none left now
my maternal grandparents raised 12 children on a pittance. 6 in a bed was normal for them. they didn't have much, but they were always well-fed.
grandad was a sensible man when it came to sorting out problems. one story i remember was from when my parents were first courting. mum brought dad home to meet her folks for the first time and, like the polite girl she was, showed him into the parlour. as quite a few of her siblings were at home, chairs were limited, so dad sat on the piano stool.
dad was nervous about meeting grandad for the first time, but not as nervous as he was 5 minutes later, when grandad walked into the room, carrying an axe.
"alright, lad," he says. "jump up off that stool, will you?"
as my dad, shitting himself now, scurried over to stand by my mum, grandad swung the axe.
he chopped the piano to pieces, before turning to my parents and saying "we've run out of coal."
then, he scooped up chunks of mangled piano and threw them onto the fire.
the man was nuts, but by god, i loved him!
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Thu 2 Jun 2011, 22:29, Reply)