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Post by althea on Aug 12, 2020 19:06:23 GMT
My father was in the Merchant Navy and brought home sweets from America one time. I think I remember Tootsie Rolls and Hershey bars. He also managed to smuggle fresh eggs and leg of lamb that I remember. The family were always glad to see him.
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Post by althea on Aug 14, 2020 15:32:28 GMT
The girl who lived next door to nan was a year older than I was,and I was allowed out to play with her when I got to four years old. It was wonderful to have a little friend and her name was Vera. We would play mud pies in the little postage stamp sized garden. I would come in with not a mark on me. My mother would marvel,that I did exactly the same as Vera,but she would go home muddy and I would be spotless. Now when I've been gardening,I come in very dirty indeed,so things do change. Vera's cousins came to stay at her house and they came out to play. This was my first experience of religious prejudice,though I was too young to understand at the time. When i went to play with Vera,her cousins,a boy and a girl,asked me what I was. I told them I was a girl. This brought a sneer from the boy. "No" he shouted."What are yer?Are yer a catlick or a proddy?" I had to admit I didn't know. "Oh," he said shrewdly,"that means you're a proddy.If you was a catlick you'd know." So then I couldn't play with them. I went home upset and asked my mother what a catlick was. Mother told me I wasn't to bother about it. Nan had a Singer sewing machine that had two draws in the table underneath it.These drawers were full of odds and ends and one of my favourite things was rooting in them. I would find things and ask nan if I could have them.Usually she said yes,bless her. One day I spotted a something that looked like a little golden colour sweet,so I popped it in my mouth.I quickly spat it out.It was a Haliborange oil capsule.Ugh! I couldn't get the taste out of my mouth for days. We had sweet coupons each week to go towards buying sweets. As nan was diabetic and granda didn't eat sweets,they both gave me their coupons. Once a week nan would take me to Bairds corner shop for a quarter of "good sweets" I was never allowed penny chews or blackjacks,it was chocolate caramels for me. Caramels being quite large,you didn't get many in a quarter. The bag of sweets was put in the cabinet in the parlour and when I wanted a sweet,I would ask nan and we would go into the parlour where I was given a sweet. This ceremony would take place once a day. When I was four,my mother gave birth to my sister,Jane Miriam. She became known as Millie,then later shortened to Mil. Poor little Mil didn't thrive as I had and was constantly crying. It didn't have much effect on me ,but was very trying for my mother. We found out later that Mil had an intolerance to dairy and especially cow's milk.It had been giving her colic. As I now have the same thing,I can truly sympathise with her suffering. I was more interested in my dolls than my sister and had gathered quite a collection. nan used to make them all clothes.One time nan made lovely blue striped pyjamas for all my dolls out of my uncle Brian's old ones.When he came home on leave he was not happy,but my dolls looked splendid all lined up in their blue pyjamas. On wash day nan would wash my dolls clothes along with everything else. I can picture my granda now,in the yard,mangling my dolly clothes. There was a song on the radio called "Pedro the fisherman" and I loved that song. Nan bought a doll and knitted it a fisherman's cap a Guernsey sweater and trousers and we called him Pedro.He was my favourite for a time. My real long term favourite doll was Angela. She was very pretty and had a slightly open mouth. I used to "feed" Angela with saccharine tablets,because she was "poorly". Angela developed a rattle. Then I discovered I could squeeze other food into Angela's mouth and sadly one day she fell apart because the stuff inside her rotted the elastic bands that held her together. My father bought me a tortoise for a pet and they named him Tommy. For some reason, I could never say it right, it came out as "Tomony". So he became Tomony. Nan and I used to go on the waste ground and pick Dandelion leaves for him,he really loved them.We kept him in the house,which I suppose was cruel really, but I was totally fascinated by him and couldn't bear to let him out of my sight. Besides, we only had a yard at the back,and the front garden wasn't secure. We put him in a box in the shed to hibernate and I think he died. I didn't see him again, but no one mentioned him and I didn't like to ask.
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Post by ARENA on Aug 15, 2020 9:12:36 GMT
Lovely little insight.
More please...and from other members too.
