Tomorrow. You know, Thursday 19th November. That’s right! It’s International Men’s Day! We are overwhelmingly men on here so I’m sure the date has been flagged in our calendars for months.
I admit I have really known what this day is for, other than a quick rejoinder to those whose response to International Women’s Day is to ask, ‘When is International Men’s Day then, tell me that, eh?’ ‘It’s on Thursday mate.’ ‘Oh.’
According to the website of the UK organisation the three core themes for International Men’s Day in the UK are:
• Making a positive difference to the wellbeing and lives of men and boys
• Raising awareness and/or funds for charities supporting men and boys’ wellbeing
• Promoting a positive conversation about men, manhood and masculinity
The website goes on to list areas of concern around male wellbeing, both tangible such as health and suicide, and more nebulous, such as expectations of men as fathers.
So what do we think here? Does the modern world place strains on the twenty first century man which need to be discussed and addressed? How about assumption of the place of men in families? I don’t have any kids (though my other half has an adult daughter, sadly at the other end of England since the middle of last year due to Covid) so I don’t know how other people react to men with young children, or how men are expected to negotiate their way through the new shape of a family which has fallen apart. I have never been close to my own father, though know from multiple posts here that many Afterworders are/were, so how has that relationship shaped who you view your position as a man and a father?
I have never felt overburdened by any demands from others or myself imposed by my masculinity, nor have I ever consciously thought about ‘being a man’ when making decisions or analysing problems. I recognise some negative male tropes in myself, such as a tendency to neglect my wellbeing and particularly mental wellbeing in the expectation that it will sort itself out without help. On the other hand, I’ve never had much time for traditionally male pursuits such as cars and sports, and have always disliked all-male gatherings.
As I say, it’s not something I have ever analysed in myself. And who knows if it might have been better for me and those around me if I had?
Rigid Digit says
I’m going to the Pub … oh
attackdog says
I’ll see you there. We can discuss our gender fluidity. I’m a bloke. And I like bitter.
Lemonhope says
Does the modern world place strains on the twenty first century man which need to be discussed and addressed?
I think that being alive, at any time in history puts strains on humans that should be discussed and addressed. The more discussing and addressing the better IMO.
It’s good to talk.
fentonsteve says
“It’s good to talk.” Nail, head, etc.
Other things I routinely tell my 15-y-o, which wouldn’t have happened 35 year ago when I was his age: being happy is more important than being cool; if you don’t feel right, go to the doctor’s – it’s what they are there for; check your nuts; etc, etc.
In many ways, the world is a better place – he already knows that many of the words his grandmother uses to describe her neighbours are not acceptable. We (and he) have friends who are foreign, differently-coloured skin, gay, and nobody thinks twice about it.
You can be a modern man and still have a sense of humour – I still laugh at farts.
Arthur Cowslip says
I’ve always had a problem living up to the male stereotype and I’m not a man’s man. I hate football and especially football talk. I’ve never liked beer. I don’t like cars and I would have to think to even tell you the model of car I have. I hate stag nights. And I hate the kind of leery conversations about women that can arise in all-male company.
But luckily I think society has shifted a bit in the last 20 years or so, and quiet, geeky, sensitive types like me a lot more accepted. Plus I am lucky enough to have a small circle of close male friends I have known for years and who are definitely not the leery type. We like talking about music, films, politics and food, and long may that continue.
fitterstoke says
This…squared…
Gary says
Describes me to a tee too.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Move over the Three Amigos – welcome the Three Losers!!
Gary says
That hurt.
Lemonhope says
Watch out – the Alpha has arrived
Moose the Mooche says
That’ll be me then.
