Downton Abbey electrical curling tongs.

Jings, a whiff of the playground about this!

Here’s an idea, why not comment on the topic (electric tongs in Downton Abbey, for example) without feeling the need to comment on the characteristics of the poster?

Who knows, it might catch on.

Ooo aren’t you the observant ones! 😳

I do indeed have a good grasp of history and I am sufficiently aware to know that Downton Abbey was filmed in various large houses including Highclere Castle. No, I haven’t read the books, nor have I ever watched the programme.

I don’t have to go to the Sahara to know it’s a desert.

Farmor15

GSM - how do you know how Julian Fellowes portrays life in a "big house"? At 18-50 yesterday you said you had never watched Downton Abbey.

Maybe GSM has read some of his books? Maybe, like most of us, she has a good grasp of history!

NotSpaghetti

MatildaMay I have disagreed with GSM about things many a time. I suppose we tend to "agree to differ".

Neither of us have, to my mind, ever exchanged anything close to an insult.

I confess that being "old fashioned" wouldn't matter to me anyway though - as in lots of ways I am.
I like bar soap, my old cashmere sweaters, cooking from scratch, big knickers , reupholstering my sofa rather than replacing ... I could go on.

I do like waitress service in restaurants and cafés by the way.

I too have “crossed swords” with GSM, neither of us came away wounded, or insulted or offended.

Honestly MatildaMay just let it go now, if GSM had meant to insult you I’m sure you’d know about it and I’m sure she’d apologise.

I rather think your longing to be a “lady” in the olden days is a nice daydream, the reality of olden times is a little less glamorous.

Just enjoy the life you have, enjoy your dressing up and going out and don’t take the comments from people you barely know quite so seriously.

How ignorant do you think I am?

GSM - how do you know how Julian Fellowes portrays life in a "big house"? At 18-50 yesterday you said you had never watched Downton Abbey.

NotSpaghetti

MatildaMay I have disagreed with GSM about things many a time. I suppose we tend to "agree to differ".

Neither of us have, to my mind, ever exchanged anything close to an insult.

I confess that being "old fashioned" wouldn't matter to me anyway though - as in lots of ways I am.
I like bar soap, my old cashmere sweaters, cooking from scratch, big knickers , reupholstering my sofa rather than replacing ... I could go on.

I do like waitress service in restaurants and cafés by the way.

Thanks NotSpaghetti, a poster I have always respected and I don’t think we have ever seriously crossed swords. I have my old fashioned ways too, and I expect many of us do - and if someone said any of those things sounded a little old fashioned to them we would say, as I did, each to their own. We are all different.

eazybee

Matilda May claims to be interested in social history but she would do better to pursue her interest via books and diaries written at the time, and read recollections of people who were then in service.
Julian Fellowes paints a very rosy (and one-sided) picture of relationships between servants and family. I had several great aunts and uncles who were in service; they were not alive when Downton Abbey appeared, but were fairly scathing about the representation of staff /family relationships in Upstairs Downstairs.

Indeed, eazybee. My great grandmother and her siblings were all ‘in service’, but not in grand houses. They were, basically, skivvies. Those who married swapped skivvying for an employer for working themselves to death for a husband and children. There was nothing romantic about being a servant. Nothing like the picture painted by Julian Fellowes for people to enjoy from the comfort of their armchairs.

MatildaMay I have disagreed with GSM about things many a time. I suppose we tend to "agree to differ".

Neither of us have, to my mind, ever exchanged anything close to an insult.

I confess that being "old fashioned" wouldn't matter to me anyway though - as in lots of ways I am.
I like bar soap, my old cashmere sweaters, cooking from scratch, big knickers , reupholstering my sofa rather than replacing ... I could go on.

I do like waitress service in restaurants and cafés by the way.

Matilda May claims to be interested in social history but she would do better to pursue her interest via books and diaries written at the time, and read recollections of people who were then in service.
Julian Fellowes paints a very rosy (and one-sided) picture of relationships between servants and family. I had several great aunts and uncles who were in service; they were not alive when Downton Abbey appeared, but were fairly scathing about the representation of staff /family relationships in Upstairs Downstairs.