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Post by althea on Aug 21, 2020 19:44:32 GMT
On my sixth birthday, we moved to a new bungalow on the outskirts of town. It was right down a country lane where there were two farms. Our house was next to a cinder path and then a field leading to a lovely valley with a stream at the bottom of the hill and woods on the other side. I had no idea what was happening. I was given a tricycle for my birthday which was very exciting, but no one had thought to mention to me that were leaving Nan's. Maybe I should have picked up clues, but I was a vague child who didn't ask questions. In fact, my mother had told me to never ask questions. She said if people want you to know anything they will tell you. This is just one of hundreds of examples of the bad advice my mother gave me. When I got older, I would listen to her advice and do the opposite of what she told me to do and that usually proved to be the right thing to do. Anyway, there I was riding my cycle up and down the garden path, oblivious to what was happening. When I did go inside, I was surprised to see we had a bathroom and inside toilet. I can remember standing by the front door and hearing my mother say, "We could park a car in this hall. "I was mystified as to why we were going to have a car in the hall. We didn't have a car at that time and my father went to work each day on his bike. It wasn't long before we got a Morris 8. A little square black car. I can remember the numberplate now, COP 520. We were thrilled to have a car though I don't remember going in it very often. I think it broke down not long after we got it. It was left standing on the side garden at the front and on rainy days my mother would let us play in it. We would play "runaway car" and throw ourselves about from side to side as if the car was swerving. If my father had known there would have been Hell to pay. But no one ever mentioned it. We had been in the bungalow for two weeks when my mother gave birth to my brother Julian. I had noticed my mother's stomach moving and asked what it was. Mother tried to explain as simply as possible that there was a baby in her tummy. She told me God had planted a seed and she was keeping it safe while it grew. I must have been too young to understand because the next day when the midwife came, I asked her if she had our new baby in her bag. I had started a new school which had just been built nearby and it was wonderful. It was modern and had lots of equipment that was new to me. My teacher was Miss Reid, a tall lady with red hair. I loved her ,she was so kind and patient. My schooldays were very happy. Home life was not as cosy as I had been at Nan's. Both of my parents had little idea of parenting and home building.
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Post by althea on Oct 15, 2020 18:10:02 GMT
On my sixth birthday, we moved to a new bungalow on the outskirts of town. It was right down a country lane where there were two farms. Our house was next to a cinder path and then a field leading to a lovely valley with a stream at the bottom of the hill and woods on the other side. I had no idea what was happening. I was given a tricycle for my birthday which was very exciting, but no one had thought to mention to me that were leaving Nan's. Maybe I should have picked up clues, but I was a vague child who didn't ask questions. In fact, my mother had told me to never ask questions. She said if people want you to know anything they will tell you. This is just one of hundreds of examples of the bad advice my mother gave me. When I got older, I would listen to her advice and do the opposite of what she told me to do and that usually proved to be the right thing to do. Anyway, there I was riding my cycle up and down the garden path, oblivious to what was happening. When I did go inside, I was surprised to see we had a bathroom and inside toilet. I can remember standing by the front door and hearing my mother say, "We could park a car in this hall. "I was mystified as to why we were going to have a car in the hall. We didn't have a car at that time and my father went to work each day on his bike. It wasn't long before we got a Morris 8. A little square black car. I can remember the numberplate now, COP 520. We were thrilled to have a car though I don't remember going in it very often. I think it broke down not long after we got it. It was left standing on the side garden at the front and on rainy days my mother would let us play in it. We would play "runaway car" and throw ourselves about from side to side as if the car was swerving. If my father had known there would have been Hell to pay. But no one ever mentioned it. We had been in the bungalow for two weeks when my mother gave birth to my brother Julian. I had noticed my mother's stomach moving and asked what it was. Mother tried to explain as simply as possible that there was a baby in her tummy. She told me God had planted a seed and she was keeping it safe while it grew. I must have been too young to understand because the next day when the midwife came, I asked her if she had our new baby in her bag. I had started a new school which had just been built nearby and it was wonderful. It was modern and had lots of equipment that was new to me. My teacher was Miss Reid, a tall lady with red hair. I loved her ,she was so kind and patient. My schooldays were very happy. Home life was not as cosy as I had been at Nan's. Both of my parents had little idea of parenting and home building.
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Post by ARENA on Oct 16, 2020 7:52:25 GMT
My mothers family were all farmers so even during the war we had a regular supply of chicken eggs and butter.
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Post by althea on Oct 20, 2020 13:53:57 GMT
When I was eight, my mother had another baby boy, his name was Adrian.
I was at the age where I liked playing little mother to him and often nursed him and patted his wind up.
My father had started working away from home during the week. He was a contractor, and a foreman for Costain's, which later became Costain John Brown.
We enjoyed the peace while he was away, he could shout really loud ,but he usually brought us some sweets, so we looked forward to him coming home. I remember one Friday, we were watching children's TV when father's face appeared at the window. He had lollipops sticking out all around his cap.
