BS: When life returns to normal........

Subject: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 26 Apr 20 - 04:54 AM

(1) If the weather stays like it is now, I am going to take a long, circular walk, outside London, encompassing a country pub (or two).

(2) Go somewhere for an overnight break that takes in a folk club.

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 26 Apr 20 - 06:53 AM

I take a long circular walk outside London (with my Border Terrier) every day, irrespective of the weather!

I’m going to have a few days in the West Country with Mrs. Backwoodsperson, and visit the luthiers’ workshop where my most recent guitar acquisition was built.

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: peteglasgow
Date: 26 Apr 20 - 07:33 AM

i'm going to glasgow to sit in the botanic gardens and then wander down to kelvingrove art gallery with my daughter. we'll get a couple of pints of Jarl before a taxi to Firhill to watch Partick Thistle thrash Rangers and secure the scottish premier league. A fish curry on Ashton lane then I'll be off to see Neil Young at Barrowlands. what do you mean 'that's not normal' ? We are going to get a new improved normal so we may as well make it right.....

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 26 Apr 20 - 07:45 AM

I'm expecting very large crowds at our first concert ...

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 26 Apr 20 - 07:48 AM

Define normal :-)

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Mrrzy
Date: 26 Apr 20 - 08:02 AM

Sit-down meal in a restaurant with at least another person.

A drink made by a bartender.

Lounging in the broiling sun near a body of water, preferably marine. Lounging next to, or on or under, a Marine, is someone else's fantasy.

Play a board game in person with people. Rolling my *own* dice.

Aaah. Splendid lack of isolation.

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: JennieG
Date: 26 Apr 20 - 08:16 AM

I second the sit-down meal with another person.

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 26 Apr 20 - 08:29 AM

I don’t want anything to change, I’m perfectly content as things are. My beautiful wife and soul-mate, and my wee dug, are all I need. People? Schmeople! You can keep ‘em.

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: keberoxu
Date: 26 Apr 20 - 08:55 AM

Say hello to Baxter for me.
Love those laughing Border Terrier faces.

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: peteglasgow
Date: 26 Apr 20 - 09:07 AM

my son was saying he fancied getting a border terrier as he fancied having a grumpy old man for a companion. i'm not sure what -if anything - that says about me

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Donuel
Date: 26 Apr 20 - 09:23 AM

I favor Border Collies. Does that make me a dog racist?

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: keberoxu
Date: 26 Apr 20 - 01:56 PM

when life returns to normal,
I gotta getta
HAIRCUT.

Some young men, where I live presently,
could not wait,
and have all but shaved their heads,
and one older fellow
shaved off his nice full beard as well.

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 26 Apr 20 - 02:44 PM

I don't want life to return to normal...

I want political and corporate leaders learn from this lockdown,
to rethink priorities,
then start afresh with more regard for climate, nature, and humanity's well being..

..some effin hope of that happening then...!!!

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 26 Apr 20 - 03:10 PM

”Say hello to Baxter for me.
Love those laughing Border Terrier faces.“

Done it, Keb - he says “Woof” back! ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: peteglasgow
Date: 27 Apr 20 - 05:48 AM

donuel - i wouldn't say that's racist it's more like being an over indulgent parent when everyone else's kids are nowhere near as good as your own. our brindle lurcher, rosa, is so beautiful and well-behaved i can't imagine why anyone would want any other kind of dog. though i do think border terriers and jack russells are quite funny

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Mossback
Date: 27 Apr 20 - 10:09 AM

If by "normal" is meant "Like before the pandemic".........

Life ain't gonna return to normal.

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Apr 20 - 02:35 PM

You took the words out of my fingers.

The smart thing to do is to invest in Storage Facilities.

The storage wars will be trying to find vacant storage lockers.

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Senoufou
Date: 27 Apr 20 - 03:09 PM

Oh Workingtonman, all those places in Glasgow! Such happy memories for me. (Lived there in the seventies, off Byres Road then in Partick)
Loved every minute of Glasgow!

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Apr 20 - 03:09 PM

Why storage lockers, Donuel? They've already been a big deal for quite a while, but what will make them more important?

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Bill D
Date: 27 Apr 20 - 03:25 PM

I think that's a play on a TV show I never watch.. but I also don't always get oblique references...

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: peteglasgow
Date: 27 Apr 20 - 03:32 PM

yes, senoufou, i'm really missing it - hopefully we can move one day- it's my personal dream to have a flat off byers road but who knows how life will be changed for us all? whatever, i'm sure the glaswegians will always be really friendly, witty and politically astute. that song 'Caledonia' always gets me going anyway but now the line 'and if i should become a stranger it would make me more than sad...' is particularly poignant...and worrying.

