# I don't think they would believe it nowadays?



## Sandyn (9 Feb 2021)

I was just thinking of some of the things from when I was younger that people would have difficulty believing today, but it's not really all that long ago. First one was when some people from the military came to school and told us what to do in the event of a nuclear bomb being dropped. The best advice they offered was to get down as flat as possible on the ground bury your face in the ground, hands over the top,   

Second one, my wife reminded me a couple of days ago...'Remember when there were two mail deliveries a day?'


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## EddyCurrent (9 Feb 2021)

When milk bottles were delivered to your doorstep, bluetits used to peck through the foil caps to drink the cream, however we still drank the milk.


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## Sachakins (9 Feb 2021)

Cutting the mould off the outside of the cheese, then eating the rest as normal


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## Cabinetman (9 Feb 2021)

What? You still don’t do that? Ha ha, mind you I draw the line at mouldy bread. I remember the old, what to do in the event of a nuclear attack advice, something about removing all the doors and building a shelter under the stairs, perhaps somebody can remind me – all total b-llocks of course. Ian
I remember the milk being left on the doorstep in very cold weather and the foil top would be stood on the top of 3 inches of frozen solid cream that had ejected out of the top of the bottle. Memories. Before you know it we’ll be on to Monty Python. Ian


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## MikeK (9 Feb 2021)

Sachakins said:


> Cutting the mould off the outside of the cheese, then eating the rest as normal



Luxury. We used to dream of having the mould.

I remember the weekly nuclear attack drills in school in the early 60's. We had to crawl under our desks and wait for either the blast or the all-clear siren. We knew what to do when we heard the all-clear siren, but no one ever explained to us second graders what to do in the event of a blast. I don't remember ever asking.


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## Ollie78 (9 Feb 2021)

Sachakins said:


> Cutting the mould off the outside of the cheese, then eating the rest as normal



I still do that. Cheese is made of mould anyway, at least thats my logic (still alive so far). Not doing it on bread though.
I miss proper milk with cream on the top too.

Another one is people smoking basically everywhere all the time, I remember not really being able to see through the fog on the top deck of the bus.

Ollie


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## artie (9 Feb 2021)

What about racing round and round the block in town every night in our Ford Anglias , minis and Cortinas with rarely a Constable to be seen.


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## Distinterior (10 Feb 2021)

I had a conversation with my wife's niece ( 20 years old) last year and was trying to explain to her that telephones used to have a dial on them that you had to put your finger in and turn the dial, let it go and then wait until it went back, stopped before you then had to dial the next digit in the phone number.......She thought I was joking and I'd just made it up.... I said there used to be a little book by the phone that had your friends and family phone numbers in it written down....or, you had to be able to remember all the numbers....She thought I was drunk!!!


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## Sachakins (10 Feb 2021)

Mouldy bread, worst bit was finding the mould after you've already eaten some of it, made me puke everytime


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## AFFF (10 Feb 2021)

Fiddling the Post Office (before BT came along) As kids going out in the evening we used to have a pre-arranged code so that 2 rings from a preselected public telephone box meant that we wanted to come home. Mum/Dad would then come and collect us in the car (Morris Traveller!) Mind you, we often couldn't get through as our phone was on a party line (for the uninitiated, a telephone line shared between 2 properties)


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## doctor Bob (10 Feb 2021)

My mum and dad had the only phone in our street people used to come and use it quite often.


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## Trainee neophyte (10 Feb 2021)

Square hay bales that you stacked by hand. Hardware shops with men in brown coats behind the counter, and you had to ask for what you wanted (Four candles). Sexist comedy. The mad glasses women wore in the 60s that they thought were fashionable.







"The past is a foreign country - they do things differently there"

Just in case our foreign friends have gone through life without seeing it:


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## doctor Bob (10 Feb 2021)

Being bought clothes you’d grow into. My secondhand school blazer was so big I never grew into it


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## Rorschach (10 Feb 2021)

A TV you had to go and change channel on the TV itself, or you had a bit of bamboo with something soft taped to the end so you didn't have to get up.
Oh and only 4 channels.


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## Doug B (10 Feb 2021)

I remember as a kid having separate milk & bread deliveries before the co-op amalgamated them. Albert fen the bread man delivered bread on a horse drawn carriage, he retired when they went onto electric floats.

My mum use to reminisce about having a bath once a week in a metal tub in front of the fire in the back room. Kids today would be horrified, they all want their personal private space when bathing which is rather ironic as they appear to be happy to send naked photos of themselves to complete strangers on the internet


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## Phil Pascoe (10 Feb 2021)

Only four channels? You're not talking of all that long ago then?


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## Doug B (10 Feb 2021)

Rorschach said:


> A TV you had to go and change channel on the TV itself, or you had a bit of bamboo with something soft taped to the end so you didn't have to get up.
> Oh and only 4 channels.


& only programs in Black & White, though as a kid I seem to remember only 3 channels


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## Rorschach (10 Feb 2021)

Phil Pascoe said:


> Only four channels? You're not talking of all that long ago then?



I'm not quite as much as of an old fart as most here


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## Doug B (10 Feb 2021)

No fart like an old fart


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## Phil Pascoe (10 Feb 2021)

I remember using a wind up telephone (Alderney, 1968) and a hand pumped petrol pump (near Plymouth, 1978).
I remember my father paying £1000 for a new car and then paying £2,700 for a phone to go in it. (1966 -7)


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## Trainee neophyte (10 Feb 2021)




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## Phil Pascoe (10 Feb 2021)

My grandmother lived in a very secluded valley and had endless problems with television reception. One day her neighbour had a huge "H" shaped aerial installed, and as it happened the weather changed and her picture faded. She told me the cause - it's because of that selfish bbbitchh next door stealing all my signal.


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## Mark Hancock (10 Feb 2021)

The reverse is also true and I'm showing my age here  but I couldn't believe that to pay a cheque into my current account now only basically requires a picture of it being sent to my bank from my phone. Did it Monday and the funds were available Tuesday! ! !


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## Chris152 (10 Feb 2021)

Mark Hancock said:


> The reverse is also true and I'm showing my age here  but I couldn't believe that to pay a cheque into my current account now only basically requires a picture of it being sent to my bank from my phone. Did it Monday and the funds were available Tuesday! ! !


Following Mark's reverse approach, back in the day attorneys didn't tend to appear in court as kittens via zoom. 




__





Lawyer kitten zoom filter






www.msn.com




(still can't figure how to embed, sorry.)

TV ariels - I remember as a student walking around the living room with a little tv ariel trying to get some reception, anything so you had a picture of sorts and a sound. Luxury.


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## Tris (10 Feb 2021)

Having to wait until you finished the roll of film, then taking it to the chemist before you got to see the photos. 
We didn't take many pictures so we'd have forgotten the first half dozen or so


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## Fitzroy (10 Feb 2021)

Not having 'an internet', having to go to the library to look up a fact in the encyclopaedia. Being allowed out to play at 7 years old until it was dark, although it;s the peple who did this who seem to have forgotten that they did (my kids are 7 and 9 and other parents are horrified that I let them walk to school on their own and to go an call on their pals a few streets away).


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## Fitzroy (10 Feb 2021)

Chris152 said:


> Following Mark's reverse approach, back in the day attorneys didn't tend to appear in court as kittens via zoom.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



'_I'm here live, I'm not a cat_' I've just about wet myself laughing. Made my morning.

Fitz.


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## Phill05 (10 Feb 2021)

All we hear from today's generation is how hard done by they are.
If you lived as a child in the 40's, 50's, 60's, looking back, it's hard to believe that we survived as long as we have, sit back and take a ride back to those Oh!! so hard times when:
· Our cots were covered with brightly coloured lead-based paint.
· Mum looked after us at home while Dad went out to work, we had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cupboards, and we rode our bikes with no helmets.
· As children, we could ride in dads car with no seat belts or air bags.
· We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle, and Friday was bath night, in a tin bath in front of a real fire, no central heating.
· We would spend hours building go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes, after running into the bushes a few times we quickly learned to solve the problem.
. We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. no one bothered us; no one was able to reach us all day, No mobile phones.
· We got cuts, broken bones, broken teeth, and a bit dirty, they were called accidents, no one was to blame, but us. Remember accidents? there were no lawsuits from these.
· We had fights and punched each other silly and got black, blue and filthy but soon learned to get over it.
· We ate cakes, bread and butter, and drank cordial, but we were never overweight...we were always outside playing.
· We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one died from it.
· We did not have Play stations, Nintendo, X-Boxes, video games, 65 channels on pay TV, video tape movies, DVD’s, Internet chat rooms ... we had friends, we went outside and found them.
· We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home knocked on the door, rung the bell, or just walked in to talk to them. Imagine such a thing today.
Without asking a parent! By ourselves! Out there in the cold cruel world! how did we do it?
.We made up games with sticks and tennis balls, and ate worms, and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out many eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever.
· Footy and netball had tryouts and not everyone made the team, those who didn't soon learned to deal with disappointment....
· Some students weren't as smart as others so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade, tests were not adjusted for any reason.
· Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. No one to hide behind.
· The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of. they actually sided with the law - imagine that!
· This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors, ever. The past years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had Freedom, Failure, Success and Responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.
And if you're one of them. Congratulations!

Have a good day WE deserve it.


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## Robbo60 (10 Feb 2021)

Rorschach said:


> A TV you had to go and change channel on the TV itself, or you had a bit of bamboo with something soft taped to the end so you didn't have to get up.
> Oh and only 4 channels.


4 - you must be young


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## Robbo60 (10 Feb 2021)

Going around the back of the corner shop and nicking pop bottles, then taking them back to another shop for the 1d deposit or was it 1/2d? Mum, Dad, 3 kids, Grandma, Grandad in an Austin Cambridge from Durham to North Wales.


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## Daniel2 (10 Feb 2021)

Waiting for Play School to start


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## Ozi (10 Feb 2021)

Distinterior said:


> I had a conversation with my wife's niece ( 20 years old) last year and was trying to explain to her that telephones used to have a dial on them that you had to put your finger in and turn the dial, let it go and then wait until it went back, stopped before you then had to dial the next digit in the phone number.......She thought I was joking and I'd just made it up.... I said there used to be a little book by the phone that had your friends and family phone numbers in it written down....or, you had to be able to remember all the numbers....She thought I was drunk!!!


Not being allowed to use the phone - my parents got low users rebate so a 1 minute call could cost £3. Also had a part line so if the neighbours were using the phone you couldn't


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## Cabinetman (10 Feb 2021)

Ice on the inside of your bedroom window in the morning when you woke up, and getting dressed in bed. 
Repairing things, when the plastic casing on the kitchen scales broke I mounted the metal frame on four blocks of wood, my mum used it like that for years. Coming home from playing in the fields and ditches and making dens, so dirty that mum would strip me off by the back door and scrub me down in the Belfast sink in what I suppose we would call the utility room nowadays. Didn’t have any long trousers till I was about 12? It would’ve been pointless as the knees would’ve been through within a morning. Hell I had a wonderful childhood. Ian


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## sneggysteve (10 Feb 2021)

Distinterior said:


> I had a conversation with my wife's niece ( 20 years old) last year and was trying to explain to her that telephones used to have a dial on them that you had to put your finger in and turn the dial, let it go and then wait until it went back, stopped before you then had to dial the next digit in the phone number.......She thought I was joking and I'd just made it up.... I said there used to be a little book by the phone that had your friends and family phone numbers in it written down....or, you had to be able to remember all the numbers....She thought I was drunk!!!




Same here with the phone - my grandaughter asked how we sent texts!!!!!!!!!!


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## Sandyn (10 Feb 2021)

Shared telephone lines. If you wanted to make a call, you had to very carefully lift the telephone receiver and check if your neighbour was using the line or not. If you were on a call, you could normally hear if the neighbour lifted their hand set and you had to say something polite......'I think someone else is trying to use the line' to let them know you knew they were listening, lol


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## Phil Russell (10 Feb 2021)

Ah, old telephone boxes... we used to go around as many as we could find and press button B (or was it A) and sometimes we would strike lucky and get 4d come out. Two hits in an evening and we could get a bag of chips each, complete with free batter bits if we asked nicely. Bread delivered by horse drawn cart. Electric milk float though. Going to the off-licence to get mum a bottle of stout. The grocer's shop.. Ridgeons or Ridgeways I think it was, not far from Kingstanding circle (Birmingham). Biscuits bought by the bag weight out of the biscuit tin.
Such fun.
Cheers, Phil


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## Sandyn (10 Feb 2021)

I never smoked, but when most shops would sell a single cigarette to a kid of any age.
Having to sit beside someone that smoked at work.....not that long ago!
Your mother cleaning behind your ears and making sure you were wearing clean underpants in case you had an accident!


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## artie (10 Feb 2021)

We only had two TV channels at first.

I don't know if anyone else agrees but two channels in the 60' were much more entertaining than 50 nowadays.


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## Distinterior (10 Feb 2021)

Sandyn said:


> ........Your mother cleaning behind your ears and making sure you were wearing clean underpants in case you had an accident!



 So true!!


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## Phil Pascoe (10 Feb 2021)

artie said:


> We only had two TV channels at first.
> 
> I don't know if anyone else agrees but two channels in the 60' were much more entertaining than 50 nowadays.


I remember a TV critic back in the '80s writing that he'd finally succumbed and bought a satellite dish. He said it made a change not to be able to find something worth watching on sixteen channels instead of five.


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## Cooper (10 Feb 2021)

Phil Russell said:


> sometimes we would strike lucky and get 4d come out. Two hits in an evening and we could get a bag of chips each, complete with free batter bits if we asked nicely.


Your chips were expensive. We had to take you 3d for subs to cubs and 4d for the phone. The 4d bought chips on the way home, 6d was a big bag, enough to share with my brother, 1d profit for each of us!


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## John Brown (10 Feb 2021)

And still have change for a haircut...


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## Delwood (10 Feb 2021)

And the gas boilers with a clockwork timer that you had to remember to wind up.


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## Phil Pascoe (10 Feb 2021)

We never had gas. Still don't have gas.


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## John Brown (10 Feb 2021)

Phil Pascoe said:


> We never had gas. Still don't have gas.


What, no radon?


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## Spectric (10 Feb 2021)

Hi all

From these post it does seem that it is the older generation that like to be hands on and have real interest like woodworking with fewer youngsters getting involved. I don't think they do metal work, technical drawing or woodwork in schools anymore as it has been combined into something like material studies. 

What about the fact kids were tougher in those days, we still had to walk to school in our shorts even if the snow was over our knees and were still sent outside during breaktimes what ever the weather, if the lead paint had not killed us a little rain or snow was not going to. We had smaller class sizes and real teachers, not so called teaching assistants.

Then we also had the scabby knees which never seemed to heal, always in the rough and tumble and playing in the dirtiest of places, our mums never reached for the spray that kills 99.9% of bacteria apart from the fact it did not exist they knew we would develop our own immunity and could that be an issue today? How do children develop strong immune systems without the exposure. 

We used to put asbestos onto bonfires and watch it go bang, explore derelict buildings and get a nail in the foot or fall through a roof but it was all fun and life experiences, in short we had real childhoods and were shielded from many adult topics. 

Children now do not have a childhood, they have to grow up faster and are exposed to an adult world in which they cannot explore because of all the sicko's, weirdo's and pedos that are now free to roam. Then they seem to think they can escape the world of having to work by becoming "Famous" and become addicted to false images that lead to facial disfigurement, often refered to as plastic surgery or as I call it the sink plunger look.

Yes life might well have been harder in the sixties and our parents had more of a struggle but from that came appreciation, we valued what we had and could entertain ourselves without having to buy things, I spent hours dismantling Tv's and old radios for fun. Our dads would show us how they decoked the family saloon by removing the cylinder head, we had a Rover 110 with freewheel and how to repair our bikes, now it is a buy a new one.

I look at the later generations and feel sorry for them, they may have the latest in technology but oh what a mess everything is in, the planet is dying, greed is openly accepted and no one has time for others and they face higher health risk because of all the pollution from the past like radiation from bomb testing and accidents. They have a tougher time finding work because so many industries are gone and the system fails them, and the cost of living is higher.

Does everyone really need to go to university, in our days engineering apprenticeships were the big objective, universities were for the academics from high schools not us from the local secondary school, mine was in Hornchurch.

So would we have wanted to grow up in todays world, no way because there is so much wrong with society these days and I loved my childhood, so much freedom to explore, we had chemistry sets that would now be banned under the terrorism act, remember the Jetex engines we put in model planes and boats again HSE would have something to say about those and we grew up with an awareness of danger, not wrapped up in cotton wool.


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## Phil Pascoe (10 Feb 2021)

John Brown said:


> What, no radon?


Plenty of that. The house I sold in 2013 was eight times over the safety limit.


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## Wildman (10 Feb 2021)

Rorschach said:


> A TV you had to go and change channel on the TV itself, or you had a bit of bamboo with something soft taped to the end so you didn't have to get up.
> Oh and only 4 channels.


wow 4 channels we only had one


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## rafezetter (10 Feb 2021)

Distinterior said:


> I had a conversation with my wife's niece ( 20 years old) last year and was trying to explain to her that telephones used to have a dial on them that you had to put your finger in and turn the dial, let it go and then wait until it went back, stopped before you then had to dial the next digit in the phone number.......She thought I was joking and I'd just made it up.... I said there used to be a little book by the phone that had your friends and family phone numbers in it written down....or, you had to be able to remember all the numbers....She thought I was drunk!!!



There's a youtube of an american father asking his teenagers (15/16ish) kids to make a telephone call with an old fashioned telephone - he gave them a minute and they didn't figure it out


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## mhn (10 Feb 2021)

My father spent all his working life at the local coal mine, we had a ton( yes not a metric tonne in those days) delivered in a loose pile to the pavement outside our house once a month as part of his wages. As most of our neighbours also worked for the NCB walking down the street was an obstacle course as deliveries were often on the same day for each road. It needed to be shovelled into a wheelbarrow moved round the back to be dumped outside the coalplace and then shovelled in there. Two open fires meant our dustbin was full of just ash and tin cans, a back boiler meant constant hot water and a range oven heated from one of the adjacent fireplaces was where mum cooked, however bedrooms were freezing in winter with ice on the inside of the windows.....no not 1870 but as late as the 1970s
"Nostalgia's OK but it's not what it used to be. EEee by gum"


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## Bod (10 Feb 2021)

1st TV in 1966, black and white, 2 channels BBC & ITV.
First programme I saw was "Dactari" big impression on a 7 year old. (Think I've spelt it wrong)

Bod.


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## OldWood (10 Feb 2021)

Are we getting competitive on this ? My father drove my sister and I to Golspie from Edinburgh in 'Belinda' in 1950. I see that the current distance is 203 miles and takes 4 hours; we took 2 days! Our mother went by train taking the bulky gear with her.
Rob


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## doctor Bob (10 Feb 2021)

My mate used to hang me upside down over the edge of the great river Ouse relief channel sluice gates (like canal gates but the river width) so I could retrieve the corona bottles washed down there. Falling in would deffo be drowning. Happy days.


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## Distinterior (10 Feb 2021)

In 1969, my parents took us all for a holiday to Anglsey in our Ford Anglia Estate. We left from the East Anglian coast and it took a day and a half to get there......On the way, the car overheated and the 5 of us + our labrador had to spend the night in the car parked in a petrol station.....I can still remember the smell in that car from the following morning....


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## Retired (10 Feb 2021)

Hi,

Poverty was happiness because everyone around us was the same; who needed door locks in fact could the lock key be found; no one had anything of value to steal and very few actually stole anything other than kids raiding orchards in summer.

Real summer days that seemed to last all night hardly getting dark; short severe winters. No electricity in our cottage until I was about five just gas; cold water and a single coal fire; my family were coal miners and I well remember the home loads of coal which has already been mentioned and having to barrow a ton of coal into "the coal ole". Watching a neighbours B&W TV with only one channel all the kids sitting around on the floor; wow Flash Gordon was a super hero.

Old fashioned steam road rollers and trolley busses; no money for fares so four of us used our all terrain legs to get to and from school even in deep snow; teachers and headmaster had control of the school and any kid in trouble at school got an hiding at home. Every kid left school being able to read and write; a number of kids used to smoke Woodbines at break times but drugs; alcohol; tattoos and body piercing just didn't exist. Police were respected as were adults; to answer back meant real trouble. Clothes; shoes and food were luxuries; no obese kids either. Lasses played as hard as lads and there was lots of courting but very few unwed mothers; it was shame on the family for a girl to get pregnant without being married.

We played out building tree dens; games were hide and seek; squad can; whip and top; hopscotch etc. We had the school bully so this hasn't changed much. Kids were inspected for nits; free school milk because parents were so poor; family allowance I think possibly £1 for the first child; mother at home dad down the pit coming home to have a bath in front of the coal fire. Paper chains at Christmas with few presents because of the poverty. Cockroach infested cottage with outside toilet right round the back. Three brothers one sister sharing an unheated unlit bedroom were candles had to be used. 

Twin tub washing machines started to appear but the old mangles remained. DDT in every house and also real creosote smell everywhere. Carbolic soap was used to wash kids mouths out. Compo cough medicine; goose grease on chests; oh boy we lived well but in spite of every hardship people had a smile on their face and actually made conversation.

One days holiday each year with the working men's club; kids were given an envelope with a few bob as spending money which was soon confiscated by parents; the day was usually a train trip to the seaside the highlight of the day a full dinner of fish and chips without having to share and using a knife and fork then build sand castles on the crowded beach. Kids always watched over by every adult so were always safe even when they became lost.

Car owners locally were rare so it was safe to cross the road but we were taught how to cross the road from a very young age; cars were very unreliable and prone to disintegrate due to severe rusting; posh cars had trafficators; police officer on traffic duty in busy places no traffic lights. M&S and Woolworths the big stores; army surplus stores were common as were the old fashioned hardware stores where a single tap washer could be bought for about a penny. Lead paint already mentioned and lead pipes to the houses; lots of heavy cast iron around painted with lead paint which lasted forever. 

Big jars of sweets meaning sweets were weighed and put into paper bags; all parents had ration coupons.

Lots of modern things are better but the smile and friendliness of years gone by has somehow mostly disappeared.

Kind regards, Colin.


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## Phil Pascoe (10 Feb 2021)

When my daughter (born '95) tells me I'm a dinosaur, I remind her that her great grandmother (died '97) had never owned a house, had never had an indoor toilet let alone a bathroom, had never driven a motor vehicle nor held a bank account.

My daughter was twenty one months old when my grandmother died. We were called to see her at the old people's home she was in, and it was obvious she was fading away. My daughter smiled at her for a minute or two. Squeezing my hand, she looked straight into my eyes said daddy, I think we'd better go - great grandma is tired and she's going to go to sleep now for a very, very, very long time. Not once did she blink - it was the spookiest thing I've ever seen. One memory that'll always be with me.


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## DBT85 (10 Feb 2021)

Windows used to be installed from about 35 floppy disks and take about a week.


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## clogs (10 Feb 2021)

all the above plus havin to clean the lodgers boots for 6d and breaking the table salt block with a knife and hammer.....
clean the lino in the front hall.....


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## NormanB (10 Feb 2021)

doctor Bob said:


> My mum and dad had the only phone in our street people used to come and use it quite often.


That got me thinking.
Someone must have been the first to have a telephone installed. Who did they ring?


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## John Brown (10 Feb 2021)

That's the penalty paid by early adopters.


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## NormanB (10 Feb 2021)

mhn said:


> My father spent all his working life at the local coal mine, we had a ton( yes not a metric tonne in those days) delivered in a loose pile to the pavement outside our house once a month as part of his wages. As most of our neighbours also worked for the NCB walking down the street was an obstacle course as deliveries were often on the same day for each road. It needed to be shovelled into a wheelbarrow moved round the back to be dumped outside the coalplace and then shovelled in there. Two open fires meant our dustbin was full of just ash and tin cans, a back boiler meant constant hot water and a range oven heated from one of the adjacent fireplaces was where mum cooked, however bedrooms were freezing in winter with ice on the inside of the windows.....no not 1870 but as late as the 1970s
> "Nostalgia's OK but it's not what it used to be. EEee by gum"


Wheelbarrow - ‘you were lucky’ we used two galvanised buckets. I used to move it from roadside to coal house for a shilling for a few of my neighbours from the age of 12. This was at a time when my pocket money was 6d (half a shilling). I felt wealhy.


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## Sachakins (10 Feb 2021)

Anyone missing the noise from their US Robotics modem, as it would dial up and connect your 16kb, mono green screen computer, which was half the size of the kitchen table, and then marvelling that you could download that massive 8kb file in just 45 mins.


