Backhanded compliments

By -
What's the weirdest compliment you've ever had? That's the question posed by my friend Tuppence who says the nicest thing anyone ever said about her was 'Tuppence, the good thing about you is you don't mind having the p*** taken out of you'. Which is just as well really, as I will be soon be blogging about the time she took me headbanging with a bunch of hillbillies let out by their mothers for music night at the Honiton Motel.

Mrs Darling Loggins says she was once told after she'd had a haircut: 'Your hair looks really nice now.' It's a bit like when people say 'you look really well' and you think 'did I look ill before?' But a compliment's a compliment. Another friend was told:' My God, Rubens would have had a field day with that body'. She says it was a long time ago and is grateful she didn't have body issues back then. Mind you, what Mr Grigg said to her sister-in-law was worse. She'd just announced she had lost two stone in weight. 'Christ,' he said. 'You must have been pretty hefty to start with then.'

I once put my foot in it at a friend's house. She was expecting her mum to call so when the doorbell rang, I went to answer it and said: 'Oh, you must be Michelle's mum.' The woman glared, nearly hit me with her handbag and said very tersely: 'No I'm bloody not.' To which I replied, quite cleverly I thought: 'Sorry, Michelle's looks so young, I naturally thought her mum would be young looking too.' It turns out the woman was younger than my friend. Oops, me and my big mouth.

I remember being told I had a behind like an arab mare. I was positively trotting with delight. Until the explanation followed: low slung.

But the best compliment so far was given to neighbour Night Nurse who was told her skirting boards were always so clean. Can you beat that?

That's about it
Love Maddie x

PS I have been told by someone in the village that my blog is a bit bland lately. Well, there are some things you just shouldn't blog. Especially when you are told 'Madge, shut the f***' up'. I am a coward at the best of times, so don't see why I should change now.

Comments

  1. Anonymous20 February 2009 at 16:31

    Don't shut the F up Madge. This is the first of your blogs that I've read and I've found it quite entertaining. How's that for a compliment.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous20 February 2009 at 16:33

    That shouldn't be anonymopus, I'm lampworkbeader from Purple Coo...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Pondside20 February 2009 at 17:06

    I'll be back - this is too good to miss. I loved the post about the weekend in your old hometown. Some things are so weird that they have to be mostly true!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Buggles Balham High Road20 February 2009 at 17:27

    Never bland. Maddie and Bland in the same sentence don't go.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Milla20 February 2009 at 17:56

    You're brave - I think I'd have a fit if I found that people in my village read my blog. Enjoyed this, my first visit, came from PC.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous20 February 2009 at 18:54

    So I've got to strive for clean skirting boards now ? Does that involve being on all fours ?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous20 February 2009 at 20:27

    Don't get many compliments!! But I'll never forget a late aunt telling me how well I looked once. She was massively over weight.

    CJ xx

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous20 February 2009 at 21:02

    Re Sally's Chateau, Never mind the skirting boards, .......just get down there! Mr. G

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous20 February 2009 at 21:04

    Ps Can you believe my last word verification was 'noblaga', now what is that! Mr. G

    ReplyDelete
  10. Faith 22 February 2009 at 13:11

    Hi, I'm from PC too. You've got me racking my brains now for a backhanded compliment... can't think of one.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous6 March 2009 at 13:21

    I'm catching up on your posts after a busy time at work - reading a few in one sitting has the certain makings of a novel - or at least a radio play!!! Get it published girl!!! Lucy (friend of Curious Girl, who put me onto you)!!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

And it's goodnight from me - I'm closing The World From My Window for the last time

By -
Image
A Happy New Year to you all! Here's hoping that 2020 is peaceful, healthy, everything you hope for and full of blue sky bunting. After twelve happy years, I've decided to give up this blog. I wanted to say a big thanks for all your support. The World from my Window has opened many doors (and indeed windows) for me during that time, including an appearance on Channel 5's  The Gadget Show , and a weekly writing slot on the world's oldest weekly magazine for women, The People's Friend . I love sharing my stories with readers of my Maddie's World column and the People's Friend team are a joy to work with. Long may that continue! Through this blog, I've had a loyal host of followers from all over the globe, including particular champions in those dozen years. It's a huge boost and very humbling. Thank you. Since I was a young child, writing has been my thing. I started this blog during a creative writing course with The Open University in 2...
Read more

Just like the Durrells, we moved from Dorset to Corfu, but eight decades later

By -
Image
So, what do you think of it so far? The Durrells , I mean. If you live in the UK, Sunday evenings on the telly have just got a whole lot gentler. The always-watchable Keeley Hawes heads the cast in a series based on Gerald Durrell's Corfu Trilogy. And it's pretty sublime. The warmth and light of Corfu shines through in this very enjoyable series. It's a bit like The Darling Buds of May  only set in Greece. Just the thing for a Sunday evening. It's got me hankering after Corfu, where I lived for a year in 2012-2013. I do pop back there from time to time and I know how lucky I am to have a foot in beautiful West Dorset and another in the jewel of the Ionian (although I have to be careful not to do the splits). Corfu Dorset Just like the Durrells, we left rainy Dorset, pretty much on a whim, for life on a Greek island. Who wouldn't want to up sticks and escape the drudgery of the day job? Especially to Greece. Dorset Corfu But my grown-up g...
Read more

Batten down those hatches, it's recycling day

By -
Image
It's blowing a hooley out there.  The wind is lashing against the windows and the dogs are play fighting in front of the Aga before one of them goes too far and I have to break up the party. It's recycling day today and the wind knows it, whipping up through the street into the square and down the alleyway from the church to present the village with a soggy mess of paper, cereal packets and plastic all along the side of the road, a twice-monthly confetti for the marriage of consumerism and environmental guilt. You can tell a lot about people from what's in their rubbish. Forget about stealing ID, I'm talking about their character - where they shop, the type of people they are. A small, white bottle with a label denoting that it's  kefir,  a fermented milk drink good for the gut, rolls around my doorstep. It's not mine.  I pick it up to dispose of it and can feel there is still some miracle juice inside. It was clearly not to the user's l...
Read more