Weekend Wurble
By bigbumblebee
22 comments
Isn’t it amazing what can be achieved with a good faff?
A what?
A FAFF, dear. It’s one of those things at which one becomes more adept as one gets older. I’ve got faffing down to a fine art now; I should have. I’ve been doing it for years.
For those of you (there can’t be many) who haven’t the vaguest idea what I’m wurbling on about, let me give you an example. Take a deep breath.
Go into shed…pick up plant pot and head for greenhouse…catch sight of large weed in border…put down plant pot, pull out weed…take weed to weed bucket.It’s full. Go to heap, empty bucket…see dead branch on shrub…go back to shed for secateurs…catch sight of (still) empty plant pot by greenhouse…brain deletes dead branch…put secateurs in pocket, pick up pot and go into greenhouse…decide potting job can wait as you’ve just thought of something else. THAT’s faffing.
The surprising thing about this system, or rather, lack of it, is the amount of things that actually get done. You see, what happens is, when you’re about
halfway through the job you started to do instead of the one you thought of before that, you meet yourself coming back, so you finish the job you left to do the one you were doing. Crystal? If not, I give lessons.
I like weekends. Even though I’ve been retired for years, I still look forward to them. The neighbours are home ( I have lovely neighbours) and we’re all out pottering in our gardens and chatting, and people are visiting. It just seems to be a different atmosphere at the weekend. Even the postman comes early!
One weekday a while ago, he didn’t turn up ‘til half past three. I was out in the garden as usual. I said to him “I thought the evening mail was a newspaper”.
He gave me a daft grin and ambled off down the road.
Having just said that I like weekends, today (Saturday) was going nicely, until it turned out that it was going to cost me money.
I was faffing about in the garden, and decided to cut back the Kerria, as I’m going to dig it out in the autumn (I’ve got another one) to make way for that raspberry Glencoe I’m going to order. I’ve decided Grizzly Anna (see photofile) can stay.
Happily snipping away was I when ‘ping’ ; my secateurs fell apart. ‘Hello’ I thought, (and if you believe that, you’ll believe anything) ’it’s started. What’s next?’ I was mortified, crushed, abysmal. I’ve had those secateurs for nearly twenty years. Anyway, after much scrabbling and peering, I managed to find the locking nut that had absconded and caused the problem. Alas, the secateurs refused to be mended, so I’ve laid them to rest in a box of tools in the shed.
My dad’s old hammer is in that box. It’s the same one that HIS dad had, It’s only had three new handles and two new heads. Not bad, eh? Think on.
Anyway, I’ve got another pair of secateurs, but they’re big, heavy and uncomfortable to use, so, I now have to buy new ones.
So, there I was, crying into my coffee, when my friend Pat calls in. Now, Pat is a great friend, and we’ve had lots of laughs together, but most of the time she moans about her work. Today was no exception. I tried to advise her (I know the people she works for and with, very well) as I have quite often before.
An hour later, off she went, happy as a sandboy, determined to confront her demons.
I went back out into the garden. The day had started off cloudy, but the sun was threatening to break out, so I took my camera. Cookie decided she’d keep me company. The big wide fern (one of these days,I’ll find out what it’s called) at the far end of the fernery was ready to have its portrait done. I’d just taken a lovely shot, when dear, sweet Cookie, decides the middle of said fern would be a grand place for a nap. Missed photo opportunity.
Instead, I shooed her out, to find one broken frond. Now I’ve got my photo, I’m hoping she’ll go in there again.
Now the sun is sinking slowly in the west (cue for song) it’s about time I shifted, and went to water the tomatoes in the greenhouse. That’s providing I don’t catch sight of an empty pot or a large weed. If those tomato plants get any bigger I shall need a machete just to get in the door.
Bye bye. Me gone.
20 Jun, 2009
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Comments
Next time a pic of Cookie sitting in the fern would be just perfect. Lol. :o)
20 Jun, 2009
I love to faff!
Did you know that in Germany you can pfaff?
Any time somebody mentions faffing in conversation to my Dad he'll always say "I once knew a woman called Mrs Pfaff..."
20 Jun, 2009
even more pointless wittering (verbal equivalent of faffing):
German sewing machines ages ago were made by a firm called PFAFF.
There.
20 Jun, 2009
No, Weedling,
The verbal equivalent of faffing is...WURBLING!
20 Jun, 2009
Faffing keeps you fit - you walk five times further than you need to. Wurbling keeps us entertained so keep it up, faff and wurble to your heart's content!
21 Jun, 2009
Thanks Wagger. The fitness angle never occurred to me.
Happy to entertain; I thought I might be losing my touch.
21 Jun, 2009
You are definitely not the only ones, my husband says I'm always faffing around! Even when we're sitting in the garden I keep jumping up and down to do some faffing - there's nothing better.
