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Thanks Jayell, I'm glad you liked it. That's all so long ago now, and I sometimes wonder what became of Isobel. As for my Brummie accent, well, strangely, despite being subjected to nearly 60 yrs of 'local' influence, in these 'ere paarrts, they still pick up my 'none local' tones. And yet...

When the family moved permenantly to the South West, we stayed 'temporarily' in a little seaside town called Severn Beach. It was there that I learned to swim a little, (mostly just jumping in the shallows and splashing about)---It was a very rustic hotch potch of a place called...

As with most experiences in the --Oh so important early years of our lives---A bad experience is so hard to shake off in adulthood. Through my very bad experience in the 'Swimming baths' as a 9year old, I have always disliked water/sea. I can/could--swim for a very short distance, but hated it...

Thanks for responding Jennyann. Now that I know the buildings 'afterlife', I'm not surprised to hear it eventually became a place for religion: that seems to be the final use for many of our Cinemas in the large citys of our country. At least, this saved some from demolition. Many of the larger...

Hello--does anyone remember (and have a photograph of) a cinema in Rookery road Handsworth--(might well be named after the road), because I lived near there in the late 1940's, and, with my sibblings, went regularly to the Saturday morning kids shows. All the usual stuff was shown--Laurel and...

By the way--I know what you mean about that horrible pong from the rubber mask used by the dentists long ago, I had a lunchtime extraction and it made me so sick that I had to take the afternoon off from my job. It also gave me a very early reminder from the wartime, when as a little toddler, I...

Hello--am I right in thinking that Baseball boots have only recently become fashonable again--because the Trainer era ended, due to the over-the-top way they developed? I see youngsters in recent years wearing much smarter flat soled canvas/ rubber plimsolls /pumps, and now--baseball boots again...

Hi again Rosie---the one positive thing about being brought up in tough times--apart from not knowing any different is, when you DO have something 'special', you appreciated it very much--and therefore enjoyed it more. This applys to anything I suppose--the waiting and longing etc--golightly.

Can anyone recall collecting sweet wrappers ? Blimey I shudder to think of all those muddy wrappers we picked up from the gutters--remember, everyone smoked in the 40's / 50's when I was a collecter, AND many people thought nothing of coughing up plegm in the street back then---oh WHY do I...

After the VE and VJ firework/ bonfire displays, things weren't quite so spectacular in the mid to late 40's with our meagre budget, but we did enjoy all the build up so well recalled in other entrys here. Memories--the cutting down of small trees in a local lane ( don't tell anyone ), the...

Hello Wendy--you beat me to it-re-'Basball boots'. Back in 1952/3, we lived in Cheshire Road Smethwick. I was about 11yrs old During the summer we played in Victoria Park virtually all day till the Park bell sounded for closing time. We were typically a family with limited funds, which normally...

I remember the oldman doing the shoe repairs alright, quite regularly--usually at about 10pm on a sunday night--he'd wake us kids up every time the old idiot. Another trick of his was to start playing the joanna about the same time of night--but not while mending shoes/boots though--he wasn't...

Hello Rosie, what period are you referring to ?--the 40'--50's ? I hope that hasn't offended you. I grew up in those two decades of want and make-do, and my mom used to make toffee apples almost every week. Can you--or anyone, remember a chocolate chewy bar that rivalled the 'Mars Bar' ( same...

Hello everyone. i have not been on site for a year but some how I found this discusion. The name rang a bell. Tyn-y-Coed. being involved with my families history 'tree', i recalled that my dad had stayed in a large 'house' in wales when i was a kid just after ww2. Then i found the photograph--a...

Mauricesellars and oldMohawk---do you remember how, before the clean air act---when you stepped outside, during a real peasoup fog, you could hear that dull heavey roaring sound of traffic in the distance? It was almost continuous, and was of course added to by Brums mighty industrial drone as...

As a final input here. It's not the regional intonation that can bring problems for people who are not familiar with it, it's a question of clarity and uniformity, so that EVERYONE can understand it first time--especially if the information is important. It took me 3 series to understand Rab C...

Although we only lived about 2 or 3 miles from Sutton park during and just after the war, it seemed to take us about half an hour in the oldmans battered Austin 7. That proberly includes stops for punctures and a halfgallon in the tank. In the famous language of--Kids plus journeys--equals...

Without doubt, the PC idiots have created a situation on the BBC in recent years, where News readers and anouncers, have to show off their regional accents. I have NOTHING against this, ( I still have my Brummie accent to some degree, despite being in the south west for 55yrs)---the exception...

Hello Mike Jenks--I wrote about my experiences with accents some weeks ago, on another thread that I now can't find. I lived mostly in the north Birmingham area as a kid---1941 to 1955. Despite moving 8 times during this period, we had no problem being understood---or understanding the locals...

Hello Iriselsie---It's a sad comment on the way people carry their 'baggage' with them, regardless of time or distance. I have a good joke about Kiwi's and Aus'es, but I suppose it will make me a hypocrit by repeating it. Although firstly, it's an old one, and secondly, most of the flack comes...