EEEK! A Spider!!
fitterstoke says
Gatz says
I love beer, but to make up for it I don’t even drive. I think that’s us back on level terms regarding traditional blokes tropes. I quite agree about it being more accepted now to deviate from the standard type. Young people these days seem to be very relaxed about gender, sometimes in ways which baffle but don’t involve me, and it could be interesting to see how perceptions gender roles develop when they are no necessarily tied to chromosomes.
fitterstoke says
I confess to being completely unaware of International Men’s Day. However, by coincidence this year, tomorrow is also World Pancreatic Cancer Day and (with apologies to Gatz for deviating from the OP) that’s where my attention will be on the 19th…
http://wpcd.worldpancreaticcancercoalition.org/
Gatz says
No apology necessary. It’s a terrible disease, and one which my brother in law’s mother died from just two weeks ago. Due to recently developed treatments she was at least granted some extra time with those closest to her.
Leedsboy says
I’m going to work – which involves going into the garden where my office is a posh shed. Lots of calls/meetings with little or no gaps (which seems to be the way covid home working rolls).
BUT – tomorrow I have a virtual lunch, which is a bit different. A package arrived with some interesting comestibles today and we will all get on Zoom and act like we are in a nice restaurant (albeit one that serves posh crisps, nuts and cheese straws).
Then I will walk the dog in the evening inlanders lieu of playing walking football with my old timer mates (which is what I would normally do on a Thursday evening).
retropath2 says
Half day to play with my new macbook, the old one having become full to bursting after 8 years of accumulation. Double the capacity this time. None of yer snidey mac versus pc, I just like ’em and I’m worth it, so boo yah. Plus it is 1/4 the weight and 1/2 the thickness for twice the capacity and lawks knows how faster the current speed of the old one, which was defaulting to the rolling ball of death at the touch of a key.
Bastard hasn’t transferred my music files properly, mind, the bulk of the GBs filling the old one being mp3s and m4as, and, yes, I am a satisfied with i-tunes dullard also. They are there, as the 437GB reveal, just not where they should be. I know how to suck ’em in, but it fecks up some of my cataloguing and playlists, so \i am hoping another fix. (Yes, I did try one of those touted “alternatives” to i-tunes, and it drove me barmy, and I transferred back. It was mainly the ripping and burning issues that all but i-tunes seem to have to hand. So, until some genius can do media monkey for mac, here I stay.)
With luck, @biggles and @nigelt , I will have my swapsie out before the sun has set on mansday
Chrisf says
Nice – is it the new Apple silicon one ? I’m tempted by the new Apple silicon MacMini but can’t really justify getting a blazing fast one just to use as a media server (to replace my old one which is starting to feel it’s age at almost 10 yrs old). It is actually cheaper than the old one though…….
retropath2 says
No, just taking opportunity of a (slight) dip in price as the new one becomes available: about £200 quids less. As I am not using it for hi tech video editing or for graphic design, confirming me a tart who just likes pretty things, I felt the even bellier and whistlier one was beyond my needs. Plus my budget: been squirrelling dosh away for about a year or whenever it was the beach ball became my daily companion.
Twang says
Well work, basically, though I have been off Tom and Dick for two days with a stomach bug of some sort. Like most here I don’t conform to the manly man cliche of cars, birds etc and I don’t know anyone who does but doubtless they exist somewhere. I can shamefully admit I find Top Gear (Clarkson, May, Hammond) funny. Oh and I like beer. Can I still be here?
Black Celebration says
I don’t know if it’s more a NZ thing but men are generally shown as the stereotypical grunt grunt alpha male type. TV items targeted at men miss the mark in the same way “Nozin’ Aroun’ “ did as a TV show for young adults.
I may be an outlier here but the popular years of Top Gear generally got the balance about right. The car talk was in there and it was definitely a male show but it appealed to all sorts. Also, Gone Fishing.
Moose the Mooche says
They’re still wearing flared trousers!
Moose the Mooche says
I don’t like sport, I don’t drive, I have not – to my knowledge – sired progeny. So I have to drink four times as much beer as other men to make up for it. That’s going well.
Junglejim says
I honestly think International Men’s Day is pathetic.
It’s international men’s day every f*cking day of the year across this wonderful planet of ours, but that’s apparently not enough – a special earmarked day is also required.
Men as a group need to get over themselves – lay off the macho bullshit, misogyny, & take some concrete action to address the obvious crappy deal handed to the other 50 % of the world’s population. When that’s happened, and only then, can we merit sitting down to lament how hard done by we are. Can’t see that happening any time soon.
