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Nostalgia or Recent History?
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Message 1.听
Posted by Tas (U11050591) on Tuesday, 22nd March 2011
I would like to ask you guys and girls in Britain to give three things from your childhood experience, that were in Britain that are noteworthy and not there any more.
I will start off by giving one thing (Curency) and reserve the other two for later.
When I was a young boy at school we learnt how to handle ( the arithmetic of) Rupees, annas and pice, and also how to handle Pounds, shillings and pence. At that time I learnt about a British coin, the Farthing, which was supposed to be 1/4 of a an old pence.
I never saw this coin all the time I was in Britain, except one day when I went o the grocers to buy some thing and lo and behold, the grocer lady handed me four tiny coins and they were Farthings. I never spent them but kept them with me as a kind of souvenir.
Another interesting coin was Threepence, pronounced "Thrupence" It was yellow and not round but had a number of sides.
In those days they also had a very different 5-pound note; it was white and made of paper unlike the usual currency paper. It was rather large, almost like a handkerchief. You folded it about three times and put it in your pocket and things were so cheap then it lasted you for a whole week. You felt happy and substantial with a 5-pound note in your pocket, something like Gregory Peck in the film "The Million Pound Note".
Many things were then quoted in 'Guineas,' like suits at the tailoring house of Alexander's, or shoes at C&A. I guess those coins and units of money are now quite forgotten.
Tas -
Message 2
Posted by Jak (U1158529) on Tuesday, 22nd March 2011
Ah Tas! Real money.
Never really got used to all this decimal stuff - it's only been in since 1971.
But there's a strange thing.
... the Farthing, which was supposed to be 1/4 of a an old pence.听
Before decimalisation, it was always "a penny". Then (despite the word "penny" still being on the new coin) you started to hear people taling about "one pence" - which always makes me wince. Very strange.
The newer farthings were pretty little coins with a wren on the back, but they weren't used much in my memory, except for a loaf of bread which I think was something (a few pence) - farthing, in our local Co-op.
You actually had a big white five-pound note? By heck, you were lucky!
I once found a ten-bob note though. Riches! -
Message 3
Posted by Sambista (U4068266) on Tuesday, 22nd March 2011
Tas -
Your fivers were quite probably "bank" rather than "Treasury" notes!
Yes, I remember the 12-sided 3d - and the older, smaller, round silver "Joey" 3d bit. We kept ours to put in the Xmas pud - they were silver rather than cupro-nickel and thus supposedly safer.
What three things do I remember?
Firstly, the trolley buses clattering over the overhead points into Carl Street depot - and the sight of some of the smaller "clippies" more-or-less airborne holding the points on. The "whoooo" sound as the trolley buses accelerated away will live with me to my dying day.
Secondly, the gush of smoke and steam, first on one side of the road, then the other, as the goods trains went under the bridge under the Bloxwich Road. We always waved to the crews - and they always waved back.
Third - the Saturday film club at the Rosum cinema in Leamore. I and my cousins (2 girls, all under 10) used to walk up there about a mile, unaccompanied, for a couple of hours of serials and cartoons (no morning TV on the 麻豆约拍, then the only channel, on a Saturday). An ice cream cone was 6d, admission 9d, later 1/-, and a frozen Jubbly was 4d. One of those would last through the whole program, but was just a lump of flavourless ice by the time you came out, all the orange having long been sucked out. -
Message 4
Posted by raundsgirl (U2992430) on Tuesday, 22nd March 2011
I still keep some silver thruppences that were my grandma's to put in the Christmas pud!
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Message 5
Posted by Tas (U11050591) on Tuesday, 22nd March 2011
Hi Raundsgirl, Urlugal,
Raundsgirl, what are you going to do with those silver thrupences. Hope you will make some Christmas pudding. I guess modern youngster do not care much about the old Christmas pud, do they?
Urlugal, I did not see the trolleys. However, i do recall the old London Taxi cabs which had seemingly one door missing. They kept your suitcase there, and the cabbies invariably celled you 'Guv.'
Those morning play houses must have been a lot of fun. I remember when I came to Britain there was only one TV channel, the 麻豆约拍 and it started at 6 PM, ended at 11. London, this magnificent city used to shut down around 11 PM. All the London buses stopped around 11:30 PM.
There used to be Lyons Corner Houses, with white facade and gold script; with typically British fare, like Steak & Kidney Pie.
