I'm going way back here to 1960 when my 3d pocket money bought.
Tiger Nuts on the stalk
Rainbow mix sherbet
Jamboree bag with toy
To supplement my pocket money, there was always money back from deposits on pop and beer bottles and sometimes you could hit the jackpot by pushing button B in the phone box.
What do you remember from way back?
Fourth one is free when using the fruit machine outside the shop to get Black Jacks or MoJo's a penny in real money for one......that machine would not last one night nowadays me thinks
------------- That's not a dog....... That's a Schnauzer
Quote: Originally posted by lissabuff on 31/10/2022
Fourth one is free when using the fruit machine outside the shop to get Black Jacks or MoJo's a penny in real money for one......that machine would not last one night nowadays me thinks
Beech Nut and YZ gum which had an owl logo meaning wise head. I remember them too.
Quote: Originally posted by Mrs. Bonce on 31/10/2022
Cycling/walking to school no matter what the weather was like.
I can certainly relate to that! Nobody ever went to school by car in my days either, and even in primary school it "wasn't done" to have your mother meet you from school. You'd get ribbed mercilessly by your mates the following day and called a baby.
Going shopping with mum on the trolleybus to Wood Green.
Saturday morning cinema with my brother while Mum was doing the week's shopping.
Standing at the roadside weekends selling bunches of flowers to passing motorists. As if you would let kids stand at the roadside all alone these days.
But this was in the 40s and everything was rationed. We lived on a farm and had plenty of food stuff so it was not just flowers that got sold! Often a motorist would lean across and ask quietly "I don't suppose your mother has any xxxxxxx to spare?" Off you went and came back with a paper bag.
Buying my dads cigarettes from the vending machine outside the sweet shop. There was also a chocolate bar vending machine too.
I was only telling someone the other day about making a guy and sitting at the end of the road collecting money. All the local children then spend a week or so building a big bonfire in the local field and the parents would let off the fireworks.
Going trainspotting at Wood Green, which involved about a 1 mile walk, a short bus ride, then a train journey. Just me and a school friend or two, and all at just 8 years old! Most kids of that age these days haven't been beyond the end of their road, not without an adult anyway. No mobile phones back then, and my parents didn't even have a landline. We were just told be back by tea-time or before it gets dark, whichever was earlier. Duffle bags over our shoulders containing sandwiches and a drink, and off we went!
I think it's important not to get too mawkish about the past - where I grew up we walked to primary school and had a bus to secondary school as it was 6 miles away. As for "whatever the weather" our daughter (who walks to school) has had fewer days off than I did as a kid - she has had only one or two from memory.
On a hard frozen snow day we wouldnt go to school - we'd be over the farm making sure the livestock were ok and could get food and water, or we'd be digging tractors out of snowdrifts. Driven by market forces (what the public is willing to buy and pay), farming isnt like that any more and the average tractor is about the size of our house, so doesnt need digging out if we ever have that weather again.
Slightly difficult to tell ours to be home before it gets dark as we have street lighting everywhere so we set a time, and we've got an app which tells us where she is anyway. Its less of an issue as well as where I grew up was a remote village, dad was a farm labourer so worked crazy hours, mum couldnt drive (and we wouldnt have been able to afford the car anyway) so all we had was scrumping and hanging about. Now, we are on the edges of a town, she's got dance classes, music classes, drama groups etc etc - we can afford to do it and it's practical, and builds a wide range of skills I never had the opportunity to get at that age.
We used to go and buy cider from local farms (Dad originally made cider for the Crossways in North Wootton), until my teens when we'd go out to Roger Wilkins - still a bit of a legend but I think there is noone to take it on when he finally hangs up his pint glass.........
Which leads me to my next thought - apart from my homemade stuff it's farm shop for cider round here. Our farm shop is bonkers - only notionally is it a farm shop! Look it up - whiterow farm shop beckington. Its impossible to walk in then back out again without spending 50 quid on a loaf of spelt bread and some organic Italian olive oil. People drive over, stock up on ridiculously expensive endives, have a cuppa and a scone, let the kids play on the adventure playground, maybe buy fish and chips to take home, wander round the gift shop looking at throws for £100.....I think theres an antique furniture shop(pe) there now too......
That this isnt money going to Tescos etc can only be a good thing - and I can actually get hold of caul fat, kidneys and liver, good pork, etc etc but god is it expensive.
In Wells we had International Supermarket, which then became a Gateway supermarket, then Somerfield, then a Coop - I think its a clothes shop now. It was right in the middle of town. I seem to remember a bloke used to come round to our village and sell fruit and veg off his van (did that happen??), and of course the kleeneze man.
Yes indeed times have changed Mitchamitri. Where I lived was in North London, so very much an urban area. We did have to go to school in all weathers, although I must admit there was the odd occasion a couple of us bunked off to play in the snow over the park. Had to keep a sharp lookout for the park-keeper though as we knew he would "shop" us to the school if he saw us. Very few people had cars where I lived, and even fewer women drove. Those that did had probably learnt in the military, as it wasn't that long after the war.
