When I were a lad

[slimjim]

izal, you were posh if you had that at home, we had newspaper, ripped into strips and tied through with a bit of string, brr it was cold going on the toilet in winter, outside, but first you had to fall down the steps into the back yard in the snow.

 

[8ob]

When I were a lad if you had disc brakes you needed a sticker on the back of the car to warn others that you could actually stop

 

[arther dailey]

I assume that was during that period when income tax and inflation went wild?

yup , within a few years with overtime I was paying stupid amounts of tax

 

[zzr1200]

In 1960, I lived in street of 186 houses in Dagenham, there were 6 cars and a Commer 2 stoke engined lorry, one of the cars belonged the the lorry driver, so there was only ever 6 vehicles parked overnight.

I bet there's close on 500 cars now parked on the road and in front gardens now.

Paraffin was 2 bob (10p) a gallon from a vending machine, you put a 2 bob coin in the glass tube used to fill up then you pushed or pulled the lever and it would empty into your container.
Arrr the aroma of a paraffin heater, more like the stink....and trimming the wick was an art. I can even remember one house that still had gas lighting .

Steam trains always run, there were never leaves on the line or the wrong type of snow.

Then there was the winter of 1963, snow/ice on the ground for about 3 months even in Dagenham, the trains and bus always ran late maybe but they did run.

A pot belly stove in the corner of the class room, frozen free school milk, funny enough the schools never closed, the teachers may have turned up late but they arrived.

I can even remember the Steam Road Rollers being use to repair the roads.

The trolley buses in East Ham high street and when the power pick up poles used to drop off the power cables, the conductor would pull a long pole out from under the back of the bus and reconnect the pick up pole.

Atkinson Borderers fitted with Gardener 180 or 240 engines, AEC 8 wheels and Scammell Scarab 3 wheeled article units that used to drop there trailers at times if the Scammell coupling hadn't locked in fully.

AND

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/attachments/117886/


Meant.................NO SPEED LIMIT




Those were the days.....

 

[arther dailey]

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

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

I always called it the laughing band for the same reason ,when past you were laughing.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

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)

You're living in the wrong, it's still [mostly] like that up here.

 

[wookie]

Arrr the aroma of a paraffin heater, more like the stink....
<SNIP>
funny enough the schools never closed, the teachers may have turned up late but they arrived.

Paraffin heaters... thanks for reminding me, we had a gas fire downstairs and that was it, then my dad got a paraffin heater that he stuck on the landing upstairs and would light it for an hour or so to take the chill off the bedrooms before bedtime but you still climbed into a cold bed. Then when you woke up there was ice on the inside of the window. I also remember my dad replacing the rotten wood at bottom of the window with newspaper and then a skim of bodyfiller with some gloss paint slapped on, all because he couldn't afford to repair/replace them properly.

You're right about schools not closing, I remember our school boiler broke down in the middle of winter with snow everywhere, we all carried on as before except you kept your coat on in class.

At secondary school we used to help a teacher bump start his car so he could get home as his battery wouldn't hold a charge, he got in in the morning by bumping it down the hill he lived on.

 

[brightspark]

Paraffin heaters... thanks for reminding me, we had a gas fire downstairs and that was it, then my dad got a paraffin heater that he stuck on the landing upstairs and would light it for an hour or so to take the chill off the bedrooms before bedtime but you still climbed into a cold bed. Then when you woke up there was ice on the inside of the window. I also remember my dad replacing the rotten wood at bottom of the window with newspaper and then a skim of bodyfiller with some gloss paint slapped on, all because he couldn't afford to repair/replace them properly.

You're right about schools not closing, I remember our school boiler broke down in the middle of winter with snow everywhere, we all carried on as before except you kept your coat on in class.

At secondary school we used to help a teacher bump start his car so he could get home as his battery wouldn't hold a charge, he got in in the morning by bumping it down the hill he lived on.

luxury we only had a coal fire in sitting room . as kids we had to fill the coal scuttle in middle of winter from the outside coal bunker and keep the fire lit bank it down at night and hope it was still lit in the morning. we had to chop the sticks as well . the chopping axe was a hatchet dad brought home from work it was used for hacking your way out of aircraft in the war . my brother still has ithttps://www.google.co.uk/search?q=aircraft+fireman's+hatchet&tbm=isch&imgil=fHCIvSCt6T48XM%253A%253BxqjEglhFiCTTSM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.ebay.co.uk%25252Fbhp%25252Ffiremans-axe&source=iu&pf=m&fir=fHCIvSCt6T48XM%253A%252CxqjEglhFiCTTSM%252C_&usg=__KieMIW9TtwbGrYgcOatWU5q8KY0%3D&biw=1920&bih=911&ved=0ahUKEwjavrbi4ITWAhXFJMAKHV4aAa4QyjcIUA&ei=mbmpWZqOO8XJgAbetITwCg#imgrc=rKMWll5_aJeN3M:&spf=1504295338486