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Senoufou
Date: 27 Apr 20 - 03:41 PM

Do you know Billy Connolly's song 'I Wish I Was In Glasgow'? It makes me weep every time I listen to it!
I think the reason I so loved the Weegies was because there's a lot of Irish blood there (I'm half Irish!) and they have such a great sense of humour (I like to laugh)
I'd love to revisit Scotland when life returns to normal. We went up to Edinburgh & Perth two years ago to visit my sister. When flights are back on, we can get a great one from Norwich to Edinburgh (takes 45 mins!) with a Tunnocks teacake and a cup of tea on board. Bliss!

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Mrrzy
Date: 27 Apr 20 - 03:42 PM

Oh, yeah, travel.

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: JHW
Date: 27 Apr 20 - 04:08 PM

Well said pfr. 'Normal' was the world ending due to climate change.

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: An Buachaill Caol Dubh
Date: 27 Apr 20 - 05:36 PM

It's seldom a good idea to refer to people using terminology which many of these people themselves consider derogatory.

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Charmion
Date: 27 Apr 20 - 06:19 PM

I don't think we'll be travelling much until there's a vaccine for COVID-19. Certainly not by air.

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Apr 20 - 06:50 PM

There will be a wave of bankrupcies of big and small businesses that will need or feel they should store their inventories.
Everything from restaurant equipment to dry goods to office stuff...
The business loans are hung up by SBA, perhaps on purpose perhaps not.
When I say a wave of bankruptcies I mean a tsunami.
Storage wars was a pun from the show.:^/

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Apr 20 - 06:55 PM

Speaking of Billy Connoly did you ever see his movie 'Sueing God'

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Rapparee
Date: 27 Apr 20 - 06:57 PM

I guess I'll have to drive to Scotland and Ireland then. Or...yes! I could walk!

We took a drive yesterday -- a hundred plus miles, and except for having to go through Inkom (a town) near the beginning and through our town to get home at the end, it was all in the mountains. Some snow left, but things are greening up nicely.

I worry about the farmers, as some of the potato raisers are cleaning out their storage units, dumping their potatoes or feeding them to livestock. These spuds were intended for the restaurant trade and, well, there isn't any. Some tater raisers have invited anyone who wants to come take what they will, but people can only eat so many. And now Those Who Know are talking about no market to speak of for meats. I'll probably have to go hunting the wild tofu this Fall.

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 27 Apr 20 - 08:41 PM

We've discovered that Mrs Steve can give me a number four all over with my beard trimmer. The key thing is to ensure that the bugger's fully charged before she starts. So I'm looking pretty dapper. I've offered to cut hers (she was due a haircut the day of the lockdown - har har...) but she'd rather risk it growing so long that I'll be able to do the caveman bit and drag her into a cave backwards by the hair.   Bejaysus, that very thought gets me going...Anyone lend me a cave?

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Senoufou
Date: 28 Apr 20 - 04:22 AM

An Buachaill Caol Dubh, I'm so sorry if the word 'Weegies' is rude or derogatory. I only learned it recently from my Edinburgh nieces, and didn't realise it could offend. They told me that they live in what's now called 'The Burgh', and that Glasgow folk are called Weegies.
My husband's very thick African hair is getting out of hand. It's like a black Brillo pad, and is so bushy he can't get his cap on. We don't have any hair clippers, but I've said I'll have a go with the sharp kitchen scissors. When life returns to normal, he can go to his African barber's shop in the centre of Norwich and get it shaved back and styled.
I now look like Albert Einstein in his dotage (wild white hair) so I'll be glad to visit my lovely hairdresser and get it trimmed and thinned.

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: peteglasgow
Date: 28 Apr 20 - 05:01 AM

hi abcd and sen - as far as i know the term 'weegie' isn't offensive. my daughter is proud to call herself a weegie and there is a great charity doing work with the newcomers to the city called 'refuweegie' - we're all fae somewhere. check them out on facebook. i could be wrong but i don't think it's any more offensive than 'geordie' or 'scouser' -cheers

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 28 Apr 20 - 05:19 AM

”We've discovered that Mrs Steve can give me a number four all over with my beard trimmer. The key thing is to ensure that the bugger's fully charged before she starts. So I'm looking pretty dapper.“

Same here (although it’s Mrs Backwoodsperson who does mine, not Mrs Steve, you’ll no doubt be pleased to know!). Had two cuts since we went into lockdown, due another at the end of the week.

A grade 4 on my beard trimmer equates to a grade 1 at the barber’s, so it’s perfect. I did threaten to grow a pony-tail, but Mrs B says bald men with pony-tails look beyond ridiculous, and threatened to cut off my fundamentals, so trim and dapper it has to be!

