50s/60s Britain and Now

[Mark Saunders]

8 hours ago, Reorte said:

Interesting, didn't know they were ever in the UK (big in France of course).

 

They opened a big one in the Gateshead Metrocentre when it opened in 1986 plus they had one in Telford but they did not last long before closing their UK operation!

[Vecchio]

On 06/04/2020 at 10:13, Colin said:

How about (manual) cars with only  3 forward gears? I well remember my Dad’s Ford Popular and 100E Anglia which both had to be almost revved to destruction in 2nd before dropping into 3rd, when it would almost sigh with relief.

One of his friends had a Vauxhall with a terrible vague column gear change that would occasionally try to select reverse, with “interesting” results.

Radios and heaters were only supplied in the Deluxe trim version as I remember! Dad’s cars were company vehicles and he only got a deluxe after becoming a Senior rep!

 

Well I had one of these Vauxhalls (where I lived it was called Opel) with the column gear change and I found it quite comfortable as you could switch gears without removing the hand from the wheel. And I was King of the road as it was a 4 gear shift 1900 cc with 2-step carburettor giving it 90 bhp. Now my wife's car has 987 cc and 124 bhp....

There was no power steering, everything manual. Hard to park on a dry day in a small space with 5 on board.... 

The funniest thing with this car was when the gearlever broke. It is actually a steel tube, containing a steel wire inside for the reverse gear button. So the thing was dangling down, I could still shift with the little remaining stump but had no reverse gear any more. Well it went into the garage rather quick...

[The Johnster]

A stick shift meant you could have a front bench seat.  And anyone who's ever sat in a car in a layby with his girlfriend knows why that is A Very Good Thing Indeed.

 

Funny gear stick story was my dad's Mk1 Cortina.  The gear stick on this fits into the linkage by a sprung bayonet fitting a bit like a light bulb, and driving home from the shops one day he passed me the stick, and asked me to look after it for him.  I'm told my jaw drop was pretty epic...

 

Many years later I had an LDV van, on which the gear stick broke off with metal fatigue.  I lifted the stub end out, and, to get home, used a large screwdriver which jammed in perfectly to the square hole left in the end piece.  This worked so well that I used it all the time, taking it with me when I was not in the van as a security measure.  I'd do the 'look after this for me a minute' stunt with any passengers.

Edited April 13, 2020 by The Johnster

[The Johnster]

12 hours ago, Vecchio said:

 

12 hours ago, Vecchio said:

Radios and heaters were only supplied in the Deluxe trim version as I remember

 

My dad reckoned at the end of the 50s that you had to pay £1,000 to get a car with a clock.  And £2,000 for one with an accurate clock.  

Edited April 13, 2020 by The Johnster

[laurenceb]

Midland Counties Raspberry Ripple ice cream! Never found anything to match it.

[Philou]

Here's one for @The Johnster : Does he remember all the Maseratis and Ferraris in Cardiff? He should do as there was one of them at the corner of St James' Arcade. It was there for years until the site was redeveloped in late 60s/early 70s.

 

If he doesn't know, then the answer will be here on a postcard by tomorrow.

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

[Steamport Southport]

1 hour ago, laurenceb said:

Midland Counties Raspberry Ripple ice cream! Never found anything to match it.

 

Preferred Inter City Raspberry Ripple myself.  

 

 

Better not mention NSE toothpaste livery or someone might sue me...

[The Johnster]

I can remember a few Ferraris but I can't pin down any Maseratis at the moment.  And the Sidolis in Porthcawl; they're all over South Wales now.  There was one on Penarth seafront that I can't place either.  Do you remember Thayer's on Wellfield Road.  I was in primary and junior school with John Thayer, who was a nice enough bloke but thick as 2 short ones academically.  His dad bought him a Rolls Royce for his 18th birthday and gave him the business when he was 21, which put all my studying for exams in perspective.  

 

For those still mystified, a lot of Italian families moved to South Wales after the 1914-18 war, as they did to Scotland, and opened coffee houses, cafes, and ice cream parlours

1 hour ago, Steamport Southport said:

Better not mention NSE toothpaste livery or someone might sue me.

Worst livery ever; a partially successful attempt to make a respectable loco, multiple unit, or coach look like a pair of Sunday Market plastic trainers...  It was a particular insult on 47s and 50s.

