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Life outside Ambridge
Life outside Ambridge
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Life in Ambridge
THIS POST IS CLOSED "longer off topic comments" - Episode 14 Life Outside Ambridge Have a seat and let's chat.
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ReplyDeleteKPnuts - February 4, 2021 at 7:11 PM
Janice, that recipe sounds good, I like liver, I went off kidney after doing them in biology!
It is interesting how we lay down memories, I think they can be “crystallised “ by photos, but the mind is a weird and wonderful thing.
CowGirl - February 4, 2021 at 7:13 PM
Ow in a shoe,
It was said tongue in cheek. An excuse for those who were prevaracating
Basia - February 4, 2021 at 7:29 PM
We use the same part of the brain to imagine and remember.
MrsP Ambridge - February 4, 2021 at 8:13 PM
Come on Miriam cheer up, you mustn't let it get you down, we are all struggling and you are as entitled to struggle as any one else.
Write and tell us what you have cooked tonight, or if you don't read this until tomorrow, tell us tomorrow's meal.
Or explain how your memory works.
Do you see a memory in pictures ?
Or in words ?
Or perhaps in feelings ?
Try not to get bogged down we need you on here, as you often give us food for thought !
Mistral, thank you so much for your little list of memories - couldn't find clips of "Children's Hour" but did find the song above. (It sent MrGG into a wistful trance when I played it!)
ReplyDeleteFunny how memories (and our brains) work isn't it? I get the full whistles and bells experience and can recall most things in great detail, which can be both a curse AND a blessing sometimes. My friends contact me sometimes to help resolve arguments or disagreements on events from decades ago.
I’m with you and others Gary with a picture memory which includes smell and colours etc
DeleteLike a film running.....
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DeleteAh Gary memories of sitting on my mum’s lap for “Listen with motherl” Or other times combing her hair and putting lipstick on her during the programme. I would have been about 3 - 4 (?) and most importantly making sure she didn’t go to sleep 🤣
ReplyDeleteLots more snow coming your way get that fire on the whiskey out tv on! and feet up! 🔥 🥃 📺
We keep getting threatened with snow and it never turns up! It's annoying, because I love it...
Deletere Christmas decorations - we still have the tree (minus lights) up in the front garden. I see no point in flinging out a perfectly lovely big tree until it starts to lose it's needles!
Tell Mr GG it sent me into a nostalgic wistful mood too, and a cosy feeling, am glad Mistral remembered Children's Hour.
ReplyDeleteThank you Gary.” Listen with mother” - must be one of my earliest memories too. “Are you sitting comfortably “ it was very important for me to be sitting, either on my mothers lap or at least close beside her. ‘ Children’s hour’ finished with Uncle Mac saying “ Goodnight children (pause) everywhere.”
ReplyDeleteYou are so clever at finding just the right pictures and videos.
And me !
ReplyDeleteThe Fauré Berceuse at the end of Listen with Mother always sounded very sad to me because it meant the programme was over for another day.
ReplyDeleteI distinctly remember one day when we had to travel to Windsor to see the dentist.
We got back home too late for Listen with Mother. I kicked up an awful fuss, had a bit of a tantrum and Mum said ‘ Never mind, I’ll play you the music on the piano’, which she did.
But it was no good, I wanted the nursery rhymes and the story, not the closing music!
Afraid I was very ungrateful and made an awful fuss and refused point blank to learn to
play it myself in later years!
Though I have to say that was a lovely recording at the top Gary, brought back so many other memories too.
DeleteThanks GG, nostalgia, oh dear...
ReplyDelete“Listen with Mother”, and “Watch with Mother” were regular fixtures in my childhood, but the “with Mother “ bit always seemed a misnomer, it was a chance for Mother to catch up on something else whilst daughter was safely occupied. I don’t remember “Children’s Hour” whether it was no longer running or my Mother wasn’t prepared to put up with an hour of youth programming I don’t know.
ReplyDeleteYou’re right KP. My Mum was always in the kitchen clearing up after lunch and I was in the dining room, where the radio was, with the furniture pushed back. Then I could dance around to The Sugar Plum Fairy, (like a very fat little ballet dancer) or stomp up and down to The Grand Old Duke of York. I snuggled up as close to the radio as I could for the story. Dorothy Smith was my favourite reader.
