Things that piss you off that shouldn't

[StefanAVFC]

Proper 5 guys over here is awesome. Far cheaper too (I paid like a fiver for the burger which was 2 burgers, cheese, bacon, grilled onions/peppers and BBQ sauce) and it was really tasty.

[Meath_Villan]

Proper 5 guys over here is awesome. Far cheaper too (I paid like a fiver for the burger which was 2 burgers, cheese, bacon, grilled onions/peppers and BBQ sauce) and it was really tasty.

. So the UK one isn't a proper 5 guys ???....c'mon man it's a burger with some over cooked chips probably sprinkled with msg

[AVFCforever1991]

US portions and UK portions are different...

Edited July 29, 2014 by AVFCforever1991

[StefanAVFC]

The fries are actually good. Cooked in peanut oil.

[Meath_Villan]

US portions and UK portions are different...

 

 

That's what she said ..........................

[chrisp65]

T..h-e fries ar bing da bing e actually drrrrr good. Cooked in - _ - dabingdabing pe. oil.

 

I'm on old fashioned dial up today.....did you say penis oil?

[mjmooney]

'Grebo' was in use long before skateboards, dreads, goth, etc. We were using the term in the very early 70s. Similar meaning - a scruffbag, somwhere between a hippy and a biker. Probably wore an RAF greatcoat, had long greasy hair, and liked Black Sabbath.

Edited July 29, 2014 by mjmooney

[legov]

'Grebo' was in use long before skateboards, dreads, goth, etc. We we using the term in the very early 70s. Similar meaning - a scruffbag, somwhere between a hippy and a biker. Probably wore an RAF greatcoat, had long greasy hair, and liked Black Sabbath.

 

Good lord, I know the type - keep seeing them around Civic

[Voinjama]

The toilets at work piss me off.

 

My bladder appears to be in perfect sync with the cleaner, who basically shuts the loos while he cleans them meaning if you need a piss you need to go up or down a floor. This is annoying as it seems to happen every time I need a pee.

 

Secondly, theres always some absolute horrors in there, which seem localised to our floor in the building. Be it your basic floor being absolutely soaked apparently making a game attempt at being a swimming pool or ice rink given how slippy it gets, with the odd paper towel strewn about for good measure, to strangely broken toilet seats with completely clean breaks bifurcating them perfectly, to a wall by the urinals being crusted in smeared snot or one of the toilet cubicle walls basically having shit on it. This is before you consider the time I walked in and was presented in one loo with what appeared to be a heavily charred cauliflower clogging the loo, whilst also having apparently been marinaded with a contents of a skunks glands.

 

It's **** disgusting.

 

This made me laugh at loud in the office. Some absolute horror stories at my work too. How can you miss the bowl with a log? Also some of my colleagues need to sort out their diet, the smell this morning was horrendously offensive.

[Ginko]

This made me laugh at loud in the office. Some absolute horror stories at my work too. How can you miss the bowl with a log? Also some of my colleagues need to sort out their diet, the smell this morning was horrendously offensive.

 

 

Someone else can take this one, I feel like I'm at risk of over-saturating it if I do it.

Edited July 29, 2014 by Ginko

[8pints]

 

'Grebo' was in use long before dreads. We were using the term in the very early 70s..

 

Dreadlocks began after the early 70s did they Mike?

[mjmooney]

'Grebo' was in use long before dreads. We were using the term in the very early 70s..

Dreadlocks began after the early 70s did they Mike?

No, but they were a very rare sight in Brum at that time. All the black reggae lads I knew had their hair short. Didn 't really start seeing a lot of dreads until about 1976, the era of Bob Marley and punk.

[8pints]

 

 

'Grebo' was in use long before dreads. We were using the term in the very early 70s..

Dreadlocks began after the early 70s did they Mike?

No, but they were a very rare sight in Brum at that time. All the black reggae lads I knew had their hair short. Didn 't really start seeing a lot of dreads until about 1976, the era of Bob Marley and punk.

 

 

Actually, what started off as me just teasing has actually grabbed my interest

 

Because my Dada is the same age as you, there's less than a year in it either way I think and he never talks about anything to do with arriving in England, very little anyway, so it's interesting to read what someone his age has to say about that time.

 

My Dada came to Birmingham when he was around seven or eight, so around 1960/61, he lived in Aston, Digbeth, on Curzon Street and then in Bordesley Green.

 

From what I can gather from other sources, there weren't many black people around then although there were some, and, this is 7 or 8 years before Powell's "River of Blood Speech", also known of course, as 'The Birmingham Speech'.

 

So what was the (Not weather) climate like in Birmingham around the beginning of the 60s? 

