[Closed] Things you picked up from a Gparent and still do?

My Grandma liked her tea strong so always left the teabag in her mug. Ever since she died I often do the same as it makes me think of her. Daft I know

Elevenses

My grandad used to call animals, and sometimes people, 'mush'.

No idea why, but I still find myself referring to the cat, and occasionally my son, as 'mush' - as in (to the cat) "come on, mush, let's get you some food".

When I was little it drummed into me that after getting out of a car I must walk around behind it rather than in front of it if I needed to be on the other side of the road, the logic being that it's safer should the driver set off just as I step out in front of them. I still do this to this day, even when I'm the driver.

Perhaps force of habit rather than anything else, but despite having homogenised milk for decades I still shake milk bottles before opening them. I even still did it when I had a foray into drinking skimmed for a while.

My Grandma liked her tea strong so always left the teabag in her mug. Ever since she died I often do the same as it makes me think of her. Daft I know

I picked up the same habit from my granddad - only with loose leaf tea.

(It was only when I started giving unwary visitors mouthfuls of tea leaves that I realised this wasn't regular behaviour.)

My grandfather taught me to tie my shoe laces, I'm still doing it the same way 50-odd years later

I tie them as individual loops, one knotted first then the second looped around that one.

It means they won't come undone if the second loop frees itself (but also increases my chances of tripping, as it's likely to stay loose longer before I notice it - swings, roundabouts etc)

My grandad used to call animals, and sometimes people, ‘mush’.

A few people down in Dorset in have met do this, I think it's some gypsy thing, definitely noticed it with a couple of gypsy lads I worked with years ago.

Elevenses

So very much this! Elevenses at grandmas used to be amazing. Surprising how so many I speak to are unfamiliar with this concept.

Also doing my laundry on a Monday. Grandad always did the washing on a Monday and it’s something I’ve carried on doing.

Really bad jokes.

Did you hear the story about the the three wells?
.
.
.
.
.
Well, well, well.

A few people down in Dorset in have met do this, I think it’s some gypsy thing, definitely noticed it with a couple of gypsy lads I worked with years ago.

This might be a Kentish thing as well as my Dad uses that saying.

Rampant favouritism towards one of the three kids.

My granny taught me a way of tying shoelaces that doesn't come undone (turquoise turtle) and I still use it.

Bricklaying and plastering ...

Shutting all the internal doors before leaving the house. My gran was the only person I know who did it, for multiple reasons. Firstly she had a big house with large rooms so it stopped the heat leaving a room in the winter, secondly she had experienced a series of burglaries in the 60's so had got into the habit of shutting the doors so people couldn't see into other rooms from the windows. The added bonus was she could tell immediately whether anyone had been in or not while she was out.

How to swing an axe.

One grandfather taught me to strike a match by holding the match still and moving the box as that way you don’t snap the match. The othe one gave me genes for a pot belly and baldness, as well as most of my basic tool use habits.

I have probably missed out, but by 4 I didn't have any. So habits from them ... none. Although by virtue one of my Nans was a good cook and I love cooking.

Lovely thread idea, not so much things i do but nice memories I associate with them. Nan always had a jigsaw puzzle on the go and I used to help and do as much as I could when I visited, rediscovered this enjoyment since lockdown and have 5 wasgij's that Ive completed and will now redo. Always had a prawn cocktail at christmas in a fancy glass. We used to bike ride to my nans and have breakfast and then cycle back. Grandad worked at mornflake so there was always cereal from there in the house.

Profound introversion and depression

But also a lot of love. My maternal grandparents were a huge part of my life, and both of them were deeply loving people. It is pretty clear in retrospect, though, that my grandfather had a few struggles going on in his mind that I have inherited: latent depression and a deep aversion to going out.

Otherwise, the small influences, like culinary preferences, are too many to list.

Rampant favouritism towards one of the three kids.

Are you my brother?

Are you my brother?

If I am, it's the other brother who was the favourite.

From my grandmother: If someone is complaining of a sore arm or leg or similar " aye - there will be a pigs foot on it in t'morning"

If I am, it’s the other brother who was the favourite.

Well it was my sister who was doted on indoors while my brother and I had to stay in the garden as filthy boys.
Hows it going, luv?

leaving a centimetre of tea in the bottom of the cup so as not to drink the loose leaves in the cup (I've never drunk loose tea apart from at my Nan's) still do it 35 years later.

