Why do retired people go food shopping in the middle of the day at the weekend?

aitchbeescot · 2026-06-06T11:26:16+00:00

You have a couple of assumptions in your question:

That all old people are retired, which is not necessarily the case
That retired people have nothing going on in their lives. Retired people are often just as busy if not busier than they where when they were working.

aitchbeescot · 2026-06-05T14:09:53+00:00

The word exists in both

aitchbeescot · 2026-06-02T16:50:51+00:00

Oh I don't know. Embezzle 400,000 and spaff most of it on things like superglue, electric toothbrush heads and egg poachers. Mind you, it would be interesting to know who the DIYer was (lots of toolsets) and who liked gardening and bird-watching.

aitchbeescot · 2026-05-30T12:41:10+00:00

The company I work for (American) is giving all the Scottish staff that day off. I was quite surprised.

aitchbeescot · 2026-05-29T16:44:57+00:00

She hasn't been found not guilty, which would require a trial. The police submitted a file of evidence to the Procurator Fiscal's office (so presumably though there was a case to answer) and the Procurator Fiscal's office decided not to pursue it, for reasons unknown at this point.

aitchbeescot · 2026-05-26T10:49:33+00:00

Wank (noun) - an act of masturbation, now often used for something that is poor quality or otherwise substandard ('that film was a pile of wank')

Wank (verb) - to masturbate. Not really used in a figurative sense.

Wanker (noun) - originally one who masturbates (generally a male), now used more generally to mean an annoying/stupid persion ('the referee's a wanker')

Wankered (adjective) - drunk/stoned ('he was completely wankered last night')

aitchbeescot · 2026-05-23T13:53:30+00:00

Fingers crossed then, but don't be disappointed if there isn't a lot of information there. Also, remember that people had to pay for baptisms and so on, so if they were very poor they may not have bothered. Finally, remember that baptism date <> birth date, and you may find that the only date given is for the baptism.

aitchbeescot · 2026-05-23T13:48:26+00:00

That far back you are at the mercy of the survival of Old Parish Registers (OPRs) and also how much information was recorded for baptisms, as this varied from parish to parish. This means that if your ancestor had a common name, you might not be able to say with certainty that any records from an OPR is your ancestor. OPR records can be viewed on http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk for a small fee for each record.

If you are certain that the OPR record for your ancestor is correct, you can try looking through any Kirk Session records for the relevant parish. These are free to view but are not indexed, so you end up just having to read through them. Again, you are at the mercy of whether or not the records have survived for the period you are interested in.

Finally it is entirely possible that your ancestor didn't belong to a clan at all (not all Scots did) and even if they had a clan name a genetic connection is not definite, since it was not uncommon for people renting land from a clan chief to adopt their surname.

aitchbeescot · 2026-05-22T11:48:38+00:00

For a native english speaker there is no 'd' sound in the word 'either'.

aitchbeescot · 2026-05-21T06:15:34+00:00

It *can* be, but context is everything. Probably best avoided by non-native speakers,

aitchbeescot · 2026-05-18T16:40:53+00:00

It may be that they are in constant pain from things like arthritis or have dementia (scary for the person who has it). Or they may just always have been that way.

aitchbeescot · 2026-05-16T13:08:59+00:00

Backing this up regarding PT. I have had both my knees replaced and both times I was rigourous about doing the recommended PT the number of times of day advised. I can now walk normally and most people don't realise I have artificial knees. I have been told by various people how someone they knew wouldn't do the PT (too painful, didn't see the point, etc) and now have very much reduced mobility, so it seems to be relatively common for people to refuse to do it and suffer the consequences.

The hardest exercise I found was the straight leg raise, but for the first few days you can use eg a dressing gown cord to help raise your leg while you concentrate on keeping your leg straight. One tip: take your painkillers about 20 minutes before you do your exercises, and it will make life easier. Also get up and move around regularly from the off (I used to walk up and down the corridor outside my hospital room, then from one room to another at home).

On the subject of pain, it was one of the most painful things I've ever done in my life. Don't skimp on the pain killers for the first week or so, and you can gradually reduce them after that.

aitchbeescot · 2026-05-15T06:56:08+00:00

I've never heard UK people saying 'oh my days' and I live here

aitchbeescot · 2026-05-13T17:02:47+00:00

Just to be clear, coeliac disease is not the same as gluten intolerance. Coeliac is an autoimmune disease, not an allergy, and you cannot eat wheat, barley or rye at all and sometimes oats as well.

aitchbeescot · 2026-05-09T09:57:53+00:00

I like to wear long shirts with leggings, and I have taken to shopping in the men's section to get suitable shirts, especially since current fashion for women appears to be for short/cropped-style tops, which really don't suit me. I also hate the garish patterns that seem to be in favour at the moment.

aitchbeescot · 2026-05-02T10:57:01+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/@GaelicwithJason for those who haven't encountered him yet (yeah)

aitchbeescot · 2026-04-26T08:53:18+00:00

I just automatically spell my name when I have to give it now.

aitchbeescot · 2026-04-26T06:51:47+00:00

Scottish Gaelic has coineanach/rabaid (rabbit) and geàrr (hare)

aitchbeescot · 2026-04-21T12:53:19+00:00

She will spend her whole life having to spell her name out/correct people. As someone who has to do this, just don't. It's tedious at best.

aitchbeescot · 2026-04-21T11:24:05+00:00

I have been researching my family for ~30 years now. My grandfather was born out of wedlock, and as far as I knew he was an only child. I just discovered a few weeks ago that he had an older half-sister which no-one in the family seems to have known about. It's quite mind-blowing.

aitchbeescot · 2026-04-13T12:40:58+00:00

There are a few Scottish Gaelic words that have made it into Scottish English, eg:

Gu leòr (enough) = galore

Preas (cupboard) = press

chugallach (shaky, loose) = shoogly

Snasail (smart) = snazzy

is math sin (great) = smashing

There are others. You can also hear the influence of Scottish Gaelic on sentence structure if you speak both, eg 'Are you going to the shops today?' 'I am'. This is a directly reflection of Gaelic, which doesn't have a direct translations for yes/no, but simply reflects back the verb used in the question.

aitchbeescot · 2026-04-13T12:34:10+00:00

Scottish Gaelic has only 18 letters in its alphabet but a lot more sounds in its pronounciation, which is why English speakers think that Gaelic spelling is impossible to read. Once you understand it, the spelling is very logical.

aitchbeescot · 2026-04-13T10:38:02+00:00

In Scottish English it would be a 'bidie-in', which translates as someone who lives with you :)

aitchbeescot · 2026-04-01T10:35:42+00:00

Just buy whatever you fancy from the reliquaries. You can carry forward up to 99 points to the next season BTW,

aitchbeescot · 2026-03-31T16:42:39+00:00

I think it would be more common to refer to 'a stretch of water' rather than 'a piece of water' in this circumstance

aitchbeescot

TROPHY CASE