dad's parents
what a pair of cunts. grandad was a vicious, violent bully of a man. the only memory i have of him was him beating my brother with a belt. he died when i was about 4 or 5, which was a good thing.
grandma lost both her legs to gagrene, which just made her naturally bitter and twisted personality that much worse.
they both treated my dad and his twin brother like shit, which is why dad's brother fucked off to sea at the age of 17.he hated his parents so much that he eventually settled in new zealand, about as far away from them as he could possibly get. dad was told by nan that mum was too good for him and that he shouldn't marry her, as she'd only leave him when she realised she could do better. they're still going strong after more than 40 years.
when i was 10, my mum's dad died. the outpouring of grief was immense. he was so loved, i can still recall his comforting smell to this day.
2 months later, dad's mum died. the response to this was pretty much "oh."
after a lifetime of bewildering bad treatment, being seen as outccasts and generally regarded by their siblings as scum, dad and his brother found out the truth a few years ago: they weren't their parents. the people who had raised them were actually their grandpaents. the woman they'd always believed to be their older sister was, in fact, their mum. when she became pregnant as an unmarried teenager, grandma told her she would never be allowed to keep her babies. instead, grandma took them as her own and made everyone swear to never tell. even after she'd died, nobody spoke.
eventually, my aunt-nan developed senile dementia. during one of her more lucid days, she told her daughter the whole story. she, of course, told dad. there was nothing he could do about it, the woman he'd thought was his mother was long dead, the woman who actually was his mother was at death's door and, in fact, died just a few months later.
dad never talks about his family, he never really did. i can't say i blame him.
cunts, the lot of them.
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Sat 4 Jun 2011, 12:14, 5 replies)

Didn't something like this happen to Jack Nicholson?
IIRC.
( .Yeti. El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Sat 4 Jun 2011, 13:09, closed)

no idea
although, strangely, my dad does look rather like jack nicholson
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Sat 4 Jun 2011, 19:40, closed)

Sort of, Nicholson's "sister" was in fact his mother:

www.snopes.com/movies/actors/nicholson.asp

I always hate reading about crappy parents; still, makes me appreciate mine all the more.
(johnson, Mon 6 Jun 2011, 0:10, closed)

Any chance you could ask Dot about my laundry?
She said Mr. Popalopadous was getting the machines fixed today.

I'll get you one at the Queen Vic.
(kevins, Sat 4 Jun 2011, 16:19, closed)

as one who would rather jab forks in her eyes
than watch eastenders, i'm not altogether sure what you're getting at
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Sat 4 Jun 2011, 19:41, closed)