[Fat Controller]

9 hours ago, The Johnster said:

I can remember a few Ferraris but I can't pin down any Maseratis at the moment.  And the Sidolis in Porthcawl; they're all over South Wales now.  There was one on Penarth seafront that I can't place either.  Do you remember Thayer's on Wellfield Road.  I was in primary and junior school with John Thayer, who was a nice enough bloke but thick as 2 short ones academically.  His dad bought him a Rolls Royce for his 18th birthday and gave him the business when he was 21, which put all my studying for exams in perspective.  

 

For those still mystified, a lot of Italian families moved to South Wales after the 1914-18 war, as they did to Scotland, and opened coffee houses, cafes, and ice cream parlours

Worst livery ever; a partially successful attempt to make a respectable loco, multiple unit, or coach look like a pair of Sunday Market plastic trainers...  It was a particular insult on 47s and 50s.

The one on Penarth seafront probably belong to one of the Rabiottis (sp?) The old man owned a large part of the buildings along the front, and also the modern block of flats at the bottom of Bridgeman Road. 

Edited April 14, 2020 by Fat Controller

[Philou]

Yay, well done @The Johnster and @Fat Controller. Indeed, Maserati, Ferrari and Rabaiotti were indeed names of various ice-cream and other food parlours owned by Italian families. Johnster is correct regarding their arrival. As I understood it, most came looking for work in the Valleys in the coal mining industries and then set up their food emporiums. I wasn't going to use Rabaiotti as it may have the game away too soon. There was also the Bernie family who lived at one time near-to the roundabout adjacent to Baron's Court (Beefeater? eatery). The reason why I mention Bernie is they did an ice-cream round with a van under, if I remember correctly, Tonibell.

 

Rabaiotti's is still there, but the name has changed. If we went to the sea-front, it would be an ice-cream there and a trip back on the train (always remember it being a 0-6-0 Pannier with a couple of maroon coaches - can(t tell you whether it was push-pull or not). I was exceedingly put out when it was replaced by a diesel unit and I wanted to wait for the next one! - not knowing of course that there was no longer any steam on the branch .

 

Which brings us back to ice-cream and Thayers. I recall Thayers as I used to have a Saturday treat on occasion with a great-aunt of mine, on the way to lake at Roath Park. An ice-cream from them (always had pistachio - the only place in Cardiff were you could get assorted 'foreign' flavours) and a visit to AH Bakers next door - perhaps a Matchbox toy or very rarely a Corgi (NOT Dinky) car. Up to the Park on foot passing the 'Rec' (and not the Wreck as I had mistakenly understood for years). If the weather was fine, a trip round Roath Park Lake in the motor-boat. When I was older say about 12, then I used to take my great aunt around the lake in a rowing boat - still have the callouses !

 

Trip back by trolleybus, either a No3 or 4, to the bottom of City Road (perhaps calling in at the sweet shop adjacent to the Post Office) and into Mrs Masser's (Maserati). This fine emporium of food (often plaice and chips with peas which I always considered an extra-special treat) was situated near-to the junction of Newport Road and City Road at the entrance to St James' Arcade (that took its name from the church opposite). When Newport Road was widened to a dual-carriageway, the shop frontage was fortunate in being set-back and was not affected. Subsequently, it was demolished along with the arcade and now lies under the left-hand side of Longcross Court (probably where are the flight of stairs).

 

The reason why Maserati became Masser was because when war broke out (First, probably) their name was considered too Italian and hence anglicised.

 

I know this is probably now waaaaay off topic but an additional anecdote: My aunt lived in rented accommodation at 89A Newport Road, owned by Essex Williams (builder) and within it she had a mahogany loo with a handle that dropped a flap and flushed at the same time. It stopped working as the flushing mechanism was too old and complicated to repair as the reservoir was a lead-lined wooden box and nobody could really determine how the thing worked. It was given to the St Fagan's Folk Museum and there was an article in the SW Echo about its discovery, but my aunt refused to be named (oh the shame, the shame!) and the loo eventually made its way to Castell Coch where it still is. I can tell you therefore, that it was never flushed in anger by Lord Bute, but another Lord, me!

