Comhrá - the general chat thread

[JaneJeffer]

Hi Craicnetters!

I was looking for the other thread and see it's fallen way down the list so I decided to make a new one for all our daily musings ☘️

Aww @UtopiaPlanitia I just sang that whole thing in my head word for word without once clicking on the link! Memories!!

I was a member of the Tufty Club too polishes halo

@eggandonion That sounds fascinating - I can imagine how tough it would be having to sit through lessons with it being so dark in the morning. I wonder will we ever stop changing the clocks back and forward each year - only a third of countries in the world observe daylight savings time and some have voted to stop doing it as recently as in the last decade.

@LifeInAHamsterWheel I can well imagine you knowing it off by heart - it’s been lodged in my brain since I was a weeun 😊 Now that you remind me, I do remember the Tufty club because I was fascinated by the posters of the giant squirrel and there was also a road safety campaign that involved a boy called Ginger but that one I don’t remember very well.

I remember preferring RTÉ’s road safety campaign to the Green Cross Code on UTV/ITV because the English just had a man in a strange outfit whereas we had a really catchy song 😊

I remember the safety song all too well, but at the moment I'm mostly going round croaking the 'any fewel can harrum' one about Carbon monoxide. Come December I'll be reciting the Barry's tea ad before dissolving into nostalgic sobs.

So many dangers in winter, I worry about Jedward and my gas boiler.

Oh I LOVE that Jedward ad about using registered gas people! It's genius!
I love the detail that in the Sistine Chapel creation scene over their dining table, both God and Adam have Jedward hairstyles😂

The Daniel O'Donnell one was funny too, but Jedward are just inherently amusing - whether intentionally or not..

I like that Irish public service ads so often use humour - there was a hilarious series of ad about TV licences, whereas at the same time the UK ads were about scary detection vans tracking you down inexorably...

And the current TV ads encouraging voting registration are also funny.

I was telling dh about the darkness in school. He can't remember those winters.He went to a city school about 5miles from a farm, alone on the bus.
By the time it was daylight about 5 people in my class would have been slapped. There were always at least 40 kids in my class , one teacher and no sna type help. It was tough in primary school, I didn't get slapped because my parents were middle class.

Did my turnip ! Looks meagre compared to my neighbours pumpkins

Fantastic @Carriemac
Happy Halloween everyone! 🎃

Nice one Carriemac!
How many fingers have you left? I haven't carved a turnip in decades but I remember it being dangerous to life and limb
My one concession to the current plastic americanised version of Halloween is the pumpkin, which is easier to carve and more likely to leave you with a full set of fingers and thumbs
Oíche Shamnha Shona Daoibh Go Léir!

Fantastic turnip @Carriemac I haven’t carved a turnip since I was a kid. I remember it being extremely hard work!

Speaking of things I haven’t done since I was a kid, I realised the other day that I’ve forgotten how to make St Brigid’s crosses. When I was wee, my Granny and I used to go to the bog and gather the rushes every year and make crosses but I’ve forgotten the technique.

I love root vegetables. Nice turnip.

I also forgot how to make a 'Brídeóg' but hey, that's what the internet was invented for so I found a YouTube tutorial.
Ah, but what about the rushes, you might ask? Well I found an old packet of plastic drinking straws at the back of a press and now have some very multicoloured Brídeógs!

Flattened paper straws are ideal too.

Happy Halloween everyone. No callers here so far. They're probably all gone to town.

Happy Hallowe'en everyone! Have you had many callers? I've had about 30 so far. There's an event on in my town atm so I don't know if the kids went out early (in which case I missed them) or if they'll head out later. I love the little kids the best. They're too nervous to say anything at first and then when they get their little bag of goodies, they muster up a "Trick or Treat". And one little guy ran down my hall and into my sitting room. I'm not sure if he wanted to see my cats (one of them is sitting in the window) or if he was attracted by my flickering Hallowe'en decoration. His Mam had to go after him and retrieve him. One little girl was in tears. Her big sister explained that she was upset because she wanted to ring the doorbell but someone got there before her.