DeleteMum didn’t come into the room until 2 O’Clock to listen to Woman’s Hour.
As for Children’s Hour, my favourites were Larry the Lamb who was always getting into trouble with his friend Dennis the Dachshund, and later, the children’s serial ‘Jennings at School’ who was often getting into trouble with his friend Derbyshire!
I was also a Listen with Mother fan. Something so comforting about these old BBC voices.
DeleteWatch with Mother another favourite Andy Pandy, The Woodentops and Bill and Ben (flubba dub)😅😅😅
Thank you, Mistral, for your memories, and Gary for the pictures at the top that bring back precisely my childhood, especially the row of houses, exactly like the one I lived in when I was listening to Listen With Mother!
ReplyDeleteCan't relate to any of the above but something Spicy said yesterday about buying liver in Oz. A friend went looking for some plonk and the shopkeeper accused her of buying it for the Aborigines who don't tolerate alcohol.
ReplyDeleteI have a terrible memory and have had to develop strategies for remembering things throughout my life. I was so glad when I was able to use an electronic calendar that sends me email reminders, all I need to remember now is to put things on the calendar!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the video Gary. Such memories of Listen with Mother. Loved it all and I remember sitting at the kitchen table listening intently. That music meant the end so a bit sad.
ReplyDeleteDrinking school milk every day and being in the May Queen too.
I have heard this piece often but had forgotten the connection to Listen with Mother. I used to love this as a very tiny tot, probably without mother, as she was slaving away, as most mothers' were at that time with washing - I remember the mangle and washboard - and the rest of the daily work. I loved Bill and Ben - Weeeed, Muffin the Mule and RT and Bobtail. Later I heard Children's Favourites - I can still sing the whole of There once was an Ugly Duckling to my grandchildren but I've not heard Sparkie and the Magic Piano for years.
DeleteBy the time I was 7 or 8 there was the Saturday morning pictures.
💉 done!
ReplyDeleteAll ok - so far🤣 I have been given “The Oxford” the first person I have heard of doing so at this particular venue but I only noticed this when I looked at my card on return home.Just glad to get one! (So I’m different to Mr R!)
My second 💉 is on 23/4 🤗
It seems the Oxford one also protects from the new varient also, if todays news is accurate.
DeleteWhen my jab. eventually happens, I am sure this is the one I will get.
Glad you have been jabbed.
Yet another Wonderful heading video. Thanks GG.
ReplyDeleteI could almost see myself back at school, with a similar hair style, in my hand-knitted school cardi. As to the school milk, ours were given out at the afternoon break so were often sour as they had been kept in the sun until then. It was Yuk, esp. if you had a bottle from the top crate, where the birds had pecked at the foil tops.
I rarely drank mine, and was told off often, as a result.
The primary school I attended for my final 2 years (after having moved more northerly), was demolished last year (the replacement having been built on adjoining land). All ex-pupils were invited to go and visit it, for one last time.
I didn't.
My memories are as it was when I attended, not as it was before demolition, so I didn't want to spoil these. I preferred to remember the desks with their ink-wells, along with the dipping pens, changing the nibs, the horrible toilets built in corrugated iron as side "add-on's", the canteen where we had our school dinners, with its long tables + benches etc. Those school meals were absolutely lovely, particularly the pastry topped mince pie, served with hot and tender shredded beetroot, and as for the chocolate sponge with chocolate custard...
I was glad I didn't go back, as these memories would have been erased.
PS I still have a photo from then, which must be 1965/6, of the school netball team, with me as GA, when I was also a House vice-captain.
Happy Days....
In the winter Miriam ours used to be heated up, so we all had our supplies of drinking chocolate.
DeleteMy game was hockey, my sister played Centre half and I played centre forward, we used to go up the field together everyone used to get out of our way when we were playing matches , I regret to say we were a formidable duo in other words a little on the tough side.
I went to boarding school latterly, where I was social prefect, which meant writing to each new pupil at the begining of each term and organising the "Big Sisters " all younger children had one who took a special interest in their child and tucked them up in bed each night, it was quite a good system, though the headmistress called me over the coals when somebody ran away, I should have known she was unhappy , not that I took much notice of her reprimand.
On going to grammar school, I discovered hockey in grammar and was in the school team as RW. This was the same time I fenced, and helped run the new, after school, Fencing Club.