My granny taught me a way of tying shoelaces that doesn’t come undone

Most people can't tie shoelaces correctly.

Whatever method you use to get there you're basically tying an overhand knot and then a second one over the top of the first only with loops in to make it easier to undo, what you might call a "double knot."

There's two forms of double knot. If you tie a knot and then tie the same one again this gives you - ironically - a granny knot, which is crap. This is instinctive to tie; you ever fold your arms the 'other' way? If your shoelaces keep coming undone this is probably why.

If however you reverse one of them - so tie one left-over-right and the other right-over-left - this creates a reef knot. This aligns the cords within the knot and thus creates more friction which holds the knot together much more securely.

It's also neater. Tying a knot introduces a twist, a second identical knot doubles this whereas a reversed knot cancels it. Look at your shoelaces, are the bows at a jaunty angle? Then you're Doing It Wrong.

It's easy to rectify too. You don't need to relearn your bow-tying, just tie your starter knot the opposite way round.

You're welcome.

I learned that knot thing after being linked to the worlds most singularly obsessive website from here about 10 years ago

Here

Reef knot ("square knot" here) top left, granny knot bottom right. Ignore the other two.

@Cougar, I always refer to it as a double slipped reef knot.

Anyway, my Geat Granny always used to make salmon sandwiches from tinned salmon, something i still do. My granny used to make sandwiches from those meat paste pots, that's something i don't do.

The all hid money under bricks in the cellar, in books, again something i don't do.

Spiced bun at bedtime. Tea. Lots and lots of tea.

Saw the thread title and immediately thought of shoelaces. Lots of shoelace chat did not disappoint.

My maternal grandfather was left handed and taught me to tie my shoes his way round. I taught my daughter. She never got to meet her great grandfather but inherited his left handed shoelace tying (after 3 generations of right handers carried it down)

I might teach her to slap the monkey who goes near the tap too.

One hot day my grandad told me to run my wrists under cold water to cool you down. Still do it.
He also lent me his bike when I was 8 to go to the shops...

I do;

refer to those I don't like as 'Upper Whummers'.

I don't;

A can of Special Brew and a Mars bar for the journey hone. Not great when you came by motorbike.

Long walks. Lardy cake

Lovely thread which has made me smile. 🙂

My Grandpa used to read to me and I still love being read to ... although nowadays it's usually a talking book reading to me!

My Granny used to swim in an unheated outdoor pool in all weathers, and her influence still gets me outdoors when it's not so nice out.

My grandmother taught me about saluting magpies. My dad then taught me about shooting magpies.

My dad then taught me about shooting magpies.

Headshots only I hope!

It was with a 12 gauge so accuracy didn't matter quite as much.

I’m not sure how odd this is but people have commented on it , I wear my watch on my right hand as well as being right handed . My grandad got me my first watch when I was about 6 and he put it on my right hand and ever since that’s where I have worn my watch .

Always have a Guinness at Christmas and say cheers to my Nan who loved a Guinness or 6

My Grandpa always used to do that trick of turning his empty boiled egg shell upside down in the egg cup."Want another egg?" he would ask.We fell for it far too many times.He also used to do a thing when he finished a cup of tea,of putting the teaspoon through the handle,holding it to the saucer with one hand and pretend to drop it .Cup spins round the handle(most of the time) . Oh how we laughed 🙂

A few people down in Dorset in have met do this, I think it’s some gypsy thing, definitely noticed it with a couple of gypsy lads I worked with years ago.

This might be a Kentish thing as well as my Dad uses that saying.

We say that in Ampshire an all. Mush, that is. (Missing from my poor quoting.)

My grandad always used to drive us to the beach in his Cortina mk1. As we crossed the Langstone bridge he'd say "Toids ait" - which was him taking mild piss out of our Pompey accents. Still say it when we go to the beach. If the tide is indeed, ait. 😀

I inherited a taste for single malt (specifically Glenmorangie) without ever knowing it was my granddad's favourite tipple. The taste for it bypassed my dad who hates all whisky

'Mush' was a word from my paternal grandparents side of the family and is still used in our family.

