General Chat

Come on; let’s see if we can breathe some life back into into this General Chat Board.

GR chat used to be a fun place where those trapped in their homes could be sure of a few threads to add to and fill a few empty hours. At times it turned into a minefield, where an innocent remark caused large explosions, but these threads could be ignored and a friendly one easily found.

After a bit of a break from GR, I started looking in again.

What did I find?
A slow moving board, with a few large daily threads, joke threads which had lost the joke because of a phantom RR’er, threads which looked as if they were fun but were being spoilt because of sarcastic posts aimed at the author and very little else.

These days I think twice before I start a thread or comment on any thread on the General Chat Board, partly because of personal comments directed at me and partly because, there are those who seem to take delight in filling threads with trivial and irrelevant dross, usually copied from Wikipedia, that has nothing to do with what the thread was about :-(

People just aren't friendly.

Totally agree, Carol. And I think the other problem is that very few of us read properly, go off topic, have silly spats with a screen in front of us and spill our seventh cup of coffee in temper.

When I see you post, all I see on my screen is flowers and sunshine :-D :-D Same with several others - RRose, Mersey, Dermot, Emma, Cynthia, Dizzi.....

Will not make anyone else blush ;-)

I'm friendly :-D

went for a meal in Wagamamas last night - the waiter was wearing a rather nice silver bracelet - I commented how nice it was and he showed me it had his middle name inscribed on it - Kwesi - he was from Zambia.

After he'd left the table my friend commented that they had named a song after him - the one with Patsy Cline - Crazy!!! Cwazy!!!! I told him as we left - I think he's still laughing!!

Haven't been to Wagamamas for ages. Almost my favourite restaurant. And that Firecracker!! And tea-stained eggs :-0

And I am also Kwesi for the staff. They are all so friendly, Ann.

Think we are both off topic. But who cares? Certainly not lovely Carol, I feel sure :-D :-D

:-D
Feel free to chat about any subject, as long as it is friendly.

I wrote a shopping list last night as store cupboard & freezer are looking like Mother Hubbard's. :-|
I aimed to go to Sainsburys early & treat myself to breakfast before I shopped ... got distracted, so might have to be a light lunch now :-D

Family coming to lunch on Sunday so am hoping they have large beef joints on offer, as the one left in the freezer will definitely not feed 9.

Carol. We have a new Sainsbury in Ponty. Beautiful store. And one great thing about it is the restaurant. Without any doubt, it is the best place to have breakfast in Valleys. And I am comparing them with the bracchis (Italian restaurants) which permeate round here and are very good.

Perhaps Maerdy Market (Cwtch Mamas) is as good, but quite a bit more pricey that JS.

the other great thing about that store is you can park beneath it and not get wet

It's a peculiarity of this island (which includes Scotland for now), hanging down as it is with exquisite wordsmiths of prose & poetry, that we produce so few gifted orators - political or otherwise.

How often in our recent history has the nation paused in unison, swept away, not just by the recent storms & floods, but by an outpouring of passionate eloquence from someone taking a stand against injustice or inequality, or giving voice to the disadvantaged or dispossessed? Pipe dreams you might think!

Lo and behold! Along comes the young benign Nigel Farage, him of that up & coming self-proclaimed patriotic party, a pint of bitter in hand, to grace our TV screens & national press with his electrifying eloquence. A saviour at last perhaps.

We've never had it so good. Let’s all vote for insanity.

Generally speaking, I find people funny and interesting, with the exception of the odd obnoxious one, who is best ignored.

I've been in hospital for nearly eight weeks now. There is no better place for people watching. Such a varied collection of people, and their visitors, all in one room.

Being in hospital for that time you see people come and go. Beds get filled again within a short time of the last occupant being discharged.

I've met some fascinating people these last few weeks. The elderly man who gave a lecture every day on pig rearing, and how no part of the pig need be wasted. If you had poor appetite before, then you had none at all by the time he'd finished.
:-(

Then there was the very important Town Councillor, Chairman of the local PTA, Church Warden, etc etc, who knew everything about everything, and reminded us all of that every day :-D.

The bloke who thought he was the reincarnation of Tommy Cooper, complete with his joke book, that he felt obliged to share all day, every day.

Now I've been moved onto another hospital nearer home. Sharing a two bed ward with a poor old chap who never speaks.

So all the above, and others, have helped to make the past few weeks interesting.
People can be fun.
.

.

Tec

You do make me laugh. :-D :-D :-D :-D

I hope that if you managed to get a word in edgewise you

also managed to talk about all the interesting places you have visited
Take care
Von

Agree with Carol, John, and OFITG. I read lots of different threads but don't like to comment on them, as I don't ' know ' some of the posters. I tend to keep to the threads I am use to.

Tec, I love your post on here, it gave me a good chuckle. I know you have so many interesting stories of places that you have visited, it would be lovely if we were all able to read more of them.

Love, Sallie.x

Hello Carol, good to see you posting. It is sad that some people have left us, preferring to 'chat' on FB where the so unpopular RR person can't get at them. Well I also chat on facebook but I still feel more at home here. Part of the problem has been the confusing way that GR Admin have dealt with RRing. Sometimes there is no obvious reason for a post being RRd but the person only has to say that it upsets them and it can be removed.

If I am interested in a thread I will post on it, I have found that, even if I don't know people on there I am usually made welcome (this actually refers to the long running threads like the aussie thread). I don't think anyone needs to feel shy about adding. I also enjoy many of the longer running threads because they make you feel like part of a well known group, but again, anyone is welcome.

I find it disappointing that more use isn't made of the hobbies board. Surely it is not because people on here don't have other interests to share with us. I have learnt quite a bit from posts on that board.

Tec, you could have written a book while in hospital, you had the characters all in front of you.

Like Tec, I love "people watching", though not as a captive audience as he was :-D

No it is better if you can choose who you watch!! :-D :-D

I also like the Hobbies Board but don't look at it much because it is dominated by Genes Book Club posts. I have just had a look at it and 12 out of 20 posts on the first page are for GReaders (or similar).

Someone - was it Mersey? - commented on this a while back, but it made no difference.

Actually I get quite annoyed about this because Greaders, which is totally different to Genes book club, has been running for about 8/9 years on the General board, with no complaints from anyone. The three threads go up once every 6 weeks and are usually then just dormant until the next review thread is put up. They are not added to to keep them on the first page. The only reason they don't sink. (Unlike Genes book club threads they are not locked) is because only a few add threads or add to other threads.

I spend quite a lot of time every six weeks organising Greaders and the people who enjoy reading and commenting on books look forward to the threads. I don't see why we should be held up as a reason for people not adding to the other threads on the hobbies board.

I'm sorry Ann, I didn't mean to upset you. All I meant was that there are so many posts about books that you have to hunt to find anything else.

I am so glad you post this thread Carol, as I have the familiar taste of an undercurrent developing.

OFITG I do hope I haven’t offended you in any way I certainly did not aim too, I know you love to discuss or debate news worthy thought provoking issues, even thought I don’t take part I do often read you threads.
:-D