He could be funny and kind, but he could also be very strict, meting out physical punishment. All I can say about that, is that it didn't do me any good. It didn't stop me from being naughty ,it just made me very nervous .I vowed I would never smack a child if I became a
mum, and I didn't.(Though sometimes I was tempted.)
The first time I ever really saw my father laugh wholeheartedly was when his friend, Snowy
Thompson, who had been in the navy with him came to our house.
They sat drinking and telling tall tales about their life at sea and roared with laughter at some memories. It was quite a shock to see my controlling, severe father like that.
By now I was an established member of the local gang.
I could climb trees as well as they could, run as fast and generally be as brave if I hurt myself. I often had to look after my sister Mil, who had a lisp and called me "tithter" meaning sister. I found it very embarrassing.
Mil was four and I was eight when we went down the valley one winter's day with the girl from next door and her visiting cousin. It had been raining and the stream was high and running fast and Mil fell in.
I watched horrified as she swirled away in the water. She was face down.
The cousin who was visiting, I think his name was Stanley ,had the presence of mind to run along the bank and jump in further up. As Mil's body swept by, he grabbed her, saving her life. She had on a thick woollen coat and hat that had dragged her down and Stanley took them off, so he could carry her home. Mil was put into a hot bath with mustard in it, then into bed with a hot water bottle and she suffered no ill effects. It taught me a lesson about how easily one could die. A simple accident was all it took. For a few weeks I looked after Mil very conscientiously, and was careful myself too. It wore off after a couple of weeks and I was back to doing feats of daring as usual.
Mil started school when she was four and it was my job to get us there on time. I had never been late in my school life, but I had seen plenty of children come in late. They would apologise for oversleeping.
One day, Mil and I were dawdling and playing on the way to school and we were late. I told her to tell her teacher she had overslept and that's what I told my teacher. Everything was fine, until we got home and I told mother we had been late for school. She went ballistic, saying the staff would think she was a lazy mother who didn't get up early. She told me to tell my teacher and Mil's, that we had lied and we were dawdling on the way to school.
Mil knew I had to do it, but she begged me every step of the way, not to tell her teacher.
When we got to school I did as I was told, but both our teachers told us not to let it happen again and that was all. We didn't get into terrible trouble as we imagined and it was soon forgotten. When Mil was dying in 1996,she remembered the incident and said she had held it against me all those years. But that now, she understood I was programmed to obey mother and had to do it. I couldn't have done differently as I would be closely questioned about it. I had forgotten all about it, but it had stayed with Mil all that time.
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Post by althea on Oct 20, 2020 13:57:25 GMT
My OH's family lived on a farm during the war. They didn't go short of anything foodwise. They would barter for sugar with milk and eggs.
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Post by goodlookingone on Oct 20, 2020 17:09:58 GMT
althea. Thanks for all that. My Childhood was nit so exciting, but I may put something on Paper.
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Post by althea on Oct 22, 2020 8:30:13 GMT
Thanks, GLO. Please do add your memories to mine when you can. It's so interesting to hear other people's memories.
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Post by goodlookingone on Oct 22, 2020 21:26:13 GMT
Well... OK althea.. But remember you asked, so its on your own head. Memory is from Hackney in London, but here a precis of my pre-memory to lead up to Memory....
