un wanted christmas presents/seasonal moan

[red98]

as i get older the excitment of christmas is getting less and less...grand old age of 52 now,great for the kids and its good to see their faces light up on the rare occasion when you give them that perfect present...i have 3 of the little monsters the youngest is nearly 15...we gave him a ps4 this year,didnt see him from mid day onwards.in his room tapping away in a world of his own  ....two grand kids of 2 and 4 who are great fun and its good to spoil them at this time of year,they live 50 miles away so we only spent a day with them this year........bad case of grumpy old man i guess        


everyone tells me they dont know what to get me for christmas,including mrs red,although after 20 years of marrage she has come up with some cracking presents  ......anyway,today iam off down the charity shop with a load of dvd`s , cd`s , books and the like that i have recieved over the last 1/2 years so i can make room for this years,most of which have never been read/watched...............am i the only one who does this ?


yes you`ve guess it...iam in "grumpy old man" mode today,going to moan about everything and anything , mostly on here as too cold to go out on the bike or mess about in the garage so stuck infront of a screen,not the tv screen as ive watched most of what their showing over the last few years,the only exception was barry sheen thingy last night,nothing to moan about there  [size=78%].......if your younger than me,show some respect to your elders and keep your thoughts to yourself,your to blame for a lot of the things iam grumpy about........[/size]
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[/size][size=78%]so....a thread to let off steam about anything you dont like about christmas and the waste of time between christmas and new year when its to foccin cold to get out on your fazers  [/size] [/size][size=78%] .....moan over.......for now..................[/size]

[red98]

Another moan...........iam posting more in the "general section"than I am in the "events section".....not good   

[fazersharp]

I tell everyone every year not to get me anything and that stops all of that.
I hate Christmas packaging - bung a standard bottle of beer in a basket with some shredded paper - call it Christmas cheer and knock it out for £10, great!! paper and basket in the bin and I'm left with a 3.8% vol £10 bottle of beer.
Glitter - hate the stuff, who thinks that by covering any old shit in glitter instantly transforms it in to a Christmas thing, and this -- how come if i get a bit of sawdust in the house when I am building something for the house I will get moaned at - but then its ok the have glitter all over the floor, we have an oak floor and the stuff gets inbetween the wood grain and im seeing it and picking it out for 6 months.
You see Red --- you see what you have done--- you see now --- you have set me off now. 

[red98]

SET YOU OFF....IVE ONLY JUST STARTED.......every year just like fazersharp I tell people I dont want anything but if they have to, a well chosen card will mean more to me than a so called gift thats only bought for the sake of it....my daughter is very good at choosing the right card, that and a few well choosen words means a lot to me, I can even remember a few years ago the corners of my mouth started twitching in an upward motion, not sure what that was but I felt pretty good on the inside.....

so, ive sorted through the books and dvd's...got 9 books and 26 dvd's boxed up ready for the charity shop, just about togo and I see mrs red looking through the box    ....shes pulled out a couple of sealed dvd's shes not seen before and wants to keep them   .....it gets worse......she digs a bit deeper and finds 2 dvd's that my daughter gave me................from this year    ..........foc

[fazersharp]

CARDS !!! cards ---I hate them most of all, I feel my life ebbing away every time I have to buy one, the amount of my life I have wasted standing there looking at rows and rows of crap. I tell people not to buy me cards either - £3 for a piece of card with some words written inside that someone else has made up, I dont even bother reading whats inside unless I have too for the punchline for the joke on the front.

[Hedgetrimmer]

Not much family, so not much to moan about at Xmas 


In fact, was there a Xmas this year? I'm currently busy downloading presents to myself: A load of bike racing videos, including 2014 Northwest 200, The Unrideables, 89/90/91 GP highlights and some TT stuff 


Watched the Sheene programme, not bad but would have been nice to see someone give the RG some proper welly. Couldn't have picked a worse person to ride it really, but at least he was amusing to watch. I'll probably be adding a few others to the vid collection now, Kenny Roberts, Hailwood etc videos.


