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They Were Caught In Our Old Street Pics...

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Morturn said:
Gosh Jim that is quite sad. When I went into the building trade at 16 there were around 300 fatality’s a year. Most of them were ladders accident or falls from height.
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Strangely enough very little has changed, not so many accidents and deaths now but still a great many attributed to falls from heights and also nowadays being crushed when in an elevated work platform is not stopped as it ascends and hits the roof. Even though the wearing of safety harnesses is mandatory, they only give you about 10 minutes chance of living. Somewhere on the forum is that wonderful picture of the man up the 20foot pole ladder with no safety precautions in place at all.

Bob
 
On a lockdown-browse through the thread again I looked at this. Quiet looking crowd, a strangely dressed trader who does not look interested. Maybe it's the end of a long day and the crowd are hoping he/she will sell the flowers off cheap.
oldMohawk said:
In the Bull Ring a somewhat unusually dressed trader is selling 'English Fresh Cut Flowers'. Serious looking faces in the crowd. No date but looks mid 1930s to me.
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I expect I made a comment the first time around with the photo.
On reflection the trader, I believe is the shorter man (3rd. from left with the leaning back posture) is the trader. The unusually attired man is a customer - probably the black car is his and if taken today the photo might suggest he is using a mobile phone. ;)
 
Radiorails said:
I expect I made a comment the first time around with the photo.
On reflection the trader, I believe is the shorter man (3rd. from left with the leaning back posture) is the trader. The unusually attired man is a customer - probably the black car is his and if taken today the photo might suggest he is using a mobile phone. ;)
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The black car has boxes of english-fresh-cut-flowers on it's roof so I think the car belongs to the man in black and he's trading ... and probably counting threepenny bits .... but who knows for certain ... :)
 
oldMohawk said:
The black car has boxes of english-fresh-cut-flowers on it's roof so I think the car belongs to the man in black and he's trading ... and probably counting threepenny bits .... but who knows for certain ... :)
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Then, OM, it is probably safe to assume the guy 'with the phone', which is probably a notebook (paper type), is in fact a wholesaler who has just made a delivery..
 
Edifi said:
Looks like hes Russian with that hat on.It also looks like hes selling flower bulbs.
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Thank you for your comment, I have seen this sort of outfit and hat before and I believe actually it is Dutch or Flemish. But for the life of me I cannot recall the where or the when. Season/timewise, I notice that all the men (why no women) are wearing coats and hats and the trees have no foliage, so early spring/late winter and first daffodils from East Anglia? He is the trader and the car is his and he is actually on his Google translator app answering a customers question. I think the hat could be an Astrakahn hat, because whilst the Russian ones are usually round, you can get them forage cap shaped.
Bob
 
Bob Davis said:
Thank you for your comment, I have seen this sort of outfit and hat before and I believe actually it is Dutch or Flemish. But for the life of me I cannot recall the where or the when. Season/timewise, I notice that all the men (why no women) are wearing coats and hats and the trees have no foliage, so early spring/late winter and first daffodils from East Anglia? He is the trader and the car is his and he is actually on his Google translator app answering a customers question. I think the hat could be an Astrakahn hat, because whilst the Russian ones are usually round, you can get them forage cap shaped.
Bob
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A Dutch, Volendam (a fishing town ) style which is similar, Bob. There seen to be variations of this style of clothing, often found in coastal towns in The Low Countries and parts of France.
 
Radiorails said:
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A Dutch, Volendam (a fishing town ) style which is similar, Bob. There seen to be variations of this style of clothing, often found in coastal towns in The Low Countries and parts of France.
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Does your wife not object to you keeping him in your wardrobe? Prior to WWII a number of the Lincolnshire Bulb Growers were of Dutch extraction. Although, amazingly enough, here in North Devon, we had the Bulb Farm in Braunton and according to his literature he was one of the biggest suppliers of Daffodils (or Daddofils as it says in his brochure circa 1935/6) in England.