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## stuckinthemud (10 Feb 2021)

No, but I remember my zx spectrum taking 5 minutes to download a 12k game off tape while listening to the data transfer in case the tape hiccuped and we had to start again.


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## Oraclebhoy (10 Feb 2021)

Shops closing early on a Wednesday.

Chap selling matches and laces down the high street.

50p in the electric meter.

Butchers having saw dust on the floor.

Black and white tv with a dial that you turned to tune a channel.

Having a physical lock on the telephone dial.

Bin men coming round the back of the house to pick up the bin bags.

BBC showing government guidance programs, one was the bed time routine showing a couple putting out pipe, fire guard in front of the open fire, switching off plug sockets etc...


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## doctor Bob (10 Feb 2021)

My dad bought me a summer season ticket to the local outdoor pool in 1976 for 75p


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## doctor Bob (10 Feb 2021)

I never had a whole can of coke, I had to share it with my sister, only had it on holiday, real special treat.


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## Doug B (10 Feb 2021)

Oraclebhoy said:


> Butchers having saw dust on the floor.



I drank in a couple of pubs like that in my youth


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## MJP (10 Feb 2021)

Retired said:


> goose grease on chests;



Well I never! I'm in South Wales and was born in Neath, where I spent my childhood with my grandparents.

Their cure for a chest cold was goose grease on a piece of Welsh flannel, placed on the chest.

And now, in all my 74 years, this is the first time that I've encountered anyone else mention this folk remedy.

Takes me back.

Martin.


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## Phil Pascoe (10 Feb 2021)

Fish and chips for 1/- (5p)


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## Cheshirechappie (10 Feb 2021)

I'm not that old (cough), but the first computer I ever saw was when I was 17. We got one at school; a BBC Micro, if memory serves. Just the one, between 600 pupils. You had to book time on it by asking a teacher, who logged your slot in an exercise book.

Couple of years later, at university, technology had marched on. We had access to a mainframe computer, which we programmed by typing punch cards, and presenting the resulting stack to a (very harassed) operator. Come back next day for the printout.

Later, at work, the drawing offices had row upon row of drawing boards. There were a few computers, but they had specialist operators and mere engineers were not allowed near them. There were girly calendars all over the place, half the office smoked, and mid morning and afternoon a trolley came round with a tea urn and a selection of the greasiest pies I've ever seen, under the command of a dumpy battleaxe who took absolutely no s--- from anyone, even the Principal Engineer. We weren't strictly allowed kettles, but blind eyes were turned as long as they were not too obvious. The trolley and battleaxe were replaced by vending machines in the late 1980s, but it just wasn't the same.


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## Jacob (10 Feb 2021)

Phil Pascoe said:


> We never had gas. Still don't have gas.


My grandparents never had electricity they only had gas. I can remember the smell (quite pleasant) and the spills to light the lights from the open fire they cooked on (range)- though they had a gas cooker and fire was used just for the kettle - as modernity kicked in.


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## heronviewer (10 Feb 2021)

I remember a pub in Invergordon in 1950. Sawdust on the floor and in big spittoons on the floor. I thought it was a bit like a wild west saloon !


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## Jacob (10 Feb 2021)

heronviewer said:


> I remember a pub in Invergordon in 1950. Sawdust on the floor and in big spittoons on the floor. I thought it was a bit like a wild west saloon !


I remember a pub where all the beer was from barrels behind the bar tapped into steel enamel jugs. She didn't have a till - just a biscuit tin on her lap. Went decimal and she should have had two tins but made a bit of extra profit with one tin and sleight of hand. Barley Mow, Kirk Ireton. Or was it the Knockerdown? Some time ago.


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## Jacob (10 Feb 2021)

I remember no cars on our street. You could play marbles in the middle of the road. I say "marbles" but there were also "clays" - little red balls made of clay, worth ten to one glass marble.
Come to think there was no tarmac either, it came later. There were horse drawn deliveries - Coop Bread, and electric milk floats.


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## Jacob (10 Feb 2021)

I remember when no house on our street had a telly except one. Every Sunday all the kids on the street would knock on the door at 5 pm and say "is Peter playing?" because we knew he'd be stuck to Children's Hour and we might get invited in. Muffin the Mule and the Flowerpot Men etc


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## Sandyn (10 Feb 2021)

When the family visited my granny, four kids slept in one bed, two at the top and two at the bottom, so you had two pairs of smelly feet at your head. My Granny never had electricity, so at night when it got dark, the Tilly lamp was lit. There was something very nice about the sound of it being pumped, then lit. The sound of when it was running, the colour of the light and the adults chatting as I drifted off to sleep. I remember being very cosy in bed.

We lived at a Glenlivet for a while, every night when we were went to bed, my mum would give all the kids a big spoonful of sweet sticky malt out of a big jar. No toothbrushes in those days. As I write this, I can almost smell it. It was so nice. No wonder my teeth are rotten!


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## Jacob (10 Feb 2021)

Sandyn said:


> When the family visited my granny, four kids slept in one bed, two at the top and two at the bottom, so you had two pairs of smelly feet at your head. My Granny never had electricity, so at night when it got dark, the Tilly lamp was lit. There was something very nice about the sound of it being pumped, then lit. The sound of when it was running, the colour of the light and the adults chatting as I drifted off to sleep. I remember being very cosy in bed.
> 
> We lived at a Glenlivet for a while, every night when we were went to bed, my mum would give all the kids a big spoonful of sweet sticky malt out of a big jar. No toothbrushes in those days. As I write this, I can almost smell it. It was so nice. No wonder my teeth are rotten!


We had Tilley lamps too (years later when we moved into a derelict house in the middle of Wales).They were really nice, not just the hurricane lamp shape - they had long brass stems and parchment shades, soft hissing noise, cosy smell, very localised light.


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## Oraclebhoy (11 Feb 2021)

What about buying a 1/4 bottle of whisky? Haven’t see one of them in a while.
And when everyone had zippo lighters, we sold small gel capsules that had lighter fluid in it.
One more, who remembers Woodbine?


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## AFFF (11 Feb 2021)

I remember when there where only 2 channels on TV. BBC & ITV and you needed separate aerials to receive the signals. Kids TV consisted of "Children's Hour" 5 - 6pm. Blue Peter with Valerie Singleton and Christopher Trace, Animal Magic (god bless Johnnie Morris!) Tales from the River Bank, and a really weird eastern european program called the Singing Ringing Tree that used to frighten the wits out of me! ITV had How and then Magpie. Susan Stranks was my first crush. Happy days ......


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## ian_in_the_midlands (11 Feb 2021)

My lad of 10 was amazed yesterday when I told him that old cars could start by turning the engine over with a starting handle. 
We had to visit YouTube before he would believe me.


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## ian_in_the_midlands (11 Feb 2021)

Also, as kids of 14 (or less) we were out on our own with airguns.


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## dzj (11 Feb 2021)

ian_in_the_midlands said:


> Also, as kids of 14 (or less) we were out on our own with airguns.


Ha ha, yes, it was quite a common birthday present. But only if you had good grades at school.
And most boys carried pocket knives, too.
I was 14 when me and a mate of mine went on holiday without the parents for the first time.
Wouldn't suggest that nowadays though.


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## ian_in_the_midlands (11 Feb 2021)

I was going to add about a pocket knife. As a 10 year old, I considered it a tool, not a weapon.


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## glenfield2 (11 Feb 2021)

Wearing sandals to school (the sort with buckles) and when my feet got too big for them my parents would cut the toes out - of the sandals not my feet! No wonder I’ve got duff feet now. 
Oh and did anyone else to the receiver rest tapping routine in old phone boxes to get free calls? (It worked too).


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## Keith Cocker (11 Feb 2021)

Rorschach said:


> A TV you had to go and change channel on the TV itself, or you had a bit of bamboo with something soft taped to the end so you didn't have to get up.
> Oh and only 4 channels.



4 Channels! Luxury!!!! We had 2 Oh and the Home Service, Light Programme and the Third Programme. Happy Days


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## Phil Pascoe (11 Feb 2021)

ian_in_the_midlands said:


> Also, as kids of 14 (or less) we were out on our own with airguns.





ian_in_the_midlands said:


> I was going to add about a pocket knife. As a 10 year old, I considered it a tool, not a weapon.


We all carried knives, and a few of my friends at ten or twelve years old owned their own shotguns. I've carried a knife all my life.


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## Phil Pascoe (11 Feb 2021)

Keith Cocker said:


> 4 Channels! Luxury!!!! We had 2 Oh and the Home Service, Light Programme and the Third Programme. Happy Days


Forgot 208mw?


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## Robbo60 (11 Feb 2021)

A car phone in 1967? Must have had a very long cord?


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## paulrbarnard (11 Feb 2021)

doctor Bob said:


> I never had a whole can of coke, I had to share it with my sister, only had it on holiday, real special treat.


Never had coke as a kid. Best we got was a Britvic orange and a packet of Crisps, with blue twist of salt, sat in the car in the pub car park, no kids in pubs. Tizer was the special occasion drink at home. The milkman delivered it. Thinking about the pubs, we moved to Australia in the 60’s and us kids could go in the pub but women couldn’t. Different cultures


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## gregmcateer (11 Feb 2021)

glenfield2 said:


> Oh and did anyone else to the receiver rest tapping routine in old phone boxes to get free calls? (It worked too).



Oh yes! And my mate's mum couldn't understand how her phone bill was so big even though she'd installed a dial lock


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## NickM (11 Feb 2021)

Ollie78 said:


> I still do that. Cheese is made of mould anyway, at least thats my logic (still alive so far). Not doing it on bread though.
> I miss proper milk with cream on the top too.
> 
> Another one is people smoking basically everywhere all the time, I remember not really being able to see through the fog on the top deck of the bus.
> ...



We always cut the mould off cheese and carry on. Nothing wrong with that.

The smoking one is interesting. I started work in 1998 (not really that long ago) and there was a box on the form to say whether you willing to share an office with a smoker. A friend said “no” but still got put in an office with someone who liked to smoke a cigar or two everyday! Seems crazy now.


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## evildrome (11 Feb 2021)

Sandyn said:


> I was just thinking of some of the things from when I was younger that people would have difficulty believing today, but it's not really all that long ago. First one was when some people from the military came to school and told us what to do in the event of a nuclear bomb being dropped. The best advice they offered was to get down as flat as possible on the ground bury your face in the ground, hands over the top,
> 
> Second one, my wife reminded me a couple of days ago...'Remember when there were two mail deliveries a day?'



Army Trainer "Nuclear weapons produce a 360ft deep crater. The best defence remains the 6ft slit trench. Questions?"

My Uncle "How do you dig a 366ft slit trench?".


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## Fitzroy (11 Feb 2021)

Cabinetman said:


> What? You still don’t do that? Ha ha, mind you I draw the line at mouldy bread. I remember the old, what to do in the event of a nuclear attack advice, something about removing all the doors and building a shelter under the stairs, perhaps somebody can remind me – all total b-llocks of course. Ian
> I remember the milk being left on the doorstep in very cold weather and the foil top would be stood on the top of 3 inches of frozen solid cream that had ejected out of the top of the bottle. Memories. Before you know it we’ll be on to Monty Python. Ian


Not 3” but -8 here last night and pushed the top off.


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## artie (11 Feb 2021)

Radio Luxembourg


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## Phil Pascoe (11 Feb 2021)

Robbo60 said:


> A car phone in 1967? Must have had a very long cord?


Radio. The powers that be threatened to cut my father's licence regularly for using obscene language over the airwavs. The unit in the boot was the size on a suitcase.


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## Phil Pascoe (11 Feb 2021)

Fitzroy said:


> Not 3” but -8 here last night and pushed the top off.


It doesn't freeze like it used to as it's homogenised. It was the cream that expanded dramatically.


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## Phil Pascoe (11 Feb 2021)

artie said:


> Radio Luxembourg


I don't think they would believe it nowadays?


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## Jonzjob (11 Feb 2021)

206mw.

Dan Dare.

Lost in Space.

Dick Barton, Special Agent

BBC

Navy Lark

Hancock's Half Hour

The Glums

2 Way Family Favorites on Sunday lunchtime, sorry, iy wasn't lunch then it was dinner unless you were 'awfully posh'

Phone box phones with 'A' and 'B' buttons

We still get unpasturised full cream organic with, complete with that lovely cream on top. It comes in 2 pint bottles, albeit plastic. Bur 2 pints not 1 of those metric things!

Cras with vacuum wipers like my Mk2 Ford Consul, 3 speed, coulomb change, bench front seat and my Ford 100E Perfect, 1172 side valve engine. I actually put electric wipers on that as I got totally fed up with the wipers getting slower the faster you went!

AA and RAC men on their motorcycle combos. They would salute their members if it was clear and just nod if there were any coppers around


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## artie (11 Feb 2021)

Phil Pascoe said:


> I don't think they would believe it nowadays?


I'll see your 208, and up you Radio Caroline.


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## Jonzjob (11 Feb 2021)

Whem I was in the R.A.F. we used to get a GDT, Ground Defence Training, lecture once a year. One lecture, at R.A.F. Lyneham we were sat listening to this Rock Ape (R.A.F. Regiment) Warrant Officer telling us the best was to dig a slit trench, 6 foot long by 6 foot deep. Some young Zob (officer) stood up and told the WO that he obviously wasn't a gardener and that it wouldn't be possible to dig a trench like that in the incredibly stony clay soil around here! The Rock Ape's reply was "Sir given enough incentive you would be able to dig that 6 foot slit trench through 4 foot of concrete wiv your navel!". The Zob sat down and was very quietafter that!


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## Jonzjob (11 Feb 2021)

Radio Caroline


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## BHwoodworking (11 Feb 2021)

aint it funny listening to all the old codgers wax lyrical   

but i do agree with some things.

you arnt allowed to buy a butter knife untill you are 18 these days...... (eh hem. hiding my mates air gun behind my back)

as as for air rifles, if you look at them and you are under 18, you end up in care courtesy of HMP

and you arnt legal on *ANY* tools until you are 16. thats right, not even a blummin drill. but i dowt that the powers that be will stop you.......


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## Suffolk Brian (11 Feb 2021)

Rorschach said:


> A TV you had to go and change channel on the TV itself, or you had a bit of bamboo with something soft taped to the end so you didn't have to get up.
> Oh and only 4 channels.


FOUR channels? I can remember three - when colour came out, it was on BBC2 only........


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## Suffolk Brian (11 Feb 2021)

Phil Russell said:


> Ah, old telephone boxes... we used to go around as many as we could find and press button B (or was it A) and sometimes we would strike lucky and get 4d come out. Two hits in an evening and we could get a bag of chips each, complete with free batter bits if we asked nicely. Bread delivered by horse drawn cart. Electric milk float though. Going to the off-licence to get mum a bottle of stout. The grocer's shop.. Ridgeons or Ridgeways I think it was, not far from Kingstanding circle (Birmingham). Biscuits bought by the bag weight out of the biscuit tin.
> Such fun.
> Cheers, Phil


Button B got you your money back. Button A got pressed when you got an answer from the other end.


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## Droogs (11 Feb 2021)

@Jonzjob just for you the sound of a sunday evening around 5:30pm


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## 668hrn (11 Feb 2021)

Just listen to yourselves Ha


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## Phil Pascoe (11 Feb 2021)

Suffolk Brian said:


> FOUR channels? I can remember three - when colour came out, it was on BBC2 only........


We had the first colour TV in this part of Cornwall. The Engineer who commissioned the Four Lanes mast promised to be finished in time for the Queens speech on Xmas Day 1970. He was staying with us - he finished working on the mast, drove back and tuned our TV in.


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## 668hrn (11 Feb 2021)

Just listen to yourselves Te He


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## PhilTilson (11 Feb 2021)

I was definitely ahead of my time. The first Ipod? Home-made crystal set (with genuine adjustable "cat's whisker"), pair of army surplus headphones and I was off listening to the Light Programme...


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## Jonzjob (11 Feb 2021)

Droogs, that's brilliant!!

Yates' Wine Lodge and their sherry . I had a 9 pint demijon that I got in Cyprus and I took that in and got 9 pints of sherry to take to parties.


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## Phil Pascoe (11 Feb 2021)

All the demijons I ever saw were a gallon.
I remember one legendary party in 1976. There were forty one of us, most of us hit the pub til 1.00am, then drank everything everyone had brought plus thirty six gallons of draught Bass. To be fair, it didn't end until the following afternoon.


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## Concizat (11 Feb 2021)

Going to the village school in Scotland in the 40's . Classes were so small they were combined having 2 classes with one teacher. There were a total of 9 in my class.
Writing on slate boards with slate pencils on which we wrote the answers to the long division and multiplication that the teacher chalked on the blackboard.
Who remembers using fractions?
If it was nice day the headmaster would sometimes take us on a field trip (walking) by the river Lunan . I remember him showing us how to guddle trout by tickling their bellies. Few cottages had running water indoors (we did) but had ornamental stand pipes in the street, and cooking was done on a trivet on the open fire. Milk was delivered from the farm by horse and cart in aluminium churns. I remember 1947 when we were snowed in and the village was cut off for 2 weeks The snow had drifted so high in one alleyway between 2 streets that we cut steps in the snow and walked up as high as the rooftops and down the other side. Mind you the houses then were all single story cottages..
Most families kept 2 pigs in a shed in the back garden, on went to the government and you kept the other for yourself , hanging the pork up in the outside wash house to smoke from the copper boiler that washed the clothes. I could go on but I'd better not


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## TRITON (11 Feb 2021)

My Father referred to the kitchen tap as the well. As in he was going to fill the kettle from the well.

The Well Dad ??, it was Duke st you were from, not darkest Peru


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## Phil Pascoe (11 Feb 2021)

I remember my last class at junior school in 1965 - there were 48 children in it.


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## Terrytpot (11 Feb 2021)

stuckinthemud said:


> No, but I remember my zx spectrum..


Flash git with your fancy dead flesh keyboard..all I had was the carpy ZX81


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## Tris (11 Feb 2021)

Concizat- my daughter (10) is doing fractions at the moment, and better at it than me


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## Concizat (11 Feb 2021)

Tris said:


> Concizat- my daughter (10) is doing fractions at the moment, and better at it than me


Do they still do mental arithmetic in school, where you're only allowed to write down the answer?


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## heimlaga (11 Feb 2021)

I am a few months short of 40 so I am too young to remember that far back...... but we had combined classes in school. We were 8 on my class combined with either a 7 or 8 pupil class.
However I do remember farmers ploughing with Massey-Ferguson 35 and two furrow plough and I have some very faint memories of seeing some of the very last workhorses which already then were very old and had been replaced with tractors but the owners could just not send their old workmates to the butcher so the horses were kept until their time was over. I do also remember the last old man who refused to get a chainsaw but kept logging all by hand. I also remember when far from all houses had an indoor toilet and when professional fishermen used wooden clinker built boats with small locally made inboard engines. I also remember seeing some of the last birchbark roofs.

However I have met people who remembered using pine spelks for lighting. The Finnish equivalent of rushlights. The predecessor of oil lamps.
I have also met people who remembered pit sawing timber for boatbuilding.
I have met people who remembered seeing old people plough with an ard that did not turn the soil unlike "modern" ploughs.
I have met people who remembered making charcoal for blackmithing
I have met people who remembered seeing the first cars that came to the region.
I have met people who remembered when the first boat motors appeared.
I have met people who remembered the first electric lamps.
I have met people who have taken part in the last full scale seal hunting expeditions when hunters lived in a boat on the ice for months at a time.
I have met people who remembered locally made muzzle loaded riffles and shotguns still in everyday use for hunting. Though the original flintlocks had by then been converted to percussion locks.
I have met people who in their youth had threshed rye and barley with a flail in the era before motor driven threshers.
I have met people who in their youth had made wooden cart wheels for ordinary horse drawn farm carts.
I have met people who remembered the first tractor that came to this village. It was a Harland. A knock off of a Fordson F.

The past is very close after all.


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## treeturner123 (11 Feb 2021)

As well as milk delivered by United Dairy in an orange horse drawn float in Wanstead, then in Essex, we also had a regular Knife Grinder with his grinding wheel as part of the bike and regular French Onion Johnnies with strings of onions on the handlebars and at the side.

Could go on about 4 sweets to an old 1s etc and the big freeze of 62/63. What are people complaining about now. My father was a doctor and had snow chains so went out in any conditions!

Phil


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## Fitzroy (11 Feb 2021)

Concizat said:


> Do they still do mental arithmetic in school, where you're only allowed to write down the answer?


They do in year 5, my 7yr old (yr 3) is good at maths and does everything mentally and gets in trouble as he doesn’t write down his workings. You can never win!

fitz.


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## DBT85 (11 Feb 2021)

One thing that is abundantly clear is that I'm one of the whippersnappers around these parts!


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## Chris70 (11 Feb 2021)

Trainee neophyte said:


>


This was before they put the girl inside the circle. When you fine-tuned the channel you aimed to get the best resolution you could on the bottom rectangles within the circle, realistically impossible with 405 lines


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## Jacob (11 Feb 2021)

Phil Pascoe said:


> We all carried knives, and a few of my friends at ten or twelve years old owned their own shotguns. I've carried a knife all my life.


We all had flick knives when they were fashionable and illegal. We were a peaceful lot though - no stabbings at all! I guess we probably had a sharpening problem. 
Then Swiss Army knives came in and all changed - only the rich kids could afford them and they were stolen on a regular basis.


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## Phil Pascoe (11 Feb 2021)

I remember the fruit and veg man with his horse and cart. The manure didn't go cold before one of the village women picked it up for the roses. I remember my grandmother's neighbour at seven every morning walking along the rows of vegetables in his garden urinating as as he walked. No one thought it remotely odd.


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## gwaithcoed (11 Feb 2021)

We had two phone boxes in our village and we used to shove paper up the slot where the money came out when button B was pressed We would then go round at night to see if there was any money in there If we got 7 pence we would buy a bottle of Tizer and each have a swig One of the gang had a runny nose so he was last to have a swig


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## Chris70 (11 Feb 2021)

Wildman said:


> wow 4 channels we only had one


Yeah, BBC. Not BBC1, another channel was a pipe dream.


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## Bodger7 (11 Feb 2021)

Doug B said:


> & only programs in Black & White, though as a kid I seem to remember only 3 channels


When I were a lad we only had 2 channels BBC and ITV. Some people only had televisions that received BBC.


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## Chris70 (11 Feb 2021)

Jacob said:


> My grandparents never had electricity they only had gas. I can remember the smell (quite pleasant) and the spills to light the lights from the open fire they cooked on (range)- though they had a gas cooker and fire was used just for the kettle - as modernity kicked in.


I remember the spills; they were multicoloured.


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## Sandyn (11 Feb 2021)

Experimenting with Nitrate fertiliser in my bedroom. I didn't think it would ignite, so I took all the heads from a full box of matches and mixed them in, then added some sugar because it should help it burn and I love the smell. I put the mixture in a Sun Valley tobacco tin. Set it on my bed and lit it with a match. It started burning a bit better than I thought, so I knocked it on the the floor where it burnt a beautiful square hole in the carpet. By this time I was thinking about the belting I would get, so I picked up the tin and chucked it out the window. Both hands were severely burnt and had to be bandaged. next day at school the teacher asked what happened. I told her something had caught fire in the house, I picked it up and threw it out the window. She thought I was a hero!! lol

Taking 12 bore cartridges to bits, getting the gunpowder and setting it on fire. My mate wondered what would happen if he put a full cartridge in a vice and hit it with a hammer. lol it took the end of the shed off.


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## Cabinetman (11 Feb 2021)

treeturner123 said:


> As well as milk delivered by United Dairy in an orange horse drawn float in Wanstead, then in Essex, we also had a regular Knife Grinder with his grinding wheel as part of the bike and regular French Onion Johnnies with strings of onions on the handlebars and at the side.
> 
> Could go on about 4 sweets to an old 1s etc and the big freeze of 62/63. What are people complaining about now. My father was a doctor and had snow chains so went out in any conditions!
> 
> Phil


 If you remember the big freeze of 62 to 3 I think you mean four sweets to an old penny. d for dinarius children and there were 240 of them in. £1
Blackjacks and fruit salads, and don’t get me started on those sherbetty things that looked like flying saucers.


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## Doug B (11 Feb 2021)

Bodger7 said:


> When I were a lad we only had 2 channels BBC and ITV. Some people only had televisions that received BBC.


BBC 2 started in 64 so was on air for my earliest memories


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## Phil Pascoe (11 Feb 2021)

On the stations there were machines dispensing 




__





Poppets (sweets) - Wikipedia







en.wikipedia.org





We used to open the drawer about half an inch, which it would do with no resistance, and pick the cardboard box open with the leg of a compass. A couple of knocks on the side of the machine and a sweet would roll out ... and again and again until the box was empty. When the next customer put money in they got an empty box and went to the buffet or cafe to get a refund. Before they got back we'd done the next box.


