Officially turning into.....

[Itsallaguess]

So I thought I'd start this thread so we can capture those little things or moments where we finally recognise that we're turning into our parents....

For bonus points, if you can actually skip a generation and see something that recognises a grand-parent trait, then all the better.

I'll try to kick things off with a couple of definites for me -

1. Holding a door open for someone, and when they walk through it without a word, making sure I call out a very loud 'Thankyou!' when it's clear that they're too ignorant to do it for themselves - I used to cringe when my Dad did this when I was a youngster, but I know exactly where he's coming from now I'm a bit older, and it winds me up too as it displays a level of ignorance that's really quite stunning. I like this one because it doesn't really happen very often at all (the majority of people are very polite, of course), which makes it all the sweeter when I get to unleash Dad's now-ingrained habit....

2. I'll claim bonus points for this one - we've now got a small bowl by the kettle that we put our used, still-hot tea-bags in, so they can cool down there rather than us putting them straight into the kitchen-bin, where they caused condensation issues on our previous bin, and it rusted to hell in a very short time. Neither sets of parents did this one, as far as we know, but my grandparents did, so I've officially skipped a generation with this one....

So, have you got any habits or traits that you instantly recognise as being directly-sourced from your parents or grand-parents?

I'd love to hear of them - it's one of the joys of getting older when we finally realise that we're turning into an older generation, especially when we used to cringe at, or didn't fully understand when we were younger, the thing that's now finally landed as an inevitable and memorable postcard from our often distant pasts....

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[OLTB]

Fabulous.

Off the cuff with possibly more to follow:

1. Shouting at the tv when Question Time is on.
2. Immense pleasure when faced with a tasty apple and blackcurrant crumble.
3. Not enjoying the majority of current music and declaring there’s no proper tune.
4. Buying a scarifier for my lawn.
5. Having a tidy garage.

Cheers, OLTB.

[bungeejumper]

Hoarding left-over stuff in the garage, just in case it ever comes in handy. Offcuts of timber, lengths of steel tube, three metre lengths of wire, and dozens of cans of paint which are probably dried out (because they don't go glop when you shake them), but hey, I'll never know for sure if they're dead unless I open them, whereupon they will be dead. Hmmmm, shades of Schrodinger's cat there, I think?

Not forgetting the gallon cans of engine oil that wouldn't pass muster in a modern engine, although it might still be okay on the lawnmower. Only another 300 years, and my mower might have got through them all.

But modernity brings hoarding hazards of its own. I have a huge box full of old computer cables which nobody needs any more - parallels, ethernet cables, and a million sizes of sockets and plugs. Plus 56K modems, handheld text scanners (remember those?), and other gubbins which would probably blow the circuitry of anything I tried to connect them to.

But still, I'll keep it all just in case. You never know.....

BJ

[Gersemi]

Spending an entire TV programme discussing with the OH what I've someone in before, if indeed it was the same person.

[AleisterCrowley]

Grunting when you sit down

[Itsallaguess]

Grunting when you sit down

Grunting when someone else sits down....

Itsallaguess

[tjh290633]

My hair looks like my grandfather's, when he was my age, but I do not have the walrus moustache, which he grew during WW1 when Lord Kitchener issued the command "Upper lips will not be shaved". Movember is nothing new.

Neither do I roll my own. He used St Julien, and I probably have the odd tin with bits and bobs in.

TJH

[stevensfo]

From Dad:

Getting angry at people for leaving lights on.

Getting angry at people for not putting tools back in the right place.

Actually taking more than 10 seconds to choose shoes and slippers.

Checking the thermostat more often than I should.

Hoarding stuff bought during special offers etc. Thus, I now have a huge box full of various halogen bulbs that I will probably never use due to the arrival of superior and more economic LED bulbs that I also hoard.


From Grandparents:

Having a hat available in winter and having umbrellas to hand in hall and car. Apparently my Dad was part of the generation that didn't use such wimpish things.

Helping to keep the kitchen clean and tidy. Dad rarely did any tidying up in the kitchen. As a teenager, we all visited my grandparents and I made myself a midnight snack, then, contrary to habit, decided to leave crumbs on the worktop. Sure enough they immediately accused my Dad!

[redsturgeon]

On a slightly different tack I had to laugh at my stepson when he moved into his first rental share, turning into his parents.

After many years of telling him to turn off lights...to no avail, on his first visit back to us he complained about the girlfriend of his flat share mate never switching off lights!

My own turning into my father, having hair growing out of ears and noses etc. How I used to laugh at the Ktel ear and nostril trimmer...where is Ktel now when I need them.

John

[bungeejumper]

My own turning into my father, having hair growing out of ears and noses etc. How I used to laugh at the Ktel ear and nostril trimmer...where is Ktel now when I need them.

Well, I wouldn't be without my nose hair trimmer for a start. Ten quid from Boots, IIRC. The thing that nobody tells you young striplings about nose hair is that it itches horribly, which is why my bro-in-law (bless his memory) used to spend so much time uselessly blowing his nose. And (ugh) poking around in his nostrils, which used to drive his wife insane. Still, it was a bit better than ripping his nose hairs out in fistfuls, which I gather is the default option.

I'd draw the line at using those things for earhole hair, though. As the medics say, you should never put anything into your ear if it's smaller than your elbow.

BJ

[stevensfo]

After many years of telling him to turn off lights...to no avail, on his first visit back to us he complained about the girlfriend of his flat share mate never switching off lights!

Years of telling our son about putting his CDs back into the correct box, NOT the closest one.

Fast forward to his preparations in going to work abroad and wanting to rip hundreds of CDs to mp3, naturally left to the night before.

"Oh my God! What's happened to all my CDs?"

Oh, the warm feeling of justice!

Steve

[Rhyd6]

Filling a kettle with a jug rather than taking the kettle to the tap. When I was little Mum and Grandmother did all the cooking on a black lead stove (it's still functional). My grandfather was a blacksmith/edge tool maker and had given my grandmother a complete set of cast iron pans and a cast iron kettle. The kettle was so heavy it was left permanently on the hot plate and there was an enamal jug nearby for filling. Always saying please or thankyou, it annoys me when people are rude. One of my grandmother's favourite sayings, "the good Lord didn't grant the gift of stupidity to anyone, it's a talent they've discovered all on their own". I find myself muttering this a lot.
My father could hoard for Britain and I'm afraid I'm the same.
A place for everything and everything in it's place, a saying of my father's that I try to live up to. His workshop was always immaculate.

R6

[AndyPandy]

My Mum giving me one of Dad's beige jumpers this year
She: "Have it, he'll never wear it"
Me: "Thank you"

"Who's used the last of the toilet roll and not changed it?"

Jam jars of screws, hinges, nuts, bolts. Wood offcuts. Orange cables cut off garden tools that have been disposed of. Hose offcuts. Paint tins. Stored upside down, of course. Metal and Bakelite plugs, sockets, switches, some of which wouldn't look out of place in a scene from Downton Abbey. Until recently, used spark plugs and multiple car jacks and ramps. You never know when any of this will come in handy.

[tjh290633]

And the day after you throw it away, you find that you need it.

TJH