I do not know the difference between Treasury and Bank currency. In my days there used to be only the 1 pound note, the ten-shillings note in pink and the 5 pound note completely white.
Tas -
Message 6
Posted by Tas (U11050591) on Tuesday, 22nd March 2011
Hi Jak,
Since I have lived away from Britain for the last 51 years, I forget and expect the same prices, the same things as in my time. I am a bit like Rip Van Winkle whenever I visit Britain. However, I always love it.
Tas -
Message 7
Posted by Gran (U14388334) on Tuesday, 22nd March 2011
I'm like you Tas, been away for 45 years, but never been back, I would probably be quite lost, I remember if ever we got one of those old 5 pound notes we had to sign on the back for some reason before someone would take it off us.
Gran -
Message 8
Posted by raundsgirl (U2992430) on Tuesday, 22nd March 2011
I still make Christmas puds, Tas, and every silver 'joey' has to be accounted for! -
Message 9
Posted by Silver Jenny (U12795676) on Tuesday, 22nd March 2011
I am in England.
memories, let's see.
Watching Queen Elizabeth 11 Coronation in 1953 on Great Aunt's TV . It was a tiny screen in a very large wooden cabinent. Half the neighbourood was crammed into her sitting room, because she was the only person who had a TV then. People brought plates of sandwiches and cakes and we drank gallons of tea between us. My mother was worried grandfather would do himself harm because he refused to relinquish the best armchair to got to the bathroom despite being assured it would not be taken by anyone else. The TV picture was not good but we watched in wonder all day. A great day all round despite the wet weather. An older cousin had slept on the pavement along the route of the Coronation coach, so she could see the Queen herself. It rained but the Queen of Tonga rode in an open carriage and the nation loved her, though not quite as much as the Queen. And GA's cat laddered my nylons!. [precious stockings.]
Changing overnight to decimal currency in 1972.
Watching Concorde fly over our house near Cardiff like the most beautiful graceful bird in the sky. -
Message 10
Posted by Silver Jenny (U12795676) on Tuesday, 22nd March 2011
sorry, change to decimal currency was 1971.
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Message 11
Posted by Tas (U11050591) on Tuesday, 22nd March 2011
Hi Jenny,
I remember the coronation of the Queen. I watched it on color film in India, but my brother, a barrister, was then in London with his wife. They told me a lot of people had bought periscopes to see the procession; it was very difficult to find a place to see any part of it.
Then 1 British Pound cost Rs. 10, now it requires Rs. 74 for a British pound of far lesser value. I tell you, despite the war Britain was dirt cheap in those days. And Germany was a lot cheaper and far more destroyed by bombing.
Those were the days of the bubble cars; Heinkel, Isetta, Messerschmitt. All the German aircraft companies, that were not then allowed to make planes, were making these cars with bubble tops. Some, like the Messerchmitt looked like a Motor scooter, with tandem seating and for reverse gear, they just let the engine roll backwards, so it could go backwards at 60 MPH. They just hoped no one would do that in practice. Thank God they still had miles instead of kilometers, and Fahrenheit in temperature instead of Celsius.
Why do these people always go and change units; it is most annoying.
As a retired nuclear safety engineer I am comfortable with milli-rem of radiation. I hate these milli-sievert. One has to convert the whole thing back to mrem. Why do these people insist on messing up our lives for no good reason?
Tas -
Message 12
Posted by TheodericAur (U14260004) on Tuesday, 22nd March 2011
Hi Tas
Regarding currency there was also the silver sixpence (a 鈥渢anner鈥) and a shilling (a 鈥渂ob鈥) and a half a crown and a 鈥済uinea鈥 which was 21 shillings.
Trolley Buses in the West End of London run off electricity (overhead lines) and smogs in London (pea soupers).
I also remember steam trains and engine sheds with turntables for the locomotives and bonfires, glass milk bottles, concentrated orange juice for children available on ration.
So much long gone 鈥 some good some bad 鈥 all comforting somehow
Kind Regards - TA -
Message 13
Posted by Sambista (U4068266) on Tuesday, 22nd March 2011
Re TVs - we had our first set (12" screen, no less!) for the Coronation, and loads of neighbours came round to watch it. I remember the first ITV signal arriving in the midlands - from Sutton Coldfield, and everyone knew the advert jingles by heart. You could get a "converter" box which gave you both channels.