I’ll be happily WFH again tomorrow to answer the OP.
Moose the Mooche says
Oh yes. ^ That’s my real answer, not that shit joke up there.
Except I think it’s more like 52%…. and we know that percentage must be given everything they want! Suck it up, reManners!
Beezer says
I’ll be working. Logged on and screen staring.
I wasn’t aware of it. I’m a civil servant so these sort of ‘days’ get flagged on the departmental intranets, a lot of which are couched in the same sort of language so they pass me by. I suppose that in itself is a negative male trait; being dismissive and unengaged.
That aside I’m not much of a blerk. Sport doesn’t interest me (though I can watch cricket and rugby happily enough for about half an hour until I think of something else to do). I like beer and wine but only in small doses. I haven’t walked into a pub on a whim for about 20 years. Even when I was much younger and far more sociable the ‘round’ culture annoyed me. Getting it down you so someone could line another one up. Having to keep up. What the fuck for? I thought I was out to talk to people not end up full of piss.
For a non sporty type with a weak bladder I’ve been happy enough about it. I get asked to do a lot of quizzes at work, ever since I was seen coming out of a Waterstones.
Rigid Digit says
Tomorrow (like every other day at the moment) I will be working from home.#Am I a bloke? I like football, racing cars, and beer. I also like very loud music and childish humour.
I have 2 kids and my wife has 2 kids, all around the same age, and all Girls – so my parenting years were a bit difficult as I know nothing about hair, make-up or dollys. It soon became clear that I have no idea about co-ordination of clothes – apparently grabbing the first things in the drawer is wrong.
And then we got a dog – and that was female too.
Men and Women’s Day? I can see why, but as has become clear being in lockdown were both good at certain things and recognise each others strengths and weaknesses.
Let’s celebrate people!
davebigpicture says
I’ll be working out the bits they didn’t put in the manual for my new robotic cameras and waiting for the last consignment of PC parts for a new computer to drive the live feed. The cameras have been on the dining table for a week while I’ve dicked about with them. That’s the morning taken care of. The afternoon will be parcel delivery for Royal Mail. Honestly, I feel like I’m semi retired.
salwarpe says
I’m an old dad of two girls, 10 and 6, living with my wife, far from our relatives and we both have jobs, (mine full time, hers more than 50%). We’re busy all the time and have developed systems just to keep the show on the road, (house clean, food bought and cooked, kids supervised, homeworked and exercised).
I do a lot more than my dad used to do in that regard, including giving the children attention, but still my wife does a lot more in the home than I do. The gender split, the work/life balance, the language gap – these things have an unbending effect on my role as dad and partner. Often that role is the silent listening one, for the others to bounce off and throw their emotions around. I hope I have some kind of importance in their lives, but it’s clear that their mother is the first person in their lives.
It sometimes feels my role as a man is defined by what I’m not, more then what I am. When I look back at the adult males in my childhood, they were mainly shadows in front of whom were several strong female partners. The secret to masculinity was never shared, more alluded to by what I was encouraged to do or discouraged from doing. A passive place was an easy path to follow, though I try to be strong and clear, while not forceful in exceeding my values and beliefs with my own children.
I don’t feel lonely, as the busyness of life and constant calls on my attention give me a focus during the day. It’s the early and late hours when I can be myself, but those moments are parceled out, so micro attentions, like this place can fit more easily into the niche than activities that have a longer duration. But more substantial socialising has gone out of the window. I did try a monthly men’s night out at the pub for other fathers of kids around the same age, but they were all too busy or too tired in the evening for it to last. It stopped way before COVID.
I’m nor sure any of this answers your questions, Gatz. It paints a picture of a life rather than offering explanations or deep reflections. I’m quite comfortable in my 5 decade old ‘man-shell’ – the operating system still works ok, and the plumbing and electrics are still more or less in place, even if some of the joists are stiff, and things creak. I could imagine myself in a ‘woman-shell’, but I wouldn’t be the same person – the hormones would make the basic code operate differently – not better or worse, just differently. To imagine myself as a different short of man, it would be the culture that would have to change, though I guess a course of testosterone could aid that toughening up process. I’m happy for that not to happen, tbh.
