Anyone got any family anecdotes?

[Mogsmum]

One of my favourites concerns my grandfather.    During WWII he 'did his bit' by fire watching in Folkestone.   It's well known that German bombers often kept back one shell to drop on Folkestone, so there was plenty of damage anyway.

This particular night the bomb didn't go off and Grandfather was sent to keep people away;  later he was told to go somewhere else and when enquiring what to do about the unexploded bomb, the answer was 'just cover it' (don't ask me why I wasn't there!).   Anyway, Grandfather does as he's told and, bearing in mind it's pitch black, uses whatever is available, something which he assumes to be rubble.

Returning next day to see 'his' bomb, he arrives in time to hear someone say 'What [idiot?] covered this incendiary with coal?'   At which point I presume Grandad backed quietly away 

[Ayashi]

That reminds me of the time at college (it wasn't me! *whistles nonchalantly*) when we were feeding the animals and someone came in with the food and told me to put some of the stuff in a few cages that they pointed out. So I did. Then at the end of the day, we were gathered in a room and someone came in with a puzzled look on their face and said "Do tarantulas eat lettuce?"

[merilyn64todhunter]

A whale beached itself near our home in Cottesloe, West Australia. A crowd gathered, one very well dressed lady waded out and commented "I didn't know whales had aerials". Dead silence, she was obviously serious, a gentleman responded "er, it's a male and it's on it's back" !!

[Ayashi]

That is brilliant! I like that one

I hope the whale got away though 

[cavegirl]

A Great Uncle of mine was a miner and unfortuntately lost his leg in a mining accident  - he obviously was unable to work down the mines again after the amputation, but had an artificial leg made of tin fitted. 

He later became the village clogger and set up his own shoe shop! Apparently he could be seen (and heard) riding round the village on his bike with his tin leg merrily clanking on the pedals.  Ace bloke!

[Willow 4873]

When my brother was little (1 or 2) he had a bad stomach so mum said to my dad to give him some gripe water

Dad did then my mum realised he actually given him witch hazel! there then followed a mad dash up the hospital where they proceeded to give bro something to make him sick. After sitting there ages bro still wasnt sick so they sent them home

Bro then threw up all in the back of the taxi - mum was not impressed!

Dad also took my mums metaformin tablets for diabetes in mistake for asprin. Docotor advised that we feed him lots of sugar to counter the effects so mum fed him sweet tea and cake all afternoon. Think he put on a few pounds that day!

Make you wonder sometimes how he lived to be 73!

Then theres my sis playing football with bro and dad. Dad shouts 'free kick' to sis so she kicked bro in the shins!  (she could never get the off side rule either!)

Willow x

[IgorStrav]

My family home where I grew up was an old Victorian house, and suffered from various pestilences owing to its age and general delapidation - eg rats, cockroaches, flies etc, all of which my Dad courageously dealt with.

He used to describe how, on one occasion he was setting out cockroach traps down in our cellar.  He had designed a home made trap which involved a small piece of bacon surrounded by quite a deep circle of cockroach killer powder, so that the insect would be tempted to walk through the insecticide to reach the bacon.

He described (I can hear him now!) how he had constructed one of these circles with the bacon bait, and turned his back for a moment to do something else.  When he turned back, the bacon had gone! 

And he said how all the hair on the back of his neck stood up at the thought of the size of cockroach required to steal the bacon in one fell swoop!   





In case your mind has also created this monster, you'll be relieved to hear that the thief turned out to be a mouse.   

He caught that by putting a seesaw "walk the plank" construction with a piece of cheese on it over a bucket of water.   

PS that's him in my Avatar

[Mogsmum]

I noticed with my children that they went through a certain stage when, no matter what they'd done, it was never their fault, in fact, they always managed (somehow) it make it my fault!   On one occasion this caused my Gran to remark 'You sound just like Donald.'

Donald, it turned out, was my Grandad's younger brother.  When my grandparents married, Gran had a general shop next door to Grandad's butchers and Donald was employed as their delivery boy.   

With the basket on his bike well loaded, Donald prepared to set off one day when Gran warned him it was far too full, thus unstable and he'd fall off.   Of course, at 14 Donald thought he knew better and, after a brief 'it's too full - no it isn't - yes it is - etc.,' argument, Donald wobbled off.  Seconds later from around the corner came the resounding crash as .... Donald fell off! 

Gran rushes to see the damage and, having established Donald hasn't fallen in the stream and drowned, says she told him the basket was too full - to which Donald instantly replies 'Well, as my employer you should have made me take some stuff out'

Now I see where my daughters got it from 

[kooky]

My mother was always very 'proper'. As long as I could remember, she never once mentioned toilet.
She always said " I'm going to see George".
I've no idea where that came from.
It puzzled my children when they were small. They thought there was a man called George hiding in the bathroom!
Kooky