peter Pan. Now you know more than I do!

34

@Besoeker I always wondered how hill farmers managed, such difficult conditions. My Grand Father always said that the reason there were so many Scottish surnames in the Essex farming fraternity was because in the recession in 1875 the Scottish farmers came south. They were not better farmers than those they replaced but they new how to live on very little and could eke out a living where others would not compromise their lifestyles.

35

[quote=“Jlastsr, post:34, topic:92949, full:true”]
@Besoeker I always wondered how hill farmers managed, such difficult conditions. My Grand Father always said that the reason there were so many Scottish surnames in the Essex farming fraternity was because in the recession in 1875 the Scottish farmers came south. They were not better farmers than those they replaced but they new how to live on very little and could eke out a living where others would not compromise their lifestyles.[/quote]
Well, I didn’t see it that way. The climate in not hugely different to the English part of the country’, a degrees or so in some places. In fact the Hebridies where my father’s family is from had the Gulf Stream and that was mild compared other parts. Food was plentiful as you might expect on a farm.

So I didn’t think it was particularly difficult. Sure, there were some things that possibly passed me by. Not too may social events maybe?

36

I think that is almost exactly Grand Father’s point. Essex farmers in the 1860’s were wealthy think racehorses staff and ran labour intensive farms with perhaps 1 man per 5-10 acres. With an average rainfall of 21" a year grass always runs low in summer post June but heavy land needs lots of horsepower to till it so farmers had mixed farms to supply local markets. When recession came those that went we have plenty of food if I farm it myself with a few sheep and no staff no racehorses and we don’t run 4 riding horses for the family then they survive and thrive.

37

Ah, you are much more knowledgeable in that field than I. We had a few milk cows, heifers for breeding, and several sheep for lambing. I helped at that at times but went to electrical engineering. For fifty years. Now I am retired.

38

I wouldn’t say that just repeating what Grand Father told Father who told me. Grand Father was the Estate Manager at Terling went there in the 30’s to farm the farms in house that the tenants couldn’t make pay.

Electrical engineering did that just grow and grow as an industry throughout your time I guess some of the economic bumps had an impact. 1989 was it when property went into a tailspin for a bit, or were you involved in some other side of that industry like Marine?