Happy Thanksgiving

[Ron Manager]

Quote[/b] (Bob Cratchitt @ Nov. 25 2004,13:35)]

Quote[/b] (Ron Manager @ Nov. 25 2004,13:16)]Firstly, as a non-christian (confirmed atheist) it holds no significance to me as a religious holiday.

Where do you go to get confirmed, is it a small section of Hockley Woods??

 

 

 

I think it became confirmed during an RE lesson at school when I told Mrs Stibbards that I 'shouldn't have to learn all this rubbish because I'm an atheist'.

Uppity little sod that I was

 

[Bob Cratchitt]

Poor old Mrs Stibbards, I always felt quite sorry for her, as she just did not seem to be able to control the class. I am sure your outburst must have hurt her since she was a regular at the Baptist Church across the road and her old man was a one of the elders.

Shame on you!!

 

[Leeboy]

Quote[/b] (Ron Manager @ Nov. 25 2004,13:16)]Here we go again, a flippant and jokey comment about not liking Christmas gets me grief. I really should have kept quiet this year.

lol, class

and I quite liked Miss Walker's RE class cos it was the last lesson on a Friday in one of the huts, so as soon as the bell went I was halfway home across the field

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

Quote[/b] (Ron Manager @ Nov. 25 2004,13:16)]Firstly, as a non-christian (confirmed atheist) it holds no significance to me as a religious holiday. I do however enjoy Christmas Day as an excuse for time off work to spend with family (they're not a bad bunch overall) and drink and eat a little too much. I also enjoy Christmas Eve, it's always a nice atmosphere in a warm pub with people relaxed and happy and generally being nice to each other. Boxing Day football is also a fine tradition that is all part of the Christmas experience for me.

However, the fact that Christmas TV adverts have been on heavy loop for a month now, the fact that Christmas decorations are now everywhere and it's still November, the fact that families will spend more than they can afford and put themselves in debt to keep up with the whole commercial expectation of Christmas - all these things and more mean I am rather cynical about the whole time of year. In all seriousness I don't hate Christmas but there is a lot about it I don't like. That, and I promise this, is the last I will say on the matter on here this year.

Hey, I'm a confirmed Christian, and other than the fact that it holds a little (but not loads) of significance for me as a religious holiday - I agree with everything else you say - especially being with your family as a good thing; and especially the over-commercialisation being a bad thing.

I'll add two things to Christmas that I do like:

1. Singing Advent Carols (not Xmas Carols)... as a chorister, there are some fantastic advent carols out there, and I'm a bit annoyed with myself that I failed to organise my scratch choir together to do advent carols in a little church in Westminster that we normally sing in. Hope to be singing them at Southwark Cathedral instead...

2. Midnight Mass. Of course, it's a fairly central piece of the Christmas calendar for a Christian, and even though (as a religious holiday) Holy Week and Easter are far more important, I do still enjoy Midnight Mass.

Matt

P.S. Naps - my two-line summary of Thanksgiving wasn't that wide of the mark. Fundamentally, there would be no Thanksgiving if they hadn't wanted to flee Britain in the first place - which is why that particular holiday is highly unlikely ever to cross the Pond.

 

[The General]

Quote[/b] (Leeboy @ Nov. 25 2004,15:04)]

Quote[/b] (Ron Manager @ Nov. 25 2004,13:16)]Here we go again, a flippant and jokey comment about not liking Christmas gets me grief. I really should have kept quiet this year.

lol, class

and I quite liked Miss Walker's RE class cos it was the last lesson on a Friday in one of the huts, so as soon as the bell went I was halfway home across the field

You cant do that anymore. The hole over in Blyth has well and truly gone. Miss Walker also left a couple of years back as she needs to look after her mu full time. She somehow got me a C in Sociology and seemed OK apart from the eyes ...

 

[Napster]

Quote[/b] (Matt the Shrimp @ Nov. 25 2004,14:19)]=
P.S. Naps - my two-line summary of Thanksgiving wasn't that wide of the mark.  

that sounds like a lorry reversing.

