Posts by chicken little

34

Conventions/Assemblies in England

by ScottyRex in

does anyone remember haysbridge, crystal palace, twickenham, dorking from the 80's/90's.........so many memories there.

the 5p lunch vouchers, the aroma of bacon rolls and hot doughnuts at twickenham, the smell of coffee as 50,000 odd opened their thermos flasks at lunchtime.

walking around endless laps of the perimeter of the stadium at break times, watching the airplanes flying low over twickenham stadium en route to heathrow.. cinema style seats at dorking assembly hall, the baptismal pool built into the stage, flapping my hands in the water and getting told off.

chicken little

My husband worked on Haysbridge, the former naughty boys school. I went with our little boy on weekends to help kick out old window frames and try to chip off old linolium off the floors.

I never liked it as an assembly hall. Remember being told to appoach by different roads so as not to irritate the neighbours? We did mystery tours every time and it took ages to get there.

My husband used to do the baptism dunking in our circuit (SE London), had some laughs with it though. I remember a poor jamacian brother getting his afro caught in the overflow pipe and my husband couldn't see it. The poor brother tried to come back up and my hubby was pushing him down. From the audience it looked like he was drowning the poor guy, he looked so panic stricken.

I remember at Dorking being told not to buy food from outside...support the theocratic mush. Half our circuit went down with tummy troubles after an assembly once.

Worked on the book covers and pens at Twickers, we had our own little booth outside the arena with a speaker and deckchairs. Never actually got to be inside the stadium as we were not allowed to leave the booth. We had our own little way of drumming up business, bit like East Street market in Southwark.....come on Bros and Sis's, 10 for a pound, going cheap today....Fun! We did get to see all the cruisers going around the grounds all day, dressed to kill and after fresh meat!

55

Another Scotsman reporting for duty :)

by cofty in

jw
friends

hi all, its time i stopped lurking around here.

i've been posting at jws for just over a year, i know a few names here and it looks like there is lots of good banter going on.. i am a second generation, born-in who grew up in west-central scotland.

i pioneered in edinburgh and later married and settled in berwick just south of the border.

chicken little

hej cofty,

I WANT TO SAY WELCOME, I used to be in food prep at Murrayfield in late 70s early 80s, making doughnuts and preparing the cakes and pastries.

I count myself as "scot", as my dad was a bagpiper with the caledonian pipe band even though he was a sassanach. I married a pioneer,ms later elder. We got out together nearly 3 years ago. Much happier now than ever, son in army on way to Afghanistan, daughter engaged to a soldier, so we certainly do noy fit in the jw mindset anymore.

Love chicken little

30

Please Join in Celebration! My DFed brother is coming to dinner!!!

by Open mind in

we're killing the fattened young bull and having osso bucco (spell?

) tonight.

i'm going to the airport right now to pick up my long-time dfed, over 20-years shunned, gay older brother!.

chicken little

Love Osso Bucco, and I am so happy for you and your family. I have been in the same situation and I was the one crying for forgiveness, I really can't believe it took so long to wake up!

Enjoy your family!

16

What's with JW's and X-mas lights?..........

by awildflower in

i mean i remember growing up as a jw and then 15 baptized adults years, and every year all the jw's would say something to the effect, "lets go look at all the pretty lights", or they would tell their neighbors that they really liked their lights.

and i remember teaching my kids the same thing, that it's ok to look at the lights (but not ok to like anything else about x-mas, oh regrets!

) doesn't that seem weird or something?

chicken little

We have a cottage in Sweden, last year was our first x-mass and we put up lights in November. Our neighbor had lights up too and I said how lovely it was to finally have christmas lights up. They look bewildered at me and said, " its not just for christmas, lights here are part of getting through the dark winter, we do this to lighten up the grey days". I was so taken back, of course it makes sense when you live in these parts of the world. I remember feeling depressed when I was a witness when the lights went up, I loved them but felt we just had to get through this time and then the bad feelings would go away. I was suffering from cd and didn't realize it. Now I have them at home in town as well as in Sweden, when we get the witness knock at the door I shall smile and tell them it is light therapy prescribed for winter depression. We have the world famous Tivoli here and that is a sight to see at Christmas!

47

My mom died

by twinkle toes in

she has past in the last month and i have been trying to decide when i would post this development in my life for privacy reasons.

realizing this is quite ridiculous i am posting it now.

how sad!

chicken little

So sorry for your loss of your dear mum. Witness funerals are no comfort, I know from experience. My mother died 2 years ago and she was an inactive witness, nobody showed up for her funeral. On a positive note the whole biker club my brother is a member of came. They were all in their leather jackets and came with lovely flowers. The priest we had arranged to give the ceremony did not blink an eyelid, took it all in his stride. I would have loved to have seen the faces of the witnesses if it had been in a kingdom hall.

You are now free to live your life exactly as YOU feel fit. Go for it!