Prologue. London - escpecially East London had a few Hospitals Bombed or partly damaged and the remaining ones were overloaded by the Intense Labour in The Docks and Merchantmen, and Military bods on Home (or Injury) leave or dicharged to cover the enlarged poulace, Hence Maternity was moved to a Big Manor House in Liectershire, allegedly at the end of a Runway, used for homecoming Bombers that were too damaged to land in their own base - perhaps it made me a Nervous wreck, Then as a babe in arms to someones move Nr Exmouth - until General Eisenhower got disturbed about the populace seeing the Bodies floating ashore from the D-Day rehearsals, so evicted evacuees so on to "Somewhere safe" - Mums Uncles House in Southampton Docks? And then on to Mums Dad in Sunny Essex- about 2 miles from where I now live. So Memories albeit feint, started in Hackney, London. A mid terraced House. Something to do with the War, We lived Downstairs only, and another Family rented the first floor. Looking over the Garden wall were Allottments - Formerly Sheep Grazing, and Old Maps show it as "Watercress beds" down to The River Lee. The allotments were for home-tended Vegetable use, BUT.. Some were replaced by heaps of bricks/cement/woodframe/glass from bombsites. Thees were great fun to play on, as were the sites of the long-gone houses, so of course Kids like me believed that some kind builder had produced these as playgrounds to play on (we made our own amusements in them days). For reasons that I never understood (then or now) that one had to have tonsils removed. Thus a few days in Hackney Hospital. I remember I had been gifted a Model Pluto shaped and coloured soap, Nurses wouldn't use it, so I was scrubed with common or garden soap. I remember a very attractive nurse, but I think I must have misheared gossip about Very Friendly Ladies (probably aimed at that woman inthe opposite road) and their Evils, so in my infancy, it seemed quite right to scowl at her whenever she smiled at me (Oh How I maligned that Nurse), I remember the homecoming in a Daimler Ambulance - A speciality of Post war London's rebuild, so I was inured into realizing how honoured I was? Just for the Record, Forty odd years Later I was involved using an office in that Hospital in transferring it to a new Hospital - but never found my tonsils. I remember a previous fear of that area was that the Dentist had a Surgery on the opposite side of the road, and I had/have a prevailing smell of the Gas used to knock one out, and two or three days of pain and vomitting afterwards. and on the opp side of the Hospital Main Entrance (by then known as The Ambulance Entrance) was our Family Doctor (Dr Salsby), That Are was also the place to walk to was to catch the 208 bus to go to "Big Shopping" - that bus was a Single decker, quite a Novelty in those days because of the nearby low railway bridge, but to a three year old although Such a rear-engined bus lacked the face of a readiator beween the headlights, it neverthe less seemed to have inferred a Gentler look. No dobt helped by the fact that it terminated at Clapton Pond, where one could feed the Ducks, An occasioal walk (in my pushchair) was to where one could get a 22 bus to where BIG shops Like BHS, or more productively, Morrises Toy shop - Dinky toys and Meccano - The latter being in Well Street. Just for the record... There was a Co-oP shop in Well street where a Barrow Boy flogged things from their doorway - mostly washing powder (stack it High, Flog it Cheap, Every little Helps)- I believe He got famous, and NO BARROW Boys would be alowwed to sell in His doorways. I remember Trolley buses making a Sharp Left turn after the Raiway Bridge and it was common for one of the power arms escaping from the electric wire. Many hold-up delays whilst the Bus crawled around the Corner (Using the Bus Batteries) for the Conductor extravigated a Damn great Long Bamboo pole fon the underside of the bus drawn out from under the back to replace the errant Power arm... You may know where that bus went next. An Old pub (the five Bells) had become a Sewing Factory - But it was known as "The Queen Vic" in a TV Soap. There was/is a School opposite our House. Mum told me that When She had gone there?? Her Mother used to bring a Mug of Ovatine (os somesuch) to the Gate at Playtime. I only went there for a few months when I caught Measles, Dignosed by Dr Salsby and was Kept in Bed (as they did in those days) When Mum and Dad hag been offered a Shiny New House out near Romford, So I never Completed my first (or Seconf term - Certainly not a full year) I think one started after my Fifth Birthday (January).I remember being allowed out of my Sick bed to visit this House ... I remember how disgusting it must be to have an indoor loo - I'm sure it wasn't safe for Hralth reasons. Of course, I only found it upstairs - in a Bathroom - So obviously someome else must live there as there was a Perfectly Srvicable Loo Downstairs - outside the Gardden door into a Porch, with the Loo door to the Left, and The Coal cupbord to the Right - Under the stairs indoord-Where else would one put the coal. But No, The Whole House was ours. The school I had now left, was awful - A total waste of time - The Big Kids were telling me that The Coat I was wearing was a Girls Coat, and The Class - Widows above head hieght to only the sky was seen, Miss's Desk was on a Dias a step or so above us Mortals, and we squandered our time by cutting out Sticky coloured paper to copy picture, (e.g., Three Tulips and their leaves from Brown earth = I think we only had three colours), and the three of us (Me and two girls) were the best, soo we were sent to every class to get the uninterested teacher tomallow us three to stand in front of each class to show the disinterested inmates (sorry, I meant Pupils) to look at the "Pictures" that we held up. I also remember The Janet and John reading books. Each day one had to read a few lines from the page that you had read aloud the previous day. If one could read, one was silenced after a few lines - thus I never reached Janet and John's story beyond Book one. What else to remember. We always had a Cat. Remember that Catfood we had then? Meat was rationed and the Kit-e-Cat food was a grey/pink colour (It was years Later that I dicovered it was Minimum meat, "Extended" with chalk - Cats only lived abot 3 years. I remember Guy Fawkes Night. Dad would need his afterwok Dinner before He would let off the Firewoks - We had couple of Rockets, one year 0 Launched fron staning them in a milkbottle - One hit the Clothes line. I renmenber that at Christmas one had to make paper chains from strips of coloured paper linked around the asdjacent loop and glued - always seemed a chore to me - never occurred that it was enjoyable? Yes, there were also ready made ones the had to be pefectly collapsed on thwevth night into even compact order to be saved for next year, And the compulsry old geezer in a red robe chortling "Come and sit on MY knee, Little boy. One year Dad brought home some Fairy Lights - I didn't know you could unravel them and spread them around, so they were pligged into the Ceiling light giving us a different sort of evening Light. No... I've gone on too long. Thins: I wonder what Happened to that Kid, David, from the Family upstairs... Goodnight each. (blame althea, She asked for this)
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Post by althea on Oct 24, 2020 15:45:28 GMT
It's lovely to read your memories, GLO. I wonder if writing about them, brought it all flooding back. That is what happens when I write about the past. The first time my father took me to see Father Christmas I was terrified of him.