Tomorrow I’ll be getting my ears checked. See if can get an upgrade.
Gatz says
I like your third para, and recognise what you say about how men were largely absent from home life, often physically as well as emotionally. Maybe it was just assumed that ‘man stuff’ was something Boys would be inducted into at a certain age, perhaps when their dads sneaked them their first underage pint. Maybe that’s the link that was broken when our generation were teens (I’m 53). We weren’t introduced to that all male world as previous generations were, or so I assume.
As for the header, it was just a throwaway about how little attention almost all of us will be paying to the day. I’ll be wfh as usual, and will spend the morning working out how to carry the maximum number of database operations with the fewest macros and buttons, and assuming I manage that to my satisfaction I’ll spend the afternoon writing up process notes to make the database as idiot proof as possible.
salwarpe says
I’m glad there was one of the paragraphs in my essay that said something. I think I meant ‘expressing’, not ‘exceeding’, by the way – autocorrect on a small screen…
You’re about a year older than me, so it would be early to mid 80s when our teens were happening. I guess previously, when the public world was unashamedly male, it would have been in those years, when boys were moving away from the strong influence of their mothers to the culture of the peer group and the world of work, that masculine values would have been inculcated. Bluntly, chivalry or boorishness being the two extremes, neither touching the sides in terms of emotional intelligence or perspicacity.
A public world growing more gender-balanced requires a different skillset that possibly our dads’ generation weren’t so equipped for. And also calls for the counterbalance of a private world where men pull their weight more as well, so that boys (and girls) have clear and developing understanding of what good, in-touch, male values can be.
davebigpicture says
I left school in 1980 and went straight into a mechanical engineering apprenticeship. The workplace was overwhelmingly male and the handful of women around the place fell into two categories: motherly or “crumpet”.
With hindsight, the older men were ok, probably because they had wives and families (daughters particularly) but otherwise, the atmosphere was macho, sexist bullshit left over from the 70s. When I think about the changes in workplace environments over 40 years, I’m glad my daughter won’t have to put up with the sort of shit that previous generations of women had to endure.
mikethep says
Well it’s already International Men’s Day here and I’ve done the washing up. When the bank opens I’ve got to go and withdraw $5000 in cash for our not-at-all-dodgy builder. That strikes me as men’s work, although I’m terrified someone will spot me and follow me home…
As a child of the 60s I’ve always tried to do the right thing, whatever that happened to be at the time. Occasionally the child of the 50s intrudes. To be honest I’m not really interested in digging all that deep into What It Means to Be a Man when I’m still not at all sure what it means to be me.
The other day I found myself in an after you/no after you situation with a woman at Bunnings. Eventually she said very firmly, I insist. Just trying to be a gent, I said a bit grumpily. Oh that’s so sweet, thank you so much, she said. We walked out of the store together, she still going on about how sweet I was. Wasn’t until later that it occurred to me that she was being so insistent because I is old.
salwarpe says
Age before beauty. Pearls before the swine. Shit before the shovel. Take your pick of these delightful sayings.
pencilsqueezer says
Today I am wearing a plaid shirt over my cocktail dress in celebration of my rugged manly virility as I turn a dot into a line.
Moose the Mooche says
Please miss! Pencil’s got drugs!
pencilsqueezer says
Grass.
Gary says
That counts.
Chrisf says
Today I will get a day off from cooking dinner for the family (I’m the stay at home lazy bum who gave up work….) and am meeting an old colleague or two for dinner and a bottle of wine. We most definitely will not be talking about cars and football.
Leedsboy says
Did you ever see that thing on Top Gear where they played football in cars?
Moose the Mooche says
When I was a kid our neighbour worked on the rigs. When he was home he would never go out driving anywhere without four cans of Kestrel at his feet.