DeleteI wish I was that fit and motivated again!
I would have loved to fence, my other desire was to play lacrosse never managed either I.m afraid.
DeleteNow then Miriam, I can give you more than 10 years, you can do it if you set your mind to it.
I am out there every morning weather permitting pumping away on my tricycle, progress is VERY slow, but I can now manage to get to the 1st telegraph pole in bottom gear.as opposed to top
I don't really remember Listen with Mother strangely.
ReplyDeleteI do though, remember Watch with Mother, but I have no idea when this was, as there was obviously a small b+w tv at home. I can't recall when Mum + Dad, could afford the rental off it.
I recall:-
Picture Book
Andy Pandy
Rag Tag + Bobtail
Bill + Ben
The Woodentops.
This is what I remember, but not sure if correct. 😣
Does any-one remember Twizzle along with, Torchy, not forgetting Ivor the Engine?
ReplyDeleteI remember Ivor!
DeleteBut the Clangers were the tops.
I forgot them!
DeleteThanks for the reminder and memory.
I can also remember seeing the Coronation on our telly.
ReplyDeleteThe ability to own a TV in the early 1950s is extraordinary in my parents' case. We lived in Fulham in a road without a bathroom and with an outside loo. I can remember the mice. I lived there from 2 - 6 when it was demolished and we were given a council flat. My father always worked, as a driver BUT how did they afford the telly???? Perhaps the economics were different then.
HaHa I meant a house with out a bathroom
DeleteMy father wouldnt have a television in the house. They didnt have one till after I left home at 18, just for the news you know was his excuse.
DeleteI remember going to a friends house to watch their tv, a small box in a room with the curtains closed, no idea what we watched but I was bored. I have only ever owned 1 TV in my life and I only bought that as I didnt think I would see the young man of the moment as it was olympic year and he was a great fan.
My dilemma also, as I recall my early life in a terraced council house, which had no bathroom but did have an inside loo, which was off the kitchen.
DeleteI think your family was wise in those days as there were so many other, more interesting things to do.
DeleteWe've always had a TV but I've had friends who haven't and forbidden their children from contamination. This can alienate them who are unable to comment on the latest soap and therefore feel 'different'???
Before we married, OMiaS was watching too much sport on TV. So we thought we'd see how we got on without one.
DeleteThe Smalls grew up listening to story tapes and surrounded by books, plus The Archers and Radio 4. Later they found they could watch on the computer so we went through a stage of such delights of wall-to-wall Chucklevision until the Beeb closed the loophole about watching previoulsy aired episodes without a license. Now, of course, they've got Netflix, etc, etc.
So TV was never forbidden, just unavailable. We had the odd mumble but it was what they were used to and generally they accepted it. (I remember on a visit to Granny and Grandpa's, eldest Small was most indignant that the just watched programme couldn't be re-wound and enjoyed again like the story tapes.)
A dad at the school gate once said, 'If we didn't have a telly, I wonder if my child would read as many books as J?' Another of J's school friends determined to be like J and read as many books as possible.
Who needs TV soaps when you've got The Archers :)
I am 66yrs old now, but I often feel surprised and amazed, as to how things have changed so quickly, in this relatively short time.
ReplyDeleteIt is ongoing so very quickly, and at a frightening speed.
Already my computer + 'phone, are out of date!
I am not sure that I keep up.
Just testing
ReplyDeleteThis is third try. I managed to prise my husband away from the farm yesterday to have his Covid vaccination. We had the Oxford one too Lady R. They ran out of Pfizer one on Wednesday. It was just as well for my husband who has allergic reactions. I was v impressed with the organisation, it was smooth, efficient and friendly.
ReplyDeleteAnother 💉 done. Just brilliant.
DeleteMy bro-in-law (in N.Wales), gets his 1st tomorrow morning.
GG.
ReplyDeleteIf you read this, will you kindly, take my name out of your lovely mortar, relating to earliest memory.
I say this, as memories are flowing, so I think I will soon post the earliest memory I have.
I hope that this is OK.
My memories are like little films, as I remember vividly in so many ways, almost as if I am reliving them, at that time.
ReplyDeleteMy earliest, definitive one, was on a cold and snowy day in January 1957.
