Do you get called eccentric?

[Susiwaa]

As others have said, we get called all sorts of things and not all very nice! And we're only just starting out! lol !

goes with the territory I think but people just don't seem to quite understand round here even though I know there are plenty others doing same/similar things in my village!



Susi

[Millymollymandy]

Keith, is it like the US there where everybody drives and nobody walks? I think that's sad.

I remember when my brother went off travelling aged about 20 and had a stopover in LA. He wrote in a letter to us that he decided to walk to the beach (in LA!!! It was probably miles from his hotel ) but anyway he couldn't cos he hit a massive 8 lane freeway or similar and just couldn't cross it. Sad really!

[Big Al]

A neighbour saw me coming home with a back pack on.

"Been shopping Alan?"

" Nope, been to my sewing class" I replied

He looked at me and said...

" Knowing you, that will be true, I'm never surprised at what you do these days"..

Actually it was true, I'd been to the quilting class.....

[Thomzo]

I always think it's funny when people say "I'd love to grow my own fruit and veg but I wouldn't know where to start" get a book!

But a lot of my friends have now started doing things themselves because they see me doing it. My neighbours got chickens because I did. Now they have loads more than me.

My friend started growing tomatoes etc when she saw me doing it.

Other friends have started making their own greetings cards after seeing mine.

The only problem is that they are all so much better at it than I am

Cheers
Zoe

[MuddyWitch]

Many Moons ago, when dinosaurs walked the Earth, I told my careers advisor that my ambition in life was to be 'an old English eccentric'...I achieved my ambition in middle age!!!

MW

[Squirrel46]

Quite conventional me, doesn't everyone walk through town in ex-gov cammo with a trolley full of gardening gear wearing a pentacle?

[madabouthens]

I am glad I am not normal...long live ish.
We are just ahead of our time, oh yes, I have been called a tree hugger too; I consider that a compliment, however it was intended

[KathyLauren]

Keith, is it like the US there where everybody drives and nobody walks? I think that's sad.

It's a general thing in North American rural communities. I guess the scale of distances is smaller in the U.K., so perhaps there is usually somewhere within walking distance. However, over here, "walking to town" for most rural dwellers means you'd better take a sleeping bag.

On our island, it's not quite that bad. A fit hiker could walk from the far end of the island to the village centre and back in a day, but that's more exercise than most people want for a bag of nails. So people drive. My wife and I are exceptionally lucky in that we live within easy walking distance.

However, because traffic tends to be light (and heavy summer traffic is on a predictable schedule because of the ferry), it would be a perfect community for bicycles and light electric vehicles. There is a committee here trying to promote alternatives to infernal combustion vehicle commuting.

[Minnesota]

some of my friends from modern society think I am strange, but rarely label me...Not to my face anyway. I consider myself a christian who was born in the wrong century.

[spitfire]

no, eccentric would be the nice thing to say, they just tell me i'm bloody nuts! " look out the men in black are coming to get me"

[Milims]

We are probably called eccentric - but quite frankly I don't give a damn! I'd rather be this way than the way the rest of folk are round here! The nice thing is our type of eccentricity seems to be infecting other people - or perhaps just bringing it out in them and we seem to be forming as wee community of our own, and it's really rather nice!

[Big Al]

I always think it's funny when people say "I'd love to grow my own fruit and veg but I wouldn't know where to start" get a book!

But a lot of my friends have now started doing things themselves because they see me doing it. My neighbours got chickens because I did. Now they have loads more than me.

My friend started growing tomatoes etc when she saw me doing it.

Other friends have started making their own greetings cards after seeing mine.

The only problem is that they are all so much better at it than I am

Cheers
Zoe

Think of it as a positive in that they have enriched their lives as a result of what you do normally. Expanding this further just thing how enriched your life is if you have so much pull on others. I guess the simple answer is that you may not think of having an enriched life but if you sit and think about it you like many of us "eccentrics" have a good life.

[Cligereen]

I'm so used to being called eccentric that I just accept that I am. I don't mind that, in fact I reckon that I agree with it at this stage.

You can read a quick account of my travails at:

http://hubpages.com/hub/Self-Sufficient-Green-Living

That probably explains it better

Clig.

[mrsflibble]

I'm more known as just plain strange.

the only thing that annoys me is stuff that I've (and my family've) been doing for years is "in" this year so I just look like another sheep lol!!

[citizentwiglet]

LOL, MrsF, I know that feeling. Suddenly we are terribly trendy, aren't we?

However, the 'gals' (you know, Chelsea Tractor driving, Mulberry handbag toting, 4 foreign holidays a year when they can fit them in between all the ballet lessons, gymkanas and Feng Shui appointments) at my son's nursery think that it is 'sad' that I 'didn't have the money to buy him a Halloween costume' (I made him a rather good bat outfit, and he was the only one in a class of more than 30 in a homemade costume). They wonder if I only have one coat (answer - yes. I don't need more than one). They think my younger son will have bandy legs and will never walk because - shock! - I use reusable nappies AND carry him in a Mei Tai.......and fancy me not having a car, either! How do I survive?

I don't know if they think I'm eccentric, they just think I'm poor. Which is about right. But yes, I might be poor. But I am not yet bloody deaf, so stop talking loudly about me when I'm right behind you, you silly bints.