Going off with the kids in the street to the big park up the road..
We took bottles of water... No posh sandwiches.. We had battles and killed each other with ferns.. pointed like arrows..
Add your memories..
I was given £2 - in the form of four ten bob notes - for passing the 11 plus. I kept them in the bookcase whilst I dreamed of what to do with such a fortune. Came home from school - the coalman had come unexpectedly and the only money in the house was my fortune. Just checked - that £2 had the purchasing power of £91 today! :cry: :cry: :cry:
Going for a walk to a nearby newsagent (more of a confectionery iirc), and buying lucky dip bags for either 3d or 6d (can't remember, but it was one of those coins). Oooh, the excitement of discovering what was inside...little toy, perhaps a sherbert spaceship, little box of candy cigarettes etc. Or, instead of that capital investment, buying some lemon bonbons, poured out of a huge jar and weighed on the old balancing scales.
Walking back to the park (our house was right opposite one), eating those sweeties and having a drink of from an ornate marble water fountain.
Yep - all that with the sweet shop. I remember lucky bag toy cars. There was a set. As with all these collectables one was rare so you kept buying and one was crap and common - with the cars the crap one was a little one which I think was a Fiat. I rememder it as Fiat 500 but I don't know if that model was around then. I don't recall if I ever completed the set but if I did and still had them along with the bags they'd probably be worth a fortune. I liked the race cars as they had decent wheels and would go if given a push.
Reminded me of another memory....
EMPIRE MADE
We used to buy sweet cigarettes .. They were white with a red tip.. They looked the part..
We used to pretend we were smoking .. Taking deep breaths in and blowing out imaginary smoke..
We had seen in done in the movies... we were film stars..
Quote from: Scrumpy on February 15, 2024, 11:35:31 AMWe used to buy sweet cigarettes .. They were white with a red tip.. They looked the part..
We used to pretend we were smoking .. Taking deep breaths in and blowing out imaginary smoke..
We had seen in done in the movies... we were film stars..
I remember them, they had a very distinctive taste as well. :upvote:
Not seen any in years. I expect they were banned.
Sitting down in Wimpy's to eat knickerbocker glory or a banana split.
Holidays with parents. Penny machines and end of pier. Boating pool with motor boats. Sandcastles, paddling, beach.
Big gobstoppers.. that changed colour as you sucked them.. And we shared them..until the colour changed..
Nobody cared whose mouth it had been in..
Bubble gum that tasted like candle wax..
Sherbert dips - if you sucked on the liquorice tube in the dips you could end up choking.
Flying saucers pretty tasteless.
Four a penny blackjacks and some fruity ones the same size - don't recall the name I think they were raspberry and lemon. Black tongue from the blackjacks.
Horrible pink shrimps. Tasted of pretty much nothing.
On reflection that raspberry and lemon may well thave been rhubarb and custard
All the sweeties bring back memories, didn't like gobstoppers, but liked the pink shrimps!
I remember nipping to the grocers for a block of ice cream after I'd eaten my main course at dinner time. (Lunch time these days). I'd run back with the Neapolitan which we'd have in slices with tinned fruit. A treat.
Ah, happy memories indeed.
Any of you buy sheets of rice paper which you could eat after writing on it? To hell with whatever dangers lurked in quink ink.
Sweet cigarettes, without the red tips, now sold as candy sticks.
https://www.treasureislandsweets.co.uk/love-hearts-tabs-pez/barratt-candy-sticks-box.html
And what about navy blue knickers.. !! We wore them with a white shirt for sport.. I was only little but remember being embarrassed if we had to walk by any boys..
My school was not mixed classes...
We had those. Reinforced! 🤣
Awful bloody things, hated them......Shudder. :downvote:
Standing outside the Head Masters office because I was showing off in class.. It soon wiped the smile off my face..
Quote from: Scrumpy on February 18, 2024, 01:34:57 PMStanding outside the Head Masters office because I was showing off in class.. It soon wiped the smile off my face..
