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:
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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).
