The Oldies "I remember when" thread

[BaaLocks]

Having to phone a number to know what time it was (or wait to listen to the beeps on the radio)

Not being able to phone home to tell them you would be late home, or even where you were (or not having 2p to do it from the phone box)

Not actually knowing where you were, if you didn't have a map or A-Z

Having to go to the library to find out the answer to a question

Giving home three rings to tell them you were on your way home

Answering a call by reading out your phone number

Answering a call without knowing who it was

Having to ask for the key to the lock on the home phone before you could use it

Not being able to remember someone's phone number

Portable music being nine songs on a C90 and hoping your Walkman batteries didn't rum out

Edited August 13, 2022 by BaaLocks

[Ram-Alf]

Having to wear short trousers at Senior School as Mum was pi$$ed off with stitching up holes in the knees through playing football.

Plimsole whitener

Having to eat awful "frogsporn" sago/rice for school desert 

Sandwiches wrapped up in Mothers Pride bread wrapper to keep them fresh when staying on the park till late and always with 2 biscuits

Heading a football with the lace in it and almost being knocked out when the ball was sopping wet

School football kit that was 5 sizes to big with woollen football socks.

Standing outside the headmasters office waiting for the cane...always me?

Golden nugget chewing gum in a pocket sack, 1d sherbet chews, Sweet cigarettes with a red tip, Bonfire night where a Benwell banger would blow the dustbin lid off.  

 

[Crewton]

18 hours ago, Turk Thrust said:

The next time I go to Derby, which isn’t often, I must visit all my old haunts. The area around Abingdon Street where I lived till I was 8, then around Dairyhouse Road where I was till age 15 then to Valley Road, Chaddo before I left and my mum and dad moved to Alvaston. Must go to all the pubs I went to in the 60s such as the Dolphin, Seven Stars and the Bell. Seem to recall meeting up before a match at a pub called The Vine.
 

Watched Long John Baldry and his Hootchy Cootchy Men featuring a youngster called Rod Stewart at the Cattle Market Inn, now I assume long gone. Must go to my old place of work at the Library in the Wardwick, and branches at Alvaston Park (think now demolished) and Littleover. Must go to the Golden Gates at Elvaston Castle where my parents’ ashes were scattered. Is the Sha Bagh Indian restaurant London Road still around? Then known as the the Shagbag where I had my first curry.
 

Ah memories……….

The Sha Bagh is now the Mount Everest, Nepalese, pretty decent. 

The Roundhouse is now flats. The Harrington isn't a pub anymore either. 

If you were thinking of The Vine Inn, Whitaker Street, that's gone too. 

[Normanton Lad]

On 12/08/2022 at 15:12, Turk Thrust said:

Remember your Road well. I lived in Valley Road from age 15. I left school (Joseph Wright Art School now sadly gone) and went to Derby Art College in Green Lane but left and became a librarian in the Wardwick. Went to Aston Uni to qualify but left to become a cocktail barman in Estartit in Spain at the Custard Beast Bar (you can tell the era from the name). For a short time worked for a shadowy unit in MoD in London. Back to Derby after 18 months, signed on and was taken on by the dole office in Normanton Road. In 1976 I moved in the Department of Employment to Birmingham where I worked in Sutton Coldfield. Then onto London to work first in the Careers Service and then the Wages Inspectorate and then became a records and information manager. Best move ever. I worked on British and World Bank funded aid projects (mainly civil service reform and economic strategy). Went to over 50 trips to the Caribbean, India and Malaysia but mainly to Africa (got arrested and imprisoned as a spy in Sierra Leone, and had a bad experience with goats in The Gambia). In the final few years before retirement I worked on the UK Freedom of Information Act but still keep my hand in and work with computerising the Nigerian Court of Appeal and sorting out records management for Nigerian prisoners. Since my name is Crooks, this is very apt.

Your career has been very varied and eventful but to me it all seems hellish. I don't like travelling. Wouldn’t you have been more fulfilled as an artist? With your education at Joseph Wright Art School and the Art College you could have been an illustrator or something equally artistically creative. I like the work of Harry Wingfield, a Derby man, and Martin Aitchison. While they were drawing or painting they were probably also watching the birds in the garden. They both lived into their 90s and I doubt if they had more than half an hour’s stress in their careers as illustrators. As a kid I liked to draw and I would have loved to have gone to Joseph Wright School. I ended up working on building sites and latterly doing pointless things in offices. Fortunately, I’ve been retired nearly 20 years and I have been able to do things I should have done when I was younger.

It is a great shame that the art schools have gone. I suppose the conceptual artists and other wasters spoiled it for those who could draw and paint things people like to look at.

In the 1960s and 1970s the Wardwick Library was excellent. I always finished my trip there with a quick visit to the museum to look at the Joseph Wright paintings. I think they also had a stuffed fox there which I found very interesting. 
 