That’s a real man. “In my job I endanger my life – in my free time I endanger yours”.
davebigpicture says
I used to work with a guy who lived in rural Herefordshire and on his way home he’d buy a bottle of wine and four cans of Stella. As the last couple of miles was miles from anywhere, he used to drink the first can in the car*. He told me his wife asked him one day why he always bought 3 cans.
*I’ve know a few people that do this and they are always borderline alcoholics, sometimes not so borderline.
Chrisf says
Just to make sure I’m not painted as an irresponsible alcoholic, I did not drive after meeting my old colleagues – good job as it turned into a couple of bottles and whisky afterwards.
The best thing is that we meet at a small cafe where we know the owner which is near where I used to work and where my wife currently works. We have an arrangement with the owner that as long as we buy food we can BYOB (which we duly share with the owner). As my wife works nearby and does not drink, she walks over later and drives me back home – result.
Tonight was a Sicilian Petit Verdot, a Chilean Syrah and a Yamazaki 12yr old.
MC Escher says
Gotta have some Driving Lagers. There might be a traffic jam.
Twang says
IIRC it was against German Top Gear and they arrived in Spitfires and drove Mini Coopers? Hur Hur.
Moose the Mooche says
Wir sind der Selbsterhaltungsgesellschaft…
retropath2 says
This might be apt for our stereotyping….
Vulpes Vulpes says
I’m off to Waitrose to buy some Corsair Tinned Chicken and a bottle of Black Seal.
Moose the Mooche says
Be careful of those sharp-elbowed pensioners.
Black Seal in the hour of chaos.
deramdaze says
Sport – tick.
Alcohol – tick.
Outside of sport, and at a local level the ratio of females to males is something like 1 to 3 rather than the 1 to 30 it appears to now be at a Premier League football match, I seem to spend a significant proportion of my time actively avoiding men.
The ones I know are never as interesting or inquisitive as their partners. Even if they’re not, they always seem a lot older.
The swimmers in the sea in all weathers? All women. Painters on the harbour? 90% women. Regulars at the cinema? 80% women, and they’ll all be at the foreign language film rather than “Rocky Does Die Hard 9.” The Art Gallery? Probably 75%. If there’s a cafe or book shop worth going to, it’ll be mainly women who’ll be in there. As for the book I’m writing on the local football club … sent three copies off for proof reading/memories etc. … all to women. From experience, I know that a man will just presume the information came out of thin air.
Today I’ll clear a whole load of weeds and stuff from a brick wall and listen to The Beatles’ “Anthology 1,” the 25th Anniversary of which is tomorrow.
Princess Diana v. The Beatles? It was the one time I picked men!
Arthur Cowslip says
25 years since Anthology 1! Wow, there’s a thought.
Moose the Mooche says
*puts peg on nose*
Freeeee as a Birrrrd!
MC Escher says
So fifty years since the Beatles split? Wow. Nothing’s happened since, to be fair.
Moose the Mooche says
Michael Bolton had his hair cut.
Ena Sharples died.
Apart from that, you’re right.
Nick L says
Today? Work. At a sixth form college where I manage a predominantly female team of highly committed people, who care very much about the students under their care, and no, there isn’t that much difference in the way the other bloke in the team, myself and the women go about their jobs. Or at least not that I’ve really noticed, and I’ve been doing this job ten years now.
As for the place/role of men in families, my Dad was a great role model to a large extent although he wasn’t perfect…he even now (aged 77) sees women as slightly delicate things who need to be looked out for, and bear in mind my Mum was definitely NOT in need of this on any level. But he was always very encouraging indeed to my Mum and Sister with whatever they wanted to do, and would have offerred support with anything that stood in their way of progressing in any area they chose.
My Father In Law on the other hand is an example of how not to do it. He never considered that my wife (his oldest child) would want or need to go to university and just assumed that his two sons would. Nor did he encourage her, even undermining her on many occasions. She overcame this, and dyslexia, to become a highly respected and senior NHS worker in the Occupational Therapy field. She is an amazing person.
I’m not entirely sure what it means to be a man in 2020 but I once read somewhere, and I wish I could remember who said it, something along the lines that any father of a daughter ought to consider himself a feminist, as he should be trying to inspire, empower and enable her. I can only hope I’ve done that with my 19 year old daughter. But I have tried to do that with my 17 year old son as well.