I'll join with the moan about the weather though - beautiful bright sunshine but too cold to make the most of. Not even really worried about getting cold on the bike, just don't want to risk binning it on ice. Where did I put those MTFU pills? 

[red98]

CARDS !!! cards ---I hate them most of all, I feel my life ebbing away every time I have to buy one, the amount of my life I have wasted standing there looking at rows and rows of crap. I tell people not to buy me cards either - £3 for a piece of card with some words written inside that someone else has made up, I dont even bother reading whats inside unless I have too for the punchline for the joke on the front.

cards ay....how about this then.....I get a card from the directors at work every year, no message just signed, and what do they include in the card ?........some cash, a voucher, an invite to a party.....no.......a picture of myself taken at work with my work mates, as I work on my own iam pushed in with the maintenance crew who have the workshop next door......why the foc they think I need a picture of myself with that bunch of work shy good for nothing low lifes I will never know     

[dazza]

I'll tell you what get's my goat, these foccing rip off sales.
Every year it's the same, shops tricking people into buying their shit they couldn't sell all year by reducing the price so people think they're getting a bargain.
It's still shit and there is a reason it's cheap, because it's shit.
Typical example:
    Went over to Next to buy a shirt for NYE, found a nice quality one that would go with my suit, £28, go and get in the queue, realise it's not reduced and not in the sale and on further inspection, nor is any of the nice quality clothes.
   I ask where the sale items are and am pointed to the other side of the store which is buzzing with aggressive looking women all jostling for position.
   When I look at what's for sale it is all the tack, cheap looking and feeling rubbish they obviously haven't sold.
    This isn't a sale, it's a blatant foccing rip off, needless to say out of principle I didn't buy the shirt. 

[fazersharp]

Sale --- sale a lot of them buy stuff in just for the "sale", its stuff that has never been in the shop,and they put barriers up outside to create a feeling of a big event. Look at what I have brought for £10 it should of been £20 I have saved £10 -- er no you haven't - you have just wasted £10 because ordinarily you would not of brought it anyway.

[Millietant]

I feel sorry for you poor buggers.


I'm 54, one of my kids is 24 and working in Thailand (they don't have "Christmas") and the other is 20 and he's into Warhammer stuff and "Magic, the Gathering", so is very easy to buy for - knows what he wants and it's not a lot. On top of that, my missus made it really easy for me when she got a Pandora bracelet for her 50th birthday - I just have to buy her a charm with a "meaning" to it for Xmas/birthday/Mother's Day etc. The story of what the charm commemorates is more important than the charm (thus year was a little Pompeii/Naples horn as a reminder of our romantic/dirty weekend away earlier in the year) and she's always very appreciative.


I asked for nothing and got pretty much that - except for a nice winter Jacket, some waterproof cycling gloves and a box of my favourite chocolates.


Absolute heaven - no excess, no hassle. I suppose we're lucky that we have most of the things we ever wanted in life, and our kids aren't overly greedy.


Oh and I nearly forgot, everyone knows I like cherry beers (and so does youngest son) so I got a few of those and am just going to share a couple with the kiddo now.

[Millietant]

Now for the moaning shit - got back from xmas in Connecticut at 5.10 this morning, left Heathrow and straight to work (dropping son off at home on the way); wife is still in Connecticut looking after her ill parents (both in their mid 80's); gotta leave home at 5 tomorrow morning for work and will be staying in a Premier Inn tomorrow night on my own; won't get home till late evening on 31st and am then chauffeur for the safe return of friends my son has invited over for HIS New Years Eve party - so no boozy celebration for me.


Bah bloody humbug !

[slappy]

You guys think you have it bad! Mý wifes birthday is xmax day, the whole family including grandkids and dogs invade my house and I just spend all day sat there being called a moaning old bxxxxxd, they eat my food, drink my booze and just make a freaking tip of the whole house.