I agree a picture of Cookie would be nice.
Love the blog.
21 Jun, 2009
I spend a lot of time faffing around on here too!
21 Jun, 2009
Im forever faffing around, my hubby says stop faffing and do something!!
Im doing bloomin everything!!
x x x
21 Jun, 2009
Aha, just goes to show that there are regional/whateveral variations in our experience at least, as no-one's ever wurbled yet in our house, but the wittering never stops. The children are experts too.
Took the word as a gift from Victoria Wood (Dinnerladies I believe). I think we must agree to differ.
Mookins, - i know how you feel. Same here...
Yrs pointlessly,
Weeding (nb not wheedling!)
If I was an expert twitcher, I could try and spot a reed wurbler. Hm.
21 Jun, 2009
Ok..being I am over here in the New World..lol...we don't have such words as these...but I do like them and will now be using them to impress my friends and family...lol..we call it puttering when we faff here..wurblering is what my daughters and I do and nobody can believe that we can wurbler all at once and never miss what the other is saying...! It sounds like chirping to me so I call it chirping...lol..sounds like a flock of house finches chirping about ...lol...I shall try out wurbling on them now..
I enjoyed your blog very much BBB ..I can most certainly identify..I am never bored..lol..so many things to faff off on...LOL need to mow the lawn this morning...wonder how much I will get done on my way to the mower..lol
22 Jun, 2009
I agree totally - I cant sit in the garden without keep getting up and down when I see things that need doing but I've cottoned on and in the summer I get out the blanket and read a book - the idea was that as I'm lower down I dont see what needs to be done!!! Doesn't always work...
Faffing is what you do when you go upstairs for something and then forget what you were going upstairs for... or is that just an age thing!!!
22 Jun, 2009
I do that all the time too...I am used to it now tho..have a little ritual to help me remember that goes on in my brain...lets see now, I did this and then that..oh yea...!
22 Jun, 2009
O.K. Aster I put faffing into wikipedia and came up with "to dither, futz, diddle"
I also put wurbling in but it just said 'do you mean warbling' so I guess it is a regional variation thing. I have faffed about all my life and I guess that I do wurble a lot but with the regional variation wurbling (or warbling) becomes 'wittering' my wife says "Oh Bob do stop wittering!' so yes I guess I am a wurber and a faffer, I do dither a lot too but if I start to futz or diddle I think I may get arrested (again) Yes faffing can be a very good excercise as you cover, at least three times as much ground as just pottering, but there again 'pottering' could be another regional variation on faffing so I think that maybe up north we 'potter and witter' I think to dither would not be the exact sameness of faffing or pottering, if I dither it is to go to do something and change my mind several times in a very short time. O.K. Bbb I have wurbled on enough and I have stopped laughing but I have laughed that much I want go the loo, so Thanks again for a very entertaining blog, I will try not to miss the next one :o)) Unless it is on a week-end of course then I shall try to remember to have a look for one. (Have I passed the wurbling test yet?) hehehe B.F.N.
23 Jun, 2009
mmmmm..Bob..I feel as if I have just gone through Wurbling, faffing, diddling, wittering etc. university!...lol..
23 Jun, 2009
yes, dither is definitely an indecision thing - nowhere near as productive as faffing/pfaffing, wurbling, warbling or wittering.
Off outside now to faff, drink, weed, gaze and ponder. Not too much actual gardening will be achieved but it makes me very happy.
23 Jun, 2009
LOL...me to Weeding...I am off to do the same...
23 Jun, 2009
Okay but I'm going to try a futz you never know what may happen :o))))
23 Jun, 2009
Yes Bob I faff,witter,potter and dither !!! Not all at the same time lol. Goodness I hope some fellow GOYers aren't trying to improve their English on this site !
I don't think I can futz or diddle not that I can recall anyway ! :))
23 Jun, 2009
Im very good at pottering around, I do this first thing in the morning whilst the kiddie sare still sleeping, getting "me" time
do like to potter,
am always being told not to witter or rant, am also very good at ranting, have been doing this a lot since we had lots of pigeons attacking my peas...stupid, fat,clumsy , stupid pigeons....here we go again
hehehe
x x x
23 Jun, 2009
Ha ha! What a good read - a lot of faffing goes on up here too - I can faff for Scotland!
27 Jun, 2009
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I know exactly what you mean. I was brought up in Yorkshire and was faffing about then! Moved to Lincolnshire and still faffing about lol ! It must be a legitimate word because the spell checker didn't pull me up on it (except when I put two ' i 's in it!) A national not regional word either as you are way down south.
Like you I just can't stick to the job in hand and see it through,so I end up - well- faffing with lots if things.I'm sure we're not the only ones :))
20 Jun, 2009