I also recall "trains" of Element's coal barges chugging along the canal to Walsall power station - a dozen or so loaded butties behind a single tug, coming from the Anglesey arm where there was a turning circle, and an overhead loading gantry of rusty corrugated iron. When we had a severe winter in 1963, they ran the icebreaker, a smallish steel boat, towed by a pair of tractors, with all the boatmen holding on to a bar, rocking the vessel from side to side. -
Message 14
Posted by somewhatsilly (U14315357) on Tuesday, 22nd March 2011
My great grandfather got a TV for his 70th birthday, before transmissions started up here, so when it arrived we sat transfixed watching the interference. The first transmission was brought forward to cover the king's funeral. The day the king died, the headmaster came into my primary class, told us the news and then we all stood at our desks and sang God Save the Queen. But then those were the days when people stood for the National Anthem at the end of a picture show.
When ITV started up, at least one of my friends was not allowed to watch it because it was 'common'.
Glasgow trams looming out of the fog with their legendary clippies. A plane load of them would have sorted out Gaddafi long ago and had him apologising for his bad behaviour. -
Message 15
Posted by Tas (U11050591) on Tuesday, 22nd March 2011
I am reading a book about the 1860s to the 1910s. When King Edward VII died there were many, many kings from all over Europe for the funeral, including the German Kaiser, who typically hated his uncle but also loved the English and often wrote messages to his cousin the Czar in English.
There were also several Maharajahs and Nawabs from India. They must have already been in England, because I can't imagine any one traveling by ship on a 20 to 25 day journey and being in time for the funeral.
I recently saw the film "The Kings Speech." I remember listening to the King's Christmas speeches on several occasions in my childhood, but it never occurred to me at all that the King had a speech impediment. It never appeared to be so from his Christmas speeches. Did any one else hear King George VI speak? He used to be on all our coins and notes in India.
Tas -
Message 16
Posted by Tas (U11050591) on Wednesday, 23rd March 2011
Hi TA,
Regarding currency there was also the silver sixpence (a 鈥渢anner鈥) and a shilling (a 鈥渂ob鈥) and a half a crown and a 鈥済uinea鈥 which was 21 shillings.听
Do you remember those Florins coins (two shillings) and those Half Crowns ( 2-1/2 shillings). The most difficult coin to get hold of was the shilling, because every one needed it for the gas meter; no shilling: no heating, no bathing, etc.
You had all the Roman names for coins in those days. My teacher at school told me that like for Rupees the term was Rs. for pounds it was L with a bar; for shillings it was 's'; for pence it was 'd'. Why L,s, d; for the Roman coins Libra, solidus, denarus. I may have spelt those names slightly wrong, because I am writing from memory and it has been a very long time since that day in class.
I suspect the Iraqi 'Dinar' also comes from the same Roman coin, 'denarus'.
Tas -
Message 17
Posted by Tas (U11050591) on Wednesday, 23rd March 2011
I just checked: it should not be 'denarus' but rather 'Denarius'. The correct is Libra, Solidus, Denarius.
Here is some thing about Roman and Arab coinage:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solidus_(coin)
Tas -
Message 18
Posted by Thomas_II (U14690627) on Wednesday, 23rd March 2011
for pounds it was L with a bar; for shillings it was 's'; for pence it was 'd'. Why L,s, d; for the Roman coins Libra, solidus, denarus.听
That麓s most interesting to me, Tas. Thanks for raising this thread and explaining these abbreviations.
Regards,
Thomas -
Message 19
Posted by Patrick Wallace (U196685) on Wednesday, 23rd March 2011
But then those were the days when people stood for the National Anthem at the end of a picture show.听
Well, some did, and plenty of others pushed past to get to the pub or the bus-stop before the queues built up. [See, for example, an episode of Dad's Army, where Mainwaring gets squashed in the rush] -
Message 20
Posted by somewhatsilly (U14315357) on Wednesday, 23rd March 2011
I must have gone to a better class of flea pit! Not difficult, there were 6 within 10 minutes walk. That's something else I miss, getting your money's worth, the main feature,a B movie, a documentary, a cartoon, the news, Pearl and Dean ads and trailers. Now you see just one film, trailers and ads, all to the sound of chomping and slurping, mobiles going off, loud chatter and, if you're really unlucky, someone behind, who's seen it already, telling his pal what happens next. What happened to the usherette with her torch and commanding manner?