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## Sandyn (11 Feb 2021)

I lived out in the country in a great community. The post was delivered by Land Rover, at New Year, the posty would have a wee dram at every house. He would get so drunk he could hardly walk, but he still delivered every letter. Someone near the end of his round would give the local bobby a call and he would make sure the posty got home safely.


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## Cabinetman (11 Feb 2021)

Our chemistry teacher who wasn’t right bright (mixed the acid and the water the wrong way) proceeded to teach us all about how to make gunpowder, and he wasn’t very careful about locking the door to the chemicals either, a friend of mine was cycling home when his stash went off in his trouser pocket, very nasty burn, and another bit that was left on the wooden shelf in the classroom ignited overnight and almost burnt right through and didn’t quite set light to the shelf above or else it would’ve been bye-bye school. An Irish boy in my class was telling us how to mix fertiliser and sugar, luckily when I mixed a 2lb bag of sugar with (the only thing I could find which was) moss killer nothing happened, it could have been curtains for Ian


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## Terrytpot (11 Feb 2021)

Phil Pascoe said:


> ... Before they got back we'd done the next box.


In my teens an acquaintance of mine discovered that a stack of 10p coins , each separated by a half pence piece, and then wrapped around their circumference with insulating tape (seven times) and then trimmed apart with a razor blade , left 10 pence coins with a diameter large enough to confuse the coin mechanism in the locals smallest room into thinking it had been fed with a 50 pence piece..one got wedged and in total hysterics we emptied the Durex machine. Maybe the beer fumes contributed to the hilarity but it was funny at the time.


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## Phil Pascoe (11 Feb 2021)

I remember running cross countrys in the winter. Three miles starting with half a mile down Shhhitt Hill from the farm to the river, where we ran up to our knees in frozen mud and cow dung - the dung pile was at the top of the hill, hence the name. When we got back our hands were white, our feet numb and our thighs looked like purple butterflies' wings. All this only for a games master who loathed me to tell me to run it again as he didn't believe I'd done it. They'd be in court for it now.


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## artie (12 Feb 2021)

Did anyone else make their own carbide banger from a dried milk tin with a small hole in the bottom a few drops of water, a piece of carbide and a match?


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## threedee (12 Feb 2021)

Oh my god the carbide stories i could tell  One eye, 5 fingers between 3 guys, windowless greenhouse, ton of broken bottle glass flying, accidental rocket (small metal co2 bottle, carbide+water and a cork)... woof. We lived near a biiiiig building site, which was our primary playground... Also, nail gun ammo...yes ammo... blanks used to drive nails into concrete. Got them by the box. Put them on nearby train track for giggles.

On other explosive news, we found a 100kg bomb half embedded in the tree since ww2 in a nearby forest, enough brains not to touch it, but same day it went boom by bomb people, some windows in the town went  We were occasionally finding ww2 boom stuff throughout the forest over the years. Mostly tank shells, spent casings, german/russian military bits and bobs. Forest was never "forbidden" to enter, still no barriers/fences, i should go metal detecting there some time, when i get tired of living 

Aluminium powder from 2 component paint sets + some permanganate = diy thermite ?

Making our own knives for carving stuff, functional bows and rudimentary arbalests...

Yep, my childhood... We were bored... But no one died, or on drugs, no one in prison, no fights (well, fights, but had to be a good reason to have one).

Reading stories here is like looking at a different world though, i didnt grow up in UK. This thread is like a documentary to me (i like a good documentary).


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## TRITON (12 Feb 2021)

> "Sir given enough incentive you would be able to dig that 6 foot slit trench through 4 foot of concrete wiv your navel!".




A mates army trainer told them. " We dont have to train people to get low to the ground when being shot at. In fact you would cut the buttons off your shirt if you thought it allowed you to get closer to the ground"


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## Jester129 (12 Feb 2021)

BBC2 in colour - going 'round next doors to watch the High Chapperal in colour. Big John, Blue Boy and Manolito! What was the name of Big Johns brother?
Finding a ten bob note and spending it all on bangers!
Sherbet Dip - it used to turn your fingers orange.


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## PetePontoValentino (12 Feb 2021)

Sandyn said:


> When the family visited my granny, four kids slept in one bed, two at the top and two at the bottom, so you had two pairs of smelly feet at your head. My Granny never had electricity, so at night when it got dark, the Tilly lamp was lit. There was something very nice about the sound of it being pumped, then lit. The sound of when it was running, the colour of the light and the adults chatting as I drifted off to sleep. I remember being very cosy in bed.
> 
> We lived at a Glenlivet for a while, every night when we were went to bed, my mum would give all the kids a big spoonful of sweet sticky malt out of a big jar. No toothbrushes in those days. As I write this, I can almost smell it. It was so nice. No wonder my teeth are rotten!



I guess the Sticky Malt was "Virol*. The memory came back to me a few weeks ago and I tried to find some online. It seems it was discontinued some years ago.


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## PetePontoValentino (12 Feb 2021)

Oraclebhoy said:


> What about buying a 1/4 bottle of whisky? Haven’t see one of them in a while.
> And when everyone had zippo lighters, we sold small gel capsules that had lighter fluid in it.
> One more, who remembers Woodbine?



What's the point of a 1/4 bottle? it won't come close to filling a pint pot! 

My grandfather smoked "woodies", he would light them using strips of old news paper lit from the gas cooker (I guess more appropriate for his chosen vice than a zippo


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## Craywater (12 Feb 2021)

MJP said:


> Well I never! I'm in South Wales and was born in Neath, where I spent my childhood with my grandparents.
> 
> Their cure for a chest cold was goose grease on a piece of Welsh flannel, placed on the chest.
> 
> ...


I remember my Grandmother (Ystradgynlais) rubbing goose grease on
chest, mid 50s, and drinking elderflower tea.


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## Ollie78 (12 Feb 2021)

Corona lemonade, we used to collect the empty bottles take them to the shop for the deposit and buy sweets.

Ollie


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## pidgeonpost (12 Feb 2021)

Ye God's, there are so many of these things that I remember that I must be at least 108, but ask me what I had for lunch 2 days ago and it's a different story.


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## kinverkid (12 Feb 2021)

Sitting in the doctors waiting room with all the adults smoking. Then when you went in to see the doctor, he (it would always be a he) would have a fag on the go too. I remember bath days when I got too big for the sink we would have the tin bath. It would be hit or miss if we had it or the family across the street had it. If it was a sunny day we could have a bath in the garden.


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## Glitch (12 Feb 2021)

Walking a mile to school with my sister. I was 5 and she was 6/7

School swimming lessons in a local, freezing outdoor pool

Having a chemistry set and my younger sister eating the Potassium Permanganate

Green Rover tickets - As an under 11 spending the day on the buses with mates randomly travelling through Hertfordshire

Playing with fireworks every Oct/Nov - usually bangers and crackerjacks. 

Climbing on garage roofs - asbestos ones

Adventure playground where they supplied wood, hammers, saws and nails for kids to build tree houses pretty much unsupervised. Nothing stayed intact for long as other kids recycled (nicked) the materials.

Walking several miles to a pub and back that served us as 16 year olds. Playing darts for hours in said pub.


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## Wildman (12 Feb 2021)

Sandyn said:


> Experimenting with Nitrate fertiliser in my bedroom. I didn't think it would ignite, so I took all the heads from a full box of matches and mixed them in, then added some sugar because it should help it burn and I love the smell. I put the mixture in a Sun Valley tobacco tin. Set it on my bed and lit it with a match. It started burning a bit better than I thought, so I knocked it on the the floor where it burnt a beautiful square hole in the carpet. By this time I was thinking about the belting I would get, so I picked up the tin and chucked it out the window. Both hands were severely burnt and had to be bandaged. next day at school the teacher asked what happened. I told her something had caught fire in the house, I picked it up and threw it out the window. She thought I was a hero!! lol
> 
> Taking 12 bore cartridges to bits, getting the gunpowder and setting it on fire. My mate wondered what would happen if he put a full cartridge in a vice and hit it with a hammer. lol it took the end of the shed off.


Now I remember the local bad boy mixing sugar and weedlkiller putting it in a metal tube with a jetex fuse and wedging it in a tree, darn near set fire to the forest when it went off , it split the tree in two. Shotgun licence ten bob from the post office and no age limit.


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## Sandyn (12 Feb 2021)

PetePontoValentino said:


> I guess the Sticky Malt was "Virol*. The memory came back to me a few weeks ago and I tried to find some online. It seems it was discontinued some years ago.


Never heard the name Virol before, but I'm sure that's what it would have been. I remember my mum saying it would be good for us. I wonder if we tasted it today it would be as nice as we remember?


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## Phil Pascoe (12 Feb 2021)

kinverkid said:


> Sitting in the doctors waiting room with all the adults smoking.



Monday mornings were best avoided - the waiting room was full of the usual skivers waiting for their sick notes, and you couldn't see across the room for smoke.


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## Sandyn (12 Feb 2021)

It's amazing which memories stick in your mind, often something horrible. When I was about 5, I woke in the middle of the night with a really sore throat. I went through to my parents bedroom crying in pain. My mum got a teaspoon, using the handle end got a big lump of Vicks rub on the spoon and poked it down the back of my throat. That must have been a miracle cure, because I never complained about a sore throat again!!!


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## Oraclebhoy (12 Feb 2021)

Back in Coatbridge, Scotland, remember going to the doctors, you walked in the door, spoke to the receptionist who handed you your medical notes and then you went and sat on plastic row of (bright orange) seats. As the next patient when in to see the doctor, you all stood up and shuffled down one chair. 
No appointment needed and we had the best doctor, Dr Marcuccilli, he passed away years ago but his son has taken over from him in that surgery.


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## Mick p (12 Feb 2021)

heronviewer said:


> I remember a pub in Invergordon in 1950. Sawdust on the floor and in big spittoons on the floor. I thought it was a bit like a wild west saloon !


Me and My wife stayed at the Mariners hotel in Invergorden two years ago I don’t think its changed very much since 1950
only joking


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## Terrytpot (12 Feb 2021)

threedee said:


> Also, nail gun ammo...yes ammo... blanks used to drive nails into concrete. Got them by the box. Put them on nearby train track for giggles.
> Making our own knives for carving stuff, functional bows and rudimentary arbalests..
> Yep, my childhood... We were bored... But no one died, or on drugs, no one in prison, no fights (well, fights, but had to be a good reason to have one).


still got a scar below my left thumb where the base of a 22' round detached and launched into me when I beat the hell out of it after cramming it full of match heads...made a lovely bang 
fondly remember a friend who had a table tennis table that we got bored playing with and ended up standing at either end of it hurling darts at each other whilst attempting to defend ourselves with the bats...got him in the stomach and forehead 
We also used to make what we called "French Arrows" from bamboo and playing cards which were launched at each other with loops of string..quite effective.
Again, we all survived...quite how I'll never understand!


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## Phil Pascoe (12 Feb 2021)

Hell, I'd forgotten all about the rudimentary arbalests.  

I remember at thirteen being held upside down by the feet in a manhole because my father thought I'd be able to get my arm far enough up the pipe to unblock it. It worked, and as the sewage started to flow a sanitary towel floated past. Do you know what that is? Yes, I replied. A moment later a contraceptive floated past. I know what that I as well, I said. Good, he said. That was the sum total of my sex education from my father.


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## D_W (12 Feb 2021)

As a kid, my dad turned the water off in the shower. You'd think he was done, get ready for your turn, and then the water would turn back on for a short period of time. He's covered like a bear with hair, so the water would go off again and you'd hear "thump thump thump..." for a while. One day, I asked him what it was, and he said he was beating the hair at of the washcloth (because he didn't want to waste water allowing it to run to rinse the rag further). 

He grew up in a house with 11 occupants and a hand dug well. The livestock had a clear full supply from an artesian well, but not the residents in the house - they were on a house well that delivered less and nobody felt like going far to get extra water. Strange thing is he's still on a well, but it has an unlimited 25 gallon per minute supply. He still cannot bear to see any water on a second longer than it should be. 

When I was a child, my mother trained us to take baths (no clue why, but whatever). If she heard you wrapping it up, she'd ask how warm the water was and then use the used water. Same thing - daughter of farmers (but more well off). Both parents are crazy with thrift on some things (less so on others). They will not commit to spending money unless they're really sure of what they want, but have a huge house and spend plenty taking care of the property. 

Both of my grandfathers died wealthy, but with no ability to spend any money on themselves - it made them upset, and they took joy in leisure that cost nothing. 

Mother's father in the 1980s found a full sized 7 watt lightbulb and put one in the reading lamp in their living room and one in their powder room at the front door. It was a guessing game as to whether or not your wee was hitting inside the rim or outside. My dad would complain loudly about it, but his father in law would boast of finding the bulbs. IF you wanted to read, you had to practically sit on the arm of the sofa and lean over toward the lamp to find the amount you'd need to read. 

In the winter when they weren't watching the news, the TV was off and if nobody was reading, so were the lights. The pair (of grandparents) would sit in the dark for hours, awake, just pleased to be able to rest at the end of the day without thinking about anything, but it made it very difficult to tell if they were home sometimes (car always locked in a garage). We would arrive at their house on the weekends and knock on their windows and wait several minutes before leaving, just to make sure they weren't there - they often were.


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## artie (12 Feb 2021)

D_W said:


> He still cannot bear to see any water on a second longer than it should be.


My mother couldn't stand it when I just dropped the hose and let the water run away until I needed it again.

She used to say, "If you had to carry that water in a can on a bicycle for a half mile from a well, like I had to, you wouldn't waste so much"


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## houtslager (12 Feb 2021)

ian_in_the_midlands said:


> My lad of 10 was amazed yesterday when I told him that old cars could start by turning the engine over with a starting handle.
> We had to visit YouTube before he would believe me.


I had one auntie rover p100 with suicide doors, did the bodywork up whilst stationed in Germany (BAOR)


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## Jacob (12 Feb 2021)

My first job was farm labourer. Started in winter with muck spreading. This meant going out into the fields to each of dozens of piles of muck which had been dumped there in the autumn and were now weathered a bit, and fork it out in a big circle. Sort of tennis action - throw a forkful up and hit it.
Each heap was from a small tipping cart probably half a ton pulled by a horse but I'd missed that part and they were now buying their first tractor towed muck spreader.
What they didn't have was any machine to load the muck spreader so that was all done by me with a fork and shovel, barrowed up a slippery plank. Probably 5 tons or so (just guessing these weights) and took half a day to load, half an hour to spread. Luckily they'd parted with the great wooden barrow and the new one was just heavy steel with solid tyres.
What the muck spreader didn't have was any sort of baffle to stop it being spread everywhere including all over the back of the driver so I had a plastic mac with a matching souwester - and scraped the sh*t off at the end of each run
A few years prior to that we used to have camping holidays on another Derbyshire farm. We helped with hay making - all done by hand with horse drawn carts and an old fashioned hay stack. A big cooperative with lots of neighbouring farmers, horse, carts. We kids did turning and winnowing with big wooden hay rakes. Sunny days - paradise!


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## Jacob (12 Feb 2021)

houtslager said:


> I had one auntie rover p100 with suicide doors, did the bodywork up whilst stationed in Germany (BAOR)


My old dad had a Rover 90. Suicide doors? You mean reverse hinged at the back so they could swing wide open without warning?


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## pidgeonpost (13 Feb 2021)

artie said:


> My mother couldn't stand it when I just dropped the hose and let the water run away until I needed it again.
> 
> She used to say, "If you had to carry that water in a can on a bicycle for a half mile from a well, like I had to, you wouldn't waste so much"


In the 60's we had several schoolmasters who had served in WW2. There was one who had been in the 7th Armoured Division (Desert Rats) and he used to become apoplectic at the sight of water being wasted. He almost had to be tied down when the groundsman was watering the cricket square.


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## skeetstar (13 Feb 2021)

Remember green shield stamps, ice on the inside of windows in the morning. 
Making a parachute out of a bed sheet to jump off the garage roof, never worked. Playing soldiers with air rifles, shooting at each other, sometimes we'd wear a coat for protection. The rich family in the street went to Spain for their holidays, inconceivable wild and exotic inbthose days. They were the only ones who could afford Corona lemonade from the delivery truck. Hiding behind the seteed


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## skeetstar (13 Feb 2021)

Settee on a sat evening cos Dr Who was so frightening.
Our holidays were at grans farm in Ireland with a tribe of cousins. We has to fetch water everyday from a pump about 500 yards from the house. We had an old wheelchair, and a galv milk churn. I can still remember the taste even now.


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## Robbo60 (13 Feb 2021)

In about 1967 I was 7 and we found a box of discs on a building site (evading the night watchman) and thought they were about the same size as a sixpence piece. Went to the nearest corner shop that had a chocolate dispense machine on the wall outside, 6d a bar. Emptied it. Went about a mile to the next one and emptied that too. Still don't know what they were?


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## Jonm (13 Feb 2021)

I remember as a child in the fifties going to the shoe shop and viewing how well my shoes fitted with a Pedoscope ( apparently known as a Fluroscope in USA). This was an x-ray machine, you stood with your feet in it and looked through the viewer in the top. I attach a picture.

I loved using it, could see shoe and foot outline and all the bones, if I remember correctly. My mother discouraged me from using it, there were concerns about safety. Apparently they started being used in the 1920’s and in UK began to be removed from late 1950’s through to 1960’s. I cannot recall using one from 1963 onwards. Not sure if they were banned,consumers stopped using them or owners were concerned about their own safety and their staff safety.


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## Phil Pascoe (13 Feb 2021)

Robbo60 said:


> In about 1967 I was 7 and we found a box of discs on a building site (evading the night watchman) and thought they were about the same size as a sixpence piece. Went to the nearest corner shop that had a chocolate dispense machine on the wall outside, 6d a bar. Emptied it. Went about a mile to the next one and emptied that too. Still don't know what they were?


There used to be a machine selling Needler's chocolate at 6d a bar in an arcade in town. I used to be made to go to Sunday school (more I expect to give my parents free time that from their sense of godliness, which was non existent), and was always given 6d for the collection plate. I used to go to my mother's button tin and take a couple to put in the collection so I could spend the 6d on a bar of chocolate. The lime one was wonderful.


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## Jonm (13 Feb 2021)

Phil Pascoe said:


> There used to be a machine selling Needler's chocolate at 6d a bar in an arcade in town. I used to be made to go to Sunday school (more I expect to give my parents free time that from their sense of godliness, which was non existent), and was always given 6d for the collection plate. I used to go to my mother's button tin and take a couple to put in the collection so I could spend the 6d on a bar of chocolate. The lime one was wonderful.


My father was also given money for the Sunday school collection. One Sunday he spent half the money on sweets. Unfortunately for him, it was his older sister who went round collecting the money and she noticed he did not put the correct amount of money on the plate. She told on him and he got a “good hiding” from his dad.

What upset him though was not that his sister had told on him, but he gave half the sweets to his sister for her to keep quiet, she ate the sweets and then told on him.


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## Jacob (13 Feb 2021)

Phil Pascoe said:


> There used to be a machine selling Needler's chocolate at 6d a bar in an arcade in town. I used to be made to go to Sunday school (more I expect to give my parents free time that from their sense of godliness, which was non existent), and was always given 6d for the collection plate. I used to go to my mother's button tin and take a couple to put in the collection so I could spend the 6d on a bar of chocolate. The lime one was wonderful.


I went to Sunday school a couple of times because they told me they gave you stamps and I was into stamp collecting. Didn't take me long to work that they weren't real stamps - they had pictures of beardy chaps with haloes, or women with wings etc. Very disappointing.


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## Mal-110 (13 Feb 2021)

I remember the Corona Pop delivery man, you gave him your empties and got money back on a full bottle, recycling is not new. Didn't always have the money for fizzy pop so we were told to have "Corporation Pop"instead. Now you have to buy it in plastic bottles from Harrogate or Malvern (corporation).
Does anyone remember "Beer at Home from Davenports"? You could only get alcohol from the pub or off licence, Davenports was innovative!. Not that I could have any as I was only ten.
Saved 2d bus fare and got two bun's and walked home. The price of bun's went up so we walked in and shouted "have you got any stale buns" we were shooed out, usually with two buns.
Got a "Johnny Seven" for Christmas once, shot my granddad just behind the ear with a plastic grenade. Froze to death waiting for a real telling off, he was an angry man. I then witnessed my dad being given a right Boll**ing for buying it for me.


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## D_W (13 Feb 2021)

Jonm said:


> I remember as a child in the fifties going to the shoe shop and viewing how well my shoes fitted with a Pedoscope ( apparently known as a Fluroscope in USA). This was an x-ray machine, you stood with your feet in it and looked through the viewer in the top. I attach a picture.
> 
> I loved using it, could see shoe and foot outline and all the bones, if I remember correctly. My mother discouraged me from using it, there were concerns about safety. Apparently they started being used in the 1920’s and in UK began to be removed from late 1950’s through to 1960’s. I cannot recall using one from 1963 onwards. Not sure if they were banned,consumers stopped using them or owners were concerned about their own safety and their staff safety.



Big radiation dose. They were quietly removed here once that was better understood. How quietly they were removed probably has something to do with how well they understood that they were really unhealthful!


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## jcassidy (13 Feb 2021)

The entire family (6 kids, plus mum) going down to the public phone box once a week with a stack of 50p coins to call my dad who was on a tour of duty in Lebanon.
Buying fags for my mum.
Buying half-fags for myself (at age 6)
Stealing lead off the roof of the army barracks and selling it to German fishermen.


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## Robbo60 (13 Feb 2021)

Jacob said:


> I went to Sunday school a couple of times because they told me they gave you stamps and I was into stamp collecting. Didn't take me long to work that they weren't real stamps - they had pictures of beardy chaps with haloes, or women with wings etc. Very disappointing.


I gave up Sunday school when I started real school - Apparently I said I wasn't working a six day week!


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## softtop (14 Feb 2021)

skeetstar said:


> ice on the inside of windows in the morning.


I've had that in my house these past few days!


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## Danieljw (14 Feb 2021)

Go carts, from old boxes and pram wheels.... weeks of fun and friction burns...


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## Phil Pascoe (14 Feb 2021)

"Dandys" around here.


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## Cabinetman (14 Feb 2021)

Robbo60 said:


> In about 1967 I was 7 and we found a box of discs on a building site (evading the night watchman) and thought they were about the same size as a sixpence piece. Went to the nearest corner shop that had a chocolate dispense machine on the wall outside, 6d a bar. Emptied it. Went about a mile to the next one and emptied that too. Still don't know what they were?


I don’t know if they are the same disks or why they should be in a box unless the Electrician was saving them? but the knockouts from metal pattress‘s were the exact size of a sixpenny bit, or was it a shilling, I forget. Ian


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## Sandyn (14 Feb 2021)

Jonm said:


> What upset him though was not that his sister had told on him, but he gave half the sweets to his sister for her to keep quiet, she ate the sweets and then told on him.


That was a good lesson to learn early in life!!!


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## Jester129 (15 Feb 2021)

Quilts? What are they? How about those really itchy coarse blankets we used to have. An eiderdown on top and you were weighed down in bed. It was a fight to get out in a morning, especially with the frost on those metal framed windows! How times change.
I got banned from having a scooter because of wearing one shoe out - now they're electric!


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## Jonm (15 Feb 2021)

Cabinetman said:


> I don’t know if they are the same disks or why they should be in a box unless the Electrician was saving them? but the knockouts from metal pattress‘s were the exact size of a sixpenny bit, or was it a shilling, I forget. Ian


Sixpence 19.41mm which is very close to 3/4 inch (19.05 mm). Perhaps they started out at 3/4 inch and pressing them increased the diameter slightly. Not found thickness of a sixpence yet.
Electrical box knockouts are now mostly 20mm so were probably 3/4 inch then.

Good guess as to what they were. Why was the electrician keeping them, materials were very expensive then, possibly to reuse as packers or drill the centre for washers or perhaps he wanted some free chocolate.


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## Jonm (15 Feb 2021)

Jonm said:


> Not found thickness of a sixpence yet.


thickness sixpence, 1.45 mm


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## D_W (15 Feb 2021)

I grew up in Gettysburg (civil war town in the US). Two of my relatives when they were younger would make gunpowder, and buy rocket fuse and take both to the national park at night and load the cannons with homemade black powder and set the cannons off (by inserting the rocket fuse through the muzzle of the gun - I'm sure they were set off by percussion or something at the back, and that sealed shut, but the fronts were open). 

That would allow them to get in a car, head across the park somewhere else and wait for the boom. Probably would be deemed terrorists now (by the time I was in school, the park commission had plugged all of the old cannons with wood so that you couldn't put anything in them. Wasn't usually gunpowder, rather fast food wrappers stuffed in as tight as people could get them in).