I’m really amazed at how this thread has degenerated to unpleasantness. Such a shame.

And also happy to assume that a very general post about posters who couldn't let go of a grouch must apply to GSM , (one half of this altercation) but not to see that it referred more aptly to you yourself.

I have reported your posts Matilda. You are determined to be insulted by whatever I say or don’t say.

What a terrible forum to be on. This is my last post, it is true what others have said, there are some people on here that rule the roost and I think some people are afraid of saying anything that upsets them.

GSM you are a very critical person and have no idea how to answer comments in a decent way. I hope you will be very happy upsetting people on the forums.

I think that I'm old fashioned .
I recall a guy looking absolutely mortified when he overheard a conversation that I was having with a friend .
She was talking about ruining a dress and I was wondering if I could disguise the hole with some embroidery .
I said that I've always loved it and it's true I find it relaxing and creative .
Many is the time I've managed to repair a garment with a few tricks .
As for curling tongs -mine are gathering dust .

Each to their own !

NotSpaghetti

GSM said she was referring to something other than curling tongs.

Please, could we let this drop now?
Just asking politely.

She should have made that clear and by calling me old fashioned she was being insensitive and critical of another person way of life. It is her way or the highway by the looks of it.

Do not disagree with GSM for god's sake or you will never be forgiven.

Germanshepherdsmum

*Matilda*, no matter how many times I repeat what I said, you are determined to believe I said something else. You are the one who insists she’s right, which as you said is not a nice trait, not I. You have made this thread very unpleasant with your determination to twist my words. Please just give it a rest.

You are the most judgemental person I have come across on this forum. I don't think you know how to reply to comments without entering a nasty comment. If you do not like a person's comments, you do not have to be nasty, just put it in a more pleasant way, but I don't think you know how to do that.

LucyAnna2

Germanshepherdsmum

I don’t think Matilda does smart casual.

This comment would seem to (a) be very judgemental about another poster and (b) inappropriately presumptuous that ‘smart casual’ is a style to be aspired to.
How one thinks one looks is not always how others see us….

LucyAnna2

I totally agree, there was no reason whatsoever for GSM to even mention me being old fashioned whether it was for using curling tongs or being waited on in cafes and restaurants. All I stated on my post was that I saw Downton Abbey staff using electric curling tongs and that lead to other things where I stated I always dress up when going out and having waiter/waitress service. For that I was called 'Old fashioned' and that was not called for whatsoever.

That is the way I prefer to live my life and I am really annoyed about being called old fashioned for being myself.

I also find GSM to be very judemental.

Not a nice trait.

Matilda, no matter how many times I repeat what I said, you are determined to believe I said something else. You are the one who insists she’s right, which as you said is not a nice trait, not I. You have made this thread very unpleasant with your determination to twist my words. Please just give it a rest.

Germanshepherdsmum

I don’t think Matilda does smart casual.

This comment would seem to (a) be very judgemental about another poster and (b) inappropriately presumptuous that ‘smart casual’ is a style to be aspired to.
How one thinks one looks is not always how others see us….

I think quite often when reading threads on Gransnet that some people seem only to be happy when they are having a good old ding-dong with another poster, and having once got their spring wound up they keep on bashing out the same thing over and over again ad nauseam. Most do settle down after they have posted for a while, and learnt not to take offence so quickly. It is more effective to choose worthwhile battles, and save your firepower for targets that deserve it..

Obviously if you were wealthy and had electricity you could have used electric curling tongs in 1919.

GSM said she was referring to something other than curling tongs.

Please, could we let this drop now?
Just asking politely.

This website is getting nastier and nastier as time goes on, there are some people on here who think they own the website and it is about time that they realise it is for every one not just them and if they don't like something or do not agree with someone, then please do not be nasty and critical. if you cannot be nice then keep your fingers off the keyboard.

I started this thread about electric curling tongs being used in 1919 and loved dressing up and having waitress service, but all I received from GSM was that I appeared to be old fashioned. If someone else on the forums had written they lo ved dining out and dressing up, there is no way on this earth I would have called them old fashioned, I would have said golod for them it sounds lovely. I am not a nasty person like some people.