 

[Leeboy]

Quote[/b] (The General @ Nov. 25 2004,15:29)]

Quote[/b] (Leeboy @ Nov. 25 2004,15:04)]

Quote[/b] (Ron Manager @ Nov. 25 2004,13:16)]Here we go again, a flippant and jokey comment about not liking Christmas gets me grief. I really should have kept quiet this year.

lol, class  

and I quite liked Miss Walker's RE class cos it was the last lesson on a Friday in one of the huts, so as soon as the bell went I was halfway home across the field  

You cant do that anymore. The hole over in Blyth has well and truly gone.

tell me about it mate. Whenever I go back to Shoebury ( which is quite rare ) I keep finding something else from my childhood / early teens totally decimated. First they build houses on the field, then they put fences up around the huts, now there's speedbumps down my old road and a 20 mph limit.

w***ers

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

Quote[/b] (Napster @ Nov. 25 2004,15:32)]

Quote[/b] (Matt the Shrimp @ Nov. 25 2004,14:19)]=
P.S. Naps - my two-line summary of Thanksgiving wasn't that wide of the mark.  

that sounds like a lorry reversing.

What, as in *beep* *beep* *beep* *beep* *beep*?

Hmm, not sure what you mean...

 

[Ron Manager]

Quote[/b] (Leeboy @ Nov. 25 2004,15:38)]

Quote[/b] (The General @ Nov. 25 2004,15:29)]

Quote[/b] (Leeboy @ Nov. 25 2004,15:04)]

Quote[/b] (Ron Manager @ Nov. 25 2004,13:16)]Here we go again, a flippant and jokey comment about not liking Christmas gets me grief. I really should have kept quiet this year.

lol, class  

and I quite liked Miss Walker's RE class cos it was the last lesson on a Friday in one of the huts, so as soon as the bell went I was halfway home across the field  

You cant do that anymore. The hole over in Blyth has well and truly gone.

tell me about it mate. Whenever I go back to Shoebury ( which is quite rare ) I keep finding something else from my childhood / early teens totally decimated. First they build houses on the field, then they put fences up around the huts, now there's speedbumps down my old road and a 20 mph limit.

w***ers  

Yeah, because it was such an idyllic haven when we lived there wasn't it?

 

[Leeboy]

It was to me, over the 'posh' side ( ie not The Bunkers side )

 

[The General]

As you can imagine, those speed-bumps are a pain in the arse, but they are actually quite nice and you can go over them at 25 with doing too much damage. The fences have been up for a few years and the huts have gone and will be replaced with something a little more 'up-todate' ...

Kev

 

[The Fitter]

If all you Christmas haters started being really good then Father Christmas would bring you a presant. Which after all is what Christmas is all about.

If anyone wants to give to charity my credit card is just a shade under 9 grand now and would love a cash injection. Thank you.

 

[Ron Manager]

Quote[/b] (The General @ Nov. 25 2004,16:46)]and the huts have gone and will be replaced with something a little more 'up-todate' ...

Kev

I wonder if they found all the broken glass from the flourescent lighting that we 'smashed' whilst we were playing football indoors when it was raining at lunchtime (we had a hut as our form room).

One term, every time we broke one we simply scooped the broken glass into one of those metal bins and chucked it under the hut. By the end of the term we were running on just two lights (out of 6) and our form tutor Mr Hill (sadly no longer with us) either didn't notice or chose not to say anything.

 

[* ORM *]

Quote[/b] (Matt the Shrimp @ Nov. 25 2004,11:25)]ORM - I can't really see Thanksgiving catching on over here, can you?  They were giving thanks, in a sense, for the fact that they had managed to get away from Britain (or at least that they had managed to arrive safely in the US and establish a life there), so it would be pretty ludicrous for us to celebrate that, wouldn't it?!

Doh ! Doh ! and Treble Doh !

Do you know without you're later comments and Napster's posts I would never have known the reasons behind the celebration. I'd always assumed it was a US version of our harvest festival.

That's not as shameful as admitting that it wasn't long ago I finally realised that when the tide goes out from the beaches at Southend it goes out to sea rather than over to Kent as my parents had told me when I was a child.

