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  1. R

    Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

    OLD FASHIONED ' ODOUR ' REMOVAL SOLUTION. I don't know how wide spread this ' technique ' was but I observed our Mom doing it on occassions. Sometimes there was an unwanted odour that had got into the living room. This might have been brought about by various situations. Some examples that I...
  2. R

    Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

    ENTER OR EXIT AT YOUR OWN PERIL. During a prolonged cold weather period the family would gather in the only room in the house that had got a fire going THE LITTLE LIVING ROOM. Invariably anyone either entering or leaving the room ( mainly us kids ) would be firmly reminded with words that went...
  3. R

    Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

    oldMohawk, I think you would be right regarding the schools staying open during the 1947 winter snow period. Probably, during those winter periods of those years there was still that ' Battle on, no matter what ' attitude that had developed during the war years.
  4. R

    Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

    Always was one of the best times of the year for the kids. Two days of Snow and the school had closed its doors due to the weather conditions. So, quick breaky, on with the Wellygogs, find a pair of gloves and out the front door sharpish. Meet up with the gang, have a brief Snowball fight and...
  5. R

    Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

    It looks also that things have moved on a bit from the original hand held/ hold to the light versions. Put your favourite tape on the stereo, pour yourself a glass of wine, switch off the lights, settle back on the couch, give the Kaleidoscpe a shake and enjoy.
  6. R

    Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

    Perchance anyone viewing the thread hasn't experienced the random image patterns of the Kaleidoscope, here is one typical image to give some Idea of the spectacle be seen.
  7. R

    Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

    ESCALATION. The Setting : The children are out in the street playing a game of ' Tig and Tag '. Tom is on ' Tag ' and is chasing to get a touch on Billy so that Billy is then on ' Tag '. They collide, Billy falls over and gets a very minor cut to his knee. Game carries on and Billie, still...
  8. R

    Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

    THOSE NEW ESTATE PAVEMENTS. ( Exercise and Art for the kids ). It would be seen on occassions, the Girls using the pavement slab staggered joints to do a sort of ' Hopscotch ' journey sequence as they made their way to school. Picking out the pavement slab patterns they would Hop, Spread, Hop...
  9. R

    Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

    THE CAST IRON MANGLE. Every Monday morning all around Brum. Up early, Copper boiler filled with water and lit. After the water came to the boil it was delivered by pipe work or carried by bucket to the sink or the downstairs bath. The weeks washing was then dropped in and Carbolic soap, the...
  10. R

    Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

    JUST THE SOUND OF THAT WORD. Something came up the other day on the TV which mentioned ' BORSTAL' and that brought back some thoughts from our days as kids. in our early years there was a line fed to us, for a misbehave, that went something like " If you keep on doing that, the Bogey man will...
  11. R

    Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

    Old Boy ( post #446 on this thread ). Absorbing your post ' Old Boy ' , I'm thinking that many of us might recall those occasions , as kids, whereby in the Empathy category, we didn't score too high. I guess it partly comes down to the fast ' adventure / activity ' learning curve that presented...
  12. R

    Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

    THAT FIRST PANTOMIME. A Brummie kids diary type reflection.
  13. R

    Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

    WHAT'S THE CHANCES ? Could these be some of the Media Headlines for 2015 - 2016 ? (1) All Gas and Electricity prices to be reduced by 48%. ( Daily Impress, front page ). (2) Food unwrapping, Tin and Bottle opening to be made easier for the elderly. House of Commons all party agreement ( Side...
  14. R

    Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

    " COUNTING SHEEP " ( Christmas Eve ). Dads just told us that Father Xmas will have already started to deliver his presents in some of the places far away. So it's off to bed for us. Problem is I'm not in the least bit tired and it's like that thing, like it was last year, where even though I...
  15. R

    Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

    I really enjoyed reading that one Eddie. Well done to John too. Puts it all in a nutshell for me.
  16. R

    Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

    " APPLES TO EAT AND NUTS TO CRACK, HERE WE COME WITH A RAT- TAT - TAT ". ( Have'nt heard this one for a while ). Sometimes this was the final vocal bit to the kids going round the houses after singing a Xmas carol and hoping for a penny or two to be given at the front door.
  17. R

    Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

    " MUST TRY AND CATCH THE POST MAN " Going back a bit I reckon quite a few Mums had this thought cross their minds as Xmas approached. It was pretty wide spread I think that households would reward the Postman, the Breadman, the Milkman and the Dustman with a few pence as thanks for the delivery...
  18. R

    Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

    Another possible use those discarded Xmas present boxes. Done it ourselves and it came out good. Great for the kids to join in as well. THE XMAS FAIRY CASTLE.
  19. R

    Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

    Some of those earlier ' come and go' activities and antics of the kids. THE TIN CAN PHONES : Two small empty Tin Cans connected to one another by a ' stretched ' length of string. A communication experiment for two kids at a time, one talking into one tin can and the other listening on the...
  20. R

    Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

    OLD XMAS FAVOURITES FOR THE KIDS. PERIOD : 1940's - 1950's. A Balsa Wood Aeroplane model kit, a DANDY or BEANO annual, a pocket Pen Knife and an extra ration of sweets. Here was a selection of SOME of the boys favourite Xmas presents of the period. You can imagine the recipient of a model...
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