When I were a lad

[arther dailey]

agreed, but the strange thing PDG was by the time I had done my 4 years wages had doubled and I was a skilled man on £40 a week which was really good.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

When I was a young un:

I actually walked to school, rain, wind or snow.

Teachers did not require 'training days' at the end of six weeks off.

We all had pocket or sheath knives yet never stabbed anyone with them.

Snake belts stretched too much to be effective.

Police punishment meant a sore ear for a few days.

Pocket money was earned not a given right.

You had a dozen real mates instead of a million 'friends'

A gang fight meant the risk of a couple of bruises.

A plank and pram wheels was an exciting find.

Getting 'high' was the result of a quick shared ciggy.

Snap to all of the above, except the 'Police brutality' and gang fights - either @cumbriasteve lived in a 'rough' area or I was a 'goody two-shoes'.....

School holiday job was serving fuel in a nearby filling station - 4 gallons for £1 and change. Check oil and water, clean windscreen [I'm beginning to sound 'Murican ] and you got the keep the change.

 

[Cobbler]

First job on getting into school in the morning was putting some more coke in the stove in the middle of the classroom. .

We used to put a rubber on the stove & stink the classroom out. Teacher always tried to find out who did it, but no-one told.

 

[Robotstar5]

There weren't any diesel engine cars and the choice at the pumps was 2, 3 or 4*.
There were no recycle boxes or wheelie bins.
We had bin men (not refuse technicians!) who could put a round steel bin full of ashes on their back and tip into the lorry.

My dad had to drive miles to find somewhere to fill up his Diesel Land Rover, usually garages that supplied black cabs.

We don't have ANY bin men, they've just gone on strike again in Birmingham

 

[RonA]

When I was a lad as big as me dad
I jumped into the laundry bag
The laundry bag it was so thick
That I jumped onto the walking stick

The walking stick it was so narrow
That I jumped into the wheelbarrow
Wheelbarrow, wooden wheel
I jumped onto the horse's heel

The horse's heel it was so hard
That I jumped into a pan of lard
The pan of lard it went on fire
And blew me up the Jeremiah!

Now, when I were quite small, we had no fears at all.

You could walk round the street late at night.

If you met someone else all alone like yourself,

You'd smile and you'd wish 'em goodnight.

It's not safe anymore; if you step through your door,

Then someone will kick in your brains.

When we were young, we had flair and we always fought fair

With flick knives and bicycle chains.

Keith Hancock (EE when I were lad)

 

[EAZEE]

When I was a lad you could get 2 sweets for a penny from the local corner shop and get throwing knives and ninja stars from the C&A shop in the town centre!!!

 

[8ob]

Four a penny black jacks ( old penny) were the order of the day back then.

Bob

 

[cumbriasteve]

A Players No 6 (or something pre that make) and two matches in a little triangular bag for 3d (old money) with the parting words of 'don't tell the rozzer where you got that'

 

[Migmac]

Wish I still had my Evel Knievel stunt cycle.

Your lucky, I wasn't allowed one

 

[mechman]

When I was a lad I had a purple Chopper.

Did you get some cream for it?

 

[normspanners]

That Izal medicated toilet paper was the forerunner of Teflon!!

Yeah I remember that stuff was in most factories etc, none stick toilet paper -----very handy.. and I mean ---HAND Y ----the Y = YUCK !!
but 27mls on a roll, it used to last for ever coz nobody wanted it at home.
if your name was fanny it wasnt popular

 

[cumbriasteve]

As @cumbriasteve says pocket money was earned, I was helping dad weekends and the school holidays.
Bob

Mine was earned from the age of 13 by being picked up at 6:00 each morning and dropped off at the bus station with two trestles, a sheet of ply as a table and six big piles of newspapers for the miners and steelworkers to buy, plus of course the biscuit tin with the fags in that was hidden under the stall for quick sales, back home for 08:15 and ready for school.

Friday nights was doing the rounds collecting paper money and ignoring the advice of the shop owner not to take the shortcut under the railway arch to cash in because I would get robbed (mugged was not a word then), always a scary few minutes though...amazing what you can imagine in the shadows

I remember a stuck up busy body telling the old fella he should be ashamed letting me work like that at my age, his answer was he did not want me growing up like her and her deadbeat family.

I learnt a lot more about life than any classroom taught me.

 

[Stueeee]

And cars were a tad cheaper

I think I'll give Selected Cars a quick call and see if they still have that "Outstanding" '64 E type for sale at £875

On the subject of Izal medicated bog paper, one of my brothers used to work for the MOD, they had someone from the US military over here working with them on some project for a couple of months.

When it was time for him to return, he asked if he could take a roll of that "Government Property -Now wash your hands please" high gloss paper back with him.

When he was asked why that was, he replied that 'Nobody in the US would believe that the Brits actually wipe their A**es on this stuff otherwise'

 

[Keith 66]

There used to be an offy down near the railway station, it was owned by a huge terrifyingly ugly irishwoman called Aggie, she would sell two woodbines to the local lads.

 

[MoreWellie]

and a bigger job involved Izal 'medicated' toilet paper.

we have an unused roll of izal medicated on the shelf in our pantry but it must be more recent as the outside cover talks about "from a renewable resource"

 

[MBB]

When I was a lad men were men and women had ginger tashes, tights weren't invented and they kept their socks up with drawing pins or they just drew a seam on the back of their legs to make on they had nylons.

 

[Cobbler]

The chuckle band, anyone?.............the top of a woman's stocking. When you got that far, you were laughing

 

[bricol]

I still have my 1950 Buffalo Bill annual.

I gained two Buffalo Bill annuals as kid in the early 70's - they were my uncles when he was a kid. Never found any more, or anyone who had one. Finally found one in that massive second hand book shop in Alnwick. Still got them ;-)

Never mind the Toby Twirl, Rupert the Bear . . . think my mum jumble sale-ed them in the 80's :-(

 

[graffian]

The bin man finished the round down my nans road and the cart was emptied onto the river bank.

 

[EAZEE]

How about tracing paper bog roll at school, buying single fags from the shop which were usually red band, and colt 45 lager