Back on the road

18th was a big deal when I was that age - no one I know had a 21st.
Don't think I've ever been to one - surely it's completely
anachronistic now?

I'll admit to being completely out of step here (sorry if I appeared
bolshy). I don't have any cousins (in fact, I have to think quite
hard to work out what a cousin is), so I've no real idea whether they
count as close family or not.

 

I've got fucking loads of cousins spread all over the world. I hope
they don't count as close family because about 8 years ago I was seeing
one of mine.

 

Heh, a "Kissing Cousin".

SWMBO, being of clannish extraction is in touch with cousins who are
'twice removed' or something.

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I've been to 2 in as many years. I just stood at the bar, got drunk, and
groped a few AILFs.

Depends on the family. If one of the parents is close to their sibling
and the 2 families hang around a lot, then the cousins can be close too.
In my case, we all drifted apart when we started leading our own lives.

 

....and get served in All Bar One.

 

Switters wrote:

On my paternal side, most of my cousins and I all lived in the same
village, were of silmilar age and hung out together. We all grew up in
each other's homes and none of us had to knock on the back door before
we could enter. It wasn't unusual to sit down to a meal and have a
couple of cousins there with us, and conversely I'd spend as much time
eating at my cousin's houses as I did at my own. We're still close, I
see some of my cousins on a regular basis even though they are all
married off with their own kids now.

On the other hand, I barely know some of my cousins on my mum's side
because most of her siblings emigrated to different parts of the world
from Malta when they married. The ones I am closest to live in Toronto,
Canada and I dare say I see more of them than I do the ones who still
live in Malta.

 

Hmm my mum and her mum walked in on me giving head to my cousin at a
family do. At least we were a tad over 16. Both of them took it to their
graves without a single mention or sideways look, which has amazed me
for decades!

 

snip>

Is this a 'coming out' post or just a guilty secret from the past?

 

Ha! got me checking my original post for typo, you scamp

 

Your original post was quite unambiguous.

 

Surely it's a tradition harking back to the days when 21 was the age of
majority?

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Higgins

#Twenty-one today,
#Twenty-one today.
#I've got the key to the door,
#Never been twenty-one before...

FWIW, I had a party organised for my 21st.

 

Yes, but as Jim says, that was nearly 40 years ago. If you have a
party to celebrate turning 18, then it's a bit cheeky to have a 21st
too, no?

 

I would imagine that it's more driven by family, who still think it's
something special but, since I didn't have a party for either, wibble
flip, etc.

 

Both our families were fine with it once we'd told them. It's not
unusual for first cousins to marry in Malta.

 

I spent mine hooked up to machines that go beep on Godber Ward in South
Wing Hospital after suffering a heart attack[1] in The Flowerpot pub in
Bedford at about 7pm. I'd been on the piss from about 10am and was
fucking slaughtered.

[1] I'd had a much smaller one 8 months previously and been warned by
the docs about my drinking habits as they'd just diagnosed ny
Cardiomyopathy - being 20 years old I thought they were all cunts and
carried on as before, with predictable results.

 

I spent mine on Bardsey Island.

 

My grandparents were first cousins, reportedly.

 

That would explain quite a lot.

 

I'm atypical.

Anyway, in a small subset of a small population, a degree of consanguinity
is inevitable.