Moan, moan, moan----get it off your chest or have a chat

[Lvandelft]

I am rather upset by the sometimes, in my eyes, unnecessary aggressive comments in the Weekly Lisse Flower Show thread made the last days by the Onion Man.
       

See:
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=4969.msg159565#msg159565

[Maggi Young]

Luit, I am sorry for your upset.... I have  made a reply there.

It is sometimes too easy to take any criticism personally.......(believe me, I know this!).... but we all know that onions can at times seem a lot more astringent when we peel them than they are when cooked in a delicious  casserole! 

[fermi de Sousa]

Luit,
I don't see McMark's comments as criticising YOU! I think it's a comment on the state of misnaming throughout the gardening world. Your posting of these pics (which I certainly enjoy immensely) just helps us identify where mistakes may be being made.
Please don't take it as a reason to stop your reporting on the events at Lisse!
cheers
fermi

[TheOnionMan]

Luit, I see that you cross-posted over here as well about the onion man's purported aggressiveness.  I'll say again over here, that I sincerely appreciate all your effort in posting flower show reports, one of my favorite activities on this forum.  My comments have to do with general nomenclatural issues facing growers and us gardeners as a whole, and such comments are in no way directed towards the forumist reporter (yourself) who so tirelessly brings these flower show postings to all of us.  Looking at my matter-of-fact comments, I believe they are fair, and I hope that such comments generate constructive feedback.

Now, talk about fairness... I could have been here in this "moan, moan, moan" place maybe a half dozen times over the past year, complaining about treatment that I feel I have received on this forum a number of times, to the point I considered dropping out of the forum several times.  But I stuck with it, as I fully intend to, as the wealth of information here, and level of generous activity by knowledgeable participants, makes this The Place To Be. I have not come here to complain, nor would I come here and disparage a specific forumist by name.

[mark smyth]

I'll change direction with my minor moan 

Out for a walk just now I walked by a stand of raspberries laiden with ripe fruit. Have people forgotton what this fruit is? I ate them all um umm ummm

Last week out for another walk through a wood and along a river the bank there were salmonberry bushes Rubus spectabilis. Again no fruit had been eaten. A man walking by asked what I was eating, I told him, but he wouldnt try any - wimp!

Maybe fresh fruit is only available from the supermarket

[Gail]

You shouldn't moan about that Mark - more for you! 

[angie]

Mark enjoy and don't tell anyone.. like Gail said more for you.

Angie

[mark smyth]

I told a couple from across the road to go get some when they walk the dog. Both said they wouldnt eat them. The reason - "They aren't clean"

ahhhhhhhh

[angie]

Mark that's the problem nowadays, we are to scared to eat anything that hasn't been washed I  always remember my mum saying don't eat the fruit low down, so when I pick my ready to eat fruit I take it from a bit higher   

Angie

[Stephenb]

Last week out for another walk through a wood and along a river the bank there were salmonberry bushes Rubus spectabilis. Again no fruit had been eaten. A man walking by asked what I was eating, I told him, but he wouldnt try any - wimp!

How common are Salmonberries in the UK? Rubus spectabilis, right?

[mark smyth]

Stephen, in my town they are in the local wood, castle garden woodland and along the river.

[Lesley Cox]

I don't know salmonberry though it sounds good and I'd hesitate to eat the accessible blackberies from the roadsides because with our council staff, I'd not be sure they hadn't been sprayed in recent days. As I mentioned somewhere else, said staff tend to spray weeds when they've already seeded. Same applies to blackberry. Let it fruit and the seeds be distributed THEN do the spraying. Pillocks. I know the flourishing patch in my garden hasn't been sprayed (but should have been )

The "don't eat the fruit from low down" applies though. Our large English springer spaniel (Cain) does a round of the fruit each day and gobbles up the ripe ones. Foamy red saliva can be seen hanging from his mouth and from berries he has not managed to pull off. Teddy likes them too but only eats the ones I take off and give him. He doesn't help himself.

[Lesley Cox]

Well it seems I'm a non-stop moaner but this is one place I can let off some steam without repercussions. (I hope!)

Yesterday I had a letter from the Chair of the Trust which employs me. This followed on from an uncomfortable phone call he'd made to me the previous day. In the letter he attempted to justify the reasoning behind the disestablishment of my position (Market Manager) which doesn't bother me too much - what's in a name? - and the creation of a new position (site co-ordinator) which I am invited to consider filling. The hours are 10 per week instead of my present 18 so my income is reduced by 40% overnight. The pay rate is the same (it is illegal to reduce a pay rate in a current contract without the consent of the employee affected) but that will change when I sign a new contract IF I CHOOSE TO DO SO. In other words, they expect I may choose NOT to do the new job and leave altogether.

Judging from the new job description, I still have to do everything I'm currently doing (the market itself as well as a lot of subsequent book keeping, meetings etc) but in 10 hours instead of 18. That would be impossible. I am permitted to meet with the personnel committee of the Trust to discuss all this and will do so, after a meeting with my solicitor.

The Trust is starting a new, midweek market in November, in a different part of Dunedin. I had hoped to have a role to play in this too but no mention is made of it, so obviously not.

We still have a large chunk of mortgage to pay and Roger will be 6 months off work very soon, following orthopaedic surgery. With no income there and mine almost halved. it's going to be a difficult time ahead.

Right, moan over.

[Maggi Young]

Oh, flippin' 'eck, Lesley, that's a downer.
It's never over till it's over, of course, so I'll put my optimistic hat on and say that it may all come out much better when you've had a meeting... they may just be chancing their arm......I'll keep fingers crossed, anyhow.
 Chin up, Lass! 

[angie]

Sorry Lesley I was hoping that your uncomfortable phone call wasn't what you were thinking it would be.
I hope everything works out for you, like Maggi said maybe once you have your meeting they will change their minds or come up with something else that would suit you better...I do hope so...my fingers and toes are crossed to

Angie