christmas .. memories or do you still do it?

[shillelagh]

Was thinking yesterday .... yes i do know its dangerous but .. i did it .. anyway i was thinking about when i was a kid and christmas .. not the racing down the stairs to see what was on the settee .. but what my mum did .. she always bought 4 cans of beer and put them out on the bin for the binmen for christmas .. she said it was to say thank you and they wont miss emptying the bin for the next year and will always take any extra binbags .. tipping the paperboy for delivering the papers .. the paper girl on sunday papers .. the milkman .. all just to say thank you at christmas

do you still do that or has that gone by the by ..

i dont have papers delivered now nor have milk delivered .. so its only the binmen .. ive bought them a box of choccies .. just to say thank you ..

[Margaret Pilkington]

Yes we do….biscuits for the bin men and for the postman….money for the paper boy.
Like you we consider these small gifts as a ‘thank you’.
I am not sure many people still do it and those who do seem to be of the more mature generation.

[dotti34]

I can remember my mother doing this. We also did it for a while when we came out here but I don’t have anything delivered now except the post and the postie rides his motorbike very quickly along the pavement, so would be hard to catch. They don’t come to the door and I think they are different ones all the time. The bin men come and go quickly also. Ok, so I am making excuses for not keeping up this really lovely tradition. I’ll try to remember next year….

[cashman]

always have done not biccys though always been cash with me. many people get tipped at christmas.

[monkey hanger]

only do it for our local milkman who never lets you down. his farm is at the top of a moorland track but never really more than 30 minutes late with heavy snow. years back my ma used to hand out those christmas tips but it was the done thing back then. used to do the same route on a saturday for a couple of years and one year got loads of bottles of booze one christmas eve and the last man wobbling got a taxi home over 3 hours later back in the garage. best you,ll get nowadays would be a happy christmas from a few with the others complaining about the bus being late.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Our Bin men and post man seem to like the biscuits.
Just the paper boy gets money and he gets it during the year too…he is a really good lad.

[shillelagh]

i was just asking .. because i dont think people carried on doing it .. its bin day tomorrow .. and i will have to get up early to catch them ..

[monkey hanger]

Originally Posted by shillelagh

i was just asking .. because i dont think people carried on doing it .. its bin day tomorrow .. and i will have to get up early to catch them ..

thinks its a thing of the past. cannot remember the last time i saw anyone delivering papers. we do not have a regular postman and even the bin men are not like the ones from the past. more interested in not empting them because you put the wrong plastic in than just putting them in the van.

[Margaret Pilkington]

We are lucky in that we have the same lovely postman..or when he is on holiday a very smiley young woman.
The binmen too are the same crew bar one new starter.
The paperboy will change come summer because this young lad will be going to Uni….so we wait and see who we get.

[monkey hanger]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

We are lucky in that we have the same lovely postman..or when he is on holiday a very smiley young woman.
The binmen too are the same crew bar one new starter.
The paperboy will change come summer because this young lad will be going to Uni….so we wait and see who we get.

funny how two towns only 25 miles apart can vary so much. please do not tell me you have an ironmonger, an independant bakery and a good old fashioned we dell everything type of shop owned by some local family. i,ll get itchy feet.

[DaveinGermany]

The Postie is a regular, so gets a 6 pack of haf ltr Quality Bayerische Beer, & Crimbo card with €20,00.

[Margaret Pilkington]

We did have and independent bakery, but alas no more.
Can’t say we have an iron monger either…..so I think you are in no danger of a move

[taddy]

Gave the binmen a few, (not to many), of my precious Hobgoblins.

[cashman]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Yes we do….biscuits for the bin men and for the postman….money for the paper boy.
Like you we consider these small gifts as a ‘thank you’.
I am not sure many people still do it and those who do seem to be of the more mature generation.

yeh mean owd farts like me?

[Margaret Pilkington]

And me Cashy….we are of the same era.

Ma used to do it as well…in fact she used to send a card with money in it for her regular taxi driver.
She felt that because he looked after her so well, she could happily give him something for Christmas.