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## D_W (15 Feb 2021)

One other one - somewhere around 1988, two neighbor kids down the hill from me were shooting bb guns. I was sitting at a picnic table watching them act like idiots, and at some point, they got the idea that they could shoot a BB from one gun into the barrel of the other and then fire it out from that gun after.

I told them this was a bad idea (sitting orthogonal to them as they got this idea and put it swiftly into practice). Just as I was getting up, I assured them one would be carrying the BB with them for a long time internally, and one of the two fibbed the other and said he'd done it before. I didn't manage to get both legs over the picnic table bench and I heard them clack the muzzles together and shoot...

...the kid who "had done it before" held his hand up and the BB entered one of his fingers on one side and stopped under the skin all the way on the other side.

As it wasn't my house and i had no interest in getting in trouble, I got up and walked back up the hill. The father of the boy who hadn't gotten shot razzed me later for being a chicken (he was a big tough guy - tough for real, and not great judgement) - he said "what'd you get up and run for? I held gary down and pushed the BB back around his finger and popped it out like a pimple.

What's more about that is that gary would ride up and down the road with a bb gun that was a scale model of an AR-15 (M-16 back then). Riding his bike on a highway. Both things would get you taken in now (wandering around carrying what looked like a firearm, and allowing a 9 year old kid to ride a bike on a major highway).


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## D_W (15 Feb 2021)

skeetstar said:


> Remember green shield stamps, ice on the inside of windows in the morning.



The stamp gimmick was well used here at stores. I never met anyone who got anything with the stamps, but we had books of them licked and stuck together. 

There was a green stamp store the next town over, and after taking a giant stack of books of stamps to the store to get an ice cream maker (just a little tabletop thing, not a typical larger type in a barrel), we realized that about half a decade of stamps was perhaps 1/10th of what was needed to get the ice cream maker. 

Nobody was shopping (or buying), each person going in realizing they'd been scammed. The price with partial stamps was higher than prices elsewhere. We never thought to see how many stamps you'd need ahead of time, and when the "Green stamp" store posted a newspaper ad to encourage you to patronize other stores that issued their stamps (so that those stores would pay them also for the gimmick), the items you could buy never had number of stamps needed matched to the pictures. 

Same thing with cereal boxes here -general mills put a key code on the top of their boxes in the 80s and put pictures of the toys you could get on the back of the boxes. I'd saved about 50 over a year, paid to get a catalog mailed to me and found that the price with box tops (as in, you could buy toys and submit a huge number of boxtops, or you could buy toys for about 10% more) was about the same as the toys in a store .

Perhaps one of these was legitimate at one point, but not in my lifetime.


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## Tris (15 Feb 2021)

The only people I ever knew get things with green shield stamps were sales reps as they were given out when you bought petrol.
Is my memory playing tricks or was it taken over by Argos in the UK?


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## JohnPW (15 Feb 2021)

Penny for the Guy. Nowadays it would be Pound for the Guy. Now replaced by "trick or treat" and Halloween.


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## Droogs (15 Feb 2021)

I used to love being MT Cpl as it meant I had to refuel all the L/R and HJ & MKs at the local shell garage and I got to put all the greenshield points on my card. Still never got enough to claim the nice new Vauxhall Nova 1.2SR at the back of the catalogue and believe me I did try


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## Terrytpot (15 Feb 2021)

Cabinetman said:


> size of a sixpenny bit, or was it a shilling, I forget. Ian


As my father was HM forces I was born in (then West Germany) and spent a fair chunk of my childhood on pop's posting to various parts of the BAOR and as such was an avid collector of 5p coins when we came to the UK for the odd family christmas etc as it was the same size as a German 1 Deutchmark which back then was worth roughly 25p... ironically,many years later I worked in a motorcycle shop where they never bothered to "upgrade" their old coffee vending machine from the old shilling/5p coins to the newer midget 5p coins so they recycled roughly £4.00 worth of the old ones to keep the machine going but we kept finding foreign coinage sneaking in, including the old deutchmarks..


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## D_W (15 Feb 2021)

Here's a little more - when my grandparents were running a farm, it was common for itinerant bachelors to go from farm to farm looking for work. They lived on near nothing, but you could do that in those days - making just enough to go from one place to the next living on free meals after doing work and the alcohol you could buy with cash in hand. 

If you went to town, you may find someone with a sign saying they were looking for farm work, because they actually were. 

About 25 years ago, when I was at home in town, a man with a few small kids showed up at the median at walmart (keep in mind, rural area). "will do any work for food". The man was there for about three weeks - one farmer after another saw the opportunity to get work out of someone hungry yet the man never left the median. About two weeks in, everyone was saying "wow...have you seen the man standing at walmart with the forlorn looking kids? he's brown as a berry - times must be hard for him." One of dad's friends stopped and said "I've got several weeks of (farm)hand work that I'd be glad to have you help with for $8 an hour ($20 equivalent now). The guy flatly said to him "nah, I'm collecting money here. I'll make more money if I stay here than if I go work somewhere. When that dries up, I'll move on". 

He must've done well. Within a couple of weeks, he was gone. That's already two different eras - from the guys looking for work to the guys looking for no work. These days, neither would exist as the first person who sniffed out the guy wasn't looking for work would have him on facebook or patch here in the states and he'd have to keep moving. 

Who knows what other rackets the guy was running - I'd assume he may have been on disability, but with the way he allowed himself to look and his kids, same, he must've been collecting at least several hundred bucks a day back then - working over the naive folks in my rural town who would never even consider that someone would be that scammy.


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## Droogs (15 Feb 2021)

Terrytpot said:


> As my father was HM forces I was born in (then West Germany) and spent a fair chunk of my childhood on pop's posting to various parts of the BAOR and as such was an avid collector of 5p coins when we came to the UK for the odd family christmas etc as it was the same size as a German 1 Deutchmark which back then was worth roughly 25p... ironically,many years later I worked in a motorcycle shop where they never bothered to "upgrade" their old coffee vending machine from the old shilling/5p coins to the newer midget 5p coins so they recycled roughly £4.00 worth of the old ones to keep the machine going but we kept finding foreign coinage sneaking in, including the old deutchmarks..


That reminds me o keeping 5ps in my wallet for the vending machine on the way back to camp for both fags and a bite to eat and 5 mark note to show the local Kripo you weren't a vagrant before getting into camp halcyon days


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## doctor Bob (15 Feb 2021)

My mum and dad got all xmas presents from saving Embassy number 6 tokens. 
I reckon I was on 20 a day from birth due second hand smoke. Both still going at 87 but gave up 30 years ago.
Glass Ash trays the size of dinner plates and weighed 10KG, fag lighters like liberace's chandalier.


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## Phil Pascoe (15 Feb 2021)

Embassy or No.6 - they both had coupons.


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## artie (15 Feb 2021)

No 6
one and tenpence for ten when I was 14.

Then came No 10 and Sovereign too cheap even for a schoolboy.


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## TomGW (15 Feb 2021)

Tris said:


> The only people I ever knew get things with green shield stamps were sales reps as they were given out when you bought petrol.
> Is my memory playing tricks or was it taken over by Argos in the UK?



The UK version of Green Shield Stamps had no connection with the US version and was widely popularised by Tesco. When Tesco abruptly ceased its association with GS stamps, in order to survive, the company started to combine stamps and cash to purchase from its catalogue, before eventually rebranding as Argos. So Green Shield actually became Argos following a move from promotional stamps to a cash only operation.


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## Sachakins (16 Feb 2021)

"Buying loosies on steps of the mobi"

Translation : buying a single cigarette from the mobile shop!


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## Anthraquinone (16 Feb 2021)

Has anyone mentioned
*izal medicated toilet paper*


----------



## Phil Pascoe (16 Feb 2021)

Bronco.


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## Peri (16 Feb 2021)

Being dropped off at my grandads house on Saturday morning while my parents did the shopping, and spending my day playing 3 card brag and pontoon (Black Jack). Grandad would let me pick 7 horses for a 10p accumulator, he'd fill out the slips and I'd go to the bookies to put the bets on (sometimes I'd have to pick him up 20 Park Drive on the way back), then we'd play cards and watch the horse racing with Dickie Davis on Grandstand (I was about 7). I loved my grandad!

------------------

Party packs


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## Sandyn (16 Feb 2021)

Anthraquinone said:


> Has anyone mentioned
> *izal medicated toilet paper*


Really best forgotten about!!!


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## Sachakins (16 Feb 2021)

Izal, well it was more like a plasterers trowel, great for spreading stuff around, but not much else


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## D_W (16 Feb 2021)

color coordinated napkins, toilet paper and paper towels...forgot that they determined later that wiping some of the colorants against your delicates was perhaps ill advised. 

Daughter (11) spotted blue paper towels on the wall on an old episode of roseanne and was enamored, and I was transported back to the 1980s, looking at a rusty baseboard next to a toilet with carpet around the bowl, and blue toilet paper on the wall.


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## D_W (16 Feb 2021)

Perhaps carpeted bathrooms was only an american thing - it didn't last that long, but wasn't uncommon in 1970s and 1980s...

...along with the carpet toilet seat cover, so that when you sat down in the bathroom on the toilet with the toilet closed (why were we doing that again?), you could sit on a warm piece of carpet instead of a cold plastic seat. 

....without thinking about the fact that the last person who sat on the carpeted toilet cover also had no pants or britches on ...and then it seemed less savory.


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## D_W (16 Feb 2021)

Peri said:


> Being dropped off at my grandads house on Saturday morning while my parents did the shopping, and spending my day playing 3 card brag and pontoon (Black Jack). Grandad would let me pick 7 horses for a 10p accumulator, he'd fill out the slips and I'd go to the bookies to put the bets on (sometimes I'd have to pick him up 20 Park Drive on the way back), then we'd play cards and watch the horse racing with Dickie Davis on Grandstand (I was about 7). I loved my grandad!
> 
> ------------------
> 
> ...



Must admit that it took me at least 15 seconds to realize that wasn't a picture of oil cans - remember when you couldn't change your car oil without a can opener?


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## artie (17 Feb 2021)

D_W said:


> remember when you couldn't change your car oil without a can opener?


Only in North America. We were much more advanced in the UK. Unless it was before my time.


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## JimB (17 Feb 2021)

Anthraquinone said:


> Has anyone mentioned
> *izal medicated toilet paper*


Now that was a super spreader


----------



## Phil Pascoe (17 Feb 2021)

I remember one of my children struggling to open a bottle with can opener. I don't think she believed me when I told her drinks cans didn't have ring pulls and had to be pierced. Remember ring pulls that pulled off? I've always though the current design that pushes the tab into the contents a little unhygenic.


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## Tris (17 Feb 2021)

Carpet in the bathroom isn't just a US thing, I remember avocado bathroom suites with carpet going up the side of the bath, matching mats and toilet seat covers, and reeded glass windows. 

Who else used to pull the removable ring pulls apart and flick them at each other in class?


----------



## paulrbarnard (17 Feb 2021)

Tris said:


> Carpet in the bathroom isn't just a US thing, I remember avocado bathroom suites with carpet going up the side of the bath, matching mats and toilet seat covers, and reeded glass windows.
> 
> Who else used to pull the removable ring pulls apart and flick them at each other in class?


Ah I had forgotten about that ring pull game. Your reminder has pulled up a memory of catching my younger brother on the ear with one after he egregiously usurped my right to the front seat in the car. No seat belts of course back then.


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## Cabinetman (17 Feb 2021)

Used to make chains from the ring pulls – God knows why, used to hang them up as a sort of a decoration in my bedroom, I had coloured lightbulbs screwed all around the picture rail and I built a box with lots of switches on it for them out of mahogany and white formica - it had a louvred top covered in black imitation leather. I was 14 or 15 at the time I think and had obviously seen far too many Bond films.


----------



## Glitch (17 Feb 2021)

Mars Bars used to be so much bigger


----------



## Fidget (17 Feb 2021)

Having to double de-clutch


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## D_W (17 Feb 2021)

artie said:


> Only in North America. We were much more advanced in the UK. Unless it was before my time.



If I remember right, it was about 40 years ago here when oil cans went from steel to plastic. The steel cans, I vaguely recall seeing my dad open them with a can opener on one side and with a second hole on the back side so that they'd drain faster. It could be that both were available (plastic and steel). My dad is the type who will buy the steel if that's what he's used to until such a thing is no longer offered.


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## D_W (17 Feb 2021)

Tris said:


> Carpet in the bathroom isn't just a US thing, I remember avocado bathroom suites with carpet going up the side of the bath, matching mats and toilet seat covers, and reeded glass windows.
> 
> Who else used to pull the removable ring pulls apart and flick them at each other in class?



yes on the mat and the toilet seat covers. I found an ad here a while ago talking about the need to match toilet paper to both of those, and those would've been keyed to the color scheme in the bathroom (most of the 30s-50s bathrooms here in the states have matching tile, tub, sink and toilet and the colors are bold like the cars were at the time. )

At some point around 1970, the toilet seat covers went to wood and colored tubs maybe came in fridge colors at the time at best (Avocado, a dull gold, etc). 

The toilet paper ad, at any rate, talked about the shame you'd endure if people came to your color matched bathroom only to find garish white toilet paper clashing with everything. 

I also recall seeing shields that went over the toilet paper so that you couldn't see the roll. 

When I was a youth, there were decorative hand towels for the bathroom and kitchen. We were not to use them, they were for show for the guests. In the bathroom hung behind the decorative towels was a grungy towel that you could use to dry your hands, removed if we had company. 

Kitchen, same - towels were kept out of sight for use. I think that era of fake neatness is over here, at least in the middle class where I reside. 

Before I did our kitchen, there were a couple of fold away fixtures that could be used to dry the "real" towels, while the decorative ones maintained their place on the oven handle, etc. Same with a dish cloth over the sink - a fold away wire contraption that you could use to dry cloths day to day, but then fold it away and hide it if company was coming.


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## artie (17 Feb 2021)

D_W said:


> If I remember right, it was about 40 years ago here when oil cans went from steel to plastic. The steel cans, I vaguely recall seeing my dad open them with a can opener on one side and with a second hole on the back side so that they'd drain faster. It could be that both were available (plastic and steel). My dad is the type who will buy the steel if that's what he's used to until such a thing is no longer offered.


I briefly sojourned in Ontario around 1976. They were still using steel cans for huile moteur They had a spout with a point which you pierced the can with and used as a pourer.

I used to think everything packaged in English and French was hilarious.


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## Phil Pascoe (17 Feb 2021)

antimacassars.
round pin sockets, one to a room.


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## D_W (17 Feb 2021)

artie said:


> I briefly sojourned in Ontario around 1976. They were still using steel cans for huile moteur They had a spout with a point which you pierced the can with and used as a pourer.
> 
> I used to think everything packaged in English and French was hilarious.



I forgot about the spout - we had one. Dad used a large plastic funnel, which negated the need for the spout, but we had it hanging on the wall. 

As far as the packaging in canada goes, the absurd thing is that quite often, we have food that's sold here and sold in canada, same company, same color scheme and completely different name. 

There's a box macaroni and cheese (junkfood) sold as such here. In canada, they call it "Kraft Dinner". 

I talked to a guy from northern canada at one point and he said he was headed south because they didn't have "kraft dinner" in the north of canada. I had no clue what he was talking about. I thought it must be something good to travel for, and he showed me a picture of the box. 





__





Verify Your Identity






www.walmart.ca





He also mentioned the lack of availability of spray cheese in the north, and cheez wiz (I have no clue what's actually in those).


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## Cabinetman (17 Feb 2021)

Phil Pascoe said:


> antimacassars.
> round pin sockets, one to a room.


And two different sizes five amp and 15 ? amp and no plastic bit at the root of the pins so you had to be careful to turn it off as you pulled it out in case your fingers touched the pins. Ian


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## artie (17 Feb 2021)

Phil Pascoe said:


> antimacassars.


Every day's a school day.
We had them in "the good room" but I never knew what they were called.


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## Robbo60 (18 Feb 2021)

D_W said:


> If I remember right, it was about 40 years ago here when oil cans went from steel to plastic. The steel cans, I vaguely recall seeing my dad open them with a can opener on one side and with a second hole on the back side so that they'd drain faster. It could be that both were available (plastic and steel). My dad is the type who will buy the steel if that's what he's used to until such a thing is no longer offered.


I was a Manager of a "Motorist Discount Centre" in 1982 and we were still on steel then


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## Amateur (22 Feb 2021)

Deputy head master and mistress gave everyone on the school bus there strokes of the cane on the bum bent over because the bus company reported someone on the top deck for smoking.
We were asked in assembly to identify the culprit but word had already got round that any squealers would be beaten up.
40 plus pupils were lined up outside deputy heads offices. A line for the girls and one for the boys.
As a first year 11 year old it hurt.
Not one single parent complained.
Oh how times have changed.


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## Amateur (22 Feb 2021)

I went to see the doctor and told him about an interview I saw in black and white tv about Spike Milligan.
Milligan asked the interviewer to prove he, Spike was really there being interviewed.
Your there because I can see you said the interviewer.
You can't prove that said Spike.
Yes I can.
All these people can see you.
Yes, but all these people may not be here either?
They could all be figments of your imagination he went on......and so it went on.
He firmly believed we are all not really where we think we are or doing what we think we are doing.
I explained all this to the doctor.
He gave me a prescription and enrolled me on a web site where like minded people met.
I've been on UK woodworking forum ever since.


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## Amateur (22 Feb 2021)

Colour tv's had just about launched and I'd never seen one.
One dark Saturday night myself and two pals visited Greasy Bills chippy on our bikes for six of chips.
Sat on a wall eating them I spied through a house open curtain the first colour tv we had all ever seen.
We sat staring at the screen until a man came out and challenged us.
What you lot doing looking into my living room , thinking of nicking something.?
No Mr. We are just looking at your colour tv. It's good isn't it?
Colour tv?
What you taking about?
That's my bloody tropical fish tank your looking at.
He went back inside laughing his head off and muttering to himself.


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## Nigel Burden (22 Feb 2021)

Amateur said:


> Deputy head master and mistress gave everyone on the school bus there strokes of the cane on the bum bent over because the bus company reported someone on the top deck for smoking.
> We were asked in assembly to identify the culprit but word had already got round that any squealers would be beaten up.
> 40 plus pupils were lined up outside deputy heads offices. A line for the girls and one for the boys.
> As a first year 11 year old it hurt.
> ...



I remember my brother telling me about the time his class played the rural science master up. "I'll ask you each a question in turn. If you get it wrong you will get six of the best." Apparently he caned all but about five of a class of thirty odd, my brother being one of those who didn't get caned unusually, although he said that it would probably have been better to have been rather than the barracking they received from those who were caned. 

If you were caught fighting by this master, he would get you both in the gym with gloves on and fight "properly". Then he would put gloves on and you would have to do a round with him. He taught boxing.

Nigel.


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## Spectric (22 Feb 2021)

How about petrol station forecourts all had two stroke oil dispensors, were not mini supermarkets and you could buy five star fuel.


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## Nigel Burden (22 Feb 2021)

Spectric said:


> How about petrol station forecourts all had two stroke oil dispensors, were not mini supermarkets and you could buy five star fuel.



That was about 5s and 6d a gallon in the mid/late 60s, and you had a pump attendant.

Nigel.


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## paulrbarnard (22 Feb 2021)

Spectric said:


> How about petrol station forecourts all had two stroke oil dispensors, were not mini supermarkets and you could buy five star fuel.



whoops didn’t read it all


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## Peri (22 Feb 2021)

Amateur said:


> Deputy head master and mistress gave everyone on the school bus there strokes of the cane on the bum bent over because the bus company reported someone on the top deck for smoking.
> We were asked in assembly to identify the culprit but word had already got round that any squealers would be beaten up.
> 40 plus pupils were lined up outside deputy heads offices. A line for the girls and one for the boys.
> As a first year 11 year old it hurt.
> ...



I'd forgotten all about the following until I read that.
When I was in junior school (aged about 9 in '77 ) there was a boy in our year who thought it was great to swear in class. A warning from the teachers did nothing, so they actually washed his mouth out with pink carbolic soap and a cloth - not once, but repeated in every class in the school, so probably 15 times or more!


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## Sandyn (22 Feb 2021)

Nigel Burden said:


> That was about 5s and 6d a gallon in the mid/late 60s, and you had a pump attendant.


Ahhh!! I used to work in a petrol station serving in 1970. It was great fun. Three of us worked the forecourt. The driver just sat in the car, we went out, asked which petrol and how much, then took the money, went into the shop, got change and took it back out to the driver. Sometimes they wanted the oil/water checked, tyres pumped or windscreen cleaned. We did it all! 
One day, one of the guys came back in all flushed and shaky looking. He said the woman passenger in the car he served, was naked.....You should have seen the others move!!! I was out like lightning, restocking the oil cans, another guy was over to see if they wanted their windscreen cleaned, another guy was brushing up the forecourt!! brightened an otherwise dull day!! We sold 8 track tapes and had a player in the shop. The best tape available was Fairport Convention, so listened to that all day. Still one of my favourite groups.


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## Phil Pascoe (23 Feb 2021)

Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson. Wonderful. How she wrote that at nineteen years old I'll never quite understand.


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## luckypip (23 Feb 2021)

Amateur said:


> Deputy head master and mistress gave everyone on the school bus there strokes of the cane on the bum bent over because the bus company reported someone on the top deck for smoking.
> We were asked in assembly to identify the culprit but word had already got round that any squealers would be beaten up.
> 40 plus pupils were lined up outside deputy heads offices. A line for the girls and one for the boys.
> As a first year 11 year old it hurt.
> ...


I was born in the early 40's and remember getting caned for something I didn't do !
I was reported by a teacher for defacing school property but he mistook me for someone else.
The headmaster wouldn't believe me and told me I would get extra strokes for lying !
I had trouble sitting down for days and it wasn't any good complaining about it.
The real culprit never owned up !
The good old days !!!???


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## greenfingers2 (23 Feb 2021)

Secondary school in the early 60's - I particularly remember our science teacher ( Jack Burns Mr!) who, if played around in lessons would take the rubber pipe off a bunsen burner, bend you over the nearest desk and commence to apply his very generous amount of discipline. It would seem that his method of discipline worked as those who got it once rarely went back for seconds. If talking during lessons our geography teacher (Mr McQuibban) would aim the blackboard rubber at you. The blackboard rubber was not rubber at all but a block of wood with felt on one side and he was a very good shot! On his more genial days he would simply lift you out of your chair by your sideburn until you ran out of tiptoe. Our games teacher, a more gentle soul, so his name escapes me, if you didn't reach expectations in the gym, would get you to bend over at 90 degrees, while holding onto the wall bars as he commenced kicking a heavy leather football at you at great speed, while the rest of the class looked on. He was also a very good shot! This was the 1960's not the 1860's - sounds unbelievable, but true. There were others with similar discipline and I remember them all as being very good teachers.


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## skeetstar (23 Feb 2021)

Yep in the seventies we had teachers who would fling the the board rubber at us, and lift us up by the side burn. You never messed withe games staff, they could always mete out their punishments on the rugby field, as they used to join in the game. 
Weird one that we never thought much of in those days.. our school had a swimming pool, we we're allowed to use it after school. Most of the time it was skinny dipping, oddly one of the teachers was a regular skinny dipper along with the rest of us.


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## Sandyn (23 Feb 2021)

Phil Pascoe said:


> Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson. Wonderful. How she wrote that at nineteen years old I'll never quite understand.


One of my favourite tracks. Amazing lyrics. She was a very troubled person, poor soul.


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## Phil Pascoe (23 Feb 2021)

Getting a detention for being seen with brown shoes out of school or black shoes in school, wearing the wrong coloured socks, having shoelaces undone, walking on the wrong side of a corridor, and being seen to move in another detention. Getting sent home if my hair touched my collar, my sideburns were below where my ear joined my face (checked with a ruler), to shave - that was the day gone, it was a train ride then a walk, then a bus to get home.

I remember falling out seriously with a good friend. I knocked him off his feet seven or eight times, the last time he got up he looked at me, smiled and asked if I'd had enough. I said yes .......... and he decked me. I couldn't get up.
I remember the same friend tackling me at rugby just as I was nearing the try line. He was lighter than me so I got his head under my arm and ran it into the unpadded post, relying on inertia to twist my body and the ball over the line. The ref allowed the try and didn't even ask if friend was OK.


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## dzj (23 Feb 2021)

Pulling you by the side burn, rapping your knuckles with a ruler...all common pedagogical methods in the 70s. 
My 2nd grade teacher, had a leather strap in her purse. She called it Oscar.
No one complained, we'd just hope she wouldn't tell our parents, cause then you'd get seconds when you got home.