Scrumping was a thing for us too, but you always had to keep an eye out for the local copper on his bike. He knew where he could usually find us.
I walked to primary school, about a mile each way, and even came home for lunch as the school meals were awful. Secondary school was about 4-5 miles away so normally I went on my bike. I could go on the bus, but there wasn't much advantage as it was about a mile walk to the bus stop, and another good half-mile walk from the nearest bus stop at the school end. There were no school buses as such as there was plenty of public transport. That meant my parents had to find bus fare for me though.
When I had grown up and had kids of my own we lived in a little village in Norfolk. My kids walked to primary school in the village, and went to secondary school in the nearest town, about 9 miles away, on the school bus which I occasionally drove. That was very isolated with virtually no public transport and my wife has never driven. If I wasn't at home nobody in the family went anywhere as the only alternative was a very expensive taxi. That is why we eventually moved to Hertfordshire. We still live in a village, but we have a railway station on a busy commuter line and about 4 bus routes pass through.
Going back to my childhood, quite a few things were delivered. I do remember the lorry that came round delivering fruit and veg. My mother preferred the shop down the road for that though. We also had the milkman (we still have one of those now), the baker, the Corona drinks man, the Betterware man, and the ice-cream man who had a motor-tricycle. When I was very young the milkman had a horse and cart, but later got an electric float. The baker's van was electric too, so nothing new about electric vehicles.
I just remembered, several coalmen came down our street too as virtually everyone had a coal fire.
All weathers included the winter of 1963, a mile down a snowy hill complete with tree routes, uphill and then down in the village. Mum would have found out if I "bunked off".
Going to school in the winter of 1947, snow deep enough to come in over my wellies as we went to school, there was a coal shortage so no heating at the school . We sat in class in our coats, no time off.
Quote: Originally posted by Mrs. Bonce on 01/11/2022
All weathers included the winter of 1963, a mile down a snowy hill complete with tree routes, uphill and then down in the village. Mum would have found out if I "bunked off".
Ah yes, the winter of 1963. I was at secondary school then. Far too dangerous to cycle and the buses were unreliable due to road conditions. It was a toss-up whether to try for a bus or walk the 4-5 miles there as we were still expected to go. Only trouble was that the nearest bus stop was in a completely different direction to the most direct walking or cycling route, so if I chose to walk by the most direct route it was 4-5 miles, but if I tried the bus and it didn't come, my total walk would be over 6 miles. Then of course it was the same going home. Even if I did go by bus it was still about a mile walk one end and half a mile at the other.
I think a lot of the challenge nowadays is a lot of children dont go to their nearest school (or their nearest school is now someone's house) - its not the kid's choice but parents choosing to send them to something other than their nearest school - Im not even sure there was a choice when we were younger. Also, the teachers used to live nearby but nowadays they change schools as part of a career path which inevitably means distance travel. As I mentioned earlier I can only think of a couple of times the school has been closed.
We used to bunk off maybe once or twice but go down town at lunchtime - my parents signed me off for a pass so I could leave the school for lunchbreak (we used to call it a downtown pass) even though I didnt live locally, so I wouldnt get put on report. You could kind of wander on and off site as well - nowadays our daughter's school has very tightly controlled entry/exit points and basically no kids leave site during the school day.
I remember kids smoking on the back of the school bus - even kids going to school with packets of fags in their blazer top pockets, and our compliance to school uniform was terrible. Nowadays we never see kids smoking (many of the school walk past us) - sometimes one or two vaping, but nothing like the smokers at school in the mid 1980s, and compliance to uniform is very good - the 6th formers (who can choose their own clothes) all look really smart, and generally all of the kids of all ages are incredibly polite and do themselves and the school proud.
We still buy coal but house coal (as it was) is now banned so its 5cwt a time smokeless. Three of our four fireplaces are in use, albeit only 2 regularly.
There was no choice of primary school when I went, you were allocated to the nearest one and that was it. What secondary school you went to depended on whether you passed the 11+ but you still had to go to one within walking distance (5 miles) or that was accessible by public transport. If the only way you could get there was by car you were automatically excluded.
My kids could only go to one secondary school because that was where the school bus from the village went. The 11+ having long been scrapped by then. They could never have got to another one anyway as the only time I was around at school time was when I was driving he school bus. Yes it was the mid-80s when my kids went to school and some certainly did smoke on the school bus. It was a job to stop them.
Both my primary and secondary school hardly ever closed their gates and their doors were never locked. Anybody could have walked in but hardly anyone ever did. I'll always remember "home time" at my primary school. The bell went at 4pm, within a couple of minutes the doors burst open, kids ran out in all directions, and there wasn't a soul about by 10 past! No parents were ever waiting outside either.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: I can remember........
via mobile 31/10/2022 at 1:23pm