 

Eventually, the house too was demolished to make way for some multi-storied homes and offices - Johnster will know the name as I don't remember.

 

Ho hum .... well, it makes a change from COV-19 - we're now locked down until 11th May!!!!

 

Toodle pip,

 

Philip

 

 

 

[Devo63]

I really enjoy reading the postings from the Cardiff contingent on the forum. Even though I was born and bred in Australia I have spent a bit of time in Cardiff during my lifetime. I lived there with an uncle and aunt for a year back in the 1970's as my parents thought I should have a different perspective from my usual Aussie upbringing and I have visited the area a few times since then. My last trip was back in 2007 when I went with my father on what was his last trip home. He is now 84 and unlikely to travel overseas again. We visited all his old haunts and had a look at most of the houses he lived in while growing up. My grandparents were always moving. My father was born in Canada Road and lived in various places in Whitchurch, Birchgrove and Rhiwbina before he emigrated to Australia in the 1950's.

Some of the memories I have are buying model railways items from Bud Morgans in Castle Arcade (I still have the GF 9400 class bought there) and the piles of laverbread on marble slabs in the markets. On my last visit I could not get over how much the city had changed. The re-development down the docks area was surprising. My father always said you did not want to go down there at night and my Uncle Harry, who was in the old Cardiff City Police, said they never patrolled with less than three man teams in Tiger Bay. Now there seems to be upmarket flats all over the place and flash modern buildings everywhere although I was not impressed with The Senedd building.  My grandmother was born in Splott and couldn't get out of there fast enough when she met and married my grandfather. I think even that area has improved over the years.

 

Dave R.     

[Steamport Southport]

Rhiwbina? Isn't that the blackcurrant stuff?

 

 

 

 

Jason

[caradoc]

Apologies if it has been mentioned before, but thinking some more, one of the biggest differences between the 50s/60s and now must be the huge reduction in smoking. When I grew up in the 60s my Mum and Dad smoked, but they did both give up (although cancer still got Dad in the end). Even into the 80s, smoking was allowed in my workplace, and when eating at the desk (due to the lack of proper relieved mealbreaks in Control) it was not uncommon to have smokers on either side. Eventually it was banned within the office, but a 'smoke room' was provided instead, until that was abolished too. I remember too the outcry in the 70s when BR proposed banning smoking in catering vehicles - How incredible does the opposition to that seem now ! This at least is a huge advance on the past.

 

[Nearholmer]

That is a really good point, and it makes me think about drinking-culture too, which has also changed, although clearly in a different way from smoking-culture. Wine consumption and off-sales must have rocketed since the 1950s, and we all know that the number of pubs has fallen steeply.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 15, 2020 by Nearholmer

[Philou]

@Devo63 Cardiff HAS changed enormously - probably for the best. Tiger Bay wasn't THAT bad though I hated going to our Scout Troop HQ at night, that was based under the railway arches adjoining the bonded warehouse at the end of what was Bute East Dock. It's now a Grade listed building set in a 'posh' area. There was little or no street lighting then - now that is something that has changed a lot since the 50s/60s. One 60w incandescent light here and there with extremely dark shadows at every corner - ooer . Crossing the 'Black Bridge' (Windsor Road) was the worst bit - stupid now looking back.

 

I remember Canada Road as my grand parents church was St Josephs on the next corner, New Zealand Road.

 

Splott wasn't THAT bad either. I went to school at the bottom end of Splott Road meaning a walk along the whole of its length and Clifton Street. It has become an up and coming area with its own real sense of identity. Never had a problem. The one time I DID get duffed up was round the corner from where I lived on a Sunday morning!!!! (Name omitted to protect the guilty) punched me one in the nose carrying a bag of sugar in one hand and the Sunday papers in the other, for having the temerity to walk up 'his' street. First time in my life that I ever heard the word 'F***'. I was about 10 and still got the broken nose to show.

 

Totally agree with @caradoc regarding smoking. I'm not at all sorry that bans have been placed everywhere. I can't say that I never smoked because I did - but probably no more than the equivalent of one pack. I couldn't breathe the smoke in, it tasted foul and made my clothes smell - though I shouldn't have noticed that last bit as both my parents smoked at home - figure that one out.