 

[Ron Manager]

Quote[/b] (* ORM * @ Nov. 25 2004,17:46)]

Quote[/b] (Matt the Shrimp @ Nov. 25 2004,11:25)]ORM - I can't really see Thanksgiving catching on over here, can you?  They were giving thanks, in a sense, for the fact that they had managed to get away from Britain (or at least that they had managed to arrive safely in the US and establish a life there), so it would be pretty ludicrous for us to celebrate that, wouldn't it?!

Doh ! Doh ! and Treble Doh !

Do you know without you're later comments and Napster's posts I would never have known the reasons behind the celebration. I'd always assumed it was a US version of our harvest festival.

That's not as shameful as admitting that it wasn't long ago I finally realised that when the tide goes out from the beaches at Southend it goes out to sea rather than over to Kent as my parents had told me when I was a child.  

 

Exactly the same here, for a long time I was quite happy believing that when the tide is out this side of the estuary it was in on the Kent side and vice versa.

 

[* ORM *]

Steve (and other fellow humbuggers), I'd be right behind all your sentiments over Christmas were it not for the fact that I have two children who still believe in the magic of Christmas, although the eldest is starting to waver a bit on the Father Christmas front.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with young children is absolutely magical. They do not get tainted with all the other rubbish associated with the season so admirably pointed out by you all. The must-have peer group pressure and advertising blitz from mid-November onwards is dealt with by responsible parenting.

Before the kids came along I was the humbug upon which Charles Dickens wrote his novel.

 

[Ron Manager]

Quote[/b] (* ORM * @ Nov. 25 2004,17:56)]Steve (and other fellow humbuggers), I'd be right behind all your sentiments over Christmas were it not for the fact that I have two children who still believe in the magic of Christmas, although the eldest is starting to waver a bit on the Father Christmas front.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with young children is absolutely magical. They do not get tainted with all the other rubbish associated with the season so admirably pointed out by you all. The must-have peer group pressure and advertising blitz from mid-November onwards is dealt with by responsible parenting.

Before the kids came along I was the humbug upon which Charles Dickens wrote his novel.

This is my last Christmas before I become a father, if it wasn't for the fact that I'm not mentioning my Bah Humbugness on here anymore I would say I should enjoy my last Christmas as a Scrooge then!

 

[Napster]

Quote[/b] (* ORM * @ Nov. 25 2004,16:56)]Before the kids came along I was the humbug upon which Charles Dickens wrote his novel.

I thought you were old, but blimey.

ps you don't have to work 12-days if you're not on here all the time,

 

[* ORM *]

Quote[/b] (Ron Manager @ Nov. 25 2004,17:49)]

Quote[/b] (* ORM * @ Nov. 25 2004,17:46)]

Quote[/b] (Matt the Shrimp @ Nov. 25 2004,11:25)]ORM - I can't really see Thanksgiving catching on over here, can you?  They were giving thanks, in a sense, for the fact that they had managed to get away from Britain (or at least that they had managed to arrive safely in the US and establish a life there), so it would be pretty ludicrous for us to celebrate that, wouldn't it?!

Doh ! Doh ! and Treble Doh !

Do you know without you're later comments and Napster's posts I would never have known the reasons behind the celebration. I'd always assumed it was a US version of our harvest festival.

That's not as shameful as admitting that it wasn't long ago I finally realised that when the tide goes out from the beaches at Southend it goes out to sea rather than over to Kent as my parents had told me when I was a child.  

 

Exactly the same here, for a long time I was quite happy believing that when the tide is out this side of the estuary it was in on the Kent side and vice versa.

This could be the start of a new thread.

What things, although so blindingly obvious, have only just dawned on you which you would be ashamed to admit in public, but it doesn't matter on Shrimperzone because we're all idiots ?

PS. I know this sentence is grammatically incorrect but I'm under time pressure.

 

[* ORM *]

Quote[/b] (Napster @ Nov. 25 2004,17:59)]

Quote[/b] (* ORM * @ Nov. 25 2004,16:56)]Before the kids came along I was the humbug upon which Charles Dickens wrote his novel.

I thought you were old, but blimey.

ps you don't have to work 12-days if you're not on here all the time,

Indeed, nothing gave me (and my company) greater pleasure than when the zone went down.

Only 2 more hours.