AND, they used the belt back then. Today's wee angels don't know what their missing. Do a lot of them some good. :nooo:
Quote from: Raven on February 18, 2024, 03:36:39 PMAND, they used the belt back then. Today's wee angels don't know what their missing. Do a lot of them some good. :nooo:
Yes, lack of effective physical punishments, both at school and in the home, are why the present crop of young people are getting away with murder and also letting the country down.
The girls got the cane.. The boys got the slipper..
The cane across the palm/fingers was painful..
It must have been embarrassing for a boy having to bend over while a grown man smacked his bottom with a slipper..
Something a bit worrying about that..
Quote from: Raven on February 18, 2024, 03:36:39 PMAND, they used the belt back then. Today's wee angels don't know what their missing. Do a lot of them some good. :nooo:
After suffering many beltings from a psychopathic old witch of a teacher, for no real reason, I'm glad my children and grandchildren weren't punished indiscriminately by some nutter. I was an only child of older parents. I was pretty well read and articulate, not badly behaved, but anything I said or did just seemed to enrage her.
OH got the belt occasionally too, but as he said, he deserved it!
Quote from: Scrumpy on February 18, 2024, 05:20:39 PMThe girls got the cane.. The boys got the slipper..
The cane across the palm/fingers was painful..
It must have been embarrassing for a boy having to bend over while a grown man smacked his bottom with a slipper..
Something a bit worrying about that..
Oh, we got the cane. Slippers were too soft at our school.
Actually, I never got the cane when I didn't deserve it... except for one glaring occasion.
There had been complaints, apparently, from the girls' school next door that boys had been looking over the dividing wall at the girls in their playground, and we were ordered not to even go near that wall.
One day, when playtime was almost over, some of us were waiting for the next lesson near the entrance to the woodwork/metalwork/music rooms when an irate master approached and accused us of being too close to 'the wall'. None of us had been anywhere near it, but were just about to go in to our next lessons, but he wasn't going to listen to any lies.
We all had to go with him to the head and all got a caning.
It wasn't the pain; it was the injustice.
I've never forgotten that.
Exactly that JBR, injustice. When it's a regular occurrence, its damaging.
Injustices they may be...I used to call it quits for the stuff I did and got away with. Karma indeed.
Quote from: dextrous63 on February 18, 2024, 08:54:13 PMInjustices they may be...I used to call it quits for the stuff I did and got away with. Karma indeed.
Oh dear. Oh dearie dearie me.
Of course, I never did anything wrong. 😏
Ah. Have you relocated to a river in Egypt?
Quote from: dextrous63 on February 18, 2024, 10:13:20 PMAh. Have you relocated to a river in Egypt?
Oh, you mean the Styx?
Quote from: JBR on February 18, 2024, 10:28:27 PMOh, you mean the Styx?
No. I thought you were now in de Nile.
My first memory is a very hazy one. I was about 20 months old - being taken to have a photograph done somewhere in Dublin. Was wearing a striped dress and new white kid shoes. Stubbed my toe and marked the shoes and, for the first time ever, had my legs slapped!
(https://i.postimg.cc/zDFdbRKG/Imported-Photos-00012.jpg) (https://postimages.org/)
Awww, how sweet Tabby.😊
Lovely photo!
Shame about the toe of the left shoe :grin:
The picture could be worth a fortune. It surely predates the oldest known one taken in 1826/7? 😬
A lovely photograph Tabby .. How innocent and sweet...
I have a school group pic.. I looked so bloody miserable.. Or perhaps it was my sultry look.. Like a film star.. !!
I have one of those school groups taken with a turning camera. From memory there was a single black face out of over 1,000. The headmaster had committed suicide within a couple of years of it. The cane was used at that school but infrequently. The worst normal punishment was a Saturday morning detention. It was boys only but is a mixed school now. Head of First year taught RE and was fond of touching the pretty boys thighs. Luckily I wasn't pretty.