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Message 21
Posted by Sambista (U4068266) on Wednesday, 23rd March 2011
The best thing about attending one of the cinemas in Walsall was - on the Bridge, by the bus station, were two coke-fired ovens run by jacket potato salesmen, and, in season, they also sold hot chestnuts. Now I have to do them under the grill, and they are but a pale imitation.
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Message 22
Posted by Catigern (U14419012) on Wednesday, 23rd March 2011
3 things...
The Falklands War
Mrs Thatcher
Corporal punichment in schools -
Message 23
Posted by islanddawn (U7379884) on Wednesday, 23rd March 2011
"Well, some did, and plenty of others pushed past to get to the pub or the bus-stop before the queues built up."
You were lucky, in Australia we had to stand for God Save the Queen before the first film. There were no sneeky exits and missing it, well not if you didn't want to be seated before the film started anyway.
Heavens that was long ago, back in the days when it was permitted to smoke in the theatre. -
Message 24
Posted by bandick (U14360315) on Wednesday, 23rd March 2011
Farthings鈥 why did we still have to do our sums with the blasted things鈥 when they ceased to be legal tender after 31 December 1960.
Black Jacks at 4 a penny, but you couldn鈥檛 buy 4 for 4 farthings.
I remember buying and ice cream with a silver three penny piece, a 鈥榡oey鈥 and a frozen jubbly, but I thought they were 6d a 鈥榯anner鈥, and buying 2 pennyworth of chips on the way home from scouts. -
Message 25
Posted by GrandFalconRailroad (U14802912) on Wednesday, 23rd March 2011
My first memory of history/politics was my TA Dad coming back from Germany c. 1988 and telling me with all the confidence of the SIS/CIA/GCHQ/NSA that "Son! The Berlin Wall might fall in your life time but I won't live to see it" - great prediction Dad (he's 66 now).
But I certainly remember the invasion of Panama, Tianamen Square, the night Mum woke me up to tell me Desert Storm begun and vaguely about the poll tax riots (sadly as it didn't involve cool jet fighters and night-vision camera's I don't think I was that bothered + it ivolved "hippies" so Mum and Dad thought the police were right even if they hated Maggie and the disliked John Major).
I will always remember "Swampy" and the Newbury by-pass fiasco/sage/epic tale - depending on your politics.
But as much as all that I will always remember the first time I ever saw a Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker at Sunderland Air Show and thinking (and I treachorously) I rather like you more than the Red Arrows.
Oh and the Mercury button in phone boxes. -
Message 26
Posted by Tas (U11050591) on Wednesday, 23rd March 2011
Jak,
Do you remember they used to say, "That will be three hay pence" which in the beginning puzzled me a bit until I realized they meant three half pennies.
Yes those were times when you could actually buy some thing for three half pennies.
I remember milk being delivered to your door by the milkman, in sealed milk bottles, with red tops.
However, hamburgers were then a rarity. The first hamburger I ate was near Victoria Station, in a place which claimed that it had introduced Hamburgers to Britain. Then came those Wimpy restaurants, which had some kind of Hamburgers. Finally you got real Hamburgers when McDonald opened a branch in London.
Now you have every kind of food in restaurants in London except good, wholesome British food. Believe me, I looked for a truly British restaurant, without success.
Tas -
Message 27
Posted by Silver Jenny (U12795676) on Wednesday, 23rd March 2011
GFR, I was like your dad, I never thought the wall would fall in my lifetime. My OH who was in the RAF went on a visit to the wall when he was stationed in Germany. There was a Canadian soldier in the party who had relatives in East Germany. He could see the village where they lived over the wire but he did not get to see them.
I had forgotten about 'Swampy' - what a character.
I do remember Kate Adie reporting form Tianamen Square and talking about some medical students who had been told if they treated any wounded they would be shot themselves. What a dilemma ofr them. -
Message 28
Posted by bandick (U14360315) on Wednesday, 23rd March 2011
a german student bought me a piece of the wall when he came to visit me...
Getting dumped off to play on the Cutty Sark while my father went shopping with my sisters鈥 or sometimes instead dumped on the Woolwich ferry to spend hours going back and forth, eventually ending up down in the engine room watching the massive steam engine, well it was big to me then.
