# Are you Andy Cap?..



## rayrecrok (Nov 21, 2008)

Hey up..

Come on own up are you an Andy Cap, is your wife a Flo?..

It's 50 years since the sixty's, are the male female roles of that era written in stone in your household?..

Do you hoover make the dinner do the washing yada yada yada traditional female roles, or are you an Andy cap and are you a blokes bloke.......

Should be a laugh if you dare post :wink: .

Me the cap fits :roll: 

ray.


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## 747 (Oct 2, 2009)

Of course I'm a blokes bloke.

But I'm saying no more in case the wife sees this thread. :?


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## ChrisandJohn (Feb 3, 2008)

I'm sorry (though not very) to be serious but it was during the 60's that traditional roles, and a lot of other conventions and injustices were challenged by our generation. I find it hard to believe that so many of you are still living with, or harking back to the norms and values of the 50's.

Before I joined Facts in 2008 and fell into its time warp I really thought we'd all moved on. :roll: 


Chris


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## rayrecrok (Nov 21, 2008)

> ChrisandJohn"]I'm sorry (though not very) to be serious but it was during the 60's that traditional roles, and a lot of other conventions and injustices were challenged by our generation. I find it hard to believe that so many of you are still living with, or harking back to the norms and values of the 50's.
> 
> Before I joined Facts in 2008 and fell into its time warp I really thought we'd all moved on. :roll:
> 
> Chris


Hey up.

From Chris's point of view and welcome.

ray.


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## HarleyDave (Jul 1, 2007)

We celebrate out 40th (Ruby - Flo's mate...) Wedding Anniv on St Andrews Day (30th Nov)

I do my bit with the housework and - partly because I'm ex-squaddie - I do my own ironing

Cheers

Dave


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## 747 (Oct 2, 2009)

I almost replied to the post by Chris but bit my tongue and slept on it before replying.

I grew up in a Pit village and I am basically the same as my Father. My Mother did not have a job outside the home (as was the norm) but could have if she so desired. She was not a 'chattel', the roles were more defined those days because it was before the start of the Consumer revolution when it became imperative to have the latest gadgets or expensive items such as a car or own ones home. Their life had been conditioned by growing up in poverty and hard times.

So yes, the lot of women has changed but in my view not necessarily for the better. Women expect men to do more around the house but they have paid a hell of a price for those few concessions in the home. There are more divorces which would suggest unhappiness, children are growing up with single Parents and the Country is awash with personal debt.

My Mother was treated with respect, my Father handed his wages over every Friday and got pocket money in return. While my Mother saw to the housework, shopping etc, my Dad saw to the garden where he grew all kinds of vegetables for the family. He certainly never sat about flicking through hundreds of Channels on a TV, playing childrens games on an X Box or any of the other distractions available today. He (and many other of his kind) had no truck with anyone who did not treat their family well ...... those men were told to their face exactly what they were and shunned.

As I said at the start of this post, I am much the same as my Father and do not see that as a failure or fault. Last Saturday night I and the rest of my immediate family attended a surprise 40th Wedding Anniversary Party for my Sons In-Laws. We sat together at a table and it struck me how proud I should be of them. My 2 kids are doing well, are happy and have a great attitude to life. They both put themselves out to help others because they have the awareness that it is the right thing to do. My 4 Grandkids are in their teens and appear to be on the right track to be productive and happy. That is because it all stemmed from their home life and upbringing. Most of all I enjoyed all the laughs we had because they have my daft sense of humour.

Therefore, given a choice, I would return to the 50's life as it was much better than today (even though we are comfortable financially).

Oh yes finally. I can iron a shirt better than my wife, can do basic cooking, can keep a house clean and tidy. In short, I am not dependant on anyone.


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## spykal (May 9, 2005)

747 said:


> In short, I am not dependant on anyone.


But if we were not here you would miss us .....wouldn't you?

Nice post by the way :wink:

Mike


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

Andy Capp, the man, the myth, the legend


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## daffodil (Aug 7, 2014)

I wear the trousers in my family. But Linda tells me which pair to wear :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## teljoy (Jul 4, 2005)

747 said:


> Therefore, given a choice, I would return to the 50's life as it was much better than today (even though we are comfortable financially).
> 
> Oh yes finally. I can iron a shirt better than my wife, can do basic cooking, can keep a house clean and tidy. In short, I am not dependant on anyone.


And you can compose a post with a beginning, middle and end and with paragraphs.

