Things we used to do

[ColinJ]

Oh, and in the past we thought that nostalgia was better than we seem to think it is now!

 

[Hugh Manatee]

Exchange rags or metal with the rag n bone man for a donkey stone

You're going to have to help me with that one.

I used to have a Saturday job with the milkman. He had a three wheel electric float that was very old even then. He used it so he could start before 7 AM.
Many of the older customers left a slate or roof tile next to where the milk was to be left. This was so you leave it on top of the bottles to stop the blue tits pecking through the (silver) foil top and stealing the cream.


Ooh, there you go. There's another. Arguing with your siblings as to who was going to get the cream from the top of the milk on their cereal.

Stripey top (semi skimmed, homogenised) killed off this little tradition.

 

[Hugh Manatee]

Getting a comic every week. It was a treat I chose instead of sweets.

Speed/Eagle was the one I got. If my kids ask me for money for speed now, I'll do my nut.

And they call it progress!

 

[Crackle]

Borrowing records to make a tape mix.

 

[TissoT]

You're going to have to help me with that one.

I used to have a Saturday job with the milkman. He had a three wheel electric float that was very old even then. He used it so he could start before 7 AM.
Many of the older customers left a slate or roof tile next to where the milk was to be left. This was so you leave it on top of the bottles to stop the blue tits pecking through the (silver) foil top and stealing the cream.


Ooh, there you go. There's another. Arguing with your siblings as to who was going to get the cream from the top of the milk on their cereal.

Stripey top (semi skimmed, homogenised) killed off this little tradition.

I to was a under paid milk boy riding around on a three wheeler
The rag n bone man used to give a donkey stone in return for rags/metal
the donkey stone was used to whiten the front door step this was a sign of a clean house and pride
I guess it was made out of white chalk mix .

 

[Smokin Joe]

Sunday's were so boring but the bike was my saviour .

Joining a cycling club aged 15 was what prevented me from topping myself before I got to 16. Sunday turned from being a depressing grind of a day into one I spent all week longing for.

 

[Mo1959]

Borrowing records to make a tape mix.

..............or listening to the top 20 on the radio and getting ready to press record and play when the song you wanted to tape came on.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Wake up in the morning and collect the milk bottles off the door step

Another one here that still has milk delivered. Whenever we get supermarket milk it tastes bland and has no cream on the top even if it's labelled as full fat. Anyone know why?

Something silly I and a few schoolmates used to do was to stick a drawing pin or two in the heel of the shoes so as to strike sparks by touching a foot down while riding.

 

[Slioch]

Watch Scotland playing in the finals of the World Cup, singing "we're on the march with Ally's army..........."

 

[Dave7]

Collect the golliwog labels off the marmalade jars, send them off and get an enamelled golliwog badge in return!

I "loved" my golliwog badge.

 

[Dirk]

Going away on holiday on a steam train.

 

[ColinJ]

Going away on holiday on a steam train.

Ah, you have just given me a flashback to standing on a platform at Crewe one summer night in the early 1960s! (Changing trains on our annual pilgrimage to the Highlands.)

 

[Padraig]

On a Saturday, queue up outside the pictures for the ABC Minors' Matinee. Also known as the threepenny rush. The queue was kept in order by a chap in an absolutely splendid uniform, quite over the top with fancy epaulettes. Once inside, we saw episodes of Batman (an old black and white production many years old, even then), Charlie Chan, Flash Gordon (I seem to remember enslaved men shovelling radium into the atomic furnace, or some such nonsense), various cowboy and red Indian serials, whence we became familiar with all the cliches of that genre (paleface speak with forked tongue, etc). Before the show, though, a large Wurlitzer organ used to come up through the floor. A compere known as Uncle Bob would lead us in some community singing, to the accompaniment of a bouncing ball which highlighted the words on a screen. One number I recall was: "We're minors of the ABC." The audience were quite unruly, and used to stamp and whistle a lot, either if there was a break in the programme, or if the villain appeared. It was not unknown to arrive home with chewing gum in one's hair, thrown from the circle. The solution to this would have been to sit in the circle ourselves, but that never occurred to us.

 

[Shortmember]

Covered in goosebumps while doggy paddling around in Uxbridge's unheated open air swimming pool in April, and kidding myself that I was having fun.

 

[Dirk]

Fish & Chips for one and a kick.