Never come back empty handed

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Never come back empty handed
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Sarah D

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 2584

Posted: Thu Dec 30, 04 4:15 pm Post subject: Never come back empty handed

Akin to nettie's tip: never come back from going out empty handed. If you go out for a walk, bring back a stick, lump of wood, coal (fallen off the back of the coal lorry

), fruit, berries, comfrey, windfall apples for free by someone's gate, whatever.
If a stick for the fire is brought home every time, you soon have a good pile for kindling or burning.
We have found things dumped by the side of the road; we needed a new wheel for our wheelbarrow, and found an old builder's one dumped in a hedge. Put it on the roof, took it home, removed the wheel and took the rest down to the metal recycling place. Some time later we found a pile of gardening tools in a hedge - shears, forks, cloche wire frames, loads of stuff. We removed the lot, took what we could used and took the rest down to the tip for recycling.
To echo nettie, make sure you have a bag of some sort with you all the time for this reason. A roof rack can be handy if you're out in the car as well........

McLay455

Joined: 23 Nov 2004
Posts: 89
Location: West of Scotland

Posted: Fri Dec 31, 04 7:13 pm Post subject:
The Scots have a saying about this "a gaun hand is always gettin'" I agree -- I always give and I always get -- it's amazing how you get stuff when you are generous.

Sarah D

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 2584

Posted: Sat Jan 01, 05 11:46 am Post subject:
My granny used to say that....... and many a mickle.........

mochyn

Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 24585
Location: mid-Wales

Posted: Wed Jan 05, 05 6:15 pm Post subject:
An excellent plan: I'm always on the lookout, and used to be an occcasional skip-raider when I lived in town. In our family we have an equivalent: 'Don't go out of the room epmpty-handed.' All you get at the end of this is mess transference.

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28237
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Wed Jan 05, 05 6:43 pm Post subject:

McLay455 wrote:

The Scots have a saying about this

"a gaun hand is always gettin'"

I agree -- I always give and I always get -- it's amazing how
you get stuff when you are generous.

You get a few disappointments. I send a PC motherboard totally free not even postage to someone once, and did not even get a thanks

but this has to classify as a big exception to the general rule

BTW By disappointments I don't mean that I expect anything in return for anything I give, that is not the idea. But thanks is easy to give.

jema

Guest

Posted: Thu Jan 06, 05 7:16 am Post subject: Takers and Givers
I automatically mentally categorise people as takers and givers as I get to know them. Most people do both -- occasionally people are only takers or givers.The people who do both are often the nicest to be with in company.

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28237
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Thu Jan 06, 05 8:43 am Post subject: Re: Takers and Givers

Anonymous wrote:

I automatically mentally categorise people as takers and givers as I get to know them.
Most people do both -- occasionally people are only takers or givers.The people who do both are often the nicest to be with
in company.

As you say most people do both, but I think classifying people on this score goes beyond give and take of material things. I know people who are quite materially generous, but very self centered emotionally.

jema

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Thu Jan 06, 05 9:29 am Post subject:

mochyn wrote:

An excellent plan: I'm always on the lookout, and used to be an occcasional skip-raider when I lived in town.

There's a lot of proeprties being done up in my area so I've managed to filch lots of stuff for the allotment. Most recent prize was a dozen polystyrene insulating boards about 2'x4' for cold frames etc. Just need the time to build the things!

People say I'm generousd as I always try to help out if I can but I always feel a bit tight with stuff and I'm terrible for saying thanks, but then sometimes I don't expect it either...and I have very tolerant friends.

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28237
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Thu Jan 06, 05 9:38 am Post subject:
Thanks amongst friends can be a little different, you know each other quirks and whether thanks is actually there said or not. I finally and absolutely fell out with one so called friend after he phoned me as his car needed jump starting, and I dropped everything and went across town to sort it. He "thanked" me, and even tried to pay me. jema

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Thu Jan 06, 05 9:55 am Post subject:
You can't really value friendship. We knew someone through the football team who was meticulous in keeping track of what he owed people and what they owed him, be it pints, cash, favours, meals, lifts etc. Although he was pleasant enough no-one considered him a friend or missed him when he left, everything seemed to be a transaction.

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28237
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Thu Jan 06, 05 10:00 am Post subject:

Behemoth wrote:

You can't really value friendship. We knew someone through the football team who was meticulous in keeping track of what he owed people and what they owed him, be it pints, cash, favours, meals, lifts etc. Although he was pleasant enough no-one considered him a friend or missed him when he left, everything seemed to be a transaction.

My point exactly. Someone who tries to pay you for a favour, may be basically saying, don't you ever ring me, when your in the lurch as I owe you nothing

My friends are people I know I could ring in an emercency and they would do their best.

jema

mochyn

Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 24585
Location: mid-Wales

Posted: Fri Jan 07, 05 8:34 am Post subject:

Although we've only been here a couple of years we have many friends here who we know would be happy to do favours and for whom we would do anything. Life just seems to work like that here.

In gardening we have a saying: The best way to keep a plant is to give it away. I think it came from Marjorie Fish, and I know it works: some years ago I gave a plant of Mrs Sinkins (a lovely pink) to a friend. More recently, my plant of the same failed, and he immediately gave me a plant from his: thus I still have the same plant, although mine died. Certainly, there's always a lot of giving and swapping in the plant world.

McLay455

Joined: 23 Nov 2004
Posts: 89
Location: West of Scotland

Posted: Mon Jan 10, 05 5:49 pm Post subject:
My point exactly If you give generously, you always get. You don't have to do book- keeping on it between friends. It works out all round. I would rather be thought of as a giver than a taker -- but have found that when you make things and hand them out -- more comes back!!!

Lloyd

Joined: 24 Jan 2005
Posts: 2699

Posted: Thu Feb 03, 05 11:52 pm Post subject:
I think this is one of the most interesting, and one of the nicest threads I have read yet. Where I have now moved to, people are also so friendly in the sense of doing anything to help you out, it really is lovely. As a Southerner I'm not used to it, but I'm changing. It's quite Kibbutz - like, th eway the community looks after it's members.

moggins

Joined: 24 Feb 2005
Posts: 942
Location: Gloucester

Posted: Thu Feb 24, 05 1:44 pm Post subject:
Coming across a thread like this makes me feel at home straight away. Thank you for this thread

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