Heat (3 Viewers)

[therealjohnny]

bog work and picking stones.

sweating in wellies, and getting stung by ants.

idyllic rural childhood shite there for sure..

I missed Live Aid because stones had to be picked. I'm still bitter.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

is 'close' a peculiarly irish term? or is that used in england too?

i think so. i've said it amongst the englanders and received blank looks

 

[magicbastarder]

i just did a quick google, and it does seem to be known in the UK, perhaps just more widely adopted here.

What is the etymology of "close" as a description of the weather, or temperature?

OED sense 6 of the adjective close, relates to the weather. and is the opposite of fresh. Why do we describe warm and slightly oppressively humid weather as "close"? It has been the case since the

english.stackexchange.com

 

[egg_]

Spent most of the day yesterday wheelbarrowing in the garden, then drove to a lake with the kids in the midlands somewhere for a swim. You know what? It was lovely. Bit stiff today though

 

[ernesto]

i think so. i've said it amongst the englanders and received blank looks

this thread is my first experience of it

 

[therealjohnny]

21° here already. Dogs back in the house, listening to Lyric FM.

 

[magicbastarder]

do the dogs insist on listening to lyric FM?

 

[therealjohnny]

do the dogs insist on listening to lyric FM?

They love Marty in the morning

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

I'm working on transforming my unhappy memories of the bog into happy ones, I think it's far enough in the past to work. The fragrant smell, the wild grasses, the birds, the butterflies and dragonflies, the long hot hazy days, the sandwiches and tk.

Never had to pick stones though, what was that about? Cabbage?

I planned to swim in a midlands lake before work this morning but I slept terribly and couldn't be bothered. Maybe after work...

 

[therealjohnny]

I'm working on transforming my unhappy memories of the bog into happy ones, I think it's far enough in the past to work. The fragrant smell, the wild grasses, the birds, the butterflies and dragonflies, the long hot hazy days, the sandwiches and tk.

All of this should make it a wonderful experience. Take the rapid-paced backbreaking hardship out of it and I would gladly spend time there. I used to love spotting dragonflies and listening to the larks--until their incessant twitting drove me mad.

 

[seanc]

Can I nominate your uncle for the "I hate this guy" thread

I hated the bog. My Dad would have us up at dawn and it was "go! go! go!" until dinnertime, 12 hours later. Backbreaking work in the searing heat, only stopping for half an hour to eat our tongue sandwiches. And yes, the biting insects.

Years later my brother was asked to help someone out for a day at the bog. He couldn't believe it when the guys rolled up around ten, spent a couple of leisurely hours doing bog stuff, then declared that's enough for one day and went home.

Yep. I think since my dad was a part time farmer, he felt he had something to prove. And I needed toughening up. Mum would always give us a savage feed though.

 

[JohnnyRaz]

I'm working on transforming my unhappy memories of the bog into happy ones, I think it's far enough in the past to work. The fragrant smell, the wild grasses, the birds, the butterflies and dragonflies, the long hot hazy days, the sandwiches and tk.

Never had to pick stones though, what was that about? Cabbage?

I planned to swim in a midlands lake before work this morning but I slept terribly and couldn't be bothered. Maybe after work...

clearing fields for sowing after ploughing and tilling.
more of a spring time child labor activity as opposed to the high-summer torture of the bog.
when I was a kid I used to pray for rain in the summer so we didn't have to go out on the bog

 

[therealjohnny]

Yep. I think since my dad was a part time farmer, he felt he had something to prove. And I needed toughening up. Mum would always give us a savage feed though.

In fairness, dinner always tasted better at the end of a day on the bog

Hell, even the tongue sandwiches tasted good

 

[Unicron]

All of this should make it a wonderful experience. Take the rapid-paced backbreaking hardship out of it and I would gladly spend time there. I used to love spotting dragonflies and listening to the larks--until their incessant twitting drove me mad.

I live bog adjacent, I take the dog for his walk around it most nights. Love seeing the dragonflies going around the place. I never see them at the house and it's only 1.5 km from my gate to the bit of bog where I encounter them.

 

[seanc]

In other news, work has been called off due to heat. The boss is still going in because he's the boss, but I'm sure he'll just be sitting there, shirt off, unable to achieve anything.

That acursed boat is going back in the water today. I kind of wanted to be there for that, to draw a line under a horrible experience. Other than that I'd be useless. Even moreso than usual.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

I'm still hungover from Saturday and the heat is making me feel like a poisonous slug

 

[therealjohnny]

I remember my first hangover on the bog. Fucking nightmare.

 

[seanc]

chatting to my uncle recently about working in a giant oven. He likened it to forking hay up the top of the shed where the galvanised does be burning your back.
I said "I was sweating out a feed of pints as well"
"As is good and proper" he replied.

I do hate the word bogger, but maybe it does need reclaiming.

 

[therealjohnny]

I would rather be messing about in boats today

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[seanc]

Boats in the water maybe. If I'd gone in today I'd be humping steel, cutting steel, he'd be welding. Maybe some painting with highly toxic and flammable paint. (Actually it's hot enough now that some of that stuff spontaneously combusting is actually a real issue).

There's no chilling out using the Thames as a heat sink. There's just hours of sitting there, looking for shade and water, exhaling heavily and going "fuck this shit".