Is this normal?
My great-grandad and my grandad were communists. They both worked at the paper-mill, and the communist-party was well represented, particularly amongst the union-members. So they worked in the factory, and were both members of the communist party. Not all that unusual. But the communist party was never going to be a force on a national level, it was too small and insignificant for that. After a while, my grandad thought his vote would be better used to vote Labour, rather than vote communist party. So being a decent sort, he left the communist-party, and joined the Labour party (I'm not talking about the UK here, by the way, different country all together. Labour, back home, was actually relatively far left, particularly back then)
Anyways, a few days after my grandad had joined Labour, his dad came on a little visit. He came three steps into the living-room, sniffed the air, and said "Something stinks in here!", turned around and walked out. They didn't exchange a single word for a little over ten years after that.
Reading a bit between the lines, I think my Great-grandad could be hard work. I knew him as a very tall, skinny and kind old man, but apparently he used to be the local hard-nut in his youth. He also had a great time fighting the Germans during Second World War, well, untill they caught him anyway. He was packed off to a prisoncamp, and basically just "disappeared" A short while after the was was over, he kicked the front door open, and, shaking with rage, demanded to know "What the FU** is going on here!?!?!" Turns out they (Wife and family) had painted the house in a colour he didn't like. He calmed down after they had fed him.
(Lump, Mon 3 Nov 2008, 13:07, Reply)