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## Spectric (23 Feb 2021)

And they wonder what has gone so wrong today, kids start school with zero discipline and soon know that the teachers cannot say or do anything otherwise it may affect the childs human rights. They continue through schooling without discipline or being held accountable for their actions and watch morons on Tv making far more money than you can by doing a regular job so thats who they aspire to be and look upto. Then so many organisations cannot understand whats gone wrong, acting dumb but it is so obvious that modern society is now the root cause and what kids can be exposed to on Tv and unsocial media.


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## Flynnwood (23 Feb 2021)

In 2015, I asked four, thirty year old people, if they knew what Hiroshima or Nagasaki meant/was about. They had never heard those words before.


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## Spectric (23 Feb 2021)

I can remember when history was just taught as a subject whether it was good, bad or shameful. These days they only want to pick and choose the good bits to teach and rewrite the rest to either try and justify or just make it more acceptable. Perhaps using A bombs on innocent civilians is not taught anymore in the hope it will fade away but history is most valuable when people can learn from it, so it should all be taught.


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## Phil Pascoe (23 Feb 2021)

Flynnwood said:


> In 2015, I asked four, thirty year old people, if they knew what Hiroshima or Nagasaki meant/was about. They had never heard those words before.


 My daughter was very lucky, she was picked at school at seventeen for a party of about twelve to go on trip to Hiroshima paid for by a Japanese businessman's foundation for international friendship. She still keeps in touch with the girl she stayed with. She didn't know before she went what Enola Gay was., nor Little Boy or Fat Man. 
My lad at thirteen went on a school trip to the Menin Gate - he has never to this day spoken of it. Not a single word.


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## Cabinetman (23 Feb 2021)

Funnily enough, I have just finished reading an article in the newspaper about Lawrence Fox the actor (42) setting up an anti-woke party called Reclaim.
Quote from the paper, people do not want their history rewritten. This is a tolerant and loving country. It aspires to be and is what it is and it’s what it wants to continue to be,
And these people who walk around telling us that we’re all massive racist all the time. We need a right to reply to them. That’s what my belief is. I think it’s in the interests of democracy that everyone speaks freely"
Apparently 50% of the people in the country who were asked think they are less free to say what they think today than five years ago as cancel culture has taken root.


----------



## Robbo60 (24 Feb 2021)

Yep - good old child abuse. Never did me any harm!


----------



## alz (24 Feb 2021)

Sandyn said:


> I was just thinking of some of the things from when I was younger that people would have difficulty believing today, but it's not really all that long ago. First one was when some people from the military came to school and told us what to do in the event of a nuclear bomb being dropped. The best advice they offered was to get down as flat as possible on the ground bury your face in the ground, hands over the top,
> 
> Second one, my wife reminded me a couple of days ago...'Remember when there were two mail deliveries a day?'


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## alz (24 Feb 2021)

Speaking of schooldays, I remember my daughters being horrified when I told them of corporal punishment.
Up here in Scotland, boys at primary were taught knitting in P5. But the woman teacher had an awful habit of hitting you hard over the knuckles with a wooden ruler when you dropped a stitch. 
At secondary every teacher carried a forked leather strap , a thick long "tawse" hanging over their right shoulder under their gown. Recall being given a stinging wallop with one for having drawn a double line in geometry and having rubbed out the original mistaken angle.


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## Sandyn (24 Feb 2021)

alz said:


> awful habit of hitting you hard over the knuckles with a wooden ruler when you dropped a stitch.


 I have seen it all and had many of the types of punishment, except caning. That was for posh schools


----------



## Droogs (24 Feb 2021)

I remember all the boys in my class being lined up and given1 of the belt on the very last day of school before the summer holidays just before school ended at lunch time, so we would remember it, even those who had never had it before (not me obvs). We were all a little baffled as no one had told us that when we came back after the holidays it wouldn't be allowed anymore, that was 1983.


----------



## Rorschach (24 Feb 2021)

I remember hearing an old fart at a family gathering (not my family), I was a teen, he is now long gone. Had a few drinks and was giving a speech (rant) and said something along the lines of "When I was in school they used to use the birch if we caused trouble, nothing wrong with beating kids now and then, does them good, made me the man I am" (you know the type). His wife butted in and said "probably good they stopped it, it made you an a**hole". He didn't find that funny, but everyone else did.


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## Phil Pascoe (24 Feb 2021)

Sandyn said:


> I have seen it all and had many of the types of punishment, except caning. That was for posh schools


I was caned. Someone had a pop at beating me up and I beat seven bells out of him. Six of the best - I had twelve stripes across my right forearm, twelve across the right cheek, twelve across the left, twelve across the left arm and twelve down the inside of the left thigth where the end curled around. I swear to this day it was a piece of electic flex not a cane.


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## Phil Pascoe (24 Feb 2021)

We used to be given three four figure "squares" in the first form. We had to pick four numbers and work out the square, the rearrange them and square that, the another. So e.g. I could pick 1234, then 2341 and 3412.
This rose to five "squares" in the second year, and then three five figure "cubes" in the third. Five five figure cubes in the fourth year and eight five figure cubes in the fifth.


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## Sandyn (24 Feb 2021)

Phil Pascoe said:


> I had twelve stripes across my right forearm, twelve across the right cheek, twelve across the left, twelve across the left arm and twelve down the inside of the left thigth where the end curled around.


Character building!!! ..Pretty brutal really. There were teachers at school, I would make sure I didn't do anything to get the belt, it was brutally painful, but others couldn't belt properly, so they were fair game for some fun. One lady art teacher was very short, so you put your hands up high, she couldn't get a good swing, but you would pull your hands away at the last moment. She would then make you sit on the desk with your hands on your thighs, so if you pulled your hands away, the thighs got it. Some teachers could use the belt like a whip, perfect timing, perfect accuracy, they could draw blood on your wrist. 
I never got the belt when I didn't deserve it and there were many times I deserved it and didn't get it. My teachers, especially the technical ones were very good and much of what I still use today, I learnt from them. I owe them a great deal...sorry teachers!!


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## Phil Russell (25 Feb 2021)

Memories. In the late 50s / early 60s: My all boys school in B'ham allowed corporal punishment. By due diligence I escaped it. Not all teachers used it, indeed very few. A maths master used no implement but did lift you out of your seat by gripping your sideburn and lifting. A French master threw blackboard wipers around with gay abandon. Others threw the chalk at you. The music master used a slipper (pump / plimsol) and had various sizes in his cupboard. He let the unfortunate boy select which size pump he wanted to be hit with. Caning was only done by the headmaster ... in his office normally but for very serious offences, in front of the whole school.
Cheers, Phil


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## Jacob (25 Feb 2021)

Cabinetman said:


> ....
> Quote from the paper, people do not want their history rewritten.


History is what it is. People are deluded if they think they have a choice.


> This is a tolerant and loving country.....


As long as you are not black, immigrant, asylum seeker, muslim, poor, unemployed, etc etc
Just been reading David Olusoga's book "Black and British" David Olusoga - Wikipedia fascinating stuff about the history we were NOT taught. It's our history too even if we are not black ourselves. A brilliant TV series.
Another very readable book which could challenge many: Verso
"Cancel Culture" is a popular right wing myth - if anything we have the opposite where more people are outspoken about more issues than used to be the case. Here for instance, this would have been totally unacceptable 20 years ago:


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## Rorschach (25 Feb 2021)

Jacob said:


> History is what it is. People are deluded if they think they have a choice. As long as you are not black, immigrant, asylum seeker, muslim, poor, unemployed, etc etc
> Just been reading David Olusoga's book David Olusoga - Wikipedia
> Fascinating stuff about the history we were NOT taught.
> Another very readable book which could challenge many: Verso



You missed out Tory or Brexiteer as well


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## Jacob (25 Feb 2021)

Rorschach said:


> You missed out Tory or Brexiteer as well


Neither are hard done to - Tories are in power and Brexiters have taken us to their promised land!
Sorry it's not working out BTW, but you were warned!


----------



## Rorschach (25 Feb 2021)

Jacob said:


> Neither are hard done to - Tories are in power and Brexiters have taken us to their promised land!
> Sorry it's not working out BTW, but you were warned!



Oh I wish I could have a pair of your rose tinted spectacles, the world must look so lovely through them.


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## BHwoodworking (25 Feb 2021)

3.............2...................1 and wait for the tread to be locked due to the 'B' word


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## gregmcateer (25 Feb 2021)

Cabinetman said:


> Funnily enough, I have just finished reading an article in the newspaper about Lawrence Fox the actor (42) setting up an anti-woke party called Reclaim.
> Quote from the paper, people do not want their history rewritten. This is a tolerant and loving country. It aspires to be and is what it is and it’s what it wants to continue to be,
> And these people who walk around telling us that we’re all massive racist all the time. We need a right to reply to them. That’s what my belief is. I think it’s in the interests of democracy that everyone speaks freely"
> Apparently 50% of the people in the country who were asked think they are less free to say what they think today than five years ago as cancel culture has taken root.



Laurence Fox is an incredibly privileged pr*t, who spouts whataboutery at every opportunity. Anyone in his position who fails to recognise the advantages he's enjoyed through luck of birth is deluded. 

Calling out racism, sexism, etc-ism doesn't make it 'cancel culture' per se. Sure, debate is important, sure different views are important, (as shown on this forum), but to suggest he's being cancelled is patent carp. 

Oh and he's a dung actor, too. Just saying


----------



## Phil Pascoe (25 Feb 2021)

I'm sure Jacob has someone taking side bets on how long it takes him to get threads locked.


----------



## Jacob (25 Feb 2021)

Phil Pascoe said:


> I'm sure Jacob has someone taking side bets on how long it takes him to get threads locked.


Moi!
Not me introducing a highly controversial political theme! Read a few posts back!
Some people do seem to be surprised to be disagreed with - all the more reason to surprise them I think.
Better out than in!


----------



## artie (25 Feb 2021)

I'm all for expressing different opinions, it's healthy and on the odd occasion I've changed my viewpoint because someone introduced me to a different POV.

I do think the forum has settled down a bit from recent times, so there is hope.

I have found that derogatory name calling and describing a different opinion to ones own as dung is rarely (never ) helpful.

So can we stop it please?


----------



## Nigel Burden (25 Feb 2021)

Phil Pascoe said:


> I was caned. Someone had a pop at beating me up and I beat seven bells out of him. Six of the best - I had twelve stripes across my right forearm, twelve across the right cheek, twelve across the left, twelve across the left arm and twelve down the inside of the left thigth where the end curled around. I swear to this day it was a piece of electic flex not a cane.



I remember my brother beat up a gypsy who'd had a go at him. He said that it dawned on him after the event that he would have the rest of the gypsies mates or family after him. Sure enough that happened. "I had to think a bit quick, so I hit the biggest one and put him on the floor, with that the others scarpered." None of them bothered him after that.

Nigel.


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## Robinski (25 Feb 2021)

Phil Pascoe said:


> Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson. Wonderful. How she wrote that at nineteen years old I'll never quite understand.



Didn't expect to see this on a woodworking forum but not complaining....Sandy was a great songwriter & singer musician, this song is my favourite by her and as i will be 65 this summer it feels very apt, been listening to it a lot this last year or so. You have good taste sir


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## PetePontoValentino (26 Feb 2021)

Sandyn said:


> I was just thinking of some of the things from when I was younger that people would have difficulty believing today, but it's not really all that long ago. First one was when some people from the military came to school and told us what to do in the event of a nuclear bomb being dropped. The best advice they offered was to get down as flat as possible on the ground bury your face in the ground, hands over the top,
> 
> Second one, my wife reminded me a couple of days ago...'Remember when there were two mail deliveries a day?'


Yes, the Duck and Cover films come to mind . It is well worth the 10 mins to watch if you don't remember those times. Remember, it is real and not some sort of sick comedy


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## Phil Pascoe (26 Feb 2021)

I thought the best thing to do in case of a nuclear attack was to put your head between your legs and kiss your assss goodbye?


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## Droogs (26 Feb 2021)

Unfortunately I would have to lay down and hope as I am not bendy enough like @Phil Pascoe


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## alz (26 Feb 2021)

Remember in my youth being down The Hole, an underground radar bunker deep below the Aberdeenshire countryside where Russian intruder aircraft were monitored, and interceptor aircraft from Fife sent to warn them off (sometimes with rather rude gestures.)
Also meeting up with US personnel atop a nearby hill where there were massive "listening post" dishes, and the Yanks freezing in North Sea winds. They were all a great bunch - and they helped keep us safe.


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## selectortone (26 Feb 2021)

My dad was in the RAF. We lived in married quarters at RAF Waddington during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. We watched the standoff between the US and Russian fleets unfold in the Atlantic each night on the TV. The world was literally teetering on the brink of armageddon. I asked him one night what would happen to us if the Russians launched an attack. 

Now, at that time, Waddington was home to a large part of the Vulcan first-response nuclear bomber fleet which was on instant readiness alert. A couple of squadrons bombed-up with nuclear weapons ready to go stood on the tarmac less than a mile from our house. Dad explained that, because of this, if there was an attack Waddington would be one of the first places hit, and I shouldn't worry because I wouldn't know a thing about it. I was 11 and it took a couple of minutes to figure out what he meant.


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## Peterm1000 (26 Feb 2021)

*Mod edit @ 14.44-
Original posts and quotes have been removed (along with those that "liked" the posts). I'll leave Peter's post below as it reflects exactly the reason for deletion and reported complaints.
Please do not refer to or mention this post again.
Noel*


Coming from the mouths of non-black people those words are offensive and have been for the last 100 years at least. One of those words is so offensive it won't be broadcast before the watershed and is often cited as the most offensive word in the world. I don't think you should be repeating them here any more that you would if your mother had named her dog something which rhymed with c*** or f*** (which I think are far less offensive).


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## Sandyn (26 Feb 2021)

PetePontoValentino said:


> the Duck and Cover films come to mind


Just watched it. Pretty scary really that we were so close to a nuclear war


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## Sandyn (26 Feb 2021)

Droogs said:


> I would have to lay down and hope as I am not bendy enough


You could always see anyone else would put their head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye for you??


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## Suffolk Brian (27 Feb 2021)

PhilTilson said:


> I was definitely ahead of my time. The first Ipod? Home-made crystal set (with genuine adjustable "cat's whisker"), pair of army surplus headphones and I was off listening to the Light Programme...
> 
> My Grandfather lived in Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, and had a huge oak tree at the bottom of the garden. He had a long wire slung up, and with his crystal set could get London 2LO on medium wave, and Daventry 5GB on long wave. When the word got around, people would stare at the wire like they thought it was going to light up.
> 
> View attachment 103339


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## Flynnwood (7 Mar 2021)

selectortone said:


> My dad was in the RAF. We lived in married quarters at RAF Waddington during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. We watched the standoff between the US and Russian fleets unfold in the Atlantic each night on the TV. The world was literally teetering on the brink of armageddon. I asked him one night what would happen to us if the Russians launched an attack.
> 
> Now, at that time, Waddington was home to a large part of the Vulcan first-response nuclear bomber fleet which was on instant readiness alert. A couple of squadrons bombed-up with nuclear weapons ready to go stood on the tarmac less than a mile from our house. Dad explained that, because of this, if there was an attack Waddington would be one of the first places hit, and I shouldn't worry because I wouldn't know a thing about it. I was 11 and it took a couple of minutes to figure out what he meant.


For anyone interested in the Vulcan bombers, this (also note at 7m 16s) was the last flight of a Vulcan. Piloted by Martin Withers of Falklands history.

It appears he gives those engines one more "rev-up" at the end before final shut down.

There used to be an hour long documentary entitled "The longest bombing raid in history" on YT which featured that Vulcan crew. It seems to have disappeared. The BBC did do this interview with Martin Withers later on.


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## Jameshow (7 Mar 2021)

I guess we just borrow B1 bombers these days as thr Finnish have done currently. 

Cheers James


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## Oraclebhoy (7 Mar 2021)

Anthraquinone said:


> Has anyone mentioned
> *izal medicated toilet paper*



Was that the tracing paper stuff?


----------



## Sandyn (7 Mar 2021)

Flynnwood said:


> the last flight of a Vulcan. Piloted by Martin Withers of Falklands history


I was very lucky to see it on it's last flight. It looked as if it had flown over the Forth Bridge heading south. I remember seeing it when I was young at air shows. At one show it did a low level pass, then into a near vertical climb and disappeared into the clouds. Absolutely magnificent. It was way ahead of it's time.


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## joethedrummer (11 Mar 2021)

doctor Bob said:


> Being bought clothes you’d grow into. My secondhand school blazer was so big I never grew into it


,, school blazer,, i swapped mine with the fat kid who was even poorer than us who had one smaller than mine,,


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## Flynnwood (11 Mar 2021)

Sandyn said:


> I was very lucky to see it on it's last flight. It looked as if it had flown over the Forth Bridge heading south. I remember seeing it when I was young at air shows. At one show it did a low level pass, then into a near vertical climb and disappeared into the clouds. Absolutely magnificent. It was way ahead of it's time.


I found the documentary I referred to, it was re-uploaded last December by someone. 

Brilliant story from the pilots and crews that took part and the efforts that went into the mission. 

The lone Vulcan refueled 7 times on the way South, with Tankers refueling Tankers to make it happen. They used maps of the Northern Hemisphere turned upside down, because the RAF didn't have any maps of the Southern Hemisphere! Great story...


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## geeing1964 (11 Mar 2021)

Cabinetman said:


> What? You still don’t do that? Ha ha, mind you I draw the line at mouldy bread. I remember the old, what to do in the event of a nuclear attack advice, something about removing all the doors and building a shelter under the stairs, perhaps somebody can remind me – all total b-llocks of course. Ian
> I remember the milk being left on the doorstep in very cold weather and the foil top would be stood on the top of 3 inches of frozen solid cream that had ejected out of the top of the bottle. Memories. Before you know it we’ll be on to Monty Python. Ian


LOL... just like wearing custom made face masks..... for anyone who was in, or still in, the military.. did you every have your respirator on (in case of an attack), and your mate farted into it... if you could smell anything then the gas mask was useless..


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## Spectric (11 Mar 2021)

It would have been a lot worse in the days of Vulcan bombers and having to deliver the nuclear payload to the other side, you would have known the other side were heading your way and you had time to think, I suppose that is why they suggested taking your doors off and making a shelter so it took your mind off what was coming, then you may be unfortunate and survive the blast. At least now you will be vapourised probably before even knowing it was coming, but is that still really worrying, what about Novichoc. Who would have thought womens perfume could be so deadly.


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## heimlaga (12 Mar 2021)

Around here we always rekoned that we were fairly safe from nuclear bombs as we tend to be upwind from Leningrad.

At the present I rekon that "United Cleptocrats of Russia Ltd" are more likely to undermine our democratic societies via propaganda and conspiracy theories and then invade on land than they are to undertake any mayor bombing.


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## Droogs (12 Mar 2021)

One day 90% of Americans will wake up to find they are living in a land already owned by China, currenlty it holds 28% of the US debt (and increasing) closely followed by Japan. Combined they hold just over 50% of US total debt. While there is major concern currently about China stepping up to try on the discarded Soviets super power Jackboots, I don't think the Chinese will be keeping them and will swap them for a pair of plush slippers instead, they have no need to have a hellmarch down Pennsylvania Ave as they already own part of it, they can shuffle along in comfort on their way to the whitehouse kitchen


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## Spectric (12 Mar 2021)

Droogs said:


> One day 90% of Americans will wake up to find they are living in a land already owned by China


Does that not also apply to London, and many other places. I think the days of taking power by force are probably over and places like China are doing a very good job by economic stealth, whilst the west and Russia continue to rattle swords which are probably also made in China. 

China is also being clever in that it is sitting on a lot of it's natural resources whilst using everyone elses and in some African countries helping them build infrastructure and the like in exchange for their natural resources so they may not have an empire like the Romans but it will become an ecomonic empire where they will have power in many places.


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## heimlaga (12 Mar 2021)

I agree!
China has clearly studied the growth of the British empire in great detail and learned their lessons. Economic dominance and trade monopoly combined with destabilisation of governments followed by fairly peaceful land grabs and just the occasional bit of gunboat diplomacy or military intervention gives a lot more empire for the bucks than a full out military conquest.
I don't tell this to bash you Brits. It is just a fact of history that your ancestors pioneered a new sort of empire building which did not involve large scale military conquests and subjugations. The Chineese are now perfecting what you first started experimenting with in India.
Consequently we could also learn from your history how such an empire can be resisted....... and at that you Brits should have an opportunity of becoming the great masters as you have experience from the other side and know every old trick anyone tried against you!
This is your chance!


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## DBT85 (13 Mar 2021)

heimlaga said:


> This is your chance!


We could start by giving back all the stuff we nicked over the centuries.


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## Gremmy (13 Mar 2021)

DBT85 said:


> We could start by giving back all the stuff we nicked over the centuries.


“Saved”


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## Sachakins (14 Mar 2021)

Gremmy said:


> “Saved”


Rescued/Salvaged/moved to place of safety/long term safety.......


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## DBT85 (14 Mar 2021)

Gremmy said:


> “Saved”


That certainly seems to be the prevailing excuse. Heaven forfend that we let cultures that existed for several thousand years look after their own stuff. We had no right to it then and we have no right or excuse to it now. Take laser scans of it all to recreate it and send the originals home with an apology and a box of chocs.


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## paulrbarnard (14 Mar 2021)

DBT85 said:


> That certainly seems to be the prevailing excuse. Heaven forfend that we let cultures that existed for several thousand years look after their own stuff. We had no right to it then and we have no right or excuse to it now. Take laser scans of it all to recreate it and send the originals home with an apology and a box of chocs.


I agree with your sentiment but the fact is a lot of stuff actually wouldn’t be here today if the hadn’t been plundered.


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## DBT85 (14 Mar 2021)

paulrbarnard said:


> I agree with your sentiment but the fact is a lot of stuff actually wouldn’t be here today if the hadn’t been plundered.


Even if that were true its still no excuse for not giving it back in the year of our blessed jeebus 2021, which is the prevailing mood.


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## paulrbarnard (14 Mar 2021)

DBT85 said:


> Even if that were true its still no excuse for not giving it back in the year of our blessed jeebus 2021, which is the prevailing mood.


I agree things should go back. I was responding to your “no right” and that “people could look after their own things” statements. That patently wasn’t always the case.


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## DBT85 (14 Mar 2021)

paulrbarnard said:


> I agree things should go back. I was responding to your “no right” and that “people could look after their own things” statements. That patently wasn’t always the case.


That may be the case in some instances, but we still had no right to just take them. The common idea is that we were somehow saving these cultures from themselves, cultures that had been doing just fine before we rocked up and told them that actually we owned their country now. Chop chop and shine my boots while you're about it.

There may well be things that survived only because we stole them, it's neither quantifiable nor an excuse especially when it is considered the cost of life that was inflicted on some of the very same places in the name of the glorious empire. 

I'll leave it there as its likely unpopular opinion.


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## pidgeonpost (14 Mar 2021)

Spectric said:


> And they wonder what has gone so wrong today, kids start school with zero discipline and soon know that the teachers cannot say or do anything otherwise it may affect the childs human rights. They continue through schooling without discipline or being held accountable for their actions and watch morons on Tv making far more money than you can by doing a regular job so thats who they aspire to be and look upto. Then so many organisations cannot understand whats gone wrong, acting dumb but it is so obvious that modern society is now the root cause and what kids can be exposed to on Tv and unsocial media.


I wonder how many of those kids who were badly behaved, undisciplined and never held accountable for their actions went on to be amongst the politicians around today?


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## pidgeonpost (14 Mar 2021)

selectortone said:


> My dad was in the RAF. We lived in married quarters at RAF Waddington during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. We watched the standoff between the US and Russian fleets unfold in the Atlantic each night on the TV. The world was literally teetering on the brink of armageddon. I asked him one night what would happen to us if the Russians launched an attack.
> 
> Now, at that time, Waddington was home to a large part of the Vulcan first-response nuclear bomber fleet which was on instant readiness alert. A couple of squadrons bombed-up with nuclear weapons ready to go stood on the tarmac less than a mile from our house. Dad explained that, because of this, if there was an attack Waddington would be one of the first places hit, and I shouldn't worry because I wouldn't know a thing about it. I was 11 and it took a couple of minutes to figure out what he meant.


I remember being on the school bus when it looked like WW3 was imminent. One of the girls who was no better than she needed to be said that she would be terrible to die before she'd had chance to experience intercourse (not exactly her words). There were one or two knowing glances from others around her on the back seat who knew it was a bit late for that.


----------



## DBT85 (14 Mar 2021)

Cabinetman said:


> Apparently 50% of the people in the country who were asked think they are less free to say what they think today than five years ago as cancel culture has taken root.