I know I haven’t always got it right, with either kid, but I know the heart’s been in the right place.
fentonsteve says
There have been some corporate seminars at my place of work this week on subjects such as gender and diversity. Most of them are flipping obvious to an enlightened chap.
I found myself thinking “if you need to be told this stuff you either (i) don’t have a mum/female partner/wife/daughter (ii) still live in 1974.”
Moose the Mooche says
On the Afterword, of all places, you should know that 1974 never dies.
These box-ticking exercises are a bit pathetic. The idea that sitting through a two-hour Powerpoint can change your values and prejudices is a bit overoptimistic.
fentonsteve says
I missed “sister” off my list. Of course, in Norfolk, wife/sister are the same thing.
I’m here all week…
Nick L says
I’ve been quite on a few seminars and “awareness days” at work on things like that. They really were, as you say, flipping obvious to the more enlightened but I was astonished by a few males who came out of the session at the end of the last one I went to discussing how a lot of this stuff that just simply hadn’t occurred to them. (White, male, middle class etc.) For me this alone proves that yes, there is an occasional need to keep this stuff on people’s agenda. Admittedly some of the content was about race and transgender, and on these points some people do unfortunately still reside in 1974.
fortuneight says
One of the fundamental problems about diversity and inclusion is getting people to change. Deliberate racisits and mysoginists are rare and for the most part are out of reach. Mostly all you can do is sanction them when they step over the line.
For the rest it’s about getting them aware of just what the problems really are, and the part they might be playing in it. And keep reminding them. PowerPoint alone isn’t enough but there are plenty out there who are comfortably certain it’s someone elses problem and blind to how they are contributing. I did (or I should say, had to do) an online course on D&I that was toe curling in it’s banality. Didn’t offer much hope.
But then I attended two “listening” groups, where black colleagues / female colleagues described their work experiences. Some very factually, some with great emotion. Everything from small, casual slights -“which country are you from?” “What does you husband do?”, talked over, not invited to lunch / after work drinks, not copied on emails – through to nooses in lockers and being pinned to the wall in their own office. Staggering.
Leedsboy says
Agree with all of that @fortuneight. I recently read Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race. I thought I had a pretty good view on what the issues were. I absolutely didn’t.
Smiles Diles says
Fray Bentos, whilst listening to No Parlez (Stephen Wilson remix)
Moose the Mooche says
Two words from Monsignor Paladino: Booo-DOWWWW!
Gatz says
Living the dream
Smiles Diles says
btw. Stephen Wilson is a friend of Paul and Laurie “Lol” Latham from down the pub, not to be confused with Steven Wilson, sour-faced prog rock figurehead.
Harry Tufnell says
I’m a northern boy, I drink, I like cars (but would be pushed to have a conversation about them), I like football, lots of other sports and I have many of the obsessive collecting traits associated with the hairier sex.
I’ve never been part of a male group who live up to the stereotype of talking about sex all the time, I don’t think I’ve ever spent time with other males who have had the kind of conversation that is supposed to happen when blokes meet. I did work in female dominated workplaces for over 30 years however and I’ve overheard many filthy conversation about sex – just rarely from the male perspective.
Vive la difference!
For mens day? Probably a Pot Noodle and a wank…
Moose the Mooche says
Have the Pot Noodle first, then you don’t have to worry about cleaning the kettle handle.
See? Considerate.
PS. your definition of a “northern boy” means I must be a great big foppish lisping southern ponce.
attackdog says
Moose, You great big foppish lisping southern ponce.
Moose the Mooche says
I’m used to it. My wife is from Northumberland and usually dismisses Teessiders as “southerners”, so what chance have I got?
*minces off to press flowers and write poems about kittens”
Leedsboy says
“I’ve never been part of a male group who live up to the stereotype of talking about sex all the time”
This was me until I got invited to my walking football WhatsApp group. I rarely join in other than to say I will be there on Thursday night. Sometimes, I genuinely despair. Banter – the language of ignorance.
dai says
I think every day is commemorated these days. I just heard today is “National Monopoly Day” in Canada. WTF?