My favourite uncle worked on the railways, and sometimes took me to the engine sheds at Clapham? to see his old cronies, cor鈥 I loved that.
Birthdays鈥 getting a little book of post office saving stamps, bit like a cheque book, I think they had prince Charles head on them鈥 two pages鈥 values 10/- a fortune, my mother always said she鈥檇 cash them for me鈥 never saw the money. -
Message 29
Posted by Tas (U11050591) on Thursday, 24th March 2011
Hi Bandick,
Birthdays鈥 getting a little book of post office saving stamps, bit like a cheque book, I think they had prince Charles head on them鈥 two pages鈥 values 10/- a fortune, my mother always said she鈥檇 cash them for me鈥 never saw the money.听
I sympathize with you. One time there was some family event, a wedding or something. In Indian weddings, there are a lot of little traditions and one always gets a little sum of money for fulfilling your role. I made quite a bit of money during this wedding ( I was 9 years old) and let my Mom hold all that money for me. I never saw any of it again, except they bought me a small rubber powered airplane in Bombay, which never flew properly. It was very well packed, in a nice box, but that was all.
Tas -
Message 30
Posted by bandick (U14360315) on Thursday, 24th March 2011
Hi tas鈥 it鈥檚 dreadful recalling things like that鈥 one time I was given two half-crown鈥檚 5/-鈥
oooh the feeling of having that much spending power, and I remember the clammy feel of them in my hot sticky sweaty hands鈥 almost as if I knew they and me would soon be parted, but when I had to brush my teeth I put them on the side of the bath and after came downstairs鈥
suddenly my clammy hands were not so clammy and I realised I鈥檇 left my wealth upstairs where I went rushing back to discover鈥 they鈥檇 gone鈥 mother had had them with the promise of she鈥檇 look after them for me鈥 even then I knew that鈥檒l be the day, and a few weeks later I plucked up the courage to ask, 鈥榳here鈥檚 my money鈥, her reply鈥 oh I brought you a vest with them鈥
wow just what a six year old wanted for a birthday present鈥 worst of all those vests were those orrible itchy creamy dirty looking things that I hated. Ah for the good old days eh? -
Message 31
Posted by Tas (U11050591) on Thursday, 24th March 2011
wow just what a six year old wanted for a birthday present鈥 worst of all those vests were those orrible itchy creamy dirty looking things that I hated. Ah for the good old days eh?听
When my Mom brought me to live in England, there was often a lot of rain, so she bought me a dark, navy-blue raincoat, which I always hated, but that was a common color with school kids. I kept that raincoat, even when I was in College, for several years. There was never any justification for a new one. Then one day I had taken it off in a London bus and I 'forgot' it there in the bus; probably my subconscious mind thought this would be a great opportunity 'to loose it.' I got off and soon realized something was missing. There used to be a 'lost and found' department with London Transport and typically if you lost anything, you found it there. I never looked for it there or any where; I was in a celebratory mood. Soon I had bought myself a completely new raincoat and was happy. It was in adult colors and style.
Tas -
Message 32
Posted by somewhatsilly (U14315357) on Thursday, 24th March 2011
Oh Tas, what memories, a navy trench coat with a hood for the rain and a navy napp coat with a red lining for the cold days, and Clarke's sandals.
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Message 33
Posted by Jak (U1158529) on Thursday, 24th March 2011
Tas,
As I grew up with the things, it never struck me as strange to call a halfpenny a "haipny", a "hawpny", or "an aipny" - depending on which part of Britain I was in.
Yes those were times when you could actually buy some thing for three half pennies听
Three-ha'pence was the lowest fare on the London Underground (one or maybe two stops) when I started work in 1950. That winter I sometimes bought a ticket and went round and round the Circle Line, reading a book, just for a bit of warmth, because I didn't have the necessary shilling for the gas-fire in my chilly bed-sit.
Had to watch the platform indicators every now & again, just to make sure the train was still continuing round the Circle. Didn't want to end up a long walk away from Victoria. Also had to avoid trains with manual sliding doors (there were still a few of them about) where passengers would get off, leaving the doors wide open, which produced a freezing draught when the train was moving.
Your remarks about British food ring a bell. Went to Yorkshire a few years ago, looking forward to some genuine Yorkshire puddings.... ahhh!