 

I do have another story to tell regarding, smoking and perhaps why I never took to smoking: When I were a mere lad of about five, I was giving my father hell pestering him for a draw on his cigarette. So he gave me a cigarette that I 'smoked'. 'Enjoy that? Want another?' So I did have another, and another until at the end of the fifth one I threw up. Never enjoyed the smell nor had the want to smoke afterwards.

 

What I have noticed regarding smoking today compared with the 50s/60s, is that those that still smoke seem to be predominately young women. Is it just a perception or is it the case?

 

Drinking, 'le binge drinking' over here does appear to be on the up, however, those that remember their beers of the 50s/60s may recall that it was fairly watery stuff compared to what can be bought over the counter nowadays - our 'local' serves beers with an average 8° to a whopping 20°. When I were a not so young lad, it had to be BrAIns Dark for me, SA (Skull Attack) was just not to my taste.

 

Hip hip cheersh heveryone .......

 

[Fat Controller]

There was always Barley Wine if  you did want to get hammered. Horrible stuff.

[Philou]

Forgot to add to my previous post especially for Devo63, I worked in Bud's from 1965 to 1981 in the railway department upstairs on Saturdays and school holidays - perhaps our paths crossed at sometime. Peter, my brother worked there too and has gone on to become Lord and Butler, whom I consider worthy successors to Bud Morgan.

[johnlambert]

On 13/04/2020 at 21:04, The Johnster said:

A stick shift meant you could have a front bench seat.  And anyone who's ever sat in a car in a layby with his girlfriend knows why that is A Very Good Thing Indeed.

 

 

 

It was a few years ago but I was driving an Armstrong Siddley with bench front seat and column gear change.  I misjudged my entry speed to a roundabout and sent my passenger sliding sliding towards me.  She found it amusing, thankfully.

[The Johnster]

13 hours ago, Philou said:

 

Which brings us back to ice-cream and Thayers. I recall Thayers as I used to have a Saturday treat on occasion with a great-aunt of mine, on the way to lake at Roath Park. An ice-cream from them (always had pistachio - the only place in Cardiff were you could get assorted 'foreign' flavours) and a visit to AH Bakers next door - perhaps a Matchbox toy or very rarely a Corgi (NOT Dinky) car. Up to the Park on foot passing the 'Rec' (and not the Wreck as I had mistakenly understood for years). If the weather was fine, a trip round Roath Park Lake in the motor-boat. When I was older say about 12, then I used to take my great aunt around the lake in a rowing boat - still have the callouses !

Yes I remember Bakers, they did Triang Minic Ships which I had a decent collection of at one time.  The Rec is of course short for Recreation Ground, where I played 3 and in with jumpers for goal posts (2 boys, 2 jumpers, one ball, 3 goals and it's your turn to be goalie), and caught eels in the brook.  The Roath Park Lake motor boat  was a lovely varnished teak launch called Britannia III, and in those days you could go around the islands at half speed.  The current boat is solar battery electric, and very slow; it has a poncy awning, is made of fibreglass, and is called 'Roath's Pride'.  I can just recall the swimming galas in the lake before Wiel's disease stopped it, and they had hydrofoil races for a few years in the 60s.  My matchbox cars came from a long gone newsagents at the bottom of Mackintosh Place who had the complete range in the win on a display unit; I have forgotten the name! 

 

13 hours ago, Philou said:

 

Rabaiotti's is still there, but the name has changed. If we went to the sea-front, it would be an ice-cream there and a trip back on the train (always remember it being a 0-6-0 Pannier with a couple of maroon coaches - can(t tell you whether it was push-pull or not). I was exceedingly put out when it was replaced by a diesel unit and I wanted to wait for the next one! - not knowing of course that there was no longer any steam on the branch .

Rabaiottis, of course.  A pannier and 2 from Penarth sounds very much like the St Fagans Pullman on one of it's fill in shuttle runs to Penarth.  This was a spectacular example of diagramming that bordered on the insane; an Abercynon job, target Auto JB.  Light Engine Abercynon-Pontypridd couple on 2 auto trailers work to Clarence Road via Tonteg and the Barry main line then junction at St George's to run SWML to Cardiff General and Clarence Road, 2 return trips to Penarth, then back to Ponty via St Fagans for crew relief at lunchtime, repeat for afternoon, all on one bunker of coal!  Loco was usually 6438.