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Post by goodlookingone on Oct 24, 2020 21:11:28 GMT
Sort of... I do have difficulty getting things in order. Some things that happened in my "London" days, to things that happened after Leaving London, Probably 1950, or maybe 1949. The Other point is that I Cannot grasp is when (people like my dad) was "Just Ordinary Working Class, compared to the nowadays Wealth ..... of having money in my pocket (or Plastic Card) to buy food any day I like, Even buying new shoes instead of getting them Mended (assuming Shoe-menders still exist). I remeber Mum, showing our visiting Cousin (Mum's nephew of course) being proudly showing hiim our shiny new Refrigerator. An Essential, but then a display of spedable money; and sundry other minor effects. The "Change" seems to have arrived suddenly, rather than Gradually. Last week I needed to get a Taxi to a Hospital that no Local buses serve. I then decided that He was overcharging, so picked another cab firm for my next distant Hospital for the Next appoint, with knowing nothing of the new cabbie... I, You, Anyone, can do this with little thinking - it is those minor differences between "then and now". A simple journey like that was way out of "Pocket Money" I might have "Chapter the Second", after Ive raided my Paperwork - which reminds me: I must find Birth Cert needed by my AGE CONCERN Supporter - you have reminded me.
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Post by althea on Oct 27, 2020 8:48:35 GMT
It's funny you talking about shoes being mended. I used to take our shoes to the cobbler's. His name was Harold Foxall and his shop was chaotic. There were shoes everywhere. When I took some shoes in, he would always say they'd be ready next Thursday, but they never were. He didn't bother with tickets or labels, so how he kept track of things I don't know. His hands were black, I remember that. When we started doing brass rubbings at school, I went and asked him if I could buy a piece of wax. He gave me one that was brand new and wouldn't let me pay for it.
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Post by althea on Oct 27, 2020 15:04:38 GMT
When my father was in Scotland, working on the building of Calder Hall, he and his assistant lived in digs. The stories were legion when he came home at weekends, and I thought I would relate a few. I hope others find them amusing as we in the family did. The lady they lodged with had a teenage son and a husband. My father noticed that when they had a pie for dinner in the evening, all the meat seemed to be in the portions she gave to her son and husband. He and his sidekick discussed this and formulated a plan. So the next time the landlady brought in a pie and plonked it on the table ,father's friend looked out of the window and shouted, "Ooh, what's that!" As the family looked out of the window, father turned the pie 180 degrees. It backfired though, because the landlady turned the pie back as she cut into it.She must have marked the crust so she could tell which side held all the meat. Every day, this lady gave father four marmalade sandwiches for his lunch. Father never ate them, so he used to go into the newsagent's and buy a paper each day, and leave the packet of sandwiches on the counter. One morning the owner stopped father leaving, he said,"Hey,I think these are yours." He pulled out a drawer from under the counter and it was full of packets of sandwiches. Every evening father and co-worker used to go to the pictures. They couldn't stay in and there was no pub nearby. There was only a small picture house and it showed the same film all week. One Saturday when father got home, he told us he had seen the film "Tall in the saddle", with John Wayne, five times. He said he knew the dialogue word perfect. Later that evening ,the film on BBC(the only channel) was, you've guessed it, "Tall in the saddle". We tested father, and it was true, he did know every line of dialogue.
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