 

[gordon stephenson]

When i was a kid, probably seven or eight, When the coal fire didn't last all night, In the winter we got dressed in front of the gas oven with the door open, Standing on news papers to insulate your feet from the cold lino, Even been to bed in those days cuddling a hot brick that had been heated in the oven wrapped in a piece of old blanket,

 

[MattF]

luxury we only had a coal fire in sitting room . as kids we had to fill the coal scuttle in middle of winter from the outside coal bunker and keep the fire lit bank it down at night and hope it was still lit in the morning. we had to chop the sticks as well . the chopping axe was a hatchet dad brought home from work it was used for hacking your way out of aircraft in the war.

Same here. Same hatchet too. Bare Marley tiles are damned cold to walk on in winter too. It was a luxury when the bedrooms finally got carpet, rugs or carpet tiles. My room just had a rug on them. Can remember our Gert stopping at my parents one night, before we were married, and nearly going flat on her **** because I kept those tiles highly polished, and she was wearing tights and had nowt on her feet. Almost went flying when she left the safety of the rug. It was a knack walking in that room. Then there was the time she walked into the low beam.... That thing has given all my family a good crack on the bonce at some point. Standing up underneath it was worst.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Paraffin heaters... thanks for reminding me, we had a gas fire downstairs and that was it, then my dad got a paraffin heater that he stuck on the landing upstairs and would light it for an hour or so to take the chill off the bedrooms before bedtime but you still climbed into a cold bed. Then when you woke up there was ice on the inside of the window. I also remember my dad replacing the rotten wood at bottom of the window with newspaper and then a skim of bodyfiller with some gloss paint slapped on, all because he couldn't afford to repair/replace them properly.

You're right about schools not closing, I remember our school boiler broke down in the middle of winter with snow everywhere, we all carried on as before except you kept your coat on in class.

At secondary school we used to help a teacher bump start his car so he could get home as his battery wouldn't hold a charge, he got in in the morning by bumping it down the hill he lived on.

A lot of that resonates here, esp being able to scratch our names in the frost/ice on the inside of the bedroom window. We had a small open fire there but the only time it was lit was when you were ill and in bed - and you weren't allowed to be ill very often, I can tell you......

I remember when our first TV arrived, b & W [of course],14", deeper than it was wide and it had a spring-loaded press to release flap on the top which covered all the controls....how cool was that

 

[Keith 66]

My mum had a washing machine it was a big single tub made by English electric no less. It had a great big mangle with hard rubber rollers to squash the water out of the washing. One day aged abut 6 i was helping feed it & i got dragged in & it ate my right arm up to the shoulder before mum could hit the spring loaded release bar. Didnt half hurt. My arm was black & blue for weeks. Years later a mate got caught in an older version washing white weed & had to be extracted by the fire brigade. Lucky he never lost his arm.

 

[wookie]

I remember when our first TV arrived, b & W [of course],14", deeper than it was wide and it had a spring-loaded press to release flap on the top which covered all the controls....how cool was that

We had a (I think it was a PYE) 26" Colour Tv that was housed in a wooden cabinet with a roller shutter door that you could close when you didn't want to watch it.... I used to think it was so cool back then.

 

[mechman]

I always called it the laughing band for the same reason ,when past you were laughing.

The giggling strip

 

[mechman]

Remember one winter as a young'un (poss 1963)bringing a snowball into my bedroom at bed time, it was still intact the next morning, so was I, I think the clippy mat and great coat saved me.

 

[daleyd]

Remember one winter as a young'un (poss 1963)bringing a snowball into my bedroom at bed time, it was still intact the next morning, so was I, I think the clippy mat and great coat saved me.

Shades of the billy conneley joke "mam he's putting his legs through the duvet again...." there ​

 

[Robotstar5]

When my parents bought a house in about 1964 the local electricity company (MEB) was doing some sort of grant to install night storage heaters, trouble was they were too small to heat the large Victorian rooms so you had to almost hug them to feel the heat

 

[doubleboost]

I well remember my dad carrying a shovel full of fire upstairs into the big bed room
The heavy army coat over the bed
Or the chippy mat
We had a acetylene generator for welding at work

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'

I smoked a few of them

 

[gordon stephenson]

Another vote, But "Giggling band" Was our term, for half way to paradise, Tights must go down in history as one of the worste inventions EVER!!!

 

[mechman]

Another vote, But "Giggling band" Was our term, for half way to paradise, Tights must go down in history as one of the worste inventions EVER!!!

Quite agree about the tights. I stopped wearing them