So much easier on the eye. Some posts nowadays are a struggle to understand and certainly makes me switch off.

Thanks for that. It was a pleasure to read.

Terry


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## rugbyken (Jan 16, 2006)

Agree with 747 (must stop this) my dad ran the local soccer team played darts 3 times a week and worked at a mill and also as a gardener though he was a mans man inside the house there was never any doubt who was in charge, mum was a full time housewife with 5 kids and none of the labour saving devices common today so it was a full time job , when my youngest sister was about 2 she got herself a cleaning job at a big house about 3 miles away cycled there & back every morning, I can remember this job bought the first Hoover a Sputnik and a twin tub washing machine, apparently I had a deprived childhood! never noticed we were all the same, didn't blame anyone else we thought we'd really gone up in the world when we moved from an old cottage into a brand new council house ,
The original post asked about traditional roles and in essence they remain the same but I bought our families first car a minivan at 18 so none of the modern maintenance and car wash roles existed back in the fifties, washday always Monday was a full day's heavywork coppers boiling etc trapping my fingers in the mangle is a clear memory, putting the machine on overnight is not quite the same ,
My mom thought things had gone way to far in the sixties when my brothers wife a nurse not only worked full time but nights as well, no home life she said , 
What will our kids see as traditional male roles washing the car, operating the remote, cooking on the Barbie???.
One task that seems to be an almost exclusively male ones is emptying the toilet cassette,


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

No chance of me getting away with owt as lad, I had to do everything to help my mother when I got home from school, or it was kick up the arse from my tosser of a father, he was an evil git, we had coal delivered into the cellar, and he found the biggest heaviest galvanised bucket I had ever seen before or since, and expected me to carry it full to the brim with coal up stairs, I never did manage it, and paid for it each time.

So my domesticity was hard won, I can do anything Liz does around the house I can do it faster and I can do it better FFS I hope she doesn't read this, but she likes to be in control of it all, so being brought up to appreciate women, despite arseholes for parents, I'm happy to let her rule the roost most of the time, and if there is something I don't care for then we discuss it, sometimes loudly  it's system which works for us, she only has to ask and I'm there doing what ever is needed, except gardening, I do NOT do gardens, I'll move the heavy stuff, but that's all, I'd do more if it stayed done, but it keeps bloody growing.


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## daffodil (Aug 7, 2014)

My partner Linda is disabled with severe Arthritis ,so I do all the major cleaning hoovering etc ,which funnily enough I enjoy,I especially love cooking, I made sure all 3 of the boys could cook, clean, and sew a button on or repair a small rip or tear, as I believe every man should be self sufficient, also thank god for modern appliances or I do not think I could cope like the girls in the fifties (mum included) did


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## JohnandChristine (Mar 19, 2012)

what a lovely thread....I hope it isn't ruined by deviation into old jokes about 14 kids in a shoe box.

I grew up in a traditional midlands family council house where Dad worked in the nearby Jaguar car factory, did his allotment, fixed anything that broke around the house, hung the wallpaper and painted the ceilings etc. He also had a saturday chimney sweeping sideline to help make ends meet . Mum was the homemaker and we came home from school to the welcoming aroma of dinner cooking and a clean house and washing done.

As a kid I learned all the things my Dad did.

AT 18 I left to go to University and then needed other skills like cooking,ironing, keeping domestic order, and budegetting. Thats when Mum's role suddenly became important to me.

Chris and I married in 1973 and we set out for her to be at home for the kids and I would bring home the bacon. Somehow we made it work for us, and have no regrets that our two sons are now both happily settled with their own homes and families, they have a good work ethic, a good sense of family values , and we are so proud of them.

I used to feel sorry for the latch-key kids who would sometimes be at our house as their parents weren't getting home till late each night, and Chris would always have someone else's kids in the car for the school run on wet days, as their parents had jobs and the kids were fending for themselves at what we thought was far too young an age.

I'm now just retired and proud that as well as all the manly stuff, I can wash, iron, cook, hoover, and shop perfectly well. Handy while Chris is away helping to tend her very ill mother. Sadly her Dad is of the old school and it shows.

I would agree with retracing some of the 50's values as they have done me no harm at all, but I'm also very proud to have moved on too.


