if you want to feel young again go to a boat jumble

[solent clown]

Today's foray into the sharp elbowed world of boat jumbles was an odd one. The core demographic appeared to be Methusula's older brothers, many sporting white beards, yellowed with nicotine or lamp oil. Many a wizened hand, knuckles racked with arthritis, were still lithe and fast enough to move with lightening speed from walking stick to an espied treasure, whip fast and deadly accurate.
As a mere middle ager I felt a bit like a babe in arms in comparison, and was clearly not fast or well practised enough with the elbows to fend off, or get close to the most choice items.
It was a barrage of cackling, hacking coughs, and errant walking sticks that formed a near impenatrable wall to the treasure. Surveying the flat caps pulled down purposefully, or bobble hats set above a steely stare under wild eyebrows, I was truly outclassed in the stall combing, yet we still came away with a few great finds.

 

[pvb]

Will there still be boat jumbles when you're that age?

 

[Resolution]

Today's foray into the sharp elbowed world of boat jumbles was an odd one. The core demographic appeared to be Methusula's older brothers, many sporting white beards, yellowed with nicotine or lamp oil. Many a wizened hand, knuckles racked with arthritis, were still lithe and fast enough to move with lightening speed from walking stick to an espied treasure, whip fast and deadly accurate.
As a mere middle ager I felt a bit like a babe in arms in comparison, and was clearly not fast or well practised enough with the elbows to fend off, or get close to the most choice items.
It was a barrage of cackling, hacking coughs, and errant walking sticks that formed a near impenatrable wall to the treasure. Surveying the flat caps pulled down purposefully, or bobble hats set above a steely stare under wild eyebrows, I was truly outclassed in the stall combing, yet we still came away with a few great finds.

Delightful!

 

[KINGFISHER 8]

Did you recognise anything you'd previously had nicked?

 

[solent clown]

Did you recognise anything you'd previously had nicked?

That would have been fun. I did see a few familiar faces from all over the Solent, but they were all honest upstanding sorts. More's the pity. I had a granite rolling pin in the car that would have worked a treat on some dishonest fingers and thumbs! - Karen's latest acquisition, so having felt the heft of the thing, I will be an obedient hubby from now on

 

[JumbleDuck]

I regularly go to the West of Scotland boat jumble, as a buyer and as a stallholder, and I can't say the attendees looked unduly elderly. Most of them seem significantly younger than me, and I'm in my early fifties.

On the other hand, when you see a group of bikers with their helmets off there hardly ever seems to be anyone ineligible for a state pension among them.

 

[solent clown]

I regularly go to the West of Scotland boat jumble, as a buyer and as a stallholder, and I can't say the attendees looked unduly elderly. Most of them seem significantly younger than me, and I'm in my early fifties.

On the other hand, when you see a group of bikers with their helmets off there hardly ever seems to be anyone ineligible for a state pension among them.

yes but of course we all know here down South that the life expectancy up there is about 45.

 

[Kukri]

You are too young to have known the “Yachting Monthly” in the days of its glory, under Maurice Griffiths and Des Sleightholme, so you won’t know who Old Harry was...

But some of us do...

Old Harry kept his Gasworks Creek mussel drudger going on very little cash and a great deal of usually misplaced ingenuity.

... and yes, Mike Peyton’s cartoons of Old Harry bear a remarkable resemblance to Des...

 

[Wansworth]

Would his gizmo for flinging teabags be acceptable to day!

 

[Kukri]

Would his gizmo for flinging teabags be acceptable to day!

Good God no! Teabags contain plastic!

But thanks for bringing back a happy memory!

 

[prv]

You are too young to have known the “Yachting Monthly” in the days of its glory, under Maurice Griffiths and Des Sleightholme, so you won’t know who Old Harry was...

Before my time in the magazine, but I have the book in my downstairs loo

Pete

 

[zoidberg]

Before my time in the magazine, but I have the book in my downstairs loo

Pete

Hah!

I'm building a downstairs loo at present, and I'm grateful for the nudge to build in a 'boaty book rack'.....

Recommendations are invited for the first dozen tomes to take up residence .

 

[mjcoon]

Good God no! Teabags contain plastic!

I don't drink tea, but my coffee bags claim to be compostable...

Mike.

 

[Kukri]

Hah!

I'm building a downstairs loo at present, and I'm grateful for the nudge to build in a 'boaty book rack'.....

Recommendations are invited for the first dozen tomes to take up residence .

You must start with "Sod's Law of the Sea"

Finest yachting handbook ever written - it tells you what you need to know but dare not ask!

 

[RupertW]

I don't drink tea, but my coffee bags claim to be compostable...

Mike.

Coffee bags - you heathen. Fresh ground with a hand grinder, then a Bialetti on the stove is the only civilised way.

 

[AndrewB]

"Old Harry" and "Sods Law of the Sea" are certainly classics, but they relate to a yachting scene that no longer exists. Has nothing like them been written in the last thirty years? Or has British yachting become distinctly unhumorous?

 

[BrianH]

You are too young to have known the “Yachting Monthly” in the days of its glory, under Maurice Griffiths and Des Sleightholme, so you won’t know who Old Harry was...

But some of us do...

Old Harry kept his Gasworks Creek mussel drudger going on very little cash and a great deal of usually misplaced ingenuity.

... and yes, Mike Peyton’s cartoons of Old Harry bear a remarkable resemblance to Des...

 

[Kukri]

Perfect!

(He did much the same with the last of the Great YM Editors, Andrew Bray...)

 

[KINGFISHER 8]

Good God no! Teabags contain plastic!

But thanks for bringing back a happy memory!

Never mind the plastic content … these days you'd have to ascertain their gender before firing them at the boat next door! ….. :nonchalance:

 

[westhinder]

Hah!

I'm building a downstairs loo at present, and I'm grateful for the nudge to build in a 'boaty book rack'.....

Recommendations are invited for the first dozen tomes to take up residence .

Sod’s Law of the Sea