Dad came into the bedroom, to get Big Sis + me up. We went down the steep wooden stairs, and on opening the door at the bottom, which went into the front room, where the coal fire was fully alight. Here we saw Mum, in a make-shift bed, cradling our younger sister who was born in the early hours of the morning.
This I still, to this day, remember very vividly.
What a lovely memory.
Delete👶
I can “see” your memory very clearly Miriam as one would in a well written book 👏🏻
DeleteOooh school milk😲😲
ReplyDeleteThe milk was kept outside in crates and in summer not nice but in winter when it was cold very much better! When Katy started school, mornings only, I didn’t realise milk had been snatched by the Thatcher so she didn’t have a mid morning drink on her first day. No one had told me to provide one! Having been in Hong Kong for over two years was less aware than most! I still feel guilty about that after 40 years! When we came back, I didn’t have a clue about Calpol as junior aspirin had been discredited. I wondered what everyone was on about but it was widely used for childhood ailments.
ReplyDeleteOMiaS thinks that stopping rancid school milk was probably the best thing that Maggie ever did : )
DeleteLady R - I am very jealous you got the Oxford jab!
ReplyDeleteAnd surprised you were given an appointment for your second one.
We were just told it would be in between 9 -11 week time.
So was I Archerphile - Mr R did not either. I asked had they just started doing this and was told yes. I also wondered if it had anything to do with my answer of yes to the question “are you a carer” but I think not although that was noted on the laptop. It will be 11 weeks though. As I posted earlier I did not notice which jab I had received until l looked at the card when we got home. I was surprised it was not Pfizer as everyone else I know you has attended the HCH has had that. Must be a recent change.
Delete“Who” of course 🙄
DeleteMy father wouldn't have a television in the house either.
ReplyDeleteBut they got one after I left at sixteen.
But even then he refused to watch ITV until his dying day.
At the end of his life he was apoplectic about JR and still writing regularly to the Telegraph incensed by the standards of life in general but particularly on television being dropped.
However as a family we did have access to television on a Saturday night when we visited another household to watch in convivial company.
My name was picked out of the hat at school to be one of the London schoolchildren chosen to line the route of the Coronation procession.
Of course once the procession had passed we all went home. I went to the house where we usually spent Saturday evenings and entered a room packed with neighbours and friends, by which time it was all done and dusted.
I never did get to see the ceremony and have only ever seen clips of it to this day.
But I do have a personal memory of the Queen of Tonga !
Have seen the Queen of Tonga on film. Wasn’t she magnificent?!! Sometimes you do see more on TV but it must have been wonderful to see it in the flesh as long as you had a good viewpoint. When I was 7 the Aueen and Prince Philip came to Crewe in November. We went up to the main road with the school and waited for ages it seemed. I remember my feet being very cold, no huggy boots then! In the event they whizzed past and it seemed hardly worth the discomfort! I guess they must have been late for the next appointment! I did see her years later on Derby Day in an open carriage and that was far more satisfying!
DeleteI have to wait too for the second jab appointment but my brother in Crewe and sister in law were given their second appointment on a card. I just had a printout of side effects etc. I guess each area is different.
... the Queen!😊👑
DeleteAfter two milder and dry days I've managed to do some jobs in the garden before the weather turns cold again. 3 dozen pelargonium cuttings have now been potted on and the garden waste bin has been filled up ready to be collected this week.
ReplyDeleteGosh you are so lucky Here in Cheshire West, our garden bins will not be emptied again, until after March 8th.
DeleteDo you have to pay, Miriam? If so would request a refund!
DeleteI have had heavy overnight rain, since Tuesday, so my garden is an even more soggier mess.
DeleteThere are flood warnings out for the River Dee, again. I feel for those affected again by this, after an entire village in Wales (on banks of the river) was evacuated, in Storm Christoph. The residents spent 24hours on school hall/community centre floors, whilst still trying to maintain Covid rules, re distancing etc. This must have been awful in so many aspects, along with not knowing if your home would be flooded by the morning.
Ev. No - well at the moment. The only payment is for a 2nd one, but I have just the one.
DeleteI have "lost" my main kitchen waste bin (it just disappeated after a weekly collection a few weeks ago) plus my other kerbside re-cycle bins are cracked, broken, with handles missing. This is due to the very rough handling by the collectors. I have tried to order more, but I cannot -as there will be no replacements until after March 8th!
