Quote: Originally posted by Mrs. Bonce on 13/11/2023
Did your parents drive Colin? You may have remembered it if they did; I think you are 2 years younger than me.
My father drove, but my mother never did, and we seem to have copied them as I have driven since the very first day I was able to but my wife has never driven. I was driving buses aged 22 or 23, I can't remember what month I passed my PSV test.
I may be about that Mrs Bonce, I was 74 last June.
76 last month. My parents were always "hard up" so it mattered a lot, as we lived out in the countryside. I never passed my test, tried but nerves overtook me.
Quote: Originally posted by Mrs. Bonce on 13/11/2023
76 last month. My parents were always "hard up" so it mattered a lot, as we lived out in the countryside. I never passed my test, tried but nerves overtook me.
Technically I suppose we were "hard-up" too, but we never thought of it that way. We were just an ordinary working class family. My father was a van driver and my mother was a housewife, she never went out to work. We always managed though. We always had 3 good meals a day, the rent was always paid on time, there was always a good fire in the grate in winter (freezing upstairs though), we usually had an annual holiday in a rented caravan or chalet on the coast, and we sometimes had a car. My father had a knack of finding "old bangers" that were roadworthy for next to nothing. All on a van driver's wage, no in-work benefits in those days, so were we really hard up? Our home was a private rental too, you couldn't possibly do that today, the rent alone would be more than a van driver's wages in North London where I grew up.
When I was about 4 or 5 (in the mid nineteen fifties) my family used to travel by steam train to Mundesley on the Norfolk Coast for a summer holiday. We stayed in a British Rail camping coach. These were converted corridor coaches. They had bedrooms and kitchens but no bathrooms. To go to the toilet you had your own key to the platform facilities. It was slightly disconcerting for all parties to be wending down the platform for one's morning ablutions through the commuters.
Mundesley was a small boys heaven. Lovely beach, warm beach hut, picnic every lunchtime carried down to the deckchairs from the beach cafe, complete with pot of tea and sandwiches. Happy Times
We always have a calendar on the wall by the phone, an attempt to ensure we don’t double book something. Always get them from charity shops & for the last few years, they’ve been old railway posters. Yes, camping carriages, and where you could go to.
One of New Brighton beach at Wallasey has a ship in the background & bizarrely, it was the one we sailed to Canada on in 1960 (my dad’s job took us there). Very distinctive funnel markings of the Canadian Pacific line: the Empress of Britain.
Speaking of old papers etc, when we pulled up the lino on the bedroom floor in the house my daughter bought, we discovered a treasure trove of sheets of newspaper from 1953 (I was born in 52). I scanned and printed some of the interesting articles and ads and made three collages for her living room. They were quite a talking point.
------------- Always edited for sloppy typing - when I spot it!
Quote: Originally posted by Fiona W on 04/12/2023
We always have a calendar on the wall by the phone, an attempt to ensure we don’t double book something. Always get them from charity shops & for the last few years, they’ve been old railway posters. Yes, camping carriages, and where you could go to.
One of New Brighton beach at Wallasey has a ship in the background & bizarrely, it was the one we sailed to Canada on in 1960 (my dad’s job took us there). Very distinctive funnel markings of the Canadian Pacific line: the Empress of Britain.
The last Camping Carriages I remember seeing were at Dawlish in the west country, they were certainly still there no more than 12 years ago .
Quote: Originally posted by Fiona W on 04/12/2023
We always have a calendar on the wall by the phone, an attempt to ensure we don’t double book something. …for the last few years, they’ve been old railway posters. Yes, camping carriages, and where you could go to.
The last Camping Carriages I remember seeing were at Dawlish in the west country, they were certainly still there no more than 12 years ago .
I’d post a photo but the pictures are copyright NRM (National Railway Museum). Text says:
L•N•E•R Camping Coaches in England and Scotland. Accommodation for six persons from £2•10•0 per week.
“1939. Artwork shows camping coach with lake and mountains in the background” (stating the obvious). And deckchairs around a table with tablecloth, lady pouring from a proper tea pot. I do hope the toilet didn’t empty onto the track near said tea party.
The modern version of the camping railway coach is the camping replacement bus service.
You youngsters won't remember but because of Suez and petrol restrictions, all driving tests were cancelled and you could drive on provisional without licenced company. Great times were had by all
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: An old timetable.
via mobile 13/11/2023 at 5:36pm
