Search results

THE EARLY MORNING MAD DASH. Period : around the early 1950's. On working days young single men, in the main, would push the limits on the time that they went to bed and the time that they needed to ' get up ' and go to work. That mad straight out of bed early morning dash to have a splash wash...

READING THE TEA LEAVES. I recall one time when my brother and I were playing games, with our mates, out on the street, a sudden change in the weather persuaded us all to return to our homes. Arriving back in our house we found Mom and some of her friends had been having a little get together...

Eddie. Just had a look on the internet. Apparently the gadget was called a ' Soap Saver ', but probably like you the call round our house was for the 'Swisher '. Photo : Happy Bubbles.

SQUEEZING THAT LAST BIT OUT. We would see our Dad, on occassions, as soon as he got home from work during the winter period, bring his bicycle lamp batteries into the house and place them on top of the warm oven. This was during the general shortage times of the war and post war years. New...

SORTING OUT THOSE " AICHES " AND " FOIVES ". " Stop that please. Start again and speak properly this time ". How many times might the kids be told something like that by their parents ( always seemed to happen when Uncles and Aunties were visiting ). The parents would be trying to get their kids...

THE GOLF BALL EXPERIMENT. ( A typical " I wonder if " try out by the kids ). Early 1940'S. One day whilst we were playing out on the street corner one of the lads pulled a Golf Ball out of his pocket that he had been given by someone. Golf Balls we had heard of, but at that time none of our...

DICK BARTON-- SPECIAL AGENT. ( BBC Radio 1946- 1951 ). Here was another radio programme series that would get the older kids hurrying off the streets in order to listen to it. This was an early evening programme and on every week night. It was a short drama featuring " DICK BARTON and his mates...

" WATCH OUT OUR KID. DAD'S A BIT VEXED " ( It made sense to quickly slope off some where else.) Like many men our Dad would carry out D.I.Y jobs around our house and garden. He was mainly successful in most things that he attempted but there was the odd ccassion when something didn't come off...

Dead right Paul. These days you wouldn't even get the ZIG bit done, never mind the other ZAG part.

THE OLD ' ZIG ZAG ' TECHNIQUE. ( Going back to when most bicycles were limited to " Single Speed " gears and motor traffic was minimal.) On a countryside bicycle trip a common sight would be seeing cyclists, negotiating steephill gradients, making life easier by Zig Zagging across the road. Had...

To farmerdave. No Dave , I've not been on a bicycle for quite a while . Nice to hear that you had a little cycle ride to-day down there in Surrey. Is the wife still expecting you to give her a little ' saddle push ' up the gradients these days ?

NOT A GOOD DAY FOR RONNIE. We were always on the lookout for small round stones that were to become our ammunition for our Catapults. Very often, wherever we where,we would spot the odd ideal shaped stones and put them in our pockets for later use. Other types of stones that might be collected...

SAFARI DAYS. For us kids we would take every opportunity to meet up and then spend a full day at Sutton Park, Period : Around 1938 - 1940. Into the park through Banners Gate we would begin our day by doing a bit of exploring in Westwood Coppice. Here was an early treat because just inside the...

THE OLD CHAP AT HIS WORKBENCH . ( Approx. 1940 - 1950 ). I always, without fail, found myself looking out for this ' character ' on any bus trip that I took to the City ( No 29. Kingstanding to Snow Hill ). Somewhere on Constitution Hill the bus would come to a halt at this particular bus...

LINING IT UP FOR THE SUMMER. ( Period : 1945 to 1950 ). What would our breed of young people have been up to at this time of the year. We had reached the stage whereby we didn't consider ourselves as ' kids ' anymore. ' Young Lads ' or Young Girls ' titles suited us fine. So, making plans for...

Have we got mixed up somewhere here ? Looks like we are all blowing in the same direction really.

" I REALLY WANT TO HAVE A CRACK AT THAT ". Period : ( Late 1930's to around the 50's ). The chance to try and ride a Bicycle. There came the time for most kids when they yearned to be able to ride a bicycle, but not many were in the fortunate position to own their own bikes. So, what to do ? A...

Good to see the modern day kids coming out onto the Street corners again to meet up and play their games in that lovely weather we had on Easter Monday.

APPRECIATION. Sounds like a shock ride over the last few days but your time, effort and skills ( particularly over the bank holiday period ) are appreciated. Well done.

Good recall MartinB. I think that was as a repeated vender call as any you might hear down the Old Bull Ring.