 

13 hours ago, Philou said:

 

Eventually, the house too was demolished to make way for some multi-storied homes and offices - Johnster will know the name as I don't remember.

Neither does Johnster for the moment; I'll get back to you.  I was going to say Larchwood Old Peoples Home, but that's next door.  It's on the corner of Wordsworth Avenue.  Other side of Wordsworth was a private 6th form college, but it went bust last year and is now derelict.  St James' Church was a shell when I remember it, having been 'prepared for redevelopment' courtesy of an incendiary bomb that fell out of a He 111 during a period of expansionist German foreign policy.

 

12 hours ago, Devo63 said:

My father was born in Canada Road and lived in various places in Whitchurch, Birchgrove and Rhiwbina before he emigrated to Australia in the 1950's.

Some of the memories I have are buying model railways items from Bud Morgans in Castle Arcade (I still have the GF 9400 class bought there) and the piles of laverbread on marble slabs in the markets. On my last visit I could not get over how much the city had changed. The re-development down the docks area was surprising. My father always said you did not want to go down there at night and my Uncle Harry, who was in the old Cardiff City Police, said they never patrolled with less than three man teams in Tiger Bay. Now there seems to be upmarket flats all over the place and flash modern buildings everywhere although I was not impressed with The Senedd building.  My grandmother was born in Splott and couldn't get out of there fast enough when she met and married my grandfather. I think even that area has improved over the years.

I had a flat in Canada Road for a while in the 80s, no.96.  There was a lot of nonsense talked about the docks; I had friends down there and never saw any real trouble other than what outsiders brought with them.  But there was a story about an elderly lady from Radyr who had taken a day trip to Weston on the paddle steamer and had missed the last bus when it got back to the Pier Head late.  She refused to disembark because 'That's Tiger Bay, that is, where they have all the murders'; they had to get a taxi for her in the end.  It''s very gentrified around the Pier Head now but the old Butetown estate is still a bit 'street'.  Splott is much gentrified, the really shabby part around Portmanmoor Road where Shirley Bassey started her career singing in the bar of the Bomb and Dagger, it's real name and quite appropriate by all accounts, has long been flattened and is now a trading estate, and living in Roath I am probably in as rough an area of Cardiff as any in the 21st century.  I can smell marijuana as I write because the patio doors are open and the police helicopter is a frequent visitor.  

 

You can still get laverbread in the indoor market but you have to order it; Swansea Market is AFAIK the only place you can get it off the counter nowadays.  I am not impressed with the Senedd either, and I don't mean the building, though it does look as if somebody's dropped a Dyson on top of a greenhouse.  It does have one good point though; it has a cafe that is open to the public that does the best cream tea in Cardiff, if not Wales, and it's subsidised as well!

11 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

Rhiwbina? Isn't that the blackcurrant stuff?

 

No.  It's a leafy suburb of Cardiff that is so posh that the seagulls are ordered to fly upside down, the sort of place where they think sex is what coal is delivered in.

 

9 hours ago, caradoc said:

Apologies if it has been mentioned before, but thinking some more, one of the biggest differences between the 50s/60s and now must be the huge reduction in smoking.

Certainly.  Both my parents smoked and I don't think I knew many adults when I was a child who didn't, mostly maiden aunt types which we had a surfeit of in our street.

 

9 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

That is a really good point, and it makes me think about drinking-culture too, which has also changed, although clearly in a different way from smoking-culture. Wine consumption and off-sales must have rocketed since the 1950s, and we all know that the number of pubs has fallen steeply.

 

Also certainly, and the current thing will put paid to a good few of the surviving local pubs.

 

5 hours ago, Philou said:

punched me one in the nose carrying a bag of sugar in one hand and the Sunday papers in the other,

Fair play to him; I couldn't have punched anyone in the nose while I was carrying a bag of sugar in one hand and the Sundar papers in the other (ok, I know what you meant...).

 

5 hours ago, Philou said:

 

What I have noticed regarding smoking today compared with the 50s/60s, is that those that still smoke seem to be predominately young women. Is it just a perception or is it the case?