Bob
 
Most of the Fenlands of East Anglia owe their existence to a Dutchman, Cornelius Vermuyden. His attire was different.1588169668427.png

PS: Don't get the wardrobe bit. The Bank Manager tried but he never made the staircase. :laughing:
 
Radiorails said:
I expect I made a comment the first time around with the photo.
On reflection the trader, I believe is the shorter man (3rd. from left with the leaning back posture) is the trader. The unusually attired man is a customer - probably the black car is his and if taken today the photo might suggest he is using a mobile phone. ;)
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Rr why would the customer allow the trader to stack boxes on his car though ? Don't you think that the man has got a belt on his overcoat and just happens to be sporting an Astrakhan hat , like Krushchev used to wear
 
oldMohawk said:
The black car has boxes of english-fresh-cut-flowers on it's roof so I think the car belongs to the man in black and he's trading ... and probably counting threepenny bits .... but who knows for certain ... :)
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I believe the man in black is a wholesaler hence the boxes on his car roof. The thread has got a little convoluted.
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Returning to the question of grammar school uniforms, the one which I attended excused the sixth form boys from wearing caps in the early 1960s, saving my parents the expense of buying one for me, as it differed from that worn by the lower forms. The school became a comprehensive a few years after my departure, probably a good thing. At least we were allowed to wear long trousers from the first form, it always seemed silly seeing six foot tall g s boys in blazer and tailored shorts.

Cheers
jfs
 
Johnfromstaffs said:
True, but at least not under a blazer, and shirt and tie.

Cheers
jfs
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My old neighbour does. He used to be on t'committee at the WMC. What do you say now WPC? He used to check the bingo cards in his blazer shirt and shorts. Very short in height he wears very short tight 70s shorts and a broad brimmed straw.
I wore short trousers till I was about 10. I was tall but I remember snow going over the wellie tops, pulling my socks up over my knees but preferring to be out in the snow.
 
Shorts was the summer uniform in Egypt but apart from on a holiday in Australia I've never worn them...……………..and I've never worn jeans.
 
Pedro,

Sadly I'm not supposed to drink any alcohol for medical reasons, though I admit to a sip of raki occasionally. :)

Eric,

Decent quality jeans are hard-wearing and don't need ironing - I admit I am a lazy blighter! - and are the norm in these parts. But you wear what you feel comfortable in. I haven't worn a tie for nearly 20 years, and that was for a UK funeral. I've always hated ties. But I fear we're wandering way off topic and I can hear Lyn loading her sniper's rifle now! :scream:

Maurice :cool:
 
sospiri said:
Pedro,

Sadly I'm not supposed to drink any alcohol for medical reasons, though I admit to a sip of raki occasionally. :)

Eric,

Decent quality jeans are hard-wearing and don't need ironing - I admit I am a lazy blighter! - and are the norm in these parts. But you wear what you feel comfortable in. I haven't worn a tie for nearly 20 years, and that was for a UK funeral. I've always hated ties. But I fear we're wandering way off topic and I can hear Lyn loading her sniper's rifle now! :scream:

Maurice :cool:
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i bet You wear a kaftan. like demis Roussos, our maurice.:grinning:
 
Sorry I've been away but it is great to see our infamous running man still running and causing questions. Great to hear all your comments and thanks OldMo for this legendary thread always hits the chuckle muscle.
 
Being reminded of this excellent thread..... Hope I haven't posted this before but 143 pages are too many to check back through!! Apologies if I have.

Not Brum, but Berlin, 1932, 88 years ago. The connection is that the taxi driver (on the street corner, beyond)
is gazing at a Brummie (my father, on the right, with another bloke who is probably from Birmingham and a car which certainly is).

HMandUnknownBusinessTripBerlinmid1930s.img045red.jpg

This is the unknown Berlin taxi-driver:

HMUkColleagueBusinessTripBerlin1932img045cropCabbie.jpg

And this is how I described him:

....... the taxi, waiting on the far side of the street, in the Kronenstrasse to the right. The cabbie is looking across at us, his expression one of idle curiosity as he awaits his next fare; or is it one of unfriendly suspicion as he looks at this group of foreigners and their unfamiliar vehicle? And who knows, perhaps only fifteen or so years previously he and my father, as mere boys filled with fear and hatred, had peered out at one another from each side of an expanse of tangled barbed wire and French mud.

Chris
 
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