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In Flanders they say "the prettiest curtains hide the ugliest misery".

Hi Jean, normally I watch 'The Weakest Link" but it was again replaced with political junk so I too watched 'The Hairy Bikers' and for once I enjoyed it. Quite by coincidence this afternoon I had made a steak & kidney stew; Flemish style. These past few years the British kitchen has come on in...

Fred, I don't remember where we were carted off to but I do remember that bus trip to the playing fields. The teacher made us play football, which I hated as it was bad for my cycling legs, he set the teams up and then disappeared to god knows where. As soon as he was out of sight I would crawl...

David, glad that you found the link useful. A bit naughty as it's off thread; I had an ambition to ride Route 66 this year in my blue 1966 MGB as I'm 66 this year! But with so many 6's that might be tempting fate, don't you think?:)

https://www.barbwiremuseum.com/barbedwirehistory.htm

Yes David I too can see that it's a man, it seems to me that the writer of the text wasn't very fluent in French as a male machine gunner is to this day a mitralleur.:)

Here in Flanders we use a lot of French words, Belgium is bi-lingual, and we call a machine gun 'mitrallier' but in French a mitrallieur is a machine gunner and a mitrallieuse is a female machine gunner. Graham.

Nice collection, thanks for sharing.

Once again thanks to all for reading and for your lovely comments. And Lynda just thinking about those days also brings tears to my eyes, not of sorrow but of joy, all the money in the world can't buy wonderful memories like that. After I had written this piece I posted a copy to my sister...

From 'A Dictonary of Slang' https://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/s.htm snapNoun. Food, especially a snack, occasionally a packed lunch. [Northern and Midlands use/dialect?]

Welcome to the forum Graham. I don't think they have words for it in Brum as they are so busy getting tucked in that they can't speak!

Nice to see that you had such a good time. Well done to all that attended and to those that work making it all possible. Once again sorry that I couldn't be with you I was away in Liège (southern Belgium) for a meeting of the International Cycling Federation, Graham.

Thanks for that Seabird and there's also a Path clip of me that I've posted before and I thought that you might like to see it. https://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=44876 Graham.

RHearn, the answer might be in that photo from Beamish, TTT?

Nice work again Eric:handshake:

You can buy (expensive) products to make a cement mix creamier but the main object is to make it stick better and washing up liquid does just as good a job, only a few drops needed. Washing up liquid was never added to combat freezing conditions. After more than 30 years all the cement I made...

Alf you're more than welcome! I forgot to mention that in that winter of 62-63 we made more than one trip to Wales and in some places I saw 36 ft snow drifts and more than 6 ft of snow on the roads. In places we had to carry our bikes and wade up to our armpits through the snow! It didn't do...

I remember the winter of 1962-63 very well. As Christmas day 1962 drew to an end, once again without being a white one, I stood outside in our street, Leamington Road, Sparkbrook, with my cousin and fellow forum member Frederick. It was just gone midnight and it started gently snowing and I...

Lily, what a geat name you have & welcome to this great big world:), Graham.

Phil thanks for the photos and I too remember passing St Barnabas church on my way to school. Most of all I remember standing at the top of the cellar steps in the winter catching the heat that came up from the coke fed heating boilers. In those days the church had money to burn. Here is a photo...