I think it might be that the sort of young women who smoke are the sort who draw attention to themselves.  Mother used to tell me not to hang around with the bad girls who smoked, but I found the experience quite educational...

 

5 hours ago, Philou said:

When I were a not so young lad, it had to be BrAIns Dark for me, SA (Skull Attack) was just not to my taste.

Misspent my yoof with Dark, and progressed to SA, but in my dotage drink Brains' Bitter Smooth, the sort of keg beer that CAMRA and the Craft Brewery Brigade despair of.

 

5 hours ago, Philou said:

Forgot to add to my previous post especially for Devo63, I worked in Bud's from 1965 to 1981 in the railway department upstairs on Saturdays and school holidays - perhaps our paths crossed at sometime. Peter, my brother worked there too and has gone on to become Lord and Butler, whom I consider worthy successors to Bud Morgan.

Better than Bud Morgan; none of that balsa aircraft and radio control nonsense, it's wall to wall model railways.  Remember Jetex motors?  In between Bud Morgans and Lord and Butler, Peter worked in the Royal Mail sorting office on Penarth Road and was my line manager for some time when I also worked there.  He will, like any of my old bosses, confirm that I am perfectly suited to a life of complete idleness...

 

Cardiff is beyond doubt much better than it used to be, more entertainment venues, more going on, in fact quite a buzz compared to the dull old days.  Being me, I miss steam and even diesel hydraulics, and trolleybuses, and paddle steamers, and filthy old spit'n'sawdust pubs.  But I wouldn't from choice live anywhere else!

4 hours ago, johnlambert said:

 

It was a few years ago but I was driving an Armstrong Siddley with bench front seat and column gear change.  I misjudged my entry speed to a roundabout and sent my passenger sliding sliding towards me.  She found it amusing, thankfully.

That's your story and you're sticking to it.  We all know what you Armstrong Siddley types are like, Leslie Philips clones the lot of you...

 

 

Edited April 16, 2020 by The Johnster

[The Johnster]

On 14/04/2020 at 10:16, Fat Controller said:

 

 

15 hours ago, Philou said:

Yay, well done @The Johnster and @Fat Controller

[tomparryharry]

On 13/04/2020 at 23:22, Philou said:

Here's one for @The Johnster : Does he remember all the Maseratis and Ferraris in Cardiff? He should do as there was one of them at the corner of St James' Arcade. It was there for years until the site was redeveloped in late 60s/early 70s.

 

If he doesn't know, then the answer will be here on a postcard by tomorrow.

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

 

Goldblatt & Webb? Down the road from the Asteys cafe?

[Philou]

Goldblatt and Webb? I'd forgotten about them.

 

Did you know that in the 60s and 70s, Howells' Garage on Cowbridge Road West was the biggest seller of Rolls-Royces and Bentleys outside of London (or so the story was told)?

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

[iL Dottore]

On 10/04/2020 at 13:25, John Harris said:

 

• ”Foreign Food” being limited to the occasional Italian, Chinese and Indian restaurant (all serving dishes heavily modified from the originals to suit the British palate.

The dishes served in most India restaurants (usually staffed by Bangladeshis) still bear no resemblance to those served in Indian homes, usually they are too sweet and too salty

• Chocolate Cigarettes (gone)

I remember candy cigarettes, the only chocolate ones were one my Dad brought back from Germany.

• Sweets from large glass jars, weighed out into paper bags

There are several sweet shops locally (East London) that sell loose sweets in paper bags.

• ”Proper” butchers with carcasses hanging in the window (pretty much disappeared today, I think)

Likewise, there are several traditional butchers in my area.

• Double-Rovers (combined LT underground and bus pass)

They are called 'One Day Travel Cards' and work on all TfL services.

• Wooden escalators

The Kings Cross fire meant the removal of wooden escalators, probably for the best?

• Ham, cut off the bone as you waited (and whatever has happened to “York Ham”: boiled, de-rinded, rolled in yellow breadcrumbs and then sliced to order?)

Ham 'off the bone' is available in most supermarkets, on the deli counter, plus specialist delicatessen shops.

• Cadbury’s Smash (instant mashed potato) 

You can still that in my local Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys.

• BabyCham (pseudo Champagne - marketed as being a “sophisticated” drink)

It's called "Prosecco" these days.