I'm sure many that say this are the same people that say things like "oh you can't say anything these days".

People can and do say the same bigoted rubbish they said 70 years ago. There are now just consequences to hurling racial epithets at minorities where even 25 years ago I'd regularly hear things like paki, darkie, chinky and far worse being used in casual conversation. Say it now and more people will say "hold up, what did you just say?". The other big difference is that 25 years ago it was among your mates in the pub. Now some tit spouts off on twitter and because civilised people call them out on it they are somehow oppressed or "cancelled". 

Children for generations are brought up to be kind and treat others how they want to be treated. When those same children tell their parents that you can't call people darkie any more or you can't call people poofs, it's the parents who seem to get upset rather than for one second going "actually maybe it isn't everyone else that's wrong". 

If anything the label should be "consequence culture". If you don't want people to call you a racist or a homophobe or anything else your options are simple. Keep your mouth shut, only say your screwed up rubbish in private, or... Learn from those around you, think from others perspectives and be less of a bigot. Doesn't seem all that hard really. 

Like, I get it. Times have changed and it can be difficult to adjust for some people. I've called wife 2.0 wife 1.0s name years after we split up. But learn. Even attempt to understand. 

Even on this forum we had people defending a guy covered in nazi tattoos because "well he hugged the coloured bloke so he must be fine" even after he was caught lying about the origins of the tats. And yes, I think they actually used the word coloured. And before I hear "we were told not to call them black" No you were told not to use their colour to identify them if it had no relevance, not just repurpose a different word to do the same job. They just wanted to be called "b******" or "di******" just like the white people. Just not "black di******. 

Say whatever you want to say. But don't come crying if you get clapped for chatting nonsense. 

Probably best I stop browsing this bit of he forum


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## Phil Pascoe (14 Mar 2021)

It was fine til people started ranting.


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## gwaithcoed (14 Mar 2021)

I started work down the pit when I was 15 in 1952. I mentioned to my supervisor that I had to go to the dentist He said you don't know how lucky you are 
He had complained to his Dad for a day or two that he had toothache. 
His dad sent him to see a workmate of his who pulled teeth. 
He knocked the door and said dad had sent him to have a tooth out 
Has he sent any money he was asked 
Yes a tanner 6pence old money 2 1/2 pence today 
It'll hurt fo a tanner he was told 
He was sat on a kitchen chair while the wife held back his head and the man took out his tooth 
He said he wasn't wrong when he said it was going to hurt.

   and these were the good old days


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## Phil Pascoe (14 Mar 2021)

My old dentist came from oop north, he qualified in 1970 iirc. He told uswhen he was a child that it wasn't uncommon for people to have all their teeth out and dentures for a 21st birthday present - to save the hassle later in life.


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## MikeJhn (15 Mar 2021)

What ever happened to freedom of speech, whether bigoted or not?


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## Daniel2 (15 Mar 2021)

MikeJhn said:


> What ever happened to freedom of speech, whether bigoted or not?



Aah.... But freedom is often misconstrued as being without condition.
True freedom requires responsibility.
That includes not negatively affecting, or offending, others.


----------



## Jameshow (15 Mar 2021)

MikeJhn said:


> What ever happened to freedom of speech, whether bigoted or not?


Whose to judge if your a rightwing bigot or a left wing bigot.......! 

Who is qualified to define what bigotry is..... 

Cheers James


----------



## Robbo60 (15 Mar 2021)

Why are there discriminatory organisations such as Black Police Officers Association? If there was a White equivalent it would be classed as racist. I think there is something similar in NHS Doctors. Why have the MOBO music awards. Why not just music? MOBO is not a genre before someone suggest that.


----------



## Auldfart2010 (15 Mar 2021)




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## pidgeonpost (15 Mar 2021)

Can't be bothered to read the whole thread, but I don't recall anyone mentioning Taffs, Jocks, Micks or Paddies in relation to the above posts. I guess they're frowned on too these days?
And does the freedom of speech /responsibility thing apply to politicians or are they exempt? Things like letterboxes and picaninny smiles spring to mind.


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## Cabinetman (15 Mar 2021)

Brilliant, haven’t seen that in so many years and had completely forgotten the very end bit


----------



## Jonm (15 Mar 2021)

Daniel2 said:


> Aah.... But freedom is often misconstrued as being without condition.
> True freedom requires responsibility.
> That includes not negatively affecting, or offending, others.


I remember a teacher saying that Robinson Crusoe was free until Man Friday arrived.


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## DBT85 (15 Mar 2021)

MikeJhn said:


> What ever happened to freedom of speech, whether bigoted or not?


As I said, you're free to say whatever you like. It's not freedom from consequence.


Robbo60 said:


> Why are there discriminatory organisations such as Black Police Officers Association? If there was a White equivalent it would be classed as racist. I think there is something similar in NHS Doctors. Why have the MOBO music awards. Why not just music? MOBO is not a genre before someone suggest that.



Not actually sure if you're serious. Please tell me you haven't also asked why there isn't white history month or straight pride parades.


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## MikeJhn (15 Mar 2021)

Pink skins seem to be well regarded on Star Trek and no one gets offended when called one.


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## johnny (15 Mar 2021)

Phil Pascoe said:


> My old dentist came from oop north, he qualified in 1970 iirc. He told uswhen he was a child that it wasn't uncommon for people to have all their teeth out and dentures for a 21st birthday present - to save the hassle later in life.


this is very true.! My father had all his teeth taken out by a Polish Dentist in 1955.... He worked as a docker in the King Albert Docks at the time and every other day at his lunch break he had 2 to 3 teeth taken until they were all out. I remember him drinking tea and eating soup off of a saucer .
He took me to the same dentist as a child and several of my teeth were over drilled and ruined .

You have to remember there was an acute shortage of tradesmen and professionals just after the War , Most of the time it was impossible to check peoples qualifications and credentials . There were no building materials and food was still rationed


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## Cabinetman (15 Mar 2021)

I had heard it was quite common as a wedding present, yuck. I suppose at least you didn’t get your mouth filled with poisonous mercury which we are still suffering from now. I read somewhere not too long ago that in the heyday of adding lead to petrol there was a spike in criminal behaviour and general thuggery which has diminished dramatically since. I think in a few years time household chemicals that we consider commonplace will be looked at in a totally different light. Ian 
Ps The chemist that came up with lead in petrol was also the same man who came up with CFCs in refrigerant. Makes you think doesn’t it


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## chrisdt (15 Mar 2021)

I remember the clout round the ear I used to get from the teachers. I tell my grandson, he laughs but doesnt believe me.


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## Peterjgray (15 Mar 2021)

paulrbarnard said:


> I agree with your sentiment but the fact is a lot of stuff actually wouldn’t be here today if the hadn’t been plundered.


See what’s happened in Syria and other places to all the Christian relics by those very respectful Daesh chappies


----------



## rafezetter (15 Mar 2021)

gregmcateer said:


> Laurence Fox is an incredibly privileged pr*t, who spouts whataboutery at every opportunity. Anyone in his position who fails to recognise the advantages he's enjoyed through luck of birth is deluded.
> 
> Calling out racism, sexism, etc-ism doesn't make it 'cancel culture' per se. Sure, debate is important, sure different views are important, (as shown on this forum), but to suggest he's being cancelled is patent carp.
> 
> Oh and he's a dung actor, too. Just saying



I'm not sure you've not really grasped the intention of "cancel culture" very well - they aren't about stopping you from calling out racism or sexism or pretty much anything else when it happens; they are about stopping anything they don't like, whatever that may be.

Such as "no platforming" which basically means "you are not allowed to publicly state a viewpoint that we don't agree with". They also seem to make up what is an "-ism" to suit themselves; a ridiculous example would be that person who identifies as a Deer** claiming "Deerism" because you can't have "Deer" as an identifier on it's passport, and MUST instead be forced to use it's given name and biological gender.

**(no I'm really not making this up - a bio male dresses as a woman, but identifies as a deer and streams it's nonsense to anyone who will listen)

THAT is "cancel culture" - "cancel everything they don't like" full stop - or "cancel the requirements of being given a label by Govts simply to allow society to continue to function without becoming FUBAR" regardless of how much lunacy there is, or how impossible it would be to impose a system whereby there are multiple different toilet types in every building - male, female, trans only, gender neutral, Deer, Lion (or Tiger) or whatever else they think they should be allowed to identify as. 

As soon as you say something against it, it becomes one more thing they feel "opressed" about and most of them simply don't get that what they are demanding is often a serious threat to the bonds and systems that keep a society cohesive.

You'll have "deer" people complaining that there are more cubicles in a male /female toilet that a deer toilet, because "mah equality" - they are that stupid - which is also why it's no surprise they are being used by bad actors (no not Laurence Fox) aka "black hats" to further disrupt society for thier own ends, because some just want to see the world burn.


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## Jacob (15 Mar 2021)

heimlaga said:


> I agree!
> China has clearly studied the growth of the British empire in great detail and learned their lessons. Economic dominance and trade monopoly combined with destabilisation of governments followed by fairly peaceful land grabs and just the occasional bit of gunboat diplomacy or military intervention gives a lot more empire for the bucks than a full out military conquest.
> I don't tell this to bash you Brits. It is just a fact of history that your ancestors pioneered a new sort of empire building which did not involve large scale military conquests and subjugations. ........


Er, are you joking?
British Empire was the most brutal in history involving genocide, slavery, repression - still going on in living memory in S. Africa with apartheid.
Britain was the world leader in the slave trade
They practiced in the British Isles first with brutal repression of Ireland, clearances in Scotland, Enclosures in England, suppression of the language and culture in Wales.
The main beneficiaries of the Empire was the military machine required to maintain it and the whole enterprise was arguably not even profitable - other nations traded world-wide without Empire building.
It peaked with the grab for Africa - 30 years in which 50% (?) of the African population became British subjects - brutally treated in living memory with indigenous culture destroyed from early beginnings.
A seriously horrible history wherever you look - typical detail - ask what happened to the natives of Tasmania, or just look around 
When will Britain face up to its crimes against humanity? 
My finely balanced solution to Britain's 'statue problem' | Stewart Lee


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## chrisdt (15 Mar 2021)

When I was a lad if a man dressed as female he would be arrested. Now I understand the law says you can dress how you like. After the dreadful murder of Sarah and the tension it has caused how can that be right? So a man could enter a ladies toilet without causing any suspicion. Some laws need changing if we are to keep our ladies safe. Why do we need a big inquiry when its easy to see that what we need is more cops on the beat. The cops tried to demand covid vaccinations early. Why? When they have there own bubble. Its called a Transit van !!!


----------



## Phil Pascoe (15 Mar 2021)

Yet another quite enjoyable, reasonably sensible thread heading for locking. Thanks, people.


----------



## Jacob (15 Mar 2021)

Robbo60 said:


> Why are there discriminatory organisations such as Black Police Officers Association? If there was a White equivalent it would be classed as racist. I think there is something similar in NHS Doctors. Why have the MOBO music awards. Why not just music? MOBO is not a genre before someone suggest that.


They are forms of positive discrimination or simply special interest areas for minorities who get a rough deal on the whole. The police are notorious for institutional racism against their own black minority.
Positive discrimination works. Action against discrimination works - history is full of it, easy to forget things like this : Bristol Bus Boycott


----------



## gregmcateer (15 Mar 2021)

Rafezetter,

Thank you for explaining cancel culture. Not required, but thanks anyway. At no point did I suggest cancelling anyone, least of all a white, middle class male. He dismissed the audience member on Question Time, where he was a panellist, (i.e. definitely NOT cancelled).

For clarity, he said, 

"It’s not racism. No it’s not. We’re the most tolerant, lovely country in Europe." And "It’s so easy to throw the card of racism at everybody and it’s really starting to get boring now". He added to the audience member, who happened to be black: "I can’t help what I am, I was born like this, it’s an immutable characteristic so to call me a white privileged male is to be racist"

Put simply, he doesn't get it. (IMHO, obvs )


----------



## Thingybob (16 Mar 2021)

Glitch said:


> Mars Bars used to be so much bigger


Yea but then mars got the clever idea to market the fun sized bars as the standard bar then later re use the standard moulds as giant bars pretty clever


----------



## MikeJhn (16 Mar 2021)

Same with Waggon Wheels.


----------



## Phil Pascoe (16 Mar 2021)

Now known as Go Kart Wheels.


----------



## MikeJhn (16 Mar 2021)

I used to stop most jokes stone dead it they started with "There was an Englishman, an Irishman and a Jew" I always asked why two had nationalities and one had a religion?


----------



## harryd (16 Mar 2021)

rafezetter said:


> I'm not sure you've not really grasped the intention of "cancel culture" very well - they aren't about stopping you from calling out racism or sexism or pretty much anything else when it happens; they are about stopping anything they don't like, whatever that may be.
> 
> Such as "no platforming" which basically means "you are not allowed to publicly state a viewpoint that we don't agree with". They also seem to make up what is an "-ism" to suit themselves; a ridiculous example would be that person who identifies as a Deer** claiming "Deerism" because you can't have "Deer" as an identifier on it's passport, and MUST instead be forced to use it's given name and biological gender.
> 
> ...


"The sleep of reason produces monsters"


----------



## Jacob (16 Mar 2021)

harryd said:


> "The sleep of reason produces monsters"


There's a very articulate defence of free speech here


----------



## Graham Warner (16 Mar 2021)

MikeK said:


> Luxury. We used to dream of having the mould.
> 
> I remember the weekly nuclear attack drills in school in the early 60's. We had to crawl under our desks and wait for either the blast or the all-clear siren. We knew what to do when we heard the all-clear siren, but no one ever explained to us second graders what to do in the event of a blast. I don't remember ever asking.


----------



## Jonm (16 Mar 2021)

Thingybob said:


> Yea but then mars got the clever idea to market the fun sized bars as the standard bar then later re use the standard moulds as giant bars pretty clever





Thingybob said:


> Yea but then mars got the clever idea to market the fun sized bars as the standard bar then later re use the standard moulds as giant bars pretty clever


That is a little unfair, it is all about childhood obesity








Mars bars and KitKats to get smaller to meet new sugar rules


Companies will make chocolate bars smaller so they do not have to compromise on taste




www.independent.co.uk




Reminds me of a local, then large manufacturing company which printed it’s own notepaper/forms, this was pre internet when most correspondence was on paper and a lot of handwritten information, typing required a typewriter and only the secretaries used them. This company had an employee suggestion scheme, and the proposal was to make the spacing of the lines on the pre printed sheets slightly narrower so more information could be given on each sheet thereby saving paper. An exercise was carried out, the savings calculated, a percentage of the saving paid to the employee and the sheets duly printed. 

Most users then wrote on alternate lines. I suspect that these smaller bars would have similar results.


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## Phil Pascoe (16 Mar 2021)

Writing on alternate lines? Sounds like the lines books from school. Alternate narrow and wide lines, we had to write in the narrow lines with every letter touching the top and bottom line, and the top and tail of ever letter that had them touching the line above or below. Ten extra lines for every letter found incorrect. To make it worse we had to buy the books to write them in.


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## Cabinetman (16 Mar 2021)

Phil Pascoe said:


> Writing on alternate lines? Sounds like the lines books from school. Alternate narrow and wide lines, we had to write in the narrow lines with every letter touching the top and bottom line, and the top and tail of ever letter that had them touching the line above or below. Ten extra lines for every letter found incorrect. To make it worse we had to buy the books to write them in.


Sadists the lot of them, particularly when it came to cross country running in the middle of winter in shorts white socks and plimsolls, and the course was always through the muddy bits and wet bits. B———s


----------



## DBT85 (16 Mar 2021)

Glitch said:


> Mars Bars used to be so much bigger


A king sized mars bar used to be 100g of sugary goodness. I'd go t'shop and buy one and a can of full fat coke with a quid and get change.

They stopped making them some years ago due to the obesity crisis engulfing the west.

Well its 15 years on and i'm still cat funt so bring the pippers back so I can enjoy a proper mars bar please!


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## MikeJhn (16 Mar 2021)

harryd said:


> "The sleep of reason produces monsters"


I have just completed a survey for the BSI at the end it asked for comments, I added "Have the BSI every heard of the "Plain English Society"


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## Harken in Wood (17 Mar 2021)

How depressing this all is.


----------



## rafezetter (19 Mar 2021)

gregmcateer said:


> Rafezetter,
> 
> Thank you for explaining cancel culture. Not required, but thanks anyway. At no point did I suggest cancelling anyone, least of all a white, middle class male. He dismissed the audience member on Question Time, where he was a panellist, (i.e. definitely NOT cancelled).
> 
> ...



I still disagree - Laurence's birth and colour is what it is, his upbringing in a middle class family is also "is what it is" he had no say over the why and the how of any of it. he went to the school hios parents told him to go to (like me a private boarding school) and had a lifestyle according to his parents means; why would he not? He then went to acting school and became an actor because that was his passion and managed to get cast in a popular TV show - did HE choose that or did the person in charge of casting make that happen.

From there he had good earnings (as almost all TV actors do) in comparison to most "common" people, and kepy his job acting because he was GOOD at it.

Should he now apologise for any of this? Most of which was out of his control entirely, some of it was under his control as to keep being employed in a well paid acting job, not even the most stupid of snowflakes can say he shouldnt have done this, and then he had a personal lifestyle according to his means - JUST LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE.

But SOMEHOW according to those same snowflakes - and many coloured BLM types (sorry but its a fact) he's become "white priviledged".

What does a person have to do, to not be "white priviledged"? Should he give all his hard earned away now and go live in one of the poorer areas of England someplace? Should he dedicate his life to working with the disadvantaged from now on - but only black disadvantaged or he'll prolly get branded for sideways "preferential racism").

Why was that black guy picking on just him? why aren't they picking on all the other "white priviledged" actors WORTH SIGNIFICANTLY MORE MONEY - like Tom Cruise for example - $500 million US.

The whole thing was a cheap shot at the nearest easy target lacking in any coherent logic and cleary full of "imma butthurt snowflake waaa", and done because Laurence has started to poke massive gaping holes in the entire "butthurt snowflake waaa / cancel culture" communities mantra, so they are trying to discredit him and, surprise surprise "cancel him".

wake up mate.


----------



## Keith Cocker (19 Mar 2021)

rafezetter said:


> Why was that black guy picking on just him?


I thought it was a woman?


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## Jacob (19 Mar 2021)

rafezetter said:


> .......
> Why was that black guy picking on just him? ......


Probably because at that point he was the egregious twerp in front of him/her, in a public debate, coming out with a load of tosh.
Should he/she have said, in the interests of impartiality, something like "and this applies to the rest of you privileged white thickos everywhere"?
PS I was a bit confused about your earlier remarks about "Deer" people and public lavatories. Does this sort of thing happen to you often? Maybe a list of lavs to avoid would be useful.
PPS just browsing L Fox. Apparently he got expelled from Harrow "I wanted to be really popular but I wasn’t, not as much as I wanted to be. I tried too hard to be cool." How sad is that! Good of you to stand up for the little chap! 








I was a bully: Laurence Fox admits picking on boys at £40K Harrow


The 41-year-old Lewis star admitted in an interview with The Big Issue that he picked on younger boys when he became more senior at the north London school in order to exercise his 'power'.




www.dailymail.co.uk


----------



## DBT85 (19 Mar 2021)

rafezetter said:


> But SOMEHOW according to those same snowflakes - and many coloured BLM types (sorry but its a fact) he's become "white priviledged".



Coloured and snowflakes in the same sentence. Maximum points 

Assuming this chap was born white he hasn't become white privileged. He was born it the same as (and I'm guessing here) the majority of us on this very board. He never got overlooked for a job because his name sounded a bit iffy be it consciously or subconsciously. He never had people cross the road when they saw him coming because of his skin colour. He never got pulled over by the police 5 times in a year just for walking down a street with a bag on his back. He never got eyed up suspiciously by the security guard in the supermarket. The list goes on and on.

Calling a white male "privileged" isn't racist. It's a statement of fact.


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## Jameshow (19 Mar 2021)

I object to the phrase white privilege ..... 

I represent and work with a large number of white males in a northern town where they are anything other than privileged despite being white and male. 

They are the most deprived section of society today. 

I also have two sons whose life chances are greatly less than their two sisters. One wants to be a Dr and the other a vet. The boys cause me great deal more to worry about. 

So please let's stop this claptrap of white privilege name calling and look a real issues in society which affect all colours and sexes. 

Cheers James


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## gregmcateer (20 Mar 2021)

Rafezetter, I never suggested he had done anything wrong, or any other slur. I made the point that he is white and privileged. He is. And so am I. 

James, I sympathise with any body who has to fight their way out of hard up areas. The fact of skin colour is often, (though of course not always), another factor that influences ones chances negatively. I assume you and your boys are white, but obviously I don't know. If they are, then they haven't had the additional burden of being looked at or treated differently because of their skin colour. 

I saw an interesting program presented by Naga Munchetty on the iPlayer last week that looks at a north eastern white working class area and discusses just that point - worth a watch.
Also, if you get a chance, have a read of the Akala book 'Natives' - a real education. 'White Fragility' is also good. 
Regarding females and males. Even if their life chances are better, I bet a pound to a pinch of s*** your boys have never been catcalled or had their butts pinched in a bar. I apologise if I'm incorrect. 
And I agree, we should all address all issues that address all sexes and colours.


----------



## Robbo60 (20 Mar 2021)

There must be other more appropriate forums for this sort of stuff - look at the name of the forum FFS.
Go to social injustice.com or something similar


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## DBT85 (20 Mar 2021)

There are also poor people of all colours in London and yet a wealth divide between birth and South is still a very real thing.

But indeed, let's just try to make a world where women (like my 3 year old daughter) aren't spoken over, underpaid, taken for granted, subjected to the majority of domestic abuse or guaranteed at some stage to be inappropriately groped, touched, leered at or at worst blamed in any way for being raped. 

Where men are able to actually share their feelings with other men without being made to feel inferior, where our boys are taught that no means no and that "boys will be boys" is not an excuse. 

Where a lad called Jamal has exactly the same chances of getting a job as a lad called Steve and a girl called Susan.

Where we don't perpetuate decades old ridiculous stereotypes in the name of "jokes".

Where there isn't an enormous wealth and skill division between the two ends of our country.

Not sure any of that is in the least bit objectionable.


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## gregmcateer (20 Mar 2021)

Jester,
The point about white privilege is a tricky one - its taken me ages to kind of 'get it'. It DOESN'T mean you are privileged like, say, landed gentry, or the royal family, it means that the little micro aggressions, e.g. like DBT referred to just don't show on our radar or consciousness. We just don't have to think about how e.g. a security guard might view us, or if we're in a flash car, we might be a drug dealer, or e.g. in sports commentary, (which has been the subject of a long and detailed academic study), black athletes are 'strong, forceful, tough, fast' etc, whereas white ones are 'skilled, tactically aware' etc. 
It's not a conscious thing for us white folk, we need it brought to our attention to make us aware.


----------



## gregmcateer (20 Mar 2021)

Robbo60 said:


> There must be other more appropriate forums for this sort of stuff - look at the name of the forum FFS.
> Go to social injustice.com or something similar



In fairness, Robbo, if one of us snowflakes wrote that, we'd be accused of cancel culture


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## Jacob (20 Mar 2021)

"White privileged..." could have been written as "white AND privileged...."
We know that the majority of "white" people are not privileged.


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## paulrbarnard (20 Mar 2021)

Jacob said:


> "White privileged..." could have been written as "white AND privileged...."
> We know that the majority of "white" people are not privileged.


The problem is the word privileged. For people who actually understand the issue it is used more in the context of owning an entitlement rather than in an asset rich way. 
I do object to the way the word ‘privileged’ is thrown as an insult. Too many take the accusation of privilege and aim it at anyone who ‘owns’ more than they do. Many, of any ethnicity, have worked hard for these assets of privilege they have. 
I do strongly support the view that everyone should have the same entitlement to getting a job, safety, being heard and respected. 
I wish there was a word that actually meant what people are trying to convey without confusion. Something like privilement.


----------



## Noel (20 Mar 2021)

*Right folks, if you want this thread to survive beyond this post there will be no more mention of Fox, race and associated words, concepts and whatever else.
And please do not discuss this warning.*


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## Glitch (20 Mar 2021)

Who'd have thought a Mars Bar would end up costing 15 shillings


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## gregmcateer (20 Mar 2021)

And ha'penny chews - don't exist, except in twos


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## Stan (20 Mar 2021)

Jester129 said:


> Quilts? What are they? How about those really itchy coarse blankets we used to have. An eiderdown on top and you were weighed down in bed.