[highlander]

Greetings from Jockland guys, where the talk of Xmas and Hogmanay take on a higher level as we are pished for the full 2 weeks. At least that was until family & maturity came along, what a tedious, tiresome period it has become now.
My 3 boys are mid-teens & I don't want to show them how to spend their holidays as that's what I do at the side of the pool in summer (embarrassing & asleep most of the time, all through drink).
Since I've got my first fazer a couple of weeks ago, I am still eager to get it mot'd & on the road as soon as possible. Yet freezing cold weather & old age has hindered my progress as the heater in my garage is nowhere near strong enough to allow my digits to work for any length of time. Just a couple of days of balmy 3-plus degrees greyness is all I ask. Where will it come from?

[Grahamm]

Don't forget the nonsense called Secret Santa. People wasting money on crap "joke" presents for other people which they will never use and throw in the bin at the first opportunity.

Give them bloody dosh or ask them which charity they'd like it donated to, at least it won't be wasted on some tat.

[Doddsie]

Talking of sales...... Dont forget the DFS sale ends this Sunday!!!!

[noggythenog]

Millietant....spot on there with the Pandora........gold prices yet you dont get any gold........but females of the species sure do love it......the tackier the charm, the more they love it......whoever created it is a genius....a rich genius.


My wife expecting our first child in a couple days time and because ill be clueless about what's going on and i just intend on randomly saying "breathe" & looking thoughtful........but my set piece will be presenting that tiny little Pandora swag bag to the missus in exchange for a cuddle with the little one.....inside the bag she'll find the ultimate of tat.....Pandora "its a girl" charm, complete with a tiny little handprint.....& what looks like a jewel......oh yes.....instant redemption




Been trying to not let this thread get to me....but check the pic out.....every year i say "get me a t shirt".....what do i get......this shit .


I hate golf, dislike puzzles, didnt want an in car camera, i like pies but dont really need a mini pies recipe....THING........& i dont much care for foot massages.


The in laws at xmas - oh "noggy" has feet....he'll love these.


"Noggy's" a fat bastard........mini pie recipes.


"Noggy" has a bike........cheap tat bike model






Meanwhile im walking around in oily and holed T-shirts

[Grahamm]

Talking of sales...... Dont forget the DFS sale ends this Sunday!!!!

And their New Year sale starts Monday!!!

[red98]

Had to do a dump run today to get rid of all the crap thats accumulated over the last week, packaging, wrapping paper, food waste (left overs and stuff that was never going to be eaten in the first place).....this was about mid-day, got chatting to the guy who runs the place who said he was on his 3rd container for general waste, ie stuff you cant recycle, on a busy saturday he wont even fill one....these containers cost £3000 each to process.  ..guess my poll tax will be going up next year   

[unfazed]

I'm not much into presents and when my kids ask me what I want I just tell them that I just wanted them home safe to have dinner together and a few drinks afterwards.

When they insisted I ask them not to get anything expensive, so I got a surprise of a book on Marquezs first year with some great photographs and a a few boxes of Danish cookies which I love.

That was me sorted.

[midden]

I'm considering becoming a jehova witness,  they probably get more out of Christmas than I do 

[slimwilly]

I bought my own present, a helmet, had some wool boot socks,a bottle of Baileys,chocs,gloves,neck warmer ,


all good really.


But the toys,crap quality, we have 3 small foster kids, well the toys are not lasting, will have to check if anything is worth taking back for exchange, the cheaper £10 and under cars etc are utter shit,crap plastic.


Will end up in the bin soon.

[Gingernutz]

I bought myself a new lid, goretex trousers oh yeah and new bike. (and found a new hiding place for the bank statements

[fazersharp]

I bought myself a new lid, goretex trousers oh yeah and new bike. (and found a new hiding place for the bank statements

But where are you going to hide the bike