• Black and White TV

They still issue B&W TV licences, 7,000 in the latest figures.

• Milky Bars

You can still get Milky Bars in various sizes.

• Skool Uniform of short trousers and blazer, plus cap (not forgetting white shirt, skool tie, knee-high socks and lace-up black leather shoes)

Many junior and infants schools have uniforms with shorts, plus the rest.

• Leather satchels for skool.

School style satchels are very fashionable, and expensive, albeit not for school children

• Proper plimsolls!

Converse make "plimsolls", canvas lace-up or elasticated shoes.

• The wooden ruler and/or cane as punishment at skool

Beating children was never really a good thing

• Walnut Whips (I haven’t seen those for ages..)

Still made in various sizes.

 

Dare I suggest you haven't been looking?

 

Hmm, provocative post!

> Whilst “foreign food” in most of the UK is still very much adjusted for the suspicious British palate, the UK is by far the best country in Europe for really authentic cuisine, especially London. Really authentic “foreign” food was pretty much non existent in 1965 London.

 

> Loose sweets are certainly available, but the ubiquity of sweets in glass jars has pretty much vanished. Once they were available in practically every sweet shop and corner shop in the UK. Loose sweets are supposedly less hygienic than ready wrapped, which may explain their fall from favour.

 

> To be pedantic, if I may, a one day travel pass with its extensive network to access is not quite the same thing as a Double Rover, which just covered bus and underground.
 

> Is Prosecco really Baby-Cham by another name? I am surprised.

 

> Smash, Milky Bars and Walnut Whips. I confess that I had not been specifically looking for Smash or Milky Bars when I’ve raided a supermarket for supplies during my UK trips. Walnuts Whips I have seen (and bought) during my trips, but as the current iteration only has one walnut half on the top, instead of the “one on top, one inside” of the original, I still contend that the real Walnut Whip is still MIA.

 

> I too have seen “proper” Butchers with carcasses in the window, though they seem to be few and far between; furthermore, such displays also seem to be “toned down”. I haven’t noticed any window displays with Pig’s Heads with apples in their jaws as of late (as a meat eater I think it morally right and ethical that we are reminded by the carcasses in the Butcher’s window from whence our dinner came)

 

> Corporal Punishment! Now that’s a can of worms to open. I certainly recall a sense of injustice of being singled out for a whack with the ruler (I was generally a well behaved child).  I was lucky inasmuch as at my prep school corporal punishment used corporal punishment with surgical precision, the tongue-lashings dished out by the Schoolmasters being, perhaps, more feared (the whack I got from the ruler was administered in a state school - much to the horror of my Grandfather [who had been beaten as a boy] who then ensured I was sent to this [private] prep school which had VERY strict rules about corporal punishment). CP: Gone, but certainly not missed!

[Hroth]

22 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Is Prosecco really Baby-Cham by another name? I am surprised.

 

Nahhhh.....

 

Prosecco is a sparkling white wine, made from the Prosecco grape variety, though 15% can be from other permitted varieties.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosecco

 

Babycham is a perry based sparkling drink, think cider made from pears.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babycham

 

Walnut Whips used to have one on top and one inside.  The canonical method of consuming a walnut whip was to take the one off the top and eat it, then gnaw the chocolate until the interior was exposed and lick that out until you got to the internal walnut piece, eat the outside chocolate and finally pop the base with the walnut into your mouth to finish off.  Sigh......

Edited April 18, 2020 by Hroth

[caradoc]

On Thursday Johnster said; living in Roath I am probably in as rough an area of Cardiff as any in the 21st century.  I can smell marijuana as I write because the patio doors are open and the police helicopter is a frequent visitor.  

 

The seemingly normalised use of drugs is one area that, unlike smoking, has definitely not changed for the better since the 50s and 60s. I too have smelt the stink of marijuana, both at home and at my Mum's house in Oxford (coming from neighbours' gardens, I hasten to add !), neither of which could be described as a 'rough' area. And being subjected to the smell on trains, or just walking down the street, is not unusual nowadays. The last time I was in Paisley, pre-lockdown, I was walking behind a guy reeking of the stuff, and even though I held well back I could not escape it. How does such a person ever hope to get, or hold down, a job ?