[Turk Thrust]

10 hours ago, Normanton Lad said:

Your career has been very varied and eventful but to me it all seems hellish. I don't like travelling. Wouldn’t you have been more fulfilled as an artist? With your education at Joseph Wright Art School and the Art College you could have been an illustrator or something equally artistically creative. I like the work of Harry Wingfield, a Derby man, and Martin Aitchison. While they were drawing or painting they were probably also watching the birds in the garden. They both lived into their 90s and I doubt if they had more than half an hour’s stress in their careers as illustrators. As a kid I liked to draw and I would have loved to have gone to Joseph Wright School. I ended up working on building sites and latterly doing pointless things in offices. Fortunately, I’ve been retired nearly 20 years and I have been able to do things I should have done when I was younger.

It is a great shame that the art schools have gone. I suppose the conceptual artists and other wasters spoiled it for those who could draw and paint things people like to look at.

In the 1960s and 1970s the Wardwick Library was excellent. I always finished my trip there with a quick visit to the museum to look at the Joseph Wright paintings. I think they also had a stuffed fox there which I found very interesting. 
 

I passed my 13 plus to go to Joseph Wright and then along with most others in my class went on to Art College but I quickly realised that I wasn’t as good as the others so left to become a librarian. When I worked in the Wardwick the Museum had a clear out of stuffed animals, many of which I took for my bedroom. Mum didn’t like it though. I had a stuffed badger but it had woodworm and had to be thrown out. By my bed I had a stuffed squirrel and birds hanging from the ceiling.  Wright’s paintings are fantastic, an example of chiaroscuro.
Things always work out eventually and I like to think I’ve had a good and interesting life. Hopefully more to come

 

[Ram-Alf]

6 minutes ago, Turk Thrust said:

I passed my 13 plus to go to Joseph Wright and then along with most others in my class went on to Art College but I quickly realised that I wasn’t as good as the others so left to become a librarian. When I worked in the Wardwick the Museum had a clear out of stuffed animals, many of which I took for my bedroom. Mum didn’t like it though. I had a stuffed badger but it had woodworm and had to be thrown out. By my bed I had a stuffed squirrel and birds hanging from the ceiling.  Wright’s paintings are fantastic, an example of chiaroscuro.
Things always work out eventually and I like to think I’ve had a good and interesting life. Hopefully more to come

 

I didn't like school I was too busy messing around, I went to Chadd Park Infants/Juniors, I failed the 1st 11 plus, If you passed the 1st you were good enough to go on to the 2nd exam, I was the only one who failed, I got to have the day off when the 2nd 11 plus exam was taken...more tree climbing for me, My Sister Susan was the clever one, She should have gone to Grammar school but politics got in the way, Chadd Parks school secretaries son Bobby was given a place instead of Susan both families lived in Challis Avenue, My Dad went apeshit, Bobby turned into a thick ducker while Susan went onto become head girl at Olive Eden

Because Susan was what she was I was given an opportunity to go into a higher grade at 11 years old WTF, I soon failed the exam and was put in a grade more suited for my intelligence, Grades were A, B, C1, C2, C3, D and R, I found my station in C1...bang average, Left school with the one thing ringing in my ears...Alf you're going to end up with nowt, You wont listen and you're not prepared to learn, Married at 19, 2 children out of work from 1981/84 sod all in the bank, Thatcherism, Miners strike, Falklands War, All friends going away on holiday while we had day trips to Skeg Vegas.

The Miners Strike was the making of me, I read books, Listened to older people and pulled my socks up tightened my belt and went for it, I'm a little envious of your work history Turk and ability to paint/draw, But with me pulling my socks up I was able to help those who couldn't help themselves which in a different way gave me more pleasure.

Today...life is good...very good, Thank you Arthur Scargill ?  

[Elwood P Dowd]

I don’t remember ever missing one day off school because of the weather, even in the really bad winter of 1963 we went to school.

I suppose in those days all the teachers lived near the school and either walked or biked to school, the kids simply walked.

Edited August 15, 2022 by Elwood P Dowd

[Wolfie20]

Jumping onto stationery buses to see what spent tickets the conductor had put in the bin.

Wearing boots which had metal studs in the sole and meant you could skid along the pavements sometimes making sparks.

Having to wear wellies in Winter with your short pants which made your legs sting like mad.

Going to play footie with your mates and always, always, always having a pump and adaptor with you to re-inflate the ball.

Taking all the potato peelings to the local pig farm in exchange for a bag of cooking apples.

 

[Phoenix]

On 13/08/2022 at 09:38, Elwood P Dowd said:

The step was painted with stuff called Cardinal red and the lady of the house polished it till it shone. !!!!!!!!!

