Are we older, wiser and nicer than Mumsnet?

Older and wiser maybe, but on present performance I think we fall a long way short of what we could be.

Hear hear, G'mum.

I agree with johanna and gracesmum. The Margaret Thatcher threads have shown a thoroughly shameful degree of spite and unpleasantness by some members, and trying to justify it by proclaiming their right to express an opinion does nothing.

I think on the whole GN is comprised of a lot of supportive, helpful people. However, as in any mixed group, there will be disagreements and in some cases heated debate. I am saddened when things are reduced to name calling as I think GN's are better than that. If I have a face to face heated discussion with someone I would not resort to name calling, so why do it on a forum.

I think some older people think they are wiser as they have more experience of life.
My father and myself were / are a bit more open minded.
My father's ex just said lap tops and mobile phones were a load of rubbish.
Dad had a more open mind and would take a look.
He took a long time to learn but he did see the advantage of things like the internet.
What I did find mysterious was her grandson collapsed in the park on one of the days and she did not object to me making a 999 call on my mobile phone.
Dad then followed me and got a pre pay mobile phone and used it to call an ambulance to a young person a few weeks later.
His ex never got a mobile phone at the time she was with Dad.

Frank

To reply to the OP - yes, I am certainly older and wiser than most members of Mumsnet, but from the few times I have looked at the site most of the members seem very nice. I may join.

My son's in law are senior hospital dentists and my daughters are nurses.
They seem to have little financial sense.
I don't think my son's in law would be capable of running their own practice.

Frank

I looked at mumset a day ago and they were helping someone having a miscarriage.They were so supportive and helpful.They also had a post on saluting magpies which I found very fun since I had never heard of such and we don't even have magpies here.

hello envious A magpie is a black and white crow who eats other birds eggs.When you see them in a group you have to say a poem. There are lots of versions.

One for sorrow
Two for joy
Three for a girl
Four For a boy
Five for silver
Six for gold
Seven for a secret never to be told
Eight for a wish
Nine for a kiss
Ten for joyful bliss.

"Good morning and good day to you Sir Magpie. How is your lady wife?"

That is fun.I looked up what a magpie looks like and the ones you have,are they black and white?

oh sorry,you did say they were.I read too fast.

Do you have poison ivy and poison oak plants? I know you have beautiful heather and wildflowers we dont have and cute hedgehogs. Do you have opossums and skunks or groundhogs?

No opossums, no groundhogs, no skunks. Foxes, weasels, stoats, badgers. Squirrels, American grey and British red. No big wild animals apart from deer. No poison ivy or poison oak. The British countryside is amazingly safe! Only one quite rare poisonous snake, the adder or viper. They are trying to reintroduce beavers and we now have a few wild boar.

I'll have to look up stoats.I heard you had nettles and looked them up and found out there are stinging nettles in the US. We have copperhead and rattlesnakes!

Oh we forgot last but not least rabbits!

Stoats and weasels are very similar but different sizes.

My dear father used to ask us "How can you tell a weasel from a stoat?" His answer "A weasel is weasily distinguished, but a stoat is stoatally different"

Yes I looked at a picture stoats being smaller.I also forgot little chipmunks. I have several in my yard and they sit on my stone wall and chirp like a bird.Sorry to say ive had a few moles over the years.

I always have to wave to magpies; I think you can also spit when you see one but waving is much more socially acceptable . My daughter and I were also had to say White Rabbits on the first day of the month; I used to rush into her room shouting 'White Rabbits' and she would sit up in bed and shout back. I think we eased up on that one when we forgot to do it one month and nothing bad happened.

If we see a lone magpie , always say hello Mr Magpie , how is your wife ?

Chipmunks look cute in Disney films. We have grey squirrels as said before. They were imported from US, not sure why. They have driven the cute red squirrels out and now they can only be found in the North...Lake District and Scotland.
Bit like our rabbits who have created havoc in Australia.

PS do you live near Chattanooga envious we went there years ago?

It's about two hours away. did you ride the old incline ?

Yes we did.

I remember they wouldn't take our Barclay card or our Jamaican dollars in the bank and we had no money!!I think we used a cheque or something in the end.

We walked in the hills and met some confederate soldiers camping in the woods who told us all about their experience of the war.. v, interesting. They were very 'in role' I remember.

There are brown bears in The Pyrenees, and we have marmots and chamois and ibex and wild boar. There are wolves in some European countries too.