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 28 Apr 20 - 05:21 AM

Sen, Workie, I think someone’s confused, and ‘Wedgie’ is the rude expression they’re thinking of?

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Senoufou
Date: 28 Apr 20 - 05:45 AM

Hahahahaaaaaagh! Backwoodsman!! At least I know what a 'wedgie' is!! When I lived and taught in Glasgow, I never heard the term 'Weegie', although I prided myself on my beautiful Glasgae accent and all the vocabulary picked up from my pupils. Very different to that of Edinburgh, where I studied and also taught for a time.

Rap, you made me think of the Proclaimers' song 'I could Walk Five Hundred Miles' - is that what you were referring to?

When life returns to normal, we're hoping there'll be Morris dancing to watch around Norfolk. Missed it so much, especially the Sheringham Potty Festival, which won't be taking place this year :(

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: peteglasgow
Date: 28 Apr 20 - 06:23 AM

i think weegie is a relatively recent expression. there seems to be an increasing mood to welcome all as locals in the city. we went up (from cumbria) for the result of the independence vote a few years back and had a few beers in Oran Mor (converted church opposite the botanics) (i'm from cumbria now though lived glasgow in my youth.) the artist and author alisdair gray (who designed the bar very beautifully) bought us drinks - i was quite chuffed til someone pointed out that everyone in glasgow owed him a drink. there was a euphoric and very short lived rumour that Yes had won on 63%. However, walking round botanic gardens the following morning in a hangover and the drizzle, disappointed and listening to bert jansch - was when i really felt at home.

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Senoufou
Date: 28 Apr 20 - 06:48 AM

I lived in a rented room in Belmont Street with a load of Islanders from Skye, Lewis and Harris. We shared a kitchen and they often had a whole sheep from someone's croft to cook They spoke Gaelic most of the time (which I loved!) and had ceilidhs when loads of other Island people arrived with whisky to sing and stamp their feet on my ceiling. (loved that too!) The Botanical Gardens were just up the road. This was in the Seventies though, and I don't recall Oran Mor. Ooooh I must go back there one day! (bucket list)

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: peteglasgow
Date: 28 Apr 20 - 09:04 AM

sen - it's wel worth looking up Oran Mor online. you get a much better look at alisdair gray's fantastic work on the ceiling and elsewhere in the old church. you could also take a look at the mural at Hillhead subway station. in fact, i think i'll do that myself right now if i can squeeze it into my busy day

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Donuel
Date: 28 Apr 20 - 11:04 AM

When life returns to normal you will have either beaten the virus or got the vaccine. Knock on wood.

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 28 Apr 20 - 11:57 AM

normal is returning to Australia - Supermarkets ease restrictions on toilet paper & other essentials

related article - Toilet paper stockpiling frenzy ignores our long history without the soft stuff

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Mr Red
Date: 28 Apr 20 - 12:02 PM

When life returns to normal there will be Folk Festivals, going into overload. We had booked and paid deposit on a hotel in Sidmouth anyway. The plan is to go for some of those days, if and when we are allowed. I bet others will have the same plan. Ad Hoc events may hap. Tour the hinterland. Photo some Bench Marks maybe.

I have a 50/50 bet with myself.

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Charmion
Date: 28 Apr 20 - 12:20 PM

The Stratford Festival has suspended its 2020 season, so life as we knew it in this town of summer tourism will not return to normal for a very long time. The virus will probably kill off most if not all the fancy restaurants that exist primarily because of theatre-related tourism -- we know which ones they are because they close in winter. Without tourism, this little town doesn't need all the hotels and bed-and-breakfast joints, either.

The new normal won't be like the old normal.

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Senoufou
Date: 28 Apr 20 - 12:35 PM

Workingtonman, I've just looked at those wonderful murals in Oran Mor and Hillhead station. Aren't they stupendous?? I well remember the Glasgow Underground, when it had little wooden carriages that trundled around. Hillhead was often my stopping-off station. And Oran Mor is in the old Kelvingrove Parish Church! All so interesting, thank you very much for the information.
Must go back to Scotland (both Edinburgh and Glasgow) when things are back to normal. My husband was absolutely blown away by Edinburgh!

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: keberoxu
Date: 28 Apr 20 - 12:45 PM

Glasgow lovers,
in a recent interview (last two years),
Robert Carlyle was featured by a Belfast periodical,
on the occasion of a film festival there.
The journalist asked Carlyle just how Irish he was,
and he disclosed:
"I'm seven-eighths Irish."