Red tile polish is still available, Cardinal being the shade of red. My house dates to 1908 and has an old outside toilet and a thrall, both with red tiles. Usefull stuff.

[BaaLocks]

7 hours ago, Turk Thrust said:

When I worked in the Wardwick the Museum had a clear out of stuffed animals, many of which I took for my bedroom. Mum didn’t like it though. I had a stuffed badger but it had woodworm and had to be thrown out. By my bed I had a stuffed squirrel and birds hanging from the ceiling.

 

[admira]

… petrol was 36p a gallon. 

I know this because my Dad made me a wooden garage and that was the price on the pumps. 

[Wolfie20]

4 minutes ago, admira said:

… petrol was 36p a gallon. 

I know this because my Dad made me a wooden garage and that was the price on the pumps. 

I can remember it being 4/11d a gaĺlon - what's that, just less than 25p and now it's £8. You used to crank a handle on the pump to start delivery - kids today don't know they're born, i say don't know they're born! ?

[Crewton]

The smell of Esso Blue paraffin coming from the hall heater that used to heat the top floor of our house in Winter.

 

[Elwood P Dowd]

39 minutes ago, Wolfie20 said:

I can remember it being 4/11d a gaĺlon - what's that, just less than 25p and now it's £8. You used to crank a handle on the pump to start delivery - kids today don't know they're born, i say don't know they're born! ?

I still have my petrol ration coupons from the 1973 oil crisis, they were issued but never used.

[Day]

Our remote being on a cable attached to the TV.

VHS players, putting stickers on saying do not record over when you had recorded a film that may have contained small amounts of nudity.

When Saturday night TV was quality, Big Break, Strike it Lucky, Family Fortunes, Noel’s house party.

Comedy sitcoms that were actually funny, Only Fools & Horses, Porridge, Bottom, Red Dwarf, Men Behaving Badly.

When mini disc players came and went, only the rich kids had them.

Having pagers before mobile phones kicked in, ring up your mates pager on the landline and they would never ring back. Maybe that was just me?

McDonald’s was a rare treat, not a weekly lazy meal.

The horrible material that was used by Puma when creating our shirts, more ladders than a lady of the nights stockings.

Never having to worry about a utility bill

 

[Ram-Alf]

25 minutes ago, Crewton said:

The smell of Esso Blue paraffin coming from the hall heater that used to heat the top floor of our house in Winter.

 

Our 1st home was a flat and had electric warm air heating, We daren't turn it on, So had a paraffin heater...wow, Headaches all round for weeks until we found the reason why...Esso bloody Blue from Lennox's.

Took out a loan to have a gas fire fitted, That was when gas was dirt cheap and electric bloody expensive.  

[Ram-Alf]

Female bus conductors.

Trolly buses

Jumping off a moving bus at the back when stopping at your stop.

Fish n chip supper on a Friday night.

Rope swings over the brook on Chadd Park

Playing Conkers and having your knuckles smashed

Playing marbles in the gutter

Being shouted in on a Sunday 7pm as it was bath time and I couldn't go out after the bath ☹️I was 45 years old ?

 

 

 

 

 

[ramit]

i remember when roads were gravel and the country was larger.   i remember ladies in white uniforms behind the counter of the dairy store.  i remember the public toilets and the attendant, he had a uniform too, brownish.  i remember hand-me-downs, i remember rock hard Salmiak liquorice at the pharmacy, i remember fresh fish four times a week, remember rice pudding for three.  i remember 4 summers on farms with strangers.  i remember being an expert with sling shot and snowball, i remember climbing a lot, i remember falling a lot.  i remember the scent of Sunday steak mixed with father's pipe tobacco.  i remember my sister declaring me the spawn of the devil, i remember taking that as a compliment.  i remember chasing the asphalt laying machine like a prehistoric monster, yelling out some gibberish in the name of progress.

 

[Ram-Alf]

24 minutes ago, ramit said:

i remember when roads were gravel and the country was larger.   i remember ladies in white uniforms behind the counter of the dairy store.  i remember the public toilets and the attendant, he had a uniform too, brownish.  i remember hand-me-downs, i remember rock hard Salmiak liquorice at the pharmacy, i remember fresh fish four times a week, remember rice pudding for three.  i remember 4 summers on farms with strangers.  i remember being an expert with sling shot and snowball, i remember climbing a lot, i remember falling a lot.  i remember the scent of Sunday steak mixed with father's pipe tobacco.  i remember my sister declaring me the spawn of the devil, i remember taking that as a compliment.  i remember chasing the asphalt laying machine like a prehistoric monster, yelling out some gibberish in the name of progress.

 

 

I remember when pharmacy's were called chemists? 

[ramit]

8 hours ago, Unlucky Alf said:

I remember when pharmacy's were called chemists? 

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