The things you find out....

[Cozzer]

"Whatcha doin?"
My son had just turned up, and asked the question. There was an odd smirk on his face, as if he considered that his old man had gone a bit weird...
"What's it look like I'm doing?! I'm polishing my shoes..."
Turned out that he'd never polished any footware. In his entire life, he'd never even considered it.
Yes, he has some leather shoes. "I don't wear trainers all the time!"
"How do you clean them, then?"
"With a duster, if I have to!"
"And polish?"
Transpired he'd never even seen a tin before....
In the ensuing conversation, I also found out that he'd never actually read a book since leaving school. The odd snippet from a computer manual, but a book, fact or fiction, from start to finish?
No.
It's no wonder he can't spell...



By the way, he's 40 today.
No longer a surly teenager, but definitely a different generation....

 

[Cabinetman]

Unbelievable and incredible, but that’s how it is now I suppose. Really enjoy a good book, so engrossing.
Black shoe polish is great on ebonised wood btw.

 

[Sideways]

One of my nephews sent me a birthday card the other week.
Good kid, recently graduated university with a 2.1
His handwriting looked like a 6 year old had written the card !

My dad used to have the most beautiful handwriting. Mines unreadable to anyone but me, dint of taking copious handwritten notes for decades. Times change.

 

[Fitzroy]

Polishing shoes is something I have just taught my 12yr old, he's at big school and has shoes that need polishing. He liked lighting the polish on fire but the rest of it was really hard work......

At 49 chores that I strangely enjoy:
- Polishing nice shoes
- Mowing the lawn with a well sharpened push mower
- Ironing a shirt
- Cleaning windows

Which now I think about all have a visually satisfying aspect at the end of them.

 

[NickDReed]

Polishing shoes is something I have just taught my 12yr old, he's at big school and has shoes that need polishing. He liked lighting the polish on fire but the rest of it was really hard work......

At 49 chores that I strangely enjoy:
- Polishing nice shoes
- Mowing the lawn with a well sharpened push mower
- Ironing a shirt
- Cleaning windows

Which now I think about all have a visually satisfying aspect at the end of them.

If you are ever short of satisfaction........ I have shirts and windows, please feel free to ask.

 

[ajs]

Polishing shoes is something I have just taught my 12yr old, he's at big school and has shoes that need polishing. He liked lighting the polish on fire but the rest of it was really hard work......

At 49 chores that I strangely enjoy:
- Polishing nice shoes
- Mowing the lawn with a well sharpened push mower
- Ironing a shirt
- Cleaning windows

Which now I think about all have a visually satisfying aspect at the end of them.

I suppose that's true here, the one that came to mind for me was polishing brass.

As for polishing shoes I don't actually hate it but just don't get around to it. Eventually I figured it out - when the shoes are brand new polish them every day for the first few days followed by every other day for the next couple of weeks. Use polish you have lit and is still runny so that it can really penetrate into the leather. It seems the vast majority of the issues that develop have their origins in the first few weeks as you break them in and crease the leather in use. If you get a good coating of polish into the surface cracks as they are still tiny they hardly need polishing after the breaking in period.

 

[NickDReed]

Unbelievable and incredible, but that’s how it is now I suppose.

I forget where I heard it, but someone had a 3.5 inch floppy disc on their desk and their child walked up, saw it and said

"ah cool!! You've 3D printed the save icon!"...........

My child thinks it's crazy that there was a time when you only knew what your friends were up to once you had walked to their house on the off chance they were "allowed to come out and play".

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Polishing shoes? Huh! One of the bonuses of not having feet.

 

[gwaithcoed]

My 23 year old grandson emailed me and asked if I could email him how to write the address on a letter he had to send.

 

[pe2dave]

Comment on the radio; seems few university students read a book end to end? Just the extracts, summaries etc.

 

[Cozzer]

One of my nephews sent me a birthday card the other week.
Good kid, recently graduated university with a 2.1 ....

Is that grade the "norm" these days? Seems that everyone I know who "boasts" a degree claims a "2.1"....
A chum of mine has twin daughters who achieved the same standard, but frankly their overall general knowledge is appalling. (Even their father says that they're both "thick as Boxing Day richards"! )

 

[pe2dave]

In reading through graduate CV's I found it interesting the number with very poor English skills.

 

[stuart little]

Unbelievable and incredible, but that’s how it is now I suppose. Really enjoy a good book, so engrossing.
Black shoe polish is great on ebonised wood btw.

Cherry Blossom, I presume!

 

[trvlr]

It doesn't hurt to apply Dubbin to shoes (boots especially if for use in winter or wet environment); but first polish them. Makes them (the leather uppers) more water repellant, softer and longer lasting (less inclined to crack and/ordry out.

In olden daze when footie boots were made from leather - and had really nasty leather studs held together with sharp nails (which also were used to attach them to the sole) - Dubbin was the treatment...

 

[woodieallen]

My 23 year old grandson emailed me and asked if I could email him how to write the address on a letter he had to send.

That is so profoundly depressing. I hope neither of you are joking.

 

[Thingybob]

It doesn't hurt to apply Dubbin to shoes (boots especially if for use in winter or wet environment); but first polish them. Makes them (the leather uppers) more water repellant, softer and longer lasting (less inclined to crack and/ordry out.

In olden daze when footie boots were made from leather - and had really nasty leather studs held together with sharp nails (which also were used to attach them to the sole) - Dubbin was the treatment...

Always Dubbined my walking boots never had wet feet only when a misshap with a stream

 

[duke]

It doesn't hurt to apply Dubbin to shoes (boots especially if for use in winter or wet environment); but first polish them. Makes them (the leather uppers) more water repellant, softer and longer lasting (less inclined to crack and/ordry out.

In olden daze when footie boots were made from leather - and had really nasty leather studs held together with sharp nails (which also were used to attach them to the sole) - Dubbin was the treatment...

Still use it today.

 

[Lard]

In reading through graduate CV's I found it interesting the number with very poor English skills.

I moved into lecturing after years in industry and had to mark, amongst other things, undergrad and postgrad dissertations. The English and grammar was, on the whole, appalling but we were only allowed to allocate a max of 10% to their combined elements as any more would take away from the main 'subject' of the text.

Used to drive me nuts!

PS: I'm talking about uk students......foreign students were poor also but you expected that anyway.

 

[Fergie 307]

When my wife was heavily pregnant with our daughter my son, then 5, told her, "Daddy's getting you a present for when the baby comes". Oh, what is it? "Not allowed to tell you, it's a secret". Ok, what's it start with? "A Wuh".
She never did work it out, and was delighted with the rocking chair.

 

[Bob Chapman]

In olden daze

That seems to be my permanent state of mind now…