Which I take to mean that
seven of his eight great-grandparents
were of Irish descent.
Carlyle has often spoken about ancestors
named Duffy or Michell
who crossed from either the Republic or the North of Ireland
to Glasgow during the 1800's.

And he has said, comparing Vancouver, British Columbia
(where he films television and makes money
and keeps his family fed mostly)
to Glasgow, Scotland,
that what he misses most about Glasgow
is "the craic."

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Senoufou
Date: 28 Apr 20 - 12:49 PM

Two of my grandparents were called Duffy!
Many of my darling little Glasgow pupils had Irish surnames. This was in Bluevale, quite a deprived area.

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: An Buachaill Caol Dubh
Date: 28 Apr 20 - 02:49 PM

With regard to several contributions anent Glasgow and the term "Weegie", I'm not one bit surprised that younger people - and presumably marketing types - are quite happy with the importation of this term, like other constructions such as the "Glasgay" festival or even "there's a lot Glasgowing on", nor that the term was learnt in Edinburgh (which some people in Glasgow will pronounce "Edinburg"). In Ireland the word "Culchie" was an insult - now, I believe, there's a festival of this name. Ah well. At least the Glasgow Underground, it seems, is familiarly still called that, despite the forty-year attempt to get the composed "affectionate nickname", the "Clockwork Orange", adopted by anyone other than TV reporters or newspaper copy-writers. I've never once heard any Glaswegian call it the approved name.
The times change, and some people change with them. What were "current affairs" have become "History"; what was "normal" in many cases is not now encountered publicly at all. Some are more resilient, adaptable, accommodating, accepting, compliant, obedient, tame, cowed, than others. Good Luck.
ABCD.

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: peteglasgow
Date: 28 Apr 20 - 04:55 PM

yes, Senoufou the subway is pretty much the same as it was. you're right abcd, folk don't talk about getting on the clockwork orange - though it's an affectionate nickname that everyone recognises. second oldest underground in the world after budapest apparently (if i remember right)
Talking of trains - if ever you get the chance it's well worth going on a tour of Glasgow Central as a lovely and fascinating old place. Mind you, the last time I was there was a the sunday before the pubs were shut and i was waiting for my train back to Carlisle. As a few trains were cancelled and a lot (including mine) were delayed the concourse was completely packed with passengers. Of course, there were people coming and going from all over the place and it felt wrong and creepy to be part of that crowd. I hope it won't be too long before we can all go back there in happier and more relaxed times

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: Senoufou
Date: 28 Apr 20 - 05:20 PM

I seem to remember that Glasgow Central is quite near a viaduct called The Highland Man's Umbrella, so-called because many people from the Highlands would meet up there, and it provided shelter from the rain.
Oh won't it be lovely to be able to travel once more? My husband is dead keen to visit Tenerife, and of course he needs to see his huge family in Abidjan. He was planning to make the journey in 2021, so we're hoping things will be 'normal' then.

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: An Buachaill Caol Dubh
Date: 28 Apr 20 - 07:06 PM

The way I heard it, more than half a century ago, and in Glasgow itself, the Hielan' Man's Umbrella has that name because it was indeed a shelter from the rain; they had nowhere else to go. The understanding was that poor migrants from the Highlands, and from Ireland, congregated there for want of lodgings. Anyone who has seen the old Annan photographs of Glasgow closes will understand immediately. Now, whether that etymology be correct, or whether it might be a disparaging jibe about poverty among a particular group made by some "opinion former" generations ago, is to me an interesting thought. Suppose it depends in part on when the railway bridge from Central Station was built.

Rather like tracing the variant versions of an old broadside.

Also, with regard to the Underground, everyone does indeed recognise the name, but as I stated I've never once heard it spoken except on Television or Wireless news items (usually - even formulaically - accompanied by the same phrase, "popularly known as 'The Clockwork Orange'"). Rather like fake news.

ABCD.

Subject: RE: BS: When life returns to normal........
From: JennieG
Date: 28 Apr 20 - 07:14 PM

You're right, Charmion - the new normal will be nothing like the old one. At this stage we don't know how.

I need an appointment with my dr to have a prescription renewed, so rang yesterday to make said appointment. We're only doing telephone appointments, says the receptionist. How do I get my prescription, says I. We fax it to your pharmacy, says she. (Doesn't work for me, I keep my prescriptions with me because we sometimes go away and I may need them.) There is another thing to be sorted too.

Being a redhead I also have skin things which need to be checked occasionally. How is that supposed to be done over the phone?

A concern I do have is that my dr, a nice young bloke originally from Iran, has an accent. It's not a problem in face-to-face conversation but is much more difficult to understand on the phone; I know, because we have spoken on the phone before.

Sigh. Welcome to the new normal.