My maternal grandmother always said "five and twenty past" and "five and twenty to" instead of "twenty five past" or "twenty five to" in reference to the time and it is something that one of my sisters now does.

My gran taught me to make proper gravy for a Sunday roast and Staffordshire (or Derbyshire!) oatcakes for a cooked brekkie. IMHO they're still the best kind of pancakes, savoury FTW.

My Nan taught me how to cook. She was the housekeeper at a home for adults with learning difficulties and I spent many Sundays as a child helping to cook for around 30 people.

Fond memories of climbing out of the kitchen windows to collect mint and then drowning it in sarsons vinegar for the mint sauce.

I also inherited my love of cars from her - she was the only Nan I knew of with a Ford Capri.

My granddad taught me to ride a bike by taking off the pedals and lowering the seat so my feet could touch the ground, basically turning it into a balance bike. I thought loads of people to cycle like this before I saw balance bikes for sale. Also my granny used to cook sausages in the Aga so I have always preferred them this way.

Too many things to mention tbh, we come from a farm so inherited skills range from tractor driving to chicken necking, via axe swinging and shotgun firing.
I have inherited his “get on with it” attitude to whatever it is im doing at the time.

Making bacon butties by frying the bacon then buttering the bread and dipping said bread into the bacon fat, butter side down, before assembling the actual butty.

Making bacon butties by frying the bacon then buttering the bread and dipping said bread into the bacon fat, butter side down, before assembling the actual butty.

Genius!

My grandad taught me to ride a bike.

I still do that. 😁

I inherited anxiety. Thanks Grandad.

Love of the outdoors from my grandad. Long since passed and I wish I’d remember s’more clearly having been quite young when he died but he used to get us all up and out onto the Ridgeway or Icknield way in the summer holidays and away from Transformers on the TV. I will confess that I wasn’t always a willing participant but would dearly love to switch the TV off and go walk with him.

I wish I had his ingenuity.

Talking to the tele.

Getting stuck in the snow.

A love of nature,especially birds, and the ability to nap. After his dinner (now known as lunch) my grandfather always had his pipe then a nap before returning to work. As a kid I naturally copied him-the nap not the pipe-when I stayed with him. I am still a good napper now at 64, can drop off any old time. On second thoughts there may be another reason for that!!

Isopon! My grandad's Cortina was at least 25% isopon and it's a smell I'll always associate with him for that reason. When I needed to learn how to lay fibreglass for a motorbike project, I unexpectedly discovered I already knew how, because he'd taught me when I was about 8 and it'd stuck even though I didn't really remember doing it.

So if I need filler, it's isopon. Irony; my other grandad was a ship's engineer, but I didn't inherit any practical skills from him. But this grandad was a master baker- yes, very droll- and so essentially I learned how to ice a car from him.

Other than that, I am an unreliable storyteller which I also got from him.

Going for long walks (poppa lived in the Lake District, so his long walks were much better, but I still do it).

Opening stuck jar lids by pouring boiling water over the lid.

Saying 'smashing'.

My grandparents taught me to go oooff whenever I bend down to tie my laces. Terry Wogan taught me to see if there was anything else needed doing while I was down there.

Looks (balding) & stature (shortest in the family) felt very strange as a young adult to see a photo of him uniform just after WW1, felt like looking into some time warp mirror - my aging aunt has even started calling me "pop" which is very eery

Peeling an apple in one go with a knife and having a one long stringy apple skin.

Opening a bag of crisps "pub style", so not just he top, opening them out to allow everyone to dive in.
Does feel right eating crisps any other way.

A love of cars and the need to have a double garage.

Here's my Grandad with a couple of Jags he converted from old Mark IXs:

I loved those cars.

Nothing I can think of, though if I ate tinned marrowfat peas I would put vinegar on them like my grandma used to.

Oh hang on there is one thing. When thinking I sometimes wiggle my thumbs the way my other grandma did.

So very much this! Elevenses at grandmas used to be amazing. Surprising how so many I speak to are unfamiliar with this concept.

At this time of year, elevenses always featured hot diluting orange, as my sister's and I would have been outside building dens in my grans garden all morning. I bloody loved it as a kid, but strangely never even think about having it now.