But no. Curry? Moussaka? Chop Suey? Kebabs? Hamburgers? - no problem. But Yorkshire puddings were elusive. Only saw one place that sold them, and (of course!) that was just after I'd eaten a huge pizza. -
Message 34
Posted by Tas (U11050591) on Thursday, 24th March 2011
HI Jak,
Curry? Moussaka? Chop Suey? Kebabs? Hamburgers? - no problem. But Yorkshire puddings were elusive. Only saw one place that sold them, and (of course!) that was just after I'd eaten a huge pizza.听
Exactly as I saw it. I am told by my English friends that nowadays, if you want good British food, you have to find a good pub that caters for food. They have even promised to take me to one of the best.. where the fare is Roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, Shepard's pie and so on.
I aim to try 'Roast beef with Yorkshire pudding' for my first go, and the next time the proverbial 'steak and kidney pie' no matter how much cholesterol it gives me, because I take the good old 'Lipitor,' which will protect me. And how much can 'one go' at kidneys cost one any way.
Tas -
Message 35
Posted by somewhatsilly (U14315357) on Thursday, 24th March 2011
'Traditional' British food, slow cooking with cheaper cuts like pigs cheeks, offal, etc are all terribly fashionable these days so you need to go a really high end establishment and pay a fortune to get peasant food.
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Message 36
Posted by Sambista (U4068266) on Thursday, 24th March 2011
The Charlie stamps were half a dollar (2/6), whilst Anne was only worth a tanner (6d). No gender equality in those days!
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Message 37
Posted by bandick (U14360315) on Thursday, 24th March 2011
When I first moved here I was pleased to see a traditional butcher with about twenty types of bangers and all manner of goodies I hadn鈥檛 seen for years including pigs cheeks, (bath chaps) so I thought I鈥檇 give them a try鈥 cost a fortune, and were nothing but fat and bl**dy awful鈥 weren鈥檛 even fit for the casserole pot. Won鈥檛 do that again either.
Urg鈥 Charlie鈥檚 stamps鈥 weren鈥檛 they a pinkie reddish brownie colour and Anne鈥檚 I couldn鈥檛 remember how much they were worth鈥 were they blue? -
Message 38
Posted by TheodericAur (U14260004) on Thursday, 24th March 2011
Hi Tas
Well....L.s.d (pounds,shillings and pence) but of course you are right - it had never occurred to me until you mentioned it.
Bubble gum with Football Players and Football Teams, collecting and swapping..
No plastic bags or overwrapped foods in plastic, coal fires were common, no clear air act, policeman (bobbies) walking the streets, far fewer cars, having limited sterling to take out of the country, confectionery shrimps, no supermarkets or trolleys, corner shops everywhere.
The 11+, Secondary Modern Schools, corporal puinishment, milk monitors, 58 pupils in a class.......
Kind Regards - TA -
Message 39
Posted by Sambista (U4068266) on Thursday, 24th March 2011
bandick - here's a couple of Charlie stamps.
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Message 40
Posted by Sambista (U4068266) on Thursday, 24th March 2011
bandick - here's a couple of Charlie stamps.
听 ... and here are a couple of the Guaranteed Promotion Scheme (seems to have worked well 2nd time round, even if it did not for Foggy)
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Message 41
Posted by stalti (U14278018) on Thursday, 24th March 2011
mcdonalds real burgers - do me a favour - it like cardboard
wimpys used to put real meat burgers in front of u on a hotplate with onions and toast both sides of the bap - they were REAL burgers
i remember every monday morning the teacher used to take ur money for the charles and ann saving stamps - the rich used to do the two bob stamps the rest of us the tanner stampsand we used to stick them in our books in the classroom
how about phone boxes with a and b buttons and bues with clippies
broken bisciuts - cardboard boxes piled up at the end of supermarket tills for your shopping - the string bags that u took every week for your shopping
etc etc
st -
Message 42
Posted by bandick (U14360315) on Thursday, 24th March 2011
Quite agree about McDonalds鈥
real cheese with a rind on it, and no sell by dates, green shield stamps鈥 and fag cards, packets of crisps with little blue bags of salt, and a lion on the eggs.
Six of the best, and the nit nurse, school milk, and lumpy custard鈥 coal fires and smog, real pea souper fogs.