When I was a kid our sheets and blankets had three blue lines down the middle. I had no idea why until I joined up and during basic training, had to make bedpacks with the three blue lines on each item all in a single vertical column. I then knew where my dad had got them from!

In the mid 60's my dad was posted to Aden, and we all lived there until the families were evacuated. I thought our school bus was great. It was an RAF bus with all the glass windows taken out. The sides and rear had very fine mesh in place of the glass, with larger mesh at the front so the driver could see. The door footwell always had an armed sentry stood in it, sometimes my dad! In front of the bus was a ferret armoured car with a machine gun in a turret. Behind were one or two landrovers containing armed soldiers. I thought it was all very exciting. Oh the ignorance and innocence of childhood....


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## heimlaga (21 Mar 2021)

I came to think of one thing....... how many people today know how to harvest grain with a sickle and tie it into bundles for hand threshing?
The old lady next doors often looked after me when my parents were away and every autumn she harvested some oats the old way to feed the birds in winter. In her youth in the late 1920-ies and 30-ies that way of harvesting was still fairly common on small less mechanized farms an even on larger farms as a way of cutting up room for the horse pulling the mower so it wouldn't trample any grain.
Anyway she still did it in the 1980-ies. One way of keeping me calm and in one place was to keep me busy learning things so I learned to use the sicle and how to tie the bundles together with straw and I still know it.
She was left handed and to this day I tend to tie left handed knots on the straw band if I try to do it.


----------



## penyrolewen (21 Mar 2021)

Rorschach said:


> A TV you had to go and change channel on the TV itself, or you had a bit of bamboo with something soft taped to the end so you didn't have to get up.
> Oh and only 4 channels.




4? It was 3 for me. BBC 1, BBC 2 and ITV. None of that new fangled Channel 4. I wonder how they came up with that name.


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## paulrbarnard (21 Mar 2021)

penyrolewen said:


> 4? It was 3 for me. BBC 1, BBC 2 and ITV. None of that new fangled Channel 4. I wonder how they came up with that name.


I remember the excitement when I was at university for the start of Channel 4. All of us in our digs crowded into the TV room to watch the first episode of countdown.


----------



## Glitch (21 Mar 2021)

gregmcateer said:


> And ha'penny chews - don't exist, except in twos



I hardly ever use cash these days. Much prefer contactless/ApplePay. Very rarely use a cashpoint these days. Can't even remember the card PINs because I'll always use Applepay if I can. I think that's why you can check your PIN on mobile/internet banking app.

Struggle to find enough to tip the takeaway delivery driver. Usually ask the wife and then wade through loads of coppers (coins that is) in her purse, looking for a coin of worthwhile value.

Can't be long before 1p and 2p coins are retired. 5p, 10p and 20p are pretty annoying too.


----------



## Phil Pascoe (21 Mar 2021)

When the pre decimal halfpenny was taken out of circulation it was worth the equivalent of about 3.5p now. The last decimal halfpenny would be over 1.5p.


----------



## Reginald (21 Mar 2021)

EddyCurrent said:


> When milk bottles were delivered to your doorstep, bluetits used to peck through the foil caps to drink the cream, however we still drank the milk.


When the milk bottle tops were pushed up by the frozenilk


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## Reginald (21 Mar 2021)

Rorschach said:


> A TV you had to go and change channel on the TV itself, or you had a bit of bamboo with something soft taped to the end so you didn't have to get up.
> Oh and only 4 channels.


4 channels luxury I remember when there were just 2 channels BBC and ITV and the ended at midnight with the national anthem.


----------



## Reginald (21 Mar 2021)

Cabinetman said:


> I had heard it was quite common as a wedding present, yuck. I suppose at least you didn’t get your mouth filled with poisonous mercury which we are still suffering from now. I read somewhere not too long ago that in the heyday of adding lead to petrol there was a spike in criminal behaviour and general thuggery which has diminished dramatically since. I think in a few years time household chemicals that we consider commonplace will be looked at in a totally different light. Ian
> Ps The chemist that came up with lead in petrol was also the same man who came up with CFCs in refrigerant. Makes you think doesn’t it


I remember life back pre 1980 when thuggery and general idiocy were a fraction of what they are today indeed a time when people left school at 15 and could read and write and tell the difference between right and wrong a time when we could buy 5 star petrol in fact a time when you could buy a gallon of petrol for less than 20pence.


----------



## Reginald (21 Mar 2021)

Trainee neophyte said:


>


Wow 405 lines was a tough picture compared to 625.


----------



## Phil Pascoe (21 Mar 2021)

Reginald said:


> I remember life back pre 1980 when thuggery and general idiocy were a fraction of what they are today...



I ran bars in the '70s and the petty violence and vandalism was far, far higher then than it is now.


----------



## Reginald (21 Mar 2021)

Cabinetman said:


> Ice on the inside of your bedroom window in the morning when you woke up, and getting dressed in bed.
> Repairing things, when the plastic casing on the kitchen scales broke I mounted the metal frame on four blocks of wood, my mum used it like that for years. Coming home from playing in the fields and ditches and making dens, so dirty that mum would strip me off by the back door and scrub me down in the Belfast sink in what I suppose we would call the utility room nowadays. Didn’t have any long trousers till I was about 12? It would’ve been pointless as the knees would’ve been through within a morning. Hell I had a wonderful childhood. Ian


I remember this so well no double glazing we had to get up and light the fire.


----------



## Reginald (21 Mar 2021)

Spectric said:


> Hi all
> 
> From these post it does seem that it is the older generation that like to be hands on and have real interest like woodworking with fewer youngsters getting involved. I don't think they do metal work, technical drawing or woodwork in schools anymore as it has been combined into something like material studies.
> 
> ...


I was realy sad when looking at my old school for my youngest son I almost ran to the old metalwork room only to find that it was now an art room no woodworking either.


----------



## Reginald (21 Mar 2021)

Oraclebhoy said:


> Shops closing early on a Wednesday.
> 
> Chap selling matches and laces down the high street.
> 
> ...


My mum had a tin of shillings for the electric meter bin men used to come up the drive for the bin coalman used to deliver in sacks from the road into our coal hole we used to get maggots from the butcher for fishing in the mill dams.
Tufty used to tell us how to cross the roads and we also had watch with mother with captain pugwash, bill and Ben, Andy Pandy, anybody remember spotty dog.


----------



## Reginald (21 Mar 2021)

ian_in_the_midlands said:


> Also, as kids of 14 (or less) we were out on our own with airguns.


We used to walk up the woods with our airguns we also had bonfires and let off fireworks.


----------



## Reginald (21 Mar 2021)

BHwoodworking said:


> aint it funny listening to all the old codgers wax lyrical
> 
> but i do agree with some things.
> 
> ...


I was told at work some time back now that apprentices are only allowed to watch me not touch untill they are 18 . makes me laugh I started work at 15 could use a lathe forge welding gear and lug stuff about in fact we could pretty much use lathes etc from about 13 on at school by 18 I was fairly proficient so kids today start with a handicap.


----------



## Harken in Wood (21 Mar 2021)

Noel said:


> *Right folks, if you want this thread to survive beyond this post there will be no more mention of Fox, race and associated words, concepts and whatever else.
> And please do not discuss this warning.*


Is this censorship? Opps


----------



## Jacob (21 Mar 2021)

heimlaga said:


> I came to think of one thing....... how many people today know how to harvest grain with a sickle and tie it into bundles for hand threshing?
> The old lady next doors often looked after me when my parents were away and every autumn she harvested some oats the old way to feed the birds in winter. In her youth in the late 1920-ies and 30-ies that way of harvesting was still fairly common on small less mechanized farms an even on larger farms as a way of cutting up room for the horse pulling the mower so it wouldn't trample any grain.
> Anyway she still did it in the 1980-ies. One way of keeping me calm and in one place was to keep me busy learning things so I learned to use the sicle and how to tie the bundles together with straw and I still know it.
> She was left handed and to this day I tend to tie left handed knots on the straw band if I try to do it.


I use a scythe quite a lot for long grass, weeds, lawn edges. Much faster than a strimmer, zero running costs, dead quiet, keeps you fitter.


----------



## Harken in Wood (21 Mar 2021)

Robbo60 said:


> There must be other more appropriate forums for this sort of stuff - look at the name of the forum FFS.
> Go to social injustice.com or something similar


Please repeat in upper case letters on the off chance it will be heard and adhered to.


----------



## Jacob (21 Mar 2021)

Reginald said:


> ..... kids today start with a handicap.


But still have all their fingers and eyes. A local kid lost an eye in an air rifle incident. I nearly did myself - ricochet hit me on my forehead 1" from my eyes


----------



## Jacob (21 Mar 2021)

Harken in Wood said:


> Please repeat in upper case letters on the off chance it will be heard and adhered to.


I'm interested in why so many people are so alarmed about talking about stuff. Oddly it seems to be those from the right who are most uneasy - lefties are happy to argue until the cows come home!


----------



## Stan (21 Mar 2021)

Jacob said:


> I'm interested in why so many people are so alarmed about talking about stuff. Oddly it seems to be those from the right who are most uneasy - lefties are happy to argue until the cows come home!




I came here to learn and talk about woodwork/metalwork. I have spent a large part of my life fighting injustice, saving the world etc etc. Now it is somebody else's turn. I would like to spend my golden years hacking at bits of wood and metal, getting pleasure from creating things instead of cleaning up other people's mess and destruction.

Please keep this forum a safe space so we can enjoy our hobby together, regardless of our background/beliefs/what have you. If this forum becomes another soapbox for people with axes to grind, then I'm off.


----------



## Glitch (21 Mar 2021)

Phil Pascoe said:


> When the pre decimal halfpenny was taken out of circulation it was worth the equivalent of about 3.5p now. The last decimal halfpenny would be over 1.5p.



Interesting snippet on the lowest value coins Here

_'So we can conclude that since at least 1707, Britain has not had a coin worth less than the current 1p piece.

Nonetheless, the government decided to keep the 1p and 2p coins, noting their historic and cultural importance, concerns that prices might go up if prices were rounded up to the nearest 5p and "a number of responses from the seaside amusement industry", which didn't want to lose the "2p push machine".'_

I blame Tipping Point

I don't have any memory of spending a farthing. 960 to the £  

Does anyone see the need for 1p and 2p coins?


----------



## Harken in Wood (21 Mar 2021)

Stan said:


> I came here to learn and talk about woodwork/metalwork. I have spent a large part of my life fighting injustice, saving the world etc etc. Now it is somebody else's turn. I would like to spend my golden years hacking at bits of wood and metal, getting pleasure from creating things instead of cleaning up other people's mess and destruction.
> 
> Please keep this forum a safe space so we can enjoy our hobby together, regardless of our background/beliefs/what have you. If this forum becomes another soapbox for people with axes to grind, then I'm off.


Spot on. I came here for ideas, advice and general chat about our craft and not to be distracted by dross that one can get from the BBC any day of the week.


----------



## Jacob (21 Mar 2021)

Stan said:


> ......If this forum becomes another soapbox for people with axes to grind, then I'm off.


But you've only just arrived! 
A bit soon to be telling people what they should or should not be talking about and you don't have to read it anyway.
Part of the success of this forum has been down to the sheer diversity of the topics - still 95% craft work but we are real people and all have other lives and opinions outside of woodwork.
There have been break-off groups which are less tolerant, but they tend to stay small and less interesting.


----------



## Harken in Wood (21 Mar 2021)

Ah that’s the problem. I have not been here long enough to offer a comment on the irrelevance of some topics on what is supposed to be a ukworkshop blog. Sorry, I will keep my thoughts and opinions to myself until I qualify to comment.


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## Droogs (21 Mar 2021)

IT is simple. If you only want woodwork stuff then stay out of the *OFF TOPIC* forum, that is the whole point of the forum title.


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## Harken in Wood (21 Mar 2021)

Sorry, what was the topic again? I don’t think they would believe it nowadays“‘


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## Jacob (21 Mar 2021)

Fresh stats here:
this forum has currently on line; members: 137, guests: 985
two breakaway fora have: 7 rmembers, 48 guests, and 1 member, 42 guests.
For whatever reason, this forum is flourishing!


----------



## Noel (21 Mar 2021)

Harken in Wood said:


> Is this censorship? Opps



Keep the day job.




Harken in Wood said:


> Spot on. I came here for ideas, advice and general chat about our craft and not to be distracted by dross that one can get from the BBC any day of the week.



Bloke complains about "dross" by making political statement....in the non "craft" section.......hmmm



Harken in Wood said:


> Ah that’s the problem. I have not been here long enough to offer a comment on the irrelevance of some topics on what is supposed to be a ukworkshop blog. Sorry, I will keep my thoughts and opinions to myself until I qualify to comment.



This site is not a blog, it's a forum.



Droogs said:


> IT is simple. If you only want woodwork stuff then stay out of the *OFF TOPIC* forum, that is the whole point of the forum title.



Excellent advice.


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## Rorschach (21 Mar 2021)

Reginald said:


> I remember life back pre 1980 when thuggery and general idiocy were a fraction of what they are today indeed a time when people left school at 15 and could read and write and tell the difference between right and wrong a time when we could buy 5 star petrol in fact a time when you could buy a gallon of petrol for less than 20pence.



What planet were you living on? Violence has never been lower and with the exception of Scotland education standards have continued to rise year on year for the most part.


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## selectortone (21 Mar 2021)

Glitch said:


> Does anyone see the need for 1p and 2p coins?



If shops stopped listing prices as £x.99 they would no longer need them for change.


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## Phil Pascoe (21 Mar 2021)

The item would then be £n. 95p
The original reason for the 99p or 19s 11d or even back to the farthing was to ensure the shop assisistant had to use the till and not just wait until the customer had turned their back and then pocket the note.


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## Jacob (21 Mar 2021)

Reginald said:


> I remember life back pre 1980 when thuggery and general idiocy were a fraction of what they are today indeed a time when people left school at 15 and could read and write and tell the difference between right and wrong a time when we could buy 5 star petrol in fact a time when you could buy a gallon of petrol for less than 20pence.


Yes most of us can remember when we were being looked after by our mums and dads and the word seemed a much cosier sort of place!
Christmas has never been the same since instead of just presents for me I had to start buying them for other people!
Moan, moan, when ar worra lad etc etc


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## Rorschach (21 Mar 2021)

Jacob said:


> I'm interested in why so many people are so alarmed about talking about stuff. Oddly it seems to be those from the right who are most uneasy - lefties are happy to argue until the cows come home!



That's funny, I was thinking the opposite. I think there are people on both sides who prefer to shut down the conversation because it makes them uncomfortable. I like having uncomfortable conversations, you learn a lot about people.


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## Jacob (21 Mar 2021)

Phil Pascoe said:


> The item would then be £n. 95p
> The original reason for the 99p or 19s 11d or even back to the farthing was to ensure the shop assisistant had to use the till and not just wait until the customer had turned their back and then pocket the note.


Really I never knew that! Makes sense though, I would have kept a few notes.


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## Cabinetman (21 Mar 2021)

Jacob said:


> Really I never knew that! Makes sense though, I would have kept a few notes.


 And I would’ve had no qualms in sacking you when I caught you, as I did lots of times. Can’t stand thieves.


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## Jacob (21 Mar 2021)

Cabinetman said:


> And I would’ve had no qualms in sacking you when I caught you, as I did lots of times. Can’t stand thieves.


I wouldn't actually have nicked anything - I was merely being "facetious" (as usual). A bit like sarcasm; doesn't always work!


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## heimlaga (21 Mar 2021)

Reginald said:


> I was told at work some time back now that apprentices are only allowed to watch me not touch untill they are 18 . makes me laugh I started work at 15 could use a lathe forge welding gear and lug stuff about in fact we could pretty much use lathes etc from about 13 on at school by 18 I was fairly proficient so kids today start with a handicap.


Sounds ridiculous.
I started driving tractor at age 6 or thereabout. Massey-Ferguson 35 without cab nor roll over protection. I was taught to drive carefully and for several years I was only allowed to use the three lowest gears. 
I got my first saw at age 4. Immediately started felling small trees on my own. Up to 6 or 7 cm diametre I would guess.
I got my first knife at age 7 or 8.
I got my first axe at 12 or 13.
At age 8 or 9 I helped dad build a small flat bottomed boat from plywood. the boat was to be my own. One or two years later I was allowed to go rowing on lakes on my own or with friends. At 12 dad and I together bought a 13 foot rowboat which we fitted with a small spritsail and kept in the village harbour. After some tst trps with dad I was allowed out with friends or on my own.
I started using the chainsaw at 17 and that was considered late but my parents were generally a bit on the protective side.

I am deeply worried now when my generation have kids and some hardly allow their kids to do anything else than watch a screen until they are 18. No wonder many become depressed or turn to drugs or criminality in order to have some content in their lives.


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## Cabinetman (21 Mar 2021)

Jacob said:


> I wouldn't actually have nicked anything - I was merely being "facetious" (as usual). A bit like sarcasm; doesn't always work!


 Glad to hear it Jacob, I thought it was a bit unlike you. Just a thought, I reckon that people who work with their hands particularly with wood are probably a bit less likely to be thieves to start with? Something to do with being fulfilled and happy and productive maybe? Ian


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## Jacob (21 Mar 2021)

Cabinetman said:


> Glad to hear it Jacob, I thought it was a bit unlike you. Just a thought, I reckon that people who work with their hands particularly with wood are probably a bit less likely to be thieves to start with? Something to do with being fulfilled and happy and productive maybe? Ian


An odd thing is - I lose stuff regularly (very untidy) and often start thinking ferkynell somebody's nicked it! But in fact they always turn up eventually and I don't think I've ever had anything stolen either. Not counting borrowed and forgotten of course!
PS except battery disappearing from my Lada Estate many years ago. It was worth more than the car itself and had Russian text all over it and picture of a tractor


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## Daniel2 (21 Mar 2021)

Rorschach said:


> That's funny, I was thinking the opposite. I think there are people on both sides who prefer to shut down the conversation because it makes them uncomfortable. I like having uncomfortable conversations, you learn a lot about people.



I agree, you learn a lot about people, PLUS one learns a lot - full stop


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## Daniel2 (21 Mar 2021)

Cabinetman said:


> Glad to hear it Jacob, I thought it was a bit unlike you. Just a thought, I reckon that people who work with their hands particularly with wood are probably a bit less likely to be thieves to start with? Something to do with being fulfilled and happy and productive maybe? Ian



Nah.... Probably just a desire to keep one's hands. Remembering how certain punishments
have been meted out for stealing.


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## Glitch (21 Mar 2021)

Phil Pascoe said:


> The item would then be £n. 95p
> The original reason for the 99p or 19s 11d or even back to the farthing was to ensure the shop assisistant had to use the till and not just wait until the customer had turned their back and then pocket the note.



Good point, but times they are a changing.
I'm more than happy to have a cashless society. Little need for it these days.
Cash Management is expensive.


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## Reginald (21 Mar 2021)

Rorschach said:


> What planet were you living on? Violence has never been lower and with the exception of Scotland education standards have continued to rise year on year for the most part.


Did you really say education standards have risen I must be on another planet


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## Rorschach (21 Mar 2021)

Reginald said:


> Did you really say education standards have risen I must be on another planet



They have, except in Scotland, they are declining there, along with a lot of other things such as health care.


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## Deadeye (21 Mar 2021)

artie said:


> What about racing round and round the block in town every night in our Ford Anglias , minis and Cortinas with rarely a Constable to be seen.


That'd be the block with the national gallery then?


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## TominDales (21 Mar 2021)

I seem to remember there were no speed limits on secondary A roads, only motorways, towns and trunk roads, if there was no sign then you could do what you like? I recall us egging my father on, to see if he could do 100 on a not so strait stretch, near our house.

The battery on the Morris minor was always a bit weak, not helped by my mother leaving the lights on. But all she had to do was wait by the side of the road with the cracking handle/wheel nut spanner and the next man driving pass would instantly stop and crank the car. The Morris 1000 went very fast. Although the first one they had, she was always snapping the indicator off.


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## TominDales (21 Mar 2021)

Although the summers seemed like total sunshine and a lot of fun, winters in the 60's and 70's were bitter. Chilblains and always being cold in winter. Wearing loads of cloths, thick jerseys so that you felt like the Michelin man. Every winter we would go sledging and skating on the local lakes/ponds during big freezes, it was a bit doggy testing the ice to see if it would hold our weight and running like mad if it started to crack. Throwing snowballs and conker fights were allowed in school. In fact we had a school conker championships in break time.
If it snowed, things tended to carry on as normal, getting stuck in snow a normal winter pastime.
Our house like most was heated with coal until sometime in the late 60's when central heating came in, even then it was a fraction of the power of todays and only took the chill off, it was fired by paraffin to begin with, it was another 30 years before gas turned up in our village. One of our chores was to fill the coal bucket (several times a day) my mother would spend a huge amount of the day lighting, shoveling coal and emptying ash. If we were lucky you could keep the fire in all night and re-kindle it in the morning. Otherwise it was folding up old newspaper into firelighters to get them going again.
I recall in one fireplace had a sooty hook in the chimney that could be pulled down with tongs to enable hot water to be heated. 
My mother tells a story that when the council officer came round to asses the rates for the house in the early 60's its was a bitterly cold day and he shivered and complained about the cold and she was convinced he gave it a low value.


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## TominDales (21 Mar 2021)

There was an underlying tension from the nuclear arms race for most of the 60s and early 70s. I cant remember 63 but my teachers were alarmed, it did feel that the world could end at any time. The movies at the time played on this, I remember watching the 'Day the earth caught fire' which had a plot about the earths orbit being destabilised by simulations nuclear test by the superpowers. The week it was released that very thing happened and there was a tense moment when everyone waited to see if it had set indeed set the earth on a path to the sun! Henry Fonda's Failsafe and Dr Strangelove were more fun. 

We lived in a farming village with no police station, so Leicestershire police/home office/BT installed an early warning receiver in the cellar of our house. Every village without a police house, had one, known as WB400 and upgrades WB1400 If it went off, my parents was supposed to cycle round the village and tell everyone to hide - they had 4 minutes to do this. Once a quarter we had to test the thing. Turn it on, where it bleeped loudly, and listen to the instructions on the various type of alarm signalling different attach modes. Finally there was a coded word that you had to write on a postcard and send back to prove you had done your duty. When my mum forgot to listen in, she used to tick the box saying the battery had run flat. We had a good few space batteries. It wasn't removed until 1993....


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## TominDales (21 Mar 2021)

I'm surprised no-one mentioned the 3 day week. Vote for Ted for 3 days in bed. The first miners strike, dock strikes, power workers strike. Inflation hitting 15 to 20% and then the IMF crisis. It was all very dramatic in the 70's. The 3 days week, when you had to have candles every where and we bought hurricane lamps that smelt terrible and cooked on the open fire.
I missed the start of it, as my school didn't have mains electricity, it was quite remote and maybe someone wouldn't pay for it, so it had an old ww2 generator that gave out 120v DC and was very intermittent, the lights would dim and we had endless power cuts. But it sailed through the 3 day week without a hitch.


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## Doug71 (21 Mar 2021)

TominDales said:


> We lived in a farming village with no police station, so Leicestershire police/home office/BT installed an early warning receiver in the cellar of our house. Every village without a police house, had one, known as WB400 and upgrades WB1400 If it went off, my parents was supposed to cycle round the village and tell everyone to hide - they had 4 minutes to do this. Once a quarter we had to test the thing. Turn it on, where it bleeped loudly, and listen to the instructions on the various type of alarm signalling different attach modes. Finally there was a coded word that you had to write on a postcard and send back to prove you had done your duty. When my mum forgot to listen in, she used to tick the box saying the battery had run flat. We had a good few space batteries. It wasn't removed until 1993....



We had the early warning system for our village in our house but instead of the bike thing we had a siren which you took outside and wound the handle, it was buried somewhere in the cupboard under the stairs, I'm sure it would have taken more than 4 minutes just to dig it out! I remember the quarterly test thing, it was always very exciting, felt like we were part of some secret service.


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## TominDales (21 Mar 2021)

There was much less to do - I remember sitting around a lot on rainy days playing board games and cards, aunts and grandparents would entertain you with endless card games. We didn't see much of our fathers, they worked all day and Saturday mornings and then Saturday afternoon was off playing with their mates, he seemed to play some sort of sport every Saturday so we only saw him on Sundays and the annual short summer holiday.

My mum was busy round the house so we would mooch off with friends - one of the reasons I got into wood work, was for something interesting to do.
We were unsupervised and got into all sorts of scrapes and I'm amazed not more got injured, although my brother managed to break two arms, his back his forehead, cut his leg with a chainsaw and get glass in his backside, all on separate occasions and I had a fair few stitches including getting a bit of branch through my foot.

