People's reactions to what we see as "normal"

[Masco&Bongo]

She said "I dont know how you find the time" and I replied with "Well I dont wash my skirting board once a week"

Wash.... skirting board..... nope, how do those words fit together again???

[Ellendra]

When I first got my land, I was so excited that I would show pictures to anyone who stood still long enough. One woman just looked at me and said "Why would anybody want to buy THAT?"

I was so flabberghasted that by the time I found my voice, she had already walked away.

[tiggy]

We are normal its them others truthfully I can never understand fashion,womens clothes,stupid shoes and make up.T shirts that dont even tuck in because they are too short and they cost more than mens dresses and skirts never wear them, have one long skirt I was given but not yet worn. Wish humans had lovely fur instead,I could enjoy being tabby

[old tree man]

fashion !! £40+ for a pair of jeans THAT ALREADY HAVE THE HOLE SLICED INTO THEM i have been wearing jeans like that for work for nearly 30 years wow !! does this mean i'm a trend setter, cant wait to tell the grandchildren

all the best

Russ

[caithnesscrofter]

For some reason, here nobody bats an eyelid at taking stuff out of the skips and sometimes there is even a queue. We were accused of being a religious cult once, even have the council letter to prove it. Downright harassment if you ask me as there is no basis for it other than we do things slightly unorthodox. I heard lately also that "the hippies on the hill only plant trees!" If that was there best criticism they could find about us that's alright with me, eventhough we plant much much more than trees! And the criticism came from a neighbour who has recently tarmaced about half an acre around there house for no particular reason at all.

[Masco&Bongo]

Wish humans had lovely fur instead,I could enjoy being tabby

What a nice idea! I would be a lovely dark brindle colour to match the dogs!

[mrsflibble]

in a service station toilet, somewhere on the M4 (I think it was chievley but i could be wrong)
I was rinsing out sophie's dress. she'd gone to sleep and wee'd herself so I'd taken her to ge changed at the first available opportunity. The place happened to be full of polish tourists at the time, many many polish coaches out in the forecourt. So, yeah. there I was, rinsing.
woman nearby said loudly to her friend "bloody foreigners, don't know the sink's for hands not trousers".
I turned to her and said, equally as loudly and in as least-common voice as I could "It's a dress. My daughter had an accident and I don't want it stinking up the car on the rest of our journey, thankyou. And I come from nottingham, the midlands may seem like a different country to you southerners but to me it will always be home."
exit me and a happy, dry sophie leaving gobsmacked rude lady behind.

[Helsbells]

Good for you Mrs Fibble.

[Milims]

Mrs F you are ACE!

[clare]

I know how you all feel.When I bump into old friends (we've moved alot)they don't quite get the do it naturally thing and the grow your own thing they seem to think it's just a few pots for the children,but when I told them I bake 3-4 loaves a week and make soap and clothes they look at me a little strangley and one even asked "why do you live a long way from t****'s then??"

[shell]

the fact i make my own washing liquid for the washing machine seems to baffle some off my friends,cant understand why they are as it costs me about 3-4 cents per wash so who`s daft? and i dont put fragrance in so no nasty rashes,unlike some not a million miles away from me,at least they say its the soap powder

[the.fee.fairy]

I was caught talking to my plants at work today...i got the oddest look!

Then...as i went back to my desk (i have Heinrich the Herbaceous Border - who is a mint plant, and two orange trees, Othello and Ophelia and they live on the windowsill) i heard someone say 'is she serious..talking to plants', so i went over and explained that they miss me when i'm not there, and that i have, in fact, grown Ophelia and Othello from seed, so they are special plants. They shut up pretty quickly...

Suddenly, though, i've become the gardener of the office with people asking me when they should plant out seeds, andasking about seedlings!!

[Annpan]

I was caught talking to my plants at work today...i got the oddest look!

Then...as i went back to my desk (i have Heinrich the Herbaceous Border - who is a mint plant, and two orange trees, Othello and Ophelia and they live on the windowsill) i heard someone say 'is she serious..talking to plants', so i went over and explained that they miss me when i'm not there, and that i have, in fact, grown Ophelia and Othello from seed, so they are special plants. They shut up pretty quickly...

Suddenly, though, i've become the gardener of the office with people asking me when they should plant out seeds, and asking about seedlings!!

Aaahh that's lovely Othello and Ophelia are very lucky to have such a caring person to look after them

[Ratty]

No one I know (who is not on here) has got their heads around wee wipes yet. Why would I do that?! And why do I want to take on some scraggy ugly looking ex battery hens?

A very close friend told me that I HAVE to fly out to New York to celebrate her 40th birthday in a couple of years and I flatly refused. I will not fly unless it is absolutely necessary (ie, a relation took ill abroad) and am happy to talk at length about carbon footprints ...

I make curries and "ready meals" from scratch. I don't use takeaways or supermarkets for them. How wierd is that?!

I don't drive. I live on the outskirts of a city with a very good public transport system and I'm more than happy to walk. Even in the rain. What a wierdo.

I voluntarily work on organic smallholdings and farms, not for pay. Clearly I have too much time on my hands and must be rich or something.

My next door neighbour asks me every time she sees me "do you STILL use those cloth nappy things?" (she has 2 children in disposible nappies which is presumably why her OH has stolen someone else's wheely bin and fills them both brimful every fortnight)

None of my family understand me. And I don't really care. I'm happy in myself, my OH & son seem happy. And I found this little place online called ISH. I feel at home there

[Milims]

Guess we are quite lucky really. Our neighbours generally ignore us, I don't speak to my parents and my sister who we rarely have contact with is becoming greener anyway! After that the only people we really have contact with are you lot, a couple of good friends and freecyclers - who think our way anyway! lol! After that I'm big enough and ugly enough not to give a flying fa*t about what everyone else thinks! So long as we don't deliberately hurt anyone, have a negative effect on anyone or cause anyone major discomfort I'd say we can happily plod on with our "strange" ways!