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

JohnandChristine said:


> what a lovely thread....I hope it isn't ruined by deviation into old jokes about 14 kids in a shoe box./quote]
> 
> if it does you started it


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## daffodil (Aug 7, 2014)

40 years ago,I worked in Saudi Arabia , our boss seconded us to a road white lining crew ,as our work had finished early,(civil engineering) that job was for an extra 4 weeks then it would be home time, I was earning fabulous money then £1000 a week tax free, so obviously I did not want to go back to the U/K 

Luckily for me the white lining crews cook had to go back urgently and not one of them could boil an egg never mind knocking up a nice Sunday roast(no pork allowed) so I got to be the main cook and stayed on for an extra 10 months until the contract finished. I must have been the highest paid cook in the world, all thanks to my mum showing me how, and at 84 years young she still gives me tips


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## Jimblob44 (Oct 26, 2013)

My parents had the traditional roles, dad was a surveyor who worked all over Scotland but made it home, late, each night and left very early the next morning so we only really saw him holidays and weekends. My mum was a midwife who gave up work when we kids came along (five of us) to work full time as chief cook and nappy washer.
We never knew any different, we all did our chores as quickly as we could so we would be out playing football, peevers or any number of games that didn't require computer chips.
At the weekends my dad cooked the dinners and organised me and my sibs into a housework rota to give my mum a rest and at every holiday my dad would pack us all into his ford anglia and head off to our wee holiday cottage on the east coast (an old miners cottage at the pricely rent of £1 per year! ), again mum got to put her feet up and we took care of everything except the cooking.
Nowadays me and my wife still seem to be chief cook and bottle washers to our own kids despite them being grown and living away from home, barely a day goes by without a phonecall looking for help with one thing or another, usually something that if they made a decent effort they could do for themselves, that said I am very proud of them, they all work and are nice decent people who never really gave us any cause for concern as they grew up.
I don't know if Flo and Andy ever had kids, if they did I think their cartoon capers would have had a very different slant. :lol: 
Nowadays, I do virtually all the housework and cooking due to my wife being disabled, though she insists on packing the washing machine because of all my "clothes getting dyed or ruined" antics in the past. (Once when we only had a twintub I used persil washing up liquid instead of washing powder, the kitchen ended up under four feet of foam!)
I am Andy, when it comes to sleeping on the couch :wink: and Alison becomes Flo after too much wine :lol: 

Jim.


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

I dunno about 50's values as I wasnt born until 1966 but I could be a bit "Andy Capp". Im definately a lazy git and will always take the easy option although I have worked hard once or twice. 

I have basically had an easy life. My father was a headmaster and my mother a teacher. We even had a cleaner in the 70's which was considered a bit posh. I think perhaps that because my father and mother were in Education and I was the youngest of 3 by the time it got around to bringing me up I think they had just had enough of kids so I pretty much did what I liked.

When I left home at 25 I basically couldnt do much for myself but luckily I met Mrs D who has been looking after me ever since. I dont have to do much here either although it doesnt stop her whinging about it. I prefer life in the motorhome as roles are clearly defined. All I have to do is plan where we are going, empty the loo and fill with water, drive the thing and come on here when stuff breaks.


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## rayrecrok (Nov 21, 2008)

Hey up.

As we now live in the caravan on site at the coast domestic stuff is at the minimum, it takes a couple of minutes to wiz round with the Hoover which I will do, cooking cleaning washing shopping is as always down to Sandra, who as well as being the rich one with the best pensions courtesy of the NHS and a private one and state pension, beats me hands down with my state and two private pensions..

Me... Like Kev I don't do dirt digging, I do mow the grass round the caravan as the site guys when they do it, leave all the grass so it gets walked in the van.. I don't do washing up as the water does my hands the detergent affects me and my hands crack open, I do all the technical stuff as Sandra is not allowed to touch anything with buttons on, remote and stuff, I also do all the driving in the van and the car as well as deciding where we are going, you know, what do you want to do or go, her I dunno you decide, we both empty the bog or fill the water ..

So definite his and her roles with the ground rules well set out when we were married in the early sixties, like our first shopping trip to one of the new fangled supermarkets, Sandra walking round with me pushing the trolley, Sandra putting stuff in, me looking at it then putting it back on the shelf. We get to the checkout she looks in the nearly empty basket looks at me, then when we were outside she blows her top and said that's the last time you go shopping with me..

Me result :wink: :lol: :lol: :lol: 

ray.


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## rugbyken (Jan 16, 2006)

For clear role definition I like the ones Paul Newman explained on the Parkinson show once he said
" I decide all the important stuff like whether we should invade Granada and whether we should have an election , my wife does all the small stuff like where we should live and where the kids go to school"


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