[mjmooney]

Funnily enough, I was about to say "Ask your dad". It's funny, but so many of us never take much interest in our parents' lives - until it's too late. And then as parents we don't talk about it to our kids, because we assume they wouldn't be interested. That's very true of me, my dad and my kids. The 'Windrush generation' West Indian guys have a helluva tale to tell. Ask him.

Edited July 29, 2014 by mjmooney

[8pints]

Funnily enough, I was about to say "Ask your dad". It's funny, but so many of us never take much interest in our parents' lives - until it's too late. And then as parents we don't talk about it to our kids, because we assume they wouldn't be interested. That's very true of me, my dad and my kids. The 'Windrush generation' West Indian guys have a helluva tale to tell. Ask him.

 

Yep you're right, although I'm always asking him and he never talks about anything but VIlla, Women, Chess and Booze.

 

What you say applies to my thoughts about my Grandpa though, whish I'd got to talk to him more, he was in the Merchant Navy and was a bit eccentric/ He died when I was 11 and lived in Jamaica anyway.

[Vive_La_Villa]

My dad came about 62 when he was 12. From what I hear sounds like they worked like crazy and things were pretty tough. But everybody was very close to each other.

[dAVe80]

 

Funnily enough, I was about to say "Ask your dad". It's funny, but so many of us never take much interest in our parents' lives - until it's too late. And then as parents we don't talk about it to our kids, because we assume they wouldn't be interested. That's very true of me, my dad and my kids. The 'Windrush generation' West Indian guys have a helluva tale to tell. Ask him.

 

Yep you're right, although I'm always asking him and he never talks about anything but VIlla, Women, Chess and Booze.

 

What you say applies to my thoughts about my Grandpa though, whish I'd got to talk to him more, he was in the Merchant Navy and was a bit eccentric/ He died when I was 11 and lived in Jamaica anyway.

 

 

Did your Grandad serve during WW2? My Grandad was in the Royal and Merchant Navy. He ended up staying in longer than he had to, as there was really need for experienced sailors. He went all over the world, and had been just about everywhere in the world that has a port. I loved his war stories, although he did used to wind us up, about fighting the Japanese, and them doing Kung Fu.  

[8pints]

My dad came about 62 when he was 12. From what I hear sounds like they worked like crazy and things were pretty tough. But everybody was very close to each other.

 

What did your Dad do? Mine was a mechanic and a bus and lorry driver.

 

My Mammy came over when she was 16 in 1979 and basically cleaned most of Birmingham by the sounds of it.

 

They met in 83, married in 85, conceived Birmingham's greatest son (In Walsall) in 86, my sister was born in 92 (Took my Mammy a long time to get over pushing me out I think plus my Dada worked away a lot so they didn't see much of each other), divorced in 99 and now my Mammy's gone back to Ireland with my Step-Dad (A Pakistani Gentleman, Mammy Melting Pot ) and brother whilst my Dada flits around thinking he's a jet-setting lothario making the odd appearance beside me down at B6

 

 

 

Did your Grandad serve during WW2? My Grandad was in the Royal and Merchant Navy. He ended up staying in longer than he had to, as there was really need for experienced sailors. He went all over the world, and had been just about everywhere in the world that has a port. I loved his war stories, although he did used to wind us up, about fighting the Japanese, and them doing Kung Fu.  

 

 

Yeah he did, I wonder if they knew each other? My Grandpa's name was 'Sugar' I don't know what to make of it haha.

 

I could never understand most of what he said. He built his own house out of bits and bobs and I don't think he ever went in to a shop in his life.

 

He used to go fishing etc and would never put more clothing on than a tight pair of shorts.

 

He used to set fire to a lot of stuff as well  

 

He used to drive the most dangerous bike in the most dangerous way too. I was on the back once and we fell down this big pit/well type thing

[mjmooney]

As for the (social) climate, again you'd be better asking your dad. 

 

I was living in a white family in a white area. Never met any black kids until I went to grammar school. The one black lad in my class made a point of not making a point about it, if that makes sense. Funnily enough, I later shared a 6th form class with a lad called John Taylor, now Baron Taylor of Warwick,Tory expenses fiddler - and Villa fan. 

 

There was definitely a certain atmosphere of low-level kneejerk racism. Racist jokes and novelty songs (like Lance Percival's 'Shame and Scandal in the Family', 'Gossip Calypso' and 'Maharajah of Brum') were routine stuff on BBC radio and TV. 'No coloureds' signs were not unusual, and - as you say - Enoch Powell. 

 

I got the impression that things got better for the West Indian kids with the increasing popularity of reggae - as the white skinheads liked it. Not so good for the Asians and the longhaired white kids (like me), who the the skins most definitely didn't like. It was a slightly strange time - but then it always is. 

[8pints]

Did you ever meet a tubby Black kid called Danny with an afro bigger than his head?

 

EDIT - On the subject of skin tone as well, my Dada is so black he's blue in some lights.

Edited July 29, 2014 by 8pints