I recall at age 7 or so nicking a 12 bore cartridge that was lying around somewhere and a group of us probably about 5 or 6 sat round in a circle in a stable, I held it with plyers pointing face down at the stone floor while someone held a six inch nail on the trigger button while another person (my brother) hit the nail with a hammer. An enormous bang and I felt the shot rush past my cheeks having bounced off the floor. None of us was hurt - an absolute miracle - I still shudder thinking about it. No adults in sight or perturbed by the shot going off.


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## TominDales (21 Mar 2021)

Doug71 said:


> We had the early warning system for our village in our house but instead of the bike thing we had a siren which you took outside and wound the handle, it was buried somewhere in the cupboard under the stairs, I'm sure it would have taken more than 4 minutes just to dig it out! I remember the quarterly test thing, it was always very exciting, felt like we were part of some secret service.


That's interesting, most people I told about it at school didn't believed me, but the few who had these things also had the siren. We didnt have one, maybe my rather absent minded mum had lost it.


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## artie (21 Mar 2021)

Deadeye said:


> That'd be the block with the national gallery then?


Nope.

The one with the dole office, chip shop and Presbyterian Church.


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## Cabinetman (22 Mar 2021)

TominDales said:


> There was much less to do - I remember sitting around a lot on rainy days playing board games and cards, aunts and grandparents would entertain you with endless card games. We didn't see much of our fathers, they worked all day and Saturday mornings and then Saturday afternoon was off playing with their mates, he seemed to play some sort of sport every Saturday so we only saw him on Sundays and the annual short summer holiday.
> 
> My mum was busy round the house so we would mooch off with friends - one of the reasons I got into wood work, was for something interesting to do.
> We were unsupervised and got into all sorts of scrapes and I'm amazed not more got injured, although my brother managed to break two arms, his back his forehead, cut his leg with a chainsaw and get glass in his backside, all on separate occasions and I had a fair few stitches including getting a bit of branch through my foot.
> ...


 You were all incredibly lucky, that was a really dangerous thing to do as I’m sure you realise now. Makes the things I did look really time thank goodness. Ian


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## TominDales (22 Mar 2021)

The general relaxed attitude to SHE was almost certainty a bad thing, but it did afford us a lot of more adventure than todays kids. 

When quite small say around 5 or 6, my mum would leave us with this kindly old couple when she had to go to Leicester shopping - it would take a day then. Occasionally we would stay the night. The woman was a cleaner and we would accompany her on her rounds, and get biscuits at 11'es. On days she was busy we would accompany her husband the bus driver on his bus, we would collect the money and spend the day riding the bus, and generally helping out the bus company with odd jobs.

When we were a bit older , probably about 12 upwards we had a regular holiday job delivering cattle food to the local farms. My brother and i would accompany the older drivers (ones with a bit of arthritis) to lighten the load. We got paid £1 day, which was great pocked money. Our job was on the wagon, to drag the sacks to the edge of the flat wagon and place it on the drivers shoulder, who would carry them into the farm barn. We soon found that one of us could do the carrying bit as well and the other would do the dragging. There were a mix of 1/2 hundredweight (25kg) and hundredweight (50kg) hessian sacks. The driver didn't like us lifting the hundredweight sacks but we liked to prove we could. We got to know every farm in within a fifty mile radius.

No-one questioned minors taking a train journey provided they had a ticket. On one occasion staying with a friend, we decided to go to go on our own to the Dutch sea side for the day - it may have been Sheveningham, it was near Amsterdam. My friends mum drove us to the station and we took a very early train to Hull crossed to Holland for the day and came home, the friends mum picked us up from the station and took us home for tea. It was a great day out today she would be arrested. Apparently she did it as a girl so it was safe to do.

One of my close friends Dad build reservoirs and when he finished Rutland water he got moved down to head office in Surry. But his son stayed on for the rest of the year. He would take the train to his parents at weekend/holidays, change at Reading and when he but to Godalming he would phone home 3 times and each time they answered press button B to get his penny back from the phone box. That was the code to collect him. Except the time he didn't realise that Reading had platform 4a and 4b and 4b took him to Plymouth. On getting there he phoned home to tell his parents he would be a bit late, except the penny got stuck in the box and he couldn't press button A. It took him to the next day to find his way back and his family had no idea where he was. But no drama, no police search, just no-new is good news and carry on.


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## TominDales (22 Mar 2021)

The 60s and 70s were not at all crime free, and down right dangerous at times.
You could get yourself badly beaten in the wrong neighborhood. there were a few no go areas. I found too many adults didn't believe children if they were criticising other adults bad behaviour, and too many in authority assumed they new best and did their damnedest to protect their reputations.

When we reported the French teacher to the headteacher for touching up some of the boys, he wrote the man a good reference and he moved to another school. The geography teacher was complety erratic, and unpredictable and would beat you up for no apparent reason. He claimed he had a war wound and drank from a flask. He hit a boy with a chair and smashed it onto the school piano. He would scowl at boys in the shower after rugby and threw his lever arch file at one. His time on duty was terrifying. I told my mum, but she just assumed it was a tall story, until a cleaner told her that he had strangled her and as she was about to pass out he let go and walked off. He disappeared suddenly. Years later the head told me he sacked him as he was a raging alcoholic. But that was after a 10 to 15 year reign of terror. To be fair to the head, it was probably only 3 years into his stint. The replacement geography teacher was equally creepy and vindictive and years later got sent to gaol for child abuse. 

Strangely enough I had an enjoyable time despite it, as other teachers were fantastic, dedicated and did interesting things in their free time. One would take us for drives in his MG (about 5 of us could cram in) after school to see historic sites in the nearby countryside. Also as some of the teachers were so obviously out of order the, kids tended to band together in solidarity, so there was not that much bullying at that school.


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## Jonty (22 Mar 2021)

heimlaga said:


> I came to think of one thing....... how many people today know how to harvest grain with a sickle and tie it into bundles for hand threshing?
> The old lady next doors often looked after me when my parents were away and every autumn she harvested some oats the old way to feed the birds in winter. In her youth in the late 1920-ies and 30-ies that way of harvesting was still fairly common on small less mechanized farms an even on larger farms as a way of cutting up room for the horse pulling the mower so it wouldn't trample any grain.
> Anyway she still did it in the 1980-ies. One way of keeping me calm and in one place was to keep me busy learning things so I learned to use the sicle and how to tie the bundles together with straw and I still know it.
> She was left handed and to this day I tend to tie left handed knots on the straw band if I try to do it.


Weren’t they called stukes ? Not sure of the spelling, but remember them from the 50’s.


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## Keith Cocker (22 Mar 2021)

Reginald said:


> I remember life back pre 1980 when thuggery and general idiocy were a fraction of what they are today


I remember getting two black eyes, a bust lip, broken tooth and a Stanley knife cut across my scalp in 1972. I was on a train going home from a cinema with my girlfriend. A bunch of skinhead football hooligans ran amok on the train. Several people were badly injured before the police arrived. Probably less thuggery now than goodness.


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## Rorschach (22 Mar 2021)

Keith Cocker said:


> I remember getting two black eyes, a bust lip, broken tooth and a Stanley knife cut across my scalp in 1972. I was on a train going home from a cinema with my girlfriend. A bunch of skinhead football hooligans ran amok on the train. Several people were badly injured before the police arrived. Probably less thuggery now than goodness.



Sshhh, you are fogging up his rose tinted spectacles


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## TominDales (22 Mar 2021)

Cabinetman said:


> You were all incredibly lucky, that was a really dangerous thing to do as I’m sure you realise now. Makes the things I did look really time thank goodness. Ian


It was the stupidest thing we did, although no-one said anything, I think we realised it at the time. We were pretty well unsupervised and learnt the hard way. My mum was rather naive, she had four sisters and I don't think she realised how stupid a group of boys can be. HSE was pretty absent and when you add up the casualties it was pretty bad. A friend died while camping in the garden when he went to put out a fire in the neighbors greenhouse and it collapsed on him. And another went on a canal trip with other 16 years olds and no adults and got crushed against the lock wall. Another is a paraplegic after diving into a rock pool. Not to say those written off in car accidents. We stopped messing about with weedkiller and sugar after someone got shrapnel in their hand and my grandad told us of a boy who blew his garage doors off. The perchlorate weedkiller was unstable and could be set off by vibration. I doubt is sold these days. Cyanide was sold to farmers to kill wasps nests. 
We tend to be supper protective of the young these days, but I wouldn't advocate going back to what it was. there is a sensible medium where you need to let kids explore for themselves but help them get an awareness of hazard and risk. Our childhood was fun at the time, but there were tragedies.


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## johnny (22 Mar 2021)

Reginald said:


> My mum had a tin of shillings for the electric meter bin men used to come up the drive for the bin coalman used to deliver in sacks from the road into our coal hole we used to get maggots from the butcher for fishing in the mill dams.
> Tufty used to tell us how to cross the roads and we also had watch with mother with captain pugwash, bill and Ben, Andy Pandy, anybody remember spotty dog.


My favourite was Muffin the Mule and the Flower Pot men. Used to wait until the mid day Billy Cotton Band show ended and listen with mother came on the old valve radio. I can still hear that Billy Cotton tune in my head today 65 years on. If you hadn't warmed it up first it used to take ages for all the valves to warm up to a bright glow and you could hear anything lol. Anyone remember Twizzle ?


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## Phil Pascoe (22 Mar 2021)

TominDales said:


> The replacement geography teacher was equally creepy and vindictive and years later got sent to gaol for child abuse.



I remember the olden days, as well. When everyone spelt "jail" gaol. I still do.


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## Phil Pascoe (22 Mar 2021)

I remember doing the First Class hike in the Scouts with a friend - a twenty five mile hike with full kit and an overnight stop on a farm. This was obviously pre arranged, but we had to ask the farmer's permission to camp on his land for the night. I was slightly older so got the job of spokesman. I remember the farmer looking us up and down and saying I know what I'd do if you were mine, I'd kick your asses and put you on the bus home. (In the days you could get a bus at 7.00pm in the countryside.) We were twelve years old.


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## Jacob (22 Mar 2021)

Phil Pascoe said:


> I remember doing the First Class hike in the Scouts with a friend - a twenty five mile hike with full kit and an overnight stop on a farm. This was obviously pre arranged, but we had to ask the farmer's permission to camp on his land for the night. I was slightly older so got the job of spokesman. I remember the farmer looking us up and down and saying I know what I'd do if you were mine, I'd kick your asses and put you on the bus home. (In the days you could get a bus at 7.00pm in the countryside.) We were twelve years old.


I was patrol leader of the Peewits! Went off Scouts after my mate and I went to school in our full uniforms with Baden Powell style hat and everything, for Remembrance day ceremony. Girls weren't impressed and took the p***ss!


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## Nigel Burden (22 Mar 2021)

My brother, and his friend Brian, who was one of the local farmers sons, were playing cowboys and indians around a hayrick, lighting small fires to send smoke signals. Yes, you've guessed it, one got out of control. Good by hayrick. Two wallopings were duly administered afterwards. 

Nigel.


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## Glitch (22 Mar 2021)

Nigel Burden said:


> My brother, and his friend Brian, who was one of the local farmers sons, were playing cowboys and indians around a hayrick, lighting small fires to send smoke signals. Yes, you've guessed it, one got out of control. Good by hayrick. Two wallopings were duly administered afterwards.
> 
> Nigel.



In todays world that just wouldn't happen

Non-structured play outdoors without parental supervision?
Allergens and germs?
Cultural appropriation?
Negative stereotyping?
Unconscious bias?
Risk of winners and losers?
Ability to light a fire?
Child abuse?


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## BHwoodworking (22 Mar 2021)

as a 17 year old, i think i am alowed a fair amount of freedom what i do with my self. i cant drive (yet) but am alowed to go out and about, and when it comes to tools, there is only one the parents didnt let me get until i was 16, whitch is a chainsaw, but fair do's, because chainsaws are blummin dangerious.

i personally dont have a phone, all my classmates do, and i dont seem to be any worse off. in fact, i find they get distracted easier. i used to go and help on freinds and relations houses, and i build stuff outdoors. i find that oulthough i am allowed a certan amount of freedom, compared to what the parents did when they are my age, i do jack .

i do protests sometimes, but otherwise i get on with life, witch mine has a large dolop of woodwork in it. so everyone that is saying that all the youth of today do is look at a screan and get stroppy if they dont get avacodo toast and a fair chance, not everyone is like that, i may be in the minority, but there is still quite a few kids my age that do, and enjoy woodworking and other non electronic divice related activites


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## Jacob (22 Mar 2021)

Glitch said:


> In todays world that just wouldn't happen
> 
> Non-structured play outdoors without parental supervision?
> Allergens and germs?
> ...


A set of vague Daily Mail style memes here.
Are you for or against them, or just moaning a bit?


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## TominDales (22 Mar 2021)

BHwoodworking said:


> as a 17 year old, i think i am alowed a fair amount of freedom what i do with my self. i cant drive (yet) but am alowed to go out and about, and when it comes to tools, there is only one the parents didnt let me get until i was 16, whitch is a chainsaw, but fair do's, because chainsaws are blummin dangerious.
> 
> i do protests sometimes, but otherwise i get on with life, witch mine has a large dolop of woodwork in it. so everyone that is saying that all the youth of today do is look at a screan and get stroppy if they dont get avacodo toast and a fair chance, not everyone is like that, i may be in the minority, but there is still quite a few kids my age that do, and enjoy woodworking and other non electronic divice related activites


Well said. Apparently Aristotle used to moan that the youth of today aren't like they were.., we are no different as we get older the glass in our old specs gets a rosier tint. In many ways its best not to remember the bad stuff and just look forward. Seize the day as they used to say and live for the moment and move forward. So ignore this stuff on the forum, they are harmless reminiscences. 
The other thing is, when we were your age we were full of anxieties about ourselves and somewhat axious about the future and that clouded our experience at the time, looking back on things knowing how they turned out, we realised there was no need to worry - the past is often more rosy than we give it credit at the time, it only looking back that we realised how much we enjoyed it. So your are spot on to look forward and ignore the nativity. Another thing. Many of us enjoy doing things with our hands, making stuff. Most modern employment does not give this skill an outlet, so keep up with woodworking as it is an enjoyable pastime that is useful whatever you go on to do. And in 50 years time you can repeat Aristotle and moan about the youth of today.


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## Cabinetman (22 Mar 2021)

BHwoodworking said:


> as a 17 year old, i think i am alowed a fair amount of freedom what i do with my self. i cant drive (yet) but am alowed to go out and about, and when it comes to tools, there is only one the parents didnt let me get until i was 16, whitch is a chainsaw, but fair do's, because chainsaws are blummin dangerious.
> 
> i personally dont have a phone, all my classmates do, and i dont seem to be any worse off. in fact, i find they get distracted easier. i used to go and help on freinds and relations houses, and i build stuff outdoors. i find that oulthough i am allowed a certan amount of freedom, compared to what the parents did when they are my age, i do jack .
> 
> i do protests sometimes, but otherwise i get on with life, witch mine has a large dolop of woodwork in it. so everyone that is saying that all the youth of today do is look at a screan and get stroppy if they dont get avacodo toast and a fair chance, not everyone is like that, i may be in the minority, but there is still quite a few kids my age that do, and enjoy woodworking and other non electronic divice related activites


Yes what Tom said, sounds like you’ve got your head screwed on, but then you live in North Yorkshire and it’s more common there. Any ideas what you intend to do with your life yet? Edit, just had a thought you don’t live on a farm by any chance do you?Ian


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## Glitch (22 Mar 2021)

Aristotle was never the same after he moved from Olympiacos to Barcelona.


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## Glitch (22 Mar 2021)

Nostalgia is an affectionate feeling you have for the past, especially for a particularly happy time.
To reminisce is to talk or write about past experiences that you remember with pleasure.

Typically thinking back to the carefree days before you started taking on responsibilities and finding out what real life was about.

By definition it tends to be a bit rose tinted. 

It's certainly not a criticism of todays youngsters. They are born into a society that previous generations have created.


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## chrisdt (22 Mar 2021)

Glitch said:


> Good point, but times they are a changing.
> I'm more than happy to have a cashless society. Little need for it these days.
> Cash Management is expensive.


Cash will always be King....Especially for the self employed !!!!


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## JimB (23 Mar 2021)

Phil Pascoe said:


> I remember doing the First Class hike in the Scouts with a friend - a twenty five mile hike with full kit and an overnight stop on a farm. This was obviously pre arranged, but we had to ask the farmer's permission to camp on his land for the night. I was slightly older so got the job of spokesman. I remember the farmer looking us up and down and saying I know what I'd do if you were mine, I'd kick your asses and put you on the bus home. (In the days you could get a bus at 7.00pm in the countryside.) We were twelve years old.


I was in the cubs but wasn't allowed by my parents to join the scouts. I found out later that the scoutmaster had a dodgy reputation with children.


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## JimB (23 Mar 2021)

Cabinetman said:


> Yes what Tom said, sounds like you’ve got your head screwed on, but then you live in North Yorkshire and it’s more common there. Any ideas what you intend to do with your life yet? Edit, just had a thought you don’t live on a farm by any chance do you?Ian


I friend gave me a coffee mug with the inscription, 'it's hard to be humble when you come from Yorkshire".


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## Phil Pascoe (23 Mar 2021)

JimB said:


> I was in the cubs but wasn't allowed by my parents to join the scouts. I found out later that the scoutmaster had a dodgy reputation with children.


My first troop was affiliated to a C of E church - it was one of its acolytes we had to to watch.


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## Reginald (23 Mar 2021)

Rorschach said:


> Sshhh, you are fogging up his rose tinted spectacles


Ok I get it, will not post anything else ok.


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## BHwoodworking (23 Mar 2021)

Cabinetman said:


> Yes what Tom said, sounds like you’ve got your head screwed on, but then you live in North Yorkshire and it’s more common there. Any ideas what you intend to do with your life yet? Edit, just had a thought you don’t live on a farm by any chance do you?Ian



no i dont live on a farm!

i have got a fairly good idea, i want to go into school fit out, i have worked at a company before that does this, and i really enjoyed it.


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## Cabinetman (23 Mar 2021)

BHwoodworking said:


> no i dont live on a farm!
> 
> i have got a fairly good idea, i want to go into school fit out, i have worked at a company before that does this, and i really enjoyed it.


 It was a complimentary question so nothing derogatory intended. But you do have me there what is "school fit out"?


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## BHwoodworking (23 Mar 2021)

@Cabinetman school fit out is basically going into a school, ripping out an area that needs updating, areas designated by the school, and then refitting with new and updated equipment, usually washrooms and suchlike, although sometimes other things come along, such as making an new school building, e.g. separate classroom outside

a good mix of construction really


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## TominDales (23 Mar 2021)

Phil Pascoe said:


> My first troop was affiliated to a C of E church - it was one of its acolytes we had to to watch.


You read these horror stories on child abuse and how coaches/scout leaders/churchmen/politicians used their power to cover things up. Most of us escaped that fate thanks to the rumour mill and an innate sense of who was dodgy. There were a few teacher you did not want to be alone with. Doggy swimming lessons etc. Its sad to read about the really cunning and devious and what they got away with.

On a brighter note - in more naive times
As youngsters wandering our village, we used to call on an old stable hand. He lived in a kind of flat/come cottage in a stable yard for a big house. He was an elderly bachelor and would make us a cup of tea on the coal fire and chat to us, especially in the winter months when it was cold and dark. He was known a Ward in the village- probably he surname. Aged 5 or 6, whenever my mum couldn't find us and it was time for tea, she would call round at Wards to collect us. He was a very kind old chap with lots of reminiscences that he would tell us. He was an absolute gent and never did anything that was not kind. He liked a chat after a hard days work. I've looked back and thought, he had no ill intent, it was just how people got along back then. Lots of time for others.
Sadly you just wouldn't trust someone like that to belfried young kids these days.


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## Phill05 (23 Mar 2021)

Tomindales said " Sadly you just wouldn't trust someone like that to befriend young kids these days. "

It is so sad today, I used to like listening to the old guys you learnt such a lot from them.


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## pidgeonpost (23 Mar 2021)

Cabinetman said:


> You were all incredibly lucky, that was a really dangerous thing to do as I’m sure you realise now. Makes the things I did look really time thank goodness. Ian


Lucky indeed! When American troops left my area some of the older lads found a cache of ammunition. The location was never revealed to us younger kids, but we were enlisted occasionally to remove the bullet and empty out the cordite. I seem to remember the bullets as being made of lead, but I thought lead was banned? Maybe the lead was melted out of a copper-jacketed bullet, but either way we never got to keep a share - the big lads took it to the local scrap man. It's a long time ago, but from memory the cartridge case was made up of thin metal foil and cardboard - can that be right? I reckon the rounds were about the size of a 0.50-calibre round, possibly a little bigger. Boy, we did some stupid stuff.


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## TominDales (23 Mar 2021)

We had an after school shooting club that met occasionally, it meant taking a bus to Kibworth range, which I think was run by the army. From what I recall the two most common rounds back then were .22 calibre and .303 in the UK that is inches, the US after ww2 had a higher pressure .3 inch round of 7mm for M1 carbine, but switched to a recoilless .222 round or 5.5mm in the 60s the M16. All had lead overcoated with copper/nickle rounds and a brass type casing as far as I recall. 
If it was a carboard casing and 0.5 calibre, that might mean that some of the ammo were shot gun rounds or something specialist. Steel has replaced lead in some EU countries but its still used in others, it will eventually go for environmental reasons.
A friend used to re-fill the spent .303 rounds casing with gun powder and mercury fulminate to see how they would go up. The fulminate was high explosive and caused a lot of damage to the packing cases that were pile on top of it.
In those days you could walk into Boots (the chemist) and buy saltpeter, sulphur and charcoal without anyone asking questions. when it was pretty obvious how it was going to be used. As said before, this stopped when he got a bit of shrapnel in his hand.


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## Phil Pascoe (23 Mar 2021)

Yeah ........... I'd hate to be killed by a lead bullet instead of a steel one.


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## powertools (23 Mar 2021)

When I was a lad I used to be a pheasant beater to earn a bit of cash and I have fond memories of the lunch time when we were given a plowmans lunch and a bottle of beer that we eat in a stone barn on the estate and the old guys mostly retired farm hands and gamekeepers had the most amazing stories to tell.


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## Cabinetman (23 Mar 2021)

Funnily enough it was on the news this morning that lead is being banned in shotgun cartridges,


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## chrisdt (23 Mar 2021)

TominDales said:


> You read these horror stories on child abuse and how coaches/scout leaders/churchmen/politicians used their power to cover things up. Most of us escaped that fate thanks to the rumour mill and an innate sense of who was dodgy. There were a few teacher you did not want to be alone with. Doggy swimming lessons etc. Its sad to read about the really cunning and devious and what they got away with.
> 
> On a brighter note - in more naive times
> As youngsters wandering our village, we used to call on an old stable hand. He lived in a kind of flat/come cottage in a stable yard for a big house. He was an elderly bachelor and would make us a cup of tea on the coal fire and chat to us, especially in the winter months when it was cold and dark. He was known a Ward in the village- probably he surname. Aged 5 or 6, whenever my mum couldn't find us and it was time for tea, she would call round at Wards to collect us. He was a very kind old chap with lots of reminiscences that he would tell us. He was an absolute gent and never did anything that was not kind. He liked a chat after a hard days work. I've looked back and thought, he had no ill intent, it was just how people got along back then. Lots of time for others.
> Sadly you just wouldn't trust someone like that to belfried young kids these days.


In 1943 I used to walk home from primary school which was about a mile. A government directive was issued to say that if the Air raid sirens sounded whilst we were walking home we should run to the nearest house knock on the door and stay in the house until the All Clear was sounded.
These days I think I would rather take my chances with a bomb.


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## dzj (23 Mar 2021)

chrisdt said:


> In 1943 I used to walk home from primary school which was about a mile. A government directive was issued to say that if the Air raid sirens sounded whilst we were walking home we should run to the nearest house knock on the door and stay in the house until the All Clear was sounded.
> These days I think I would rather take my chances with a bomb.



The best thing about primary school was walking to and fro with a bunch of like-minded urchins.
Most boys were a bit on the mischievous side. It was considered normal. ADHD wasn't invented yet.


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## skeetstar (24 Mar 2021)

Cabinetman said:


> Funnily enough it was on the news this morning that lead is being banned in shotgun cartridges,


For cartridges used to shoot game. Lead will be replaced by steel within 5 years.
Clay shooting as no such restrictions.. yet.


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## Concizat (24 Mar 2021)

Jonty said:


> Weren’t they called stukes ? Not sure of the spelling, but remember them from the 50’s.


Yes, we called them "stooks" in the East Coast of Scotland. Remember going stookin' many a time as a kid.


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