Quote from: Silver Tabby on February 18, 2024, 11:57:03 PMMy first memory is a very hazy one. I was about 20 months old - being taken to have a photograph done somewhere in Dublin. Was wearing a striped dress and new white kid shoes. Stubbed my toe and marked the shoes and, for the first time ever, had my legs slapped!
(https://i.postimg.cc/zDFdbRKG/Imported-Photos-00012.jpg) (https://postimages.org/)
What a pretty young girl.
And don't mark those new shoes.
Quote from: dextrous63 on February 19, 2024, 09:28:46 AMThe picture could be worth a fortune. It surely predates the oldest known one taken in 1826/7? 😬
You would know more about that than I do, as you must have been around at the time!
February 19, 2024, 11:03:29 AMQuote from: JBR on February 19, 2024, 10:57:12 AMWhat a pretty young girl.
And don't mark those new shoes.
Too late - look again at the left one - I still have mother's fingerprints on the back of my legs!
Quote from: Silver Tabby on February 19, 2024, 11:00:27 AMYou would know more about that than I do, as you must have been around at the time!
February 19, 2024, 11:03:29 AMToo late - look again at the left one - I still have mother's fingerprints on the back of my legs!
Naughty girl. 😢
Do you remember the school nit nurse.. ?
Yes. I remember when they stopped sending them nits went rampant. An early example of PC was when a child was spotted with nits a general letter was sent out rather than just to the parents of the child with nits.
We shared our bikes.. A kid was popular if they had one..
We would ride on the handlebars.. and sit on the crossbars.. and off we would go.. all over the place.. :grin: :grin:
I remember the school board man.. I think he would call on those who played truant..
And the gas man who emptied the meters.. He never got mugged..
What about the man from the Pru.
QuoteI remember the school board man.. I think he would call on those who played truant..
Known as septic knuckles.
Never heard that name for him..
My very first clear memory - as opposed to vague fragments or things I may have heard or been told - is of my 2nd birthday. It was in January, I had been very ill and missed Christmas. My father had put the Christmas tree lights up around my bedroom window and my older brother had bought me a book. One of those with stiff card covers which had a girl doll on the front, and a boy doll on the back. The pages in between had all sorts of clothes with tabs to attach them to the dolls. The brother sat on the end of my bed and cut them all out for me. The owners of the bakery next door sent in a birthday cake with pink marshmallow icing. And my lovely Auntie Chriss gave me a 'Magic' painting book - a wet paint brush swept over the pages revealed coloured pictures!
I remember those painting books! :smiley:
Quote from: Alex on February 23, 2024, 11:41:20 AMI remember those painting books! :smiley:
They were fun!
Standing on a bridge when a steam train passes by.. Covered in steam.. Disappearing ...
Quote from: Scrumpy on February 24, 2024, 09:28:38 AMStanding on a bridge when a steam train passes by.. Covered in steam.. Disappearing ...
Oh Yes - the brother and I used to buy 1d platform tickets and spend all day at the Railway Station at week-ends.
Quote from: Scrumpy on February 24, 2024, 09:28:38 AMStanding on a bridge when a steam train passes by.. Covered in steam.. Disappearing ...
Reminds me of school, when one of the lads who had asthma would lean over the parapet over a railway line when a steam train was coming. He reckoned that the steam would help his breathing.
I can remember going scrumping with my brother.
I don't know who's land it was, it was next to some allotments as I recall.
Do kids still scrump nowadays?
They are more likely to mug you for your mobile 'phone
I've been scrumping...
Growing up in Kent, you learned to scrump early.
Did anyone else eve have the liquorice sweets, too?
I remember they were loose in a little white paper bag.
I used to like the round ones, like a penny shape, and they stained your lips and tongue black. :smiley:
Pontefract (pronounced Pomfret) cakes?
We had liquorice sticks shaped like a straw and inserted into a tube of sherbet..
That's the stuff I remember causing problems if you got too energetic with the sucking when it clogged. Best to lick and dip.
Lick and dip.. !!! That's the way to go...