AA patrol men that saluted and cars that always overheated, transport caf茅鈥檚 that were genuine greasy spoons, and telegram boys鈥
Dixon of Dock Green, Wagon Train, Rawhide, Wells Fargo, and Laramie. Hancocks Half Hour, Charlie drake and Val Parnell鈥 some say the good old days鈥 -
Message 43
Posted by Sambista (U4068266) on Thursday, 24th March 2011
At one time, I actually worked as a bus conductor .....
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Message 44
Posted by Tas (U11050591) on Friday, 25th March 2011
Hi Ur-Lugal,
At one time, I actually worked as a bus conductor 听
Then you must remember the oft repeated Bus Conductors call:
"Hold Tight!"
The stress was all on "Hold"; tight was uttered sharply.
Many bus conductors in my time were ladies.
The cry of the Subway ( Tube, in your language ?) guards was "Mind the doors!"
Ah those were the days!
Tas -
Message 45
Posted by Tas (U11050591) on Friday, 25th March 2011
Hi Bandick,
I well remember "Hancock's half hour." Also I remember "The Archers: An Every day story of country folk." Unfortunately , I could never understand their language and their accents. There was also "Mrs. Dale's Diary." But for me the best of all was "A Book At Bedtime." Some one in a very lovely and soothing voice, read you a chapter from a book and helped put you to sleep.
Regarding Mac Donald's Hamburgers, there was a commercial campaign by their rivals "Wendy's" whose phrase was "Where is the beef?"
What the Wimpy burgers lacked was the panache with which hamburgers are served here in the US as well as in Canada. "Everything on!" really means everything; Cheese, bacon, lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, pickle and the special hamburger bun is toasted. Makes it a great Hamburger!
Each side of the Atlantic tries to emulate the principle food of the other side with mixed results. I was traveling on an Interstate highway and stopped at a Bob Evans highway restaurant. They had advertised 'English style Fish and Chips.' It was standard fish and chips, tasted like Cod but a little different; I imagine the reason it was called 'English Style' is because the F&S came in a synthetic paper; a newspaper clipping. I tried to read and it turned out to be a very old edition of the 'Times'. I think no one had told Bob Evans, that the 'August Times' was not the type of newspaper in which the English wrapped their fish and chips. It was amusing reading about very old events though!
Tas -
Message 46
Posted by bandick (U14360315) on Friday, 25th March 2011
Tas鈥 don鈥檛 forget the bus conductors anthem: -
Message 47
Posted by somewhatsilly (U14315357) on Friday, 25th March 2011
Or the Glasgow tram conductresses', theirs was 'Come oan, get aff'.
-
Message 48
Posted by Tas (U11050591) on Friday, 25th March 2011
Bandick,
Who can forget that::
...... 97 horsepower omnibus! 'Hold very tight Please!' Ding ding!
Tas -
Message 49
Posted by Caro (U1691443) on Friday, 25th March 2011
I first was in Britain in 1973/4 and then only briefly, spending most of our time on the continent. The things I can bring to mind quickly aren't something to be missed really. Smoking on the plane (which I did myself), and the lack of sky in London. I've seen plenty of sky since in London, but on that trip (beginning before Christmas with us going home mid-February) it seemed very grey, and i was pleased to see that Paris had plenty of visible sky.
And we used to eat sometimes at Wimpy bars - I don't think they are around any more, though sadly Burger King are. After my recent food at Burger King I think that will be an experience I shan't be repeating in the near future, or preferably in any future.
What I miss most from childhood is the freedom and sense of security. My son has about four locks and bolts on each of his doors - it is a real struggle to get in. Luckily I live somewhere where we don't need to lock our doors at night and where we could roll our eyes when the insurance woman wondered if we had double deadlocks on our doors. But everywhere else seems to be obsessed with the idea that the rest of the world wants to steal their stuff.
And I don't think children in NZ go round barefooted as much as they did when I was a child. (Though I did read recently someone saying "New Zealand is the only country in the world where people can afford shoes but don't use them.")
Cheers, Caro. -
Message 50
Posted by Tas (U11050591) on Friday, 25th March 2011
Hi Caro,
脌 propos shoes, the famous Canadian house of shoes, Bata, are always selling shoes in India and other Third World countries. They sent out two salesmen to some country to examine the potential shoe market.
One wired back: " No one wears shoes here; there is therefore no potential market!"
The second wired: " infinite market potential; no one wears shoes here."
The second sales man became Vice President of marketing at Bata.
Tas
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