SteveT says
Today I am taking the first of 3 days holiday over this weekend to use the remainder of my allowance before the end of the year. This must be first year I have ever had holiday left that has been used on bumming around days . I think all these ‘special’ days are a waste of time and an excuse for marketing bullshit but what do I know?
I am about to prepare a shepherds pie for dinner, order one of my wife’s christmas presents from RHS, have a face time call with my daughter and then hopefully watch pointless.
dai says
I will be carrying about 2 weeks over. God knows if I will be able to use nearly 7 weeks of holiday next year though.
We have also been given a “company holiday” for next Friday (the “Black” one), to bring us in line with the US who were also given election day off.
fentonsteve says
I’m only allowed to carry one week over but, as a present for serving 10 years of time, I get an extra 2 weeks next year “for that once-in-a-lifetime special holiday”. 8 weeks of holiday!
At least I’ll have a new garden shed to sit in by then.
Black Celebration says
Shed details please.
fentonsteve says
I’d only used 2 weeks of my 5 weeks leave by the end of August (I was in shielding during Lockdown #1, pretty hard to go on holiday when you are confined to a room).
I have to take 60% of leave before the end of September. I managed to get a pass to allow that until end of October, then strained my wrist pruning a Bamboo bush, and got a postponement for a week.
So far I have built an 8′ x 6′ x 4″ base on the North-facing patch of lawn where nothing ever grows. It’s in the shadow of next door’s garage (East), a 6′ fence (South) and my garage (West), and is mud for 50% of the year. 500kg of ballast (sand & gravel) and 200kg of cement later, I have a level base. I’ve been posting progress updates on my FB page. I am very dull.
Garden sheds are not an Essential Supply, apparently, so I have to wait for delivery now.
I’ve gone for a 8′ x 6′ Pent with extra-wide (36″) door in Tongue & Grooved Shiplap, 3 Galvanised hinges, a rim lock and toughened glass windows.
I’m going to store the bikes in one end, using one of these hanger things:
And then I’m getting my garage soundproofed. Architect is coming to measure up on Monday.
Black Celebration says
Very sensible to have a solid, clean and level base. When mine was built there was a level-ish patch of earth and the shed was made level with pavers. It’s OK but on reflection I should have been more diligent.
Twang says
I have a nice spot out the back just asking for a 12×10 shed which I fancy turning into a gym. Just not got around to planning it.
fentonsteve says
The patch of lawn/mud could actually take a 12×8 shed but there’s a manhole cover in one corner. I did consider a kind of trap door in the shed floor, but settled on a smaller shed.
Twang says
Yes I’ve got next Friday off to use up holiday but of course can’t do anything.
Moose the Mooche says
Can’t “do” anything? Do you not have records to listen to?
It’s quite an agreeable pastime, I’m told.
Twang says
I should have added “different to what I do anyway”.
SteveT says
If you have any spare ‘Get out of Jail free’ cards I’m your man.
Rigid Digit says
This version of Monopoly perhaps
Gary says
Monopoli Monopoly!
dai says
Actually my daughter collects different versions, or she used to.
thecheshirecat says
There was a Lakeland version piled high in Booths in Keswick the other week. I think it was Bowness-on-Windermere considered the most swanky.
Gatz says
About twenty years ago I was a manager at Waterstones and was approached by a company making regional versions. I liked the idea of being on the Essex Monopoly, but the regional manager wouldn’t fund it because his patch covered shops outside Essex. I did get the shopping centre we were in to stump up though. There was a huge Woolworths next to the centre and their main window display had a huge pile of the boxes at Christmas. It was very satisfying to watch as the pile went down and down each day, even if it meant people weren’t spending that money in my shop.
Moose the Mooche says
Do not pass Stay
Leedsboy says
I bet they only have one monopoly day per year…
Moose the Mooche says
…and you can’t buy any of the properties because the Vatican or the Mafia own them all.
Oh, I do love a racist stereotype!