the good old days

[Roy Bham UK]

 ;D Tee hee  ;D Sorry Derek ;D

[Roy Bham UK]

[Carol]

 ;D ;D ;D

Oh memories eh!   I remember all you have mentioned as well, must be getting on a bit as well. But those were the days of freedom,when Mothers were at home and Dads came home at dinnertime  12 oclock and had soup or meat and 2 veg. or a pudding.  Home made soup made with 8/6d worth of rolled mutton which was eaten on the Sunday and Monday.  Mince n tatties on a Tues.  Stew on a Wednesday.  Forgot what we ate Thurs, Fri. but it was either Rabbit Stew or Steak on a Saturday and those home made puddings.  Syrup dumpling, treacle drumplings, rice puddings done in the oven with the skin o top. Roly Poly, Queen of the Kitchen, Bread pudding.  In the summer it was Curds n Whey, blancmanches, jellys.  Oh dear my mouth is watering. The best cook in my family was my granny and boy could she cook. 

I also remember the gas mantle lights when I was about 4.  At the same time, a fish and chip cart came round the doors with a horse and cart with gas lamps!!!  The Vegetable and Milk man also had horse and cart. 

I lived in a Mill Town in the Scottish Borders.  One memory of them is hearing the mill hooters as we called them going off before 8 a.m.  I used to lie in mybed and hear one, then another until there was quite a crescendo.  The men all either walked to work or had a bicycle.  The same noise went onto at dinnertime and then again at night. 

I am pleased I have lived through these days. 

[Roy Bham UK]

A few things I remember was my uncle used to throw white wash over the coal that was stored in a bunker in the yard, :o  I said one day "Uncle why are you painting the black coal white"? He said "To stop people stealing it" ::) I realized later what he meant. :o

Coal was in short supply, we used to collect it from a coal wharf at our local railway station and load it into an old perambulator, that was fun as a kid. :) we'd come home black as the ace of spades. ;D ;D ;D

Our neighbour used to take a large battery with a handle on it for recharge or exchange to a local shop not sure even to this day why as we had electricity and a radio then or was it a wireless, why was it called wireless as it always had a wire sticking out of it? ??? Maybe our neighbour was still on the gas mantles as we still had them sticking out of the walls. :-\ ;D

The front door was always left ajar and the kettle was always on the gas simmering for the next visitor to make a cup of tea made with sterilised milk blah! hated it. :P

Rag rugs remember them? ::)  nothing wasted old clothes cut up into small pieces and threaded through Hessian. ;D

Cat's whisker radio's, boy's toys all the rage late 40's early 50's build your own radio with a tiny crystal, bits of wire and a tiny ear plug, thought I was Dick Barton (Special Agent) then. 8)

Sorry for going on, but they were good old days. ;D

[jennym]

Just found this thread, must contribute (but I'm not quite as venerable as you folks)... Dad helped me make a crystal set with headphones and I used to listen to The Navy Lark, the men from the ministry and other things. Came to love the shipping forecast. When I was a teenager I remember being offered yoghourt at a friends house and thought it was awful. The same thing happened in early twenties when given an avocado pear, I was nearly sick. We used to play on the remains of bomb sites, the ruined bulidings and debris were still there. I got two and six a month pocket money. People gave you a ten shilling note for Christmas if you were lucky. My dad used to send me to the off-licence to but him half an ounce of Boar's head tobacco and a packet of blue papers and that was 2 shillings and a penny ha'penny, and if I was good he'd say i could buy Palm tree toffee with the change. I remember also Five boys chocolate, something about Anticipation, or Expectation, or Desperation, or some such words on each piece can someone remind me?

[Robert_Brenchley]

Radio used to be called wireless as it didn't need a wire to pipe the signal in.

[Carol]

I still call it a wireless, rarely radio.  Now that does give me age away.

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[jennym]

I get told off for being old fashioned because I say that the time is five and twenty past whatever instead of twenty five past whatever.

[Roy Bham UK]

;D We used to Que up at our local Powell's bread shop at 5pm at night for broken cakes and biscuits, not sure now of the price but I think we had a large paper bag full of the said grub for about a shilling. :o 8) ;D

[wardy]

We used to ask for brokken uns at the ice cream van, and for fish bits at the chip shop  ;D

My house still has a gas light in the hall and the gas mantle brackets on every chimney breast but no lamps unfortunately.  My hall lantern is now converted to electric but you can hardly see any light thro it as it's had so much smoke on the glass over the years which won't come off  :)