Can you remember when............

[Popsk]

Can you remember when...........

• - Yer ma always told you to stand and count the sacks, when the coalman was delivering to the coalshed - just incase you were shortchanged
  - yer ma used a poss-tub and mangle, and used to hang her washin across the back-lane
  - the family used to sit around the fire, as close as they could, to keep warm and your legs always got burned, while your back was freezin

- the slide in the school-yard, where you put candle wax on the sole of your shoes - in summer, and sprinked water on it to freeze in the winter
- you had to jam your foot in the back of the netty-door, cos there wasn't a bolt on the door
- the newspaper pieces, on the nail, were always missing the vital end, to the piece of the story you were reading, cos somebody else had always used it
- your bed was always so cold, you had to pile coats ontop to keep warm
- the snow was so thick that dad had to dig a deep trench from the front door to the road
- the man came round to light the gaslight in the street
- there was always a piece of rope, sometimes with a car-tyre attached, hanging from a lamp-post in your street

............. and they were the days before the HSE or PC brigade could step-in and spoil the fun, ah memories

[Axeman]

Frost inside windows.

Trying to get out of a warm bath in winter...

Getting the coal in by bucket, before sack deliveries. One ton dumped on your doorstep.

Is it me, or were winters, proper winter ? Used to have great slides down Lincoln Road bank.....didn't seem to be as many cars about then.

And summer was, proper summer ? Always sunny..


.

[Popsk]

Frost inside windows.

Trying to get out of a warm bath in winter...

Getting the coal in by bucket, before sack deliveries. One ton dumped on your doorstep.

Is it me, or were winters, proper winter ? Used to have great slides down Lincoln Road bank.....didn't seem to be as many cars about then.

And summer was, proper summer ? Always sunny..


.

I you're right Axeman, winters had more snow and frost, but summers seemed to last for ever, we used to playout until it was dark - nobody seemed to worry. Mind I could never figure out wether the summer hols lasted for 6 months or 6 weeks - they seemed endless, until ofcourse you had to go back to school

[Pilot]

What about melted margarine on your hair instead of brilcream for the school Xmas party.

[johnc10]

What about melted margarine on your hair instead of brilcream for the school Xmas party.

[brian c]

No carpets.......oilcloth or lino

[gag]

Worse than butter on your hair - has to be your Mam spitting on her hanky to wipe muck off your face !!!!!!!!!!

cheers.

gag.

[Jarrow Pete]

Going to bed after night shift at pit, bedroom windows iced up on inside, jumping under the covers and finding my mam had put a hot water bottle in the bed. Priceless.

[johnc10]

Going to bed after night shift at pit, bedroom windows iced up on inside, jumping under the covers and finding my mam had put a hot water bottle in the bed. Priceless.

Never worked at the pit Pete but I do remember the ice on the inside of the windows and climbing into bed with a hot water bottle and later on using an electric blanket, I remember getting ready for me paper round in the airing cupboard 'cos there was no central heating and there's a photo of me somewhere caught half-dressed, might try and hunt it out so ye can all have a laugh

[baldy.smith]

Ice on the inside of the windows!

I still get it, but from today, no more. just had double glazing fitted'
Thank god for progress on this front.

[Globalmyths]

I can remember ice on the inside of the windows and trying to scrape it off so I could watch the train go past. I remember having to go to the butcher shop where they had a well and collect buckets of water to fill the copper so we could have our weekly-Saturday night baths. I can remember having to fill the basin from our hot water bottles so we could wash our face in the mornings because the tank water pipes would be frozen. Making snowmen in winter was old hat I can remember making an iceman with my sisters out of hail stones. I remember despite wearing a balaclava going to school and getting chilblains on my ears. And the school teacher getting the visiting district nurse to look at them. She never did anything because she didn't know what to do. I just had to put up with them until the winter ended. I remember going all over the farms in the district picking black berries, so mum could make jam and apple and blackberry pies. yummy.. that will do for now Ok just one more. I remember being stationed at Waiouru Army Military Camp which is nearly 3,000 feet above sea level close to and I mean close to the 9,000 foot plus active volcano mount Ruapahu. And where they frequently have blizzards in winter at Waiouru. which is on what they call the Desert road. and it is a desert area, albeit a cold climate desert. And I would go and have a hot shower and I would get in and knowing it was going to be bleeding cold as soon as I got out of the shower so I would take a fresh cake of soap into the shower and there would be no soap left before I would reluctantly get out.

[Popsk]

Yes, I can remember the iced-up windows, it used to get pretty thick as well. Then the pipes would freeze-up and there'd be no water, I remember when we had the big freeze-up, that would be 1947, mam used to get pan-fulls of snow and melt them on the range so's we could have a hot drink. I think it was so cold that the coal-piles froze solid in the coal depot, so there were no coal deliveries until the thaw, we burned anything we could get our hands-on, to keep warm.

[Pilot]

I was conceived in 1947, guess my parents found the alternative way to keep warm.

[Popsk]

Yeh! pretty much everything else was still rationed in those days Pilot

[Popsk]

Remember the day the Gas-Man used to call, he'd have been working his way down the street, from house to house, so ma had plenty of time to get a cloth on the table, ready for him coming. When he arrived he'd be ushered straight to the Gas-cupboard, were he'd remove the coin-container from the gasmeter, then tip it out and count the contents on the cloth covered table. I used to be fastinated by the piles of coins, mostly old penny's, that he used to make while he was sorting and counting - the table used tobe full of them. Ma would be hovering around the table, in her pinny, and then there'd be the final reckoning when she'd get her rebate, then we'd be down to the cornershop, for some little luxury for tea.

[Popsk]

Can you remember when kids used to stand-up, and offer their seat to a lady, or elderly person. Some hope today - some of the youngster's seem to think we should stand up and let them have the seat - how times change eh!

[anna]

Worse than butter on your hair - has to be your Mam spitting on her hanky to wipe muck off your face !!!!!!!!!!

cheers.

gag.

Or a Pinny ...

[Jarrow Pete]

Remember when it was strange to see a woman in a public bar, when kids said please and thankyou and when foul language was never heard in public.

[Popsk]

Remember when it was strange to see a woman in a public bar, when kids said please and thankyou and when foul language was never heard in public.

Yes Pete, the common courtesy’s seem to go bye the board these days don't they, same as spitting in public places and spitting gum out onto the pavement Good manners cost nothing, yet they make life so much more enjoyable for others

[brian c]

I can remember walking into the Ben in Jarrow with the wife and being told that if she wanted a drink we would have to go into the saloon bar.