...and in Division 1, what about Watford's fabulous 100% record so far?
Duncan
JoinedPosts by Duncan
-
6
Ok we're top - stop the football season now ! (and predictions)
by Simon inhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/3156171.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/table/default.stm table
barclaycard premiership table .
-
-
-
193
Stupidest thing a JW ever told you
by Nosferatu inwhat is the stupidest thing a jw ever told you?
we all know that they say a lot of stupid things, but what really topped the cake?.
for me, it was an elder telling me i was progressing really well when my meeting attendance was down and my field service hours were slipping.
-
-
Duncan
This would be the early seventies - I know - all my stories are, pretty much. We had this elder’s wife in our congregation. Her husband didn’t really amount to much – a pretty much non-descript kind of non-entity, a perfectly forgettable guy. But her! A real piece of work She was Sister Hester K and, truthfully, she must have been one of the stupidest women I have ever met in my entire life.
As it happens, her immense stupidity was matched perfectly by her utterly rock-like and completely unshakeable conviction that she was RIGHT about each and every subject she would choose to pronounce upon. And she would pronounce upon anything at the drop of a hat. Opinions? How many d’ya want? She had them to spare! If EVER there had been a world-shortage of opinions, they would only have needed to put a call in to Hester to avert the crisis.
One day, a group of us pioneer brothers were sat around in Len K (the elder)’s back garden discussing with Hester about going away on holiday (that’s “vacation” brother! Nothing Holy about it! Yes, sorry, Hester) The talk got around to how important it was to cancel the daily milk delivery - bottles and bottles of unused milk on the doorstep being a dead giveaway to any would-be burglar that the occupants were away for the duration. Also, for the same reason, about how you should notify the local paper-shop so that they didn’t keep leaving a build-up of newspapers at your door.
“You’re all forgetting something, something important!” declared Hester.
Lock all windows? Secure garden gates? Ask a friendly neighbour (hah! WORLDLIES!) to keep an eye on the property?
We were flummoxed, no one knew. We awaited enlightenment from the smugly-grinning possessor of superior wisdom.
“What then?”
“You must always, without fail, turn your water supply off at the main!”
We were more perplexed than ever. Maybe this might make some sense in the height of winter, when, in those days before insulated pipes, there was a risk of freezing water bursting mains pipes and causing a flood – but in the summer? What was the point?
“Why would you want to do that, Hester?” asked Jon.
“The world today!” began Hester “Full of criminals! - you see them driving by with their guns!”
(I lived in that town for the first 35 years of my life, and I have never in my life – outside of a sporting event - seen a gun, never mind on the streets, in the hands of drive-by criminals. But it didn’t do to interrupt Hester in full flow)
“Guns?” Jon
“Yes, GUNS! And they won’t hesitate to shoot your pipes!”
As she said this, Hester gestured towards the pipework of her own house – specifically, in fact, pointing at the rain guttering.
No one said anything for a while, and we let Hester enjoy her triumph. I think we were all overcome at the thought of the sheer demonic wickedness which would induce one of the town’s career criminals to call around when Hester was taking her two weeks by the seaside and fire bullets at her guttering.
(And, of course, how their Satanic plot would be foiled because Hester had the theocratic foresight to turn her mains water off!)
Away from the house, later on, we simply laughed our heads off. “Shooting the Pipes” became pioneer-speak for any idiotic opinion expressed by an Elder or his wife.
-
11
As we move from side to side...
by Duncan in...we hear the total mass retain.. .
recently, i went to a yes concert with some old jw buddies who got in contact with me.
we were all yes fanatics when we were 17, and pioneers.
-
-
Duncan
Hi Termite,
met 2 at a house warming just after I left and got very drunk- bad idea- do you think they were jelous?!
not quite clear here who got drunk(!) but anyway, yes, I'm sure they were jealous at seeing a successful escapee.
Maybe these three chaps I met are wannabee escapees, too.
Anyway, it was an enjoyable evening, and I even went ahead and bought my tickets for next years Yes concert (dates just announced), this week.
take care
Duncan
-
11
As we move from side to side...
by Duncan in...we hear the total mass retain.. .
recently, i went to a yes concert with some old jw buddies who got in contact with me.
we were all yes fanatics when we were 17, and pioneers.
-
-
Duncan
Willy
The desire to be "normal" is a powerful draw and used to be offset by the urgency of the times: "Hey, just a few more months/years and we can be ourselves!" Now that many JWs have put dreamland waaaaay off into the future, they're looking for ways to express natural feelings and instincts
that's absolutely it, I'm sure.
