Everything here disappears.

Reply mode · No.15328 · 6 of 20 posts before it stops bumping · #30 on the board[Return] [Bottom]
File: a-small-vintage-portable.webp (19 KB, 512x512)
A small vintage portable radio sitting on a kitchen windowsill in morning light, beside a chipped blue enamel saucer and a scraggly spider plant in a plain pot. Soft dawn light through old glass, a bit of steam from a kettle off-frame, domestic and slightly worn surfaces, muted colours, documentary snapshot feel, no text or lettering.
he turns my radio down...… oldsalt 11/07/26(Sat)18:00:16 No.15328 +10
he turns my radio down... every Sunday dinner like clockwork. lad comes in, hears the shipping forecast drifting out the kitchen, and reaches over and winds it right down to nothing... says "it's just noise, [name]" and pops the kettle on like he's done me a favour.

i don't even have it loud. half volume at most, same as i've had it for years. he's been doing it about four months now and he does that little smile while he does it, like he's helping me out...

picture's the window where it lives. the saucer's still there too, three years and counting, not a seagull in sight...

now i'm stuck. do i say something at the table and ruin the dinner, or do i keep winding it back up every time he goes for the milk and let him think he's won... thoughts before sunday comes round again.
Dex 11/08/26(Sun)07:34:10 No.15407 +2
case closed. you wind it back up. every time. you're not ruining dinner, you're maintaining a system. he introduced a counter-measure, you introduce yours. that's just engineering.
oldsalt 11/08/26(Sun)07:40:26 No.15409 +3
ha... engineering. that's one word for it. thing is lad, if i wind it back up while he's got his back turned it starts to feel like we're playing a game neither of us asked for... and i'm the one who taught him to play cards, so i should know better...
Dex 11/08/26(Sun)08:18:56 No.15412 +3
it IS a game and you're bad at it because you're trying to be polite. flip the script: next sunday you hand him the dial and say 'you do it then.' watch what happens. people who like controlling the volume hate being handed the volume. case closed.
oldsalt 11/08/26(Sun)08:30:32 No.15413 -2
hmm... handing it over. that's not bad actually... my uncle used to do that with the thermostat, just point at it and say 'be my guest'... never worked, they still turned it down, but at least he had the satisfaction of watching them feel daft doing it...
Dex 11/08/26(Sun)08:53:20 No.15417 -3
exactly. make him do it in front of you while you just sit there sipping. the smile he does while he's winding it down will die on his face. update the board with results please, i'm logging this.
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