All the best wishes

Chicken little

11

Anyone here have any experience of moving to a liberal Muslim country?

by lifelong humanist in

jw
friends

i'd like to move in the next year or two to turkey - a huge, self-supporting country at the far eastern end of the mediterranean.

i want to retire at 60 - my wife will then be 61. due to the local economy in turkey, this could just be a practical possibility, not just a pipe-dream.

although we'd prefer italy, which we've visited far more often, the costs there are just too expensive for our restricted budget!.

chicken little

Had friends in Ankarra, they were missionaries but now they are there as ordinary jws, they associate with the english speaking brothers and sisters. Away from the capital the traditional muslim ways are much more entrenched and it can be quite a culture shock. I would recommend that you try a long term holiday 3-6 months renting a place before you make the final move over there. I have know friends that have moved to Spain and are back in less than 2 years, they just could not fit in, and that is not a muslim country.

All best for your plans

15

the best sunday roast ever

by highdose in

jw
friends

so its sunday and traditionaly time for a roast, i was wondering what everyone thought a perfect roast diinner should include?.

beef?

chicken?

chicken little

I am coming over.............................can smell it from here! We can't get custard here.

20

Camping for conventions

by EmptyInside in

jw
friends

outlaw's post about convention food reminded me of my family's experiences camping for the conventions.

fortunately, they did this before i came along.

but, it seems the whole congregation stayed at one campground.

chicken little

I have just written on the Scottish thread about camping at the Edinburgh assemblies. Nightmare! We were one of the poor families in the congregation, the six of us had to make do with the old scout tent that was not waterproof and had old wood supports. In a terrible storm one night the whole thing came down and the pole trapped my head against the underlay. When we got out we were soaking wet and cold. The toilets were awful and everthing can be summed up as smelly and cold. I do remember having a girl crush on an italian tourist that was using the bathrooms and had a lovely Purdy style haircut in deep chestnut colour. I was besotted by her, I was in old shoes with cardboard in, they got threw out of the tent during the night because someone said they stank. I felt so shabby next to this exotic creature. Well I grew up into a pretty good looking woman myself, but I still remember that feeling at the camping site.

27

What do you know about Scotland & Scottish witness culture

by jambon1 in

jw
friends

so what do you know?.

.

chicken little

Memories flooding back here. I have an unfinished love affair with Scotland. My father was stationed at Durness, way up north during World War II, he loved the area and anything scottish. He actually taught himself to play the chanter and moved on to the highland pipes in his 40s. He joined the Teeside Caladonian Pipeband and we went to many events with him. He had a heart attack while playing in one of the border towns and that put a stop to the highland pipes...he built his own northumbrian pipe with the bellows afterwards.

I love Oldshoremore and Kinlochbervie...anybody been there? The most fantastic scenery you can imagine. Still hope to go back one day...I live in Scandanavia now. We were assigned to Edinburgh conventions for many years even though we lived in the north of England. I loved going to Murrayfield Rugby grounds because we got to go to dance in the gardens on an evening. The scots are lovely people, the Jws are strict there...calvinists really. I have memories of rain, wind and floods at the camping site we used for the convention. One evening the whole tent came down on our heads, we were soaked through. Those were the days.

I still get emotional if I hear the pipes played. We were in Sweden in the summer and the Gothenburg Pipeband were playing...tears were rolling down my cheeks. My kids just laugh, they haven't experienced the stuff I have (thank goodness!). Some one on the whisky thread mentioned first footing, my father used to play in the New Year and was all dressed in his regalia and the whole street would follow him around while he went to each door. (Wierd because we were not allowed to do it really as witnesses, but my Dad was never really IN, he did his own thing, we tried to keep away, but secretly I loved to watch and see him).

35

Which is your favourite single malt Scotch Whisky, and why?

by lifelong humanist in

jw
friends

as a true scot, i'm deeply passionate about most things scottish, any possibly one of our small nation's most successful export is my main favourite - our single malt whisky heritage.. i'm writing this while savouring a 12 year old highland park - distilled in the orkney islands, the most northerly distillery in scotland.

it is one of my favourites - it was my late father's favourite tipple.

yet, only 500m from my house is scotlands oldest legal whisky distillery - glenturret, in crieff.

chicken little

Just logged on and saw your thread...I love single malts and have a really strange place for getting them. In Nice in France where I have a studio, there is a little exclusive whisky shop called Maclagan's finest scotch whiskies and most of his malts are from the Islay and small distilleries. I love peaty malts but my husband is not so keen. I was recommended to try Bruichladdich 12 year old...it is one of the only malts from Islay that is very lightly peated. It was just what my husband likes and I take a wee nip now and again. I enjoy Dalwhinnie 15years and Balvenie 14 year aged in rum casks...yummy! Macallan elegancia 12 is enjoyable too. Getting thirsty here. Oh I was given two lovely tasting glasses from my whisky guy in Nice, they are curved in at the top, very nice to sniff from.

Cheers, skål.

Chicken little