Quote from: Scrumpy on February 25, 2024, 11:41:51 AMWe had liquorice sticks shaped like a straw and inserted into a tube of sherbet..
Sherbet fountains! Yellow and red tube.
I remember these sherbet fountains .
And sherbet lemons !
Loved those pink shrimps .
No wonder we had rotten teeth .
How we laughed at Laurel and Hardy...
Serve the salad undressed.....
Bit past childhood that one :wink:
:grin: :grin: :grin: :grin:
Slapstick clips - From Soup to Nuts (1928) - 3 (youtube.com) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmsBEZ47FT8)
Still find it childishly funny.
I watched the clip...
:rolleyes:
Dressing up and wearing lipstick...
Handstands and cartwheels.. and the 'bumps' on our birthday.
Quote from: Scrumpy on February 28, 2024, 01:26:53 PMDressing up and wearing lipstick...
Handstands and cartwheels.. and the 'bumps' on our birthday.
Dressing up, Yes, handstands, yes - can still do that, Cartwheels, no, never had the hang of those, - but what on earth are the 'bumps'?
The bumps involve lying flat, then being held by the arms and legs and thrown up and down the same number of times as your age.
Quote from: klondike on February 28, 2024, 03:45:36 PMImpressed.
Don't be. She means she can reach the headboard when she's lying down in bed.
Still better than me :grin:
Quote from: Silver Tabby on February 28, 2024, 02:25:49 PMDressing up, Yes, handstands, yes - can still do that, Cartwheels, no, never had the hang of those, - but what on earth are the 'bumps'?
Handstands!!!!! Well done Tabby..
I can stand on one leg.. Put my legs in my jeans without leaning up against anything..
I can't jive anymore.. I come over all dizzy.. and forget which way I am meant to be facing..
Quote from: dextrous63 on February 28, 2024, 02:46:58 PMThe bumps involve lying flat, then being held by the arms and legs and thrown up and down the same number of times as your age.
Good grief - I think I'll give that one a miss!
February 28, 2024, 06:12:19 PMQuote from: dextrous63 on February 28, 2024, 05:00:10 PMAnd on't be. She means she can reach the headboard when she's lying down in bed.
And you said you wouldn't tell my bedroom secrets!
Quote from: Silver Tabby on February 28, 2024, 02:25:49 PMDressing up, Yes, handstands, yes - can still do that, Cartwheels, no, never had the hang of those, - but what on earth are the 'bumps'?
Oh, how unladylike! Your skirt will drop down over your head and show everything off to the world. 😳
Decided to watch Life on Mars again. Detective magically shipped back to 1973.
Past my childhood but I was still young.
Flair trousers
Huge collars
Kipper ties
Cuban heels
Smoking at work - Number 6s
Testcard girl
Ambulances only a taxi service
White dog poo
Standing on the platform of a double decker bus..
Jumping off before the next stop..
I tried jumping on a moving bus, got a dislocated wrist for my trouble! It was miving faster than I thought 😊
Quote from: JBR on February 28, 2024, 06:23:49 PMOh, how unladylike! Your skirt will drop down over your head and show everything off to the world. 😳
Don't be silly - I tuck my skirt into my knickers!
I was an inveterate bus jumper both on and off. They spoil all the fun these days.
Quote from: Silver Tabby on February 28, 2024, 08:50:05 PMDon't be silly - I tuck my skirt into my knickers!
😂 No problem. Most blokes would be happy to look at your legs anyway!
February 28, 2024, 09:47:06 PMQuote from: Scrumpy on February 28, 2024, 06:46:44 PMStanding on the platform of a double decker bus..
Jumping off before the next stop..
Yes, I used to do that quite a lot, in the old days of course, but you had to be careful not to risk it until it was going slow enough.
We used to jump off at traffic lights.. as the bus was slowing down..
The conductor never stopped us..
.. and cross the road between the cars..
Anyone remember being able to open windows on trains, including the tube?
... and sticking your head out...