Sorry, everyone about the duff posts above - can't edit 'em out, it seems.
Duncan.
-
11
As we move from side to side...
by Duncan in...we hear the total mass retain.. .
recently, i went to a yes concert with some old jw buddies who got in contact with me.
we were all yes fanatics when we were 17, and pioneers.
-
-
-
11
As we move from side to side...
by Duncan in...we hear the total mass retain.. .
recently, i went to a yes concert with some old jw buddies who got in contact with me.
we were all yes fanatics when we were 17, and pioneers.
-
-
-
11
As we move from side to side...
by Duncan in...we hear the total mass retain.. .
recently, i went to a yes concert with some old jw buddies who got in contact with me.
we were all yes fanatics when we were 17, and pioneers.
-
-
Duncan
Six,
...a certain sub-concious cognitive hypocrisy
I agree, there was, no doubt, an element of this. But, as far as I'm concerned, it was a welcome relief to find that these guys - despite everything - were basically sensible people, seemingly not affected by the worst excesses of Watchtower-dom. I had psyched myself up for a confrontation, I guess, about religion, and beliefs, and stuff like that - and it simply didn't happen. It was just a bunch of guys reminiscing about old times (70's Yes concerts) and sharing their current concerns and worries (kids etc).
Maybe they were just happy to get away from the Kingdom Hall and congregation and everything and just be themselves with me for a bit, and enjoy the music/event/nostalgia.
I think it's all quite encouraging that the Watchtower's Finest, the "Ones Taking the Lead" in these troubled last days, are - in fact - actually regular guys after all, away from the hall.
Duncan.
-
-
-
Duncan
Mike,
I ALWAYS thought you could shake it all about.
-
11
As we move from side to side...
by Duncan in...we hear the total mass retain.. .
recently, i went to a yes concert with some old jw buddies who got in contact with me.
we were all yes fanatics when we were 17, and pioneers.
-
-
Duncan
...we hear the Total Mass Retain.
Recently, I went to a Yes concert with some old JW buddies who got in contact with me. We were all Yes fanatics when we were 17, and pioneers. these three chaps are still faithful - elders, bigshot JW types.
Yes do these annual concerts these days (this was in London) and probably make more money now than they ever did in their heyday.
Whatever.
It was brilliant. Yes were brilliant. And it was excellent meeting my old friends like this. They're all the same age as me, and (despite 30 years in the cult) they all seemed absolutely sensible, sane and normal. All worried about what universities their kids would end up at, and stuff like that - not what I expected at all. All in all, very enjoyable.
Any Yes fans out there?
I get up. I get down.
Duncan.
-
54
Goodbye to the Board
by dedalus inim leaving the board, and am compelled to announce it.
but there are a few things i want to say first -- some recollections that (perhaps incongruously) seem germane to my leave-taking of jw.com.
1) my first post was also my first thread, written in the summer of 2000 (on h2o, actually).
-
-
Duncan
Dedalus
You'll certainly be missed, you're one of the most thoughtful, insightful posters on this board, and I've always enjoyed reading your posts.
But, I understand, I guess.
I met Englishman this last weekend, at his annual barbeque. It was the first time I'd ever met him, or anyone from this board. What struck me, in talking to the other posters, was just how recent and fresh their JW experience was, compared to mine. I guess it's true that, in leaving the witnesses, it probably does take years of healing. With people like Mike and myself, all that happened a long time ago, and there perhaps isn't such an urgent need to "turn a new leaf" and put it all behind.
Because I had had literally decades of time out of the org before even discovering this site, I don't in any kind of day-to-day sense think of myself as "an XJW" - that's not what defines me in my own head. What this means, in truth, is that I'm a bit of a half-hearted member of this board, a pretty much semi-detached infrequent poster.
BUT! if this were, say, 1979 or 1980, and this board had existed then, and I came accross it, I can just imagine: I would have been Mr Two-hundred-posts-a-day for a year or two, a total 24-hours-a-day net junkie, sharing discoveries, feelings, and charting in painstaking detail my "XJW progress" with the Board community. But I'm sure that the time would come, finally, that I would absolutely have to turn away, start a new chapter, and get on with my life away from any reference to JW's or XJW's.
It is an entirely understandable reaction, and one I respect completely.
Listen, have a great life. It was a real pleasure to know you, however briefly.
Duncan.