Thinking of my Mam this evening . She loved colcannon, so we always had it for dinner and she'd wrap up some coins in tin foil and mix them in with the mashed potatoes. There was consternation one evening when one of the coins failed to materialise and we reckoned it was given to the dog with the leftovers.

@Carriemac that's dedication to the cause! I winced when I saw it.

I would love some colcannon. My husband doesn't like potatoes that aren't chips, turnips or parsnips or cabbage. I do.

I was getting worried my fun size selection was going to completely vanish, but it's gone quiet now.

@MarieDeGournay That’s very clever of you to make use of what you have in the house. It never occurred to me to look on YouTube for how to make Brigid’s Crosses 👍 Your ones sound lovely and colourful.

@Taytocrisps My Nanna used to make quite the feast for Halloween: barm brack, apple tart, apple sponge, stew, soup and a big pot of boiled spuds. She’d put coins in the tart or the brack. And we’d have apple-based games or have fun cracking monkey nuts in the door hinges. There’d be a wee bonfire in the field next door as well. Everyone would put on their false-face and coat to go outside and watch the fire. My childhood sounds so old fashioned compared to today 😊

Your childhood sounds absolutely lovely @UtopiaPlanitia as does your memory of your mam@Taytocrisps ❤️

Fair play on the turnip carving!! I don't know how anyone manages it, I can barely cut it up to cook it without injuring myself!! My next door neighbour had 5 turnips lined up outside but he's a builder so I reckon he used an electric drill or something 😆

Wow @LifeInAHamsterWheel I have a vivid image of someone taking an electric hand saw to a row of turnips now - it’s class 😂

To be honest, I’m like you and find turnips hard going so maybe I should try using my electric carving knife, it only comes out at Xmas so maybe a wee airing in October would be a nice treat for it 😁

I used ( for the dirst time ever) my oyster shucker which is sharp and has a guard on the tomato prevent injuries. Let me add it was far from oysters I was raised ...

I like the look of that, I love oysters and was reared on them, my Dad was as oyster dealer.

Thank you! It was also a way to use up nasty plastic straws
The thing I couldn't remember about making a Brigid's Cross was which way you turn it - you keep turning to the left, add a rush, turn to the left, add a rush.. I think it's turn to the left, maybe I need a refresher course!

Your childhood Halloweens sound wonderful, and that's what makes me so upset about the awfulness that has replaced it.

It looks like you had similar fun and games at Halloween Taytocrisps. Thinking of your Mam

It was lovely to read both your Halloween stories thanks

I had lots of little callers, many with hovering parents who this year were also dressed up. Like you, Taytocrisps, I love sharing their fun [even if most of them are dressed as something horribly ghoulish!].
The most memorable was a group of about seven yes SEVEN little skeletons, all aged about 4 or 5, all seriously over-excited, who all squeeeealed TRICK OR TREAT at the top of their little voices when I opened the door. Scary! None of them ran in , like your little visitor did, Tayto, but they would have made an irresistible invasion force if they'd all decided to made a dash for the bowl of sweeties by the door!

Everybody got a lovely polished apple as well as sweets, I'm determined to keep some link to the old Halloween And they were all really pleased to get them, surprisingly, I thought I might get a🙄or two.

Sending good wishes to all for the quiet reflective time that follows Samhain.

Anyone know what the name of this pastry is? I haven't had one of these beauties in over 30 years but I'm in the UK and spotted one and it tasted as good as I remembered 😋

The photo isn't loading but it's a pastry with jam in the middle topped with white icing and coconut strands

It was a London cheesecake.

Sounds delicious @honeyrider

It was, I used to get them in the work canteen when I worked there in Whitehall over 30 years ago. I haven't seen them since then and when I went into a cafe to just get a coffee with DH I spotted them. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.