I'm going to have a mug tomorrow. 😁

My gran taught me to bake. So even though for most measurements I work in metric it's alway oz's when baking. Does my wife's head in but when you look it's much easier to remember. 3 eggs, and 6oz each of flour, butter and sugar for a nice sponge. Similar for pizza dough, 6oz of flour per base, 1 teaspoon of salt and yeast each, 1/2 teaspoon sugar.

My Grandpa taught me to play draughts and chess, checky old bugger though kept drip feeding me the rules so he could win! My Nan didn't teach me anything per-se other than complete and utter unrequited love for us grandkids. Only now do I realise just how much she adored us, 20+ years after she died.

My other grandad died before I was born but apparently I've somehow got lots of his personality traits, like to wind people up, hate waste, enjoy fixing things.

This has been a lovely thread to read.

Never knew my paternal grandparents due to a family rift before I was born, only met one of my 8 aunts and uncles in that side.

Maternal grandparents lived in our village for the last 15-20 years of their lives, so looked after me after school or when parents went in holiday. Not totally sure what I picked up from them apart from a lot of love and patience, my grandpa's love of bonfires and my nana's depression and anxiety. Possibly my tendency to get involved in local community stuff, fundraising and supporting good causes, they were both really active in the Methodist chapel, but I don't recall them ever being Bible bashing Christians, just caring and doing good.

My kids have possibly inherited nana's musical ability - she was a chapel organist and her mum was a violin teacher.

But many many happy memories. I like to think they'd be happy how I've turned out.

What a great thread. I'm not sure if there's any correlation, but being a country boy I spent a lot of time with my farming (maternal) grandparents, and seem to have picked up a LOT from them, more than any of my not so rural friends seem to have from theirs anyway.

Inescapably, I have inherited physical characteristics which happen to be similar on both sides - receding hairline (known as the'M' head), and big ears - you can tell the men of the family in a room quite easily...

I was closest to my mum's dad, and am just about to move into his old house, for how long I'm not sure, but there's a chance I'll buy it. He lived to 100. He was notoriously tight, typical farmer, and last weekend while there a friend called by - the kitchen light was on as it was overcast, then it brightened up so I turned it off and my mate immediately called my my grandad's name and laughed.

There are innumerable things I do and enjoy that my parents didn't or don't, which my grandparents did. I have lots of both of my grandad's old hand tools which I still use, and shooting clothes I wear that were my gamekeeping great uncle's.

But mostly for me it's just being outdoors, a love of nature and farming, and wanting to get back to basics/back to the land I think. I inherited two grey fergies and loads of random old crap frankly from my mum's dad, but will keep most of it. I struggle to eat an egg from a box, even the best 'free range' without saying it's not a proper egg, and really want some hens once I move in to the house.

Impossible, obviously, but I kind of wish I'd been born 70 years sooner and been mates with my grandad, top top bloke.

A line of his in slightly poor taste to finish... He lived alone for a long time, and had lots of village ladies bake him cakes and check on him and the like. If he bumped into someone he hadn't seen in a while he'd always end with the line "pop by when you've got nothing on" with a wink. 😂

Art.

My grandad did lots of painting and drawing. Out of all their kids, grandkids amd great grandkids I am the only one who does any form of art.

My maternal grandpa was a lepidopterist and taught me all about butterflies, moths and all other wildlife. Also he was keen on taking us into the hills, mountains and countryside around his North Wales home. His love of nature was infectious and I love birds, wildlife and the flora around us because of him. He also had a large vegetable plot with fruit bushes and trees in the garden.

My Maternal Granny taught me manners (especially table manners), how to bake and cook and we always had a pudding, even after lunch.
Because of them I cook all meals from scratch. Try and grow some fruit and veg and live a life where we look after the environment. I miss them even now.

hot diluting orange

We called "dilute to taste" drinks cordial. I have no clue why.

I'd forgotten all about hot orange cordial. I really liked it as a kid. We drank it from Pyrex beakers inserted into a plastic holder.

Something like this:

[img] [/img]

My Nan and Grandad left me with a love for the Lake District. I went up there year after year with them, tackling all of the larger peaks with my Grandad over the years. My Grandad also left me with an enduring respect for how quickly the weather can change up there and to be prepared for it.

I always try to get to Buttermere where their ashes are, if I’m up there (not often enough).