DeleteMy main kitchen food waste bin was taken by someone three weeks ago. I keep it at the front and someone must have lifted it over the wall. Two weeks later another, broken bin appeared. And a dirty one at that as well as being broken. ( my bins are scrupulously clean ! ) my recycling box is also broken.
DeleteAs you say Miriam, rough handling by the operatives.
Ev - yes I was at the front and did see the Q of Tonga, very close up as she leaned out to greet the crowds.
Before the children came along I used to go with my husband on Sunday afternoon to Smiths Lawn to try to get off duty snaps of the ' family'.
I have been as close to the Queen as it's possible to get, ( much less security in those days ) as she was leaving one week. I just happened to be at the gate that she exited from.
I've also been presented to P Margaret and P Anne on different occasions of course. Nothing special, just being in the right place at the right time. Once as a young nurse at P Ms local hospital and P A at a Carers Centre many decades later.
Cow girl I played Lacrosse or rather I ran around trying to avoid being in a position to catch the ball which was very hard. I was only in goal once very well padded up. There are no boundaries so I suppose it was good exercise. I really should do up one of the bikes that are rusting away in sheds here and get some exercise. We are near a canal which has one big advantage - it’s flat!
ReplyDeleteAbout getting a television back in the fifties -
ReplyDeleteI had to go into hospital as a young child to have an eye operation. I was in there for about 10 days with both eyes bandaged for most of the time. Mum& Dad were only allowed to visit on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
I remember once being terribly upset because I didn’t know they were there, they had stayed quiet so as not to upset me!
Anyway I was desperate to go home and making a big fuss and getting upset & the nurses were worried about me pulling the dressings & bandages off, so to calm me down, my Dad promised that if I was good until they could take me home, there would be a big extra special surprise waiting for me.
It turned out to be a big TV in a mahogany cabinet with doors that hid the screen! That was when I started watching Watch with Mother and the Coronation was the following year.
Archerphile, I have two similar memories!
DeleteGoing next door to watch the coronation. I was two and a half. Our neighbour had a Royal Doulton Balloon Man figure on the mantlepiece which I loved and decades later my parents gave me one just the same. I treasure it greatly.
The other memory is of being in hospital having my tonsills out when I was six. I too was rarely allowed visitors. I had been told by someone that I would be given ice-cream: I wasn't and was bitterly disappointed!
Hi Hilary we are a similar age and, at six, I had my tonsillectomy. I think I was in hospital for 5 days and was told that no one was allowed to visit but that I'd have ice cream. Similarly it didn't come. My daughter has recently had her 3 year old in hospital with a distressing bowel issue. - I don't think ultimately serious. My daughter didn't leave her side for days and the NHS gave them their own room. When I told her how things have changed she was astonished that mothers could leave their children at that time.
DeleteI think that then, parents did as they were told. A lot of tonsils came out in my era - it was quite a trendy thing to have done. 🍦❌
I had my tonsils out when I was 9. The hospital was nearly 50 miles away from home so family couldn't visit much and I felt really abandoned. Not many people had cars or could drive in those days. My gran who had learnt to drive brought my Mum down once, and with a bottle of Lucozade, a real treat, and a book of Gulliver's Travels that had pictures you could lick and stick in the spaces in the book.
ReplyDeleteWhat awful experiences children had to go through then. Parents today will find them hard to believe!
DeleteTake 4 😡😡😡😡
ReplyDeleteAll is well post 💉 except no bathroom visit yet if you get my drift🤣 unusual for me!
Children weren’t allowed to visit either. When I was 10 my Dad had a serious operation and was in hospital for a while. Needless to say I couldn’t go to see him. Also my Mum had my younger brother in a maternity home and didn’t see her for two weeks! How times change! Now young mothers are pitched out the next day!
ReplyDeleteBro in law, had his jab today He also came out with the 2nd appt for April.
ReplyDeleteHe had the Oxford one, so perhaps this is a difference with this vaccine?
My brother was in hospital when we lived on the Isle of Wight with Polio, we were about 9 ot 10 at the time, he must have been in for 3 months or so, we of course were not able to see him, though we did get letters from him that had been through the sterilisation process and were stained brown.One day we were standing at the bus stop waiting to catch the bus home when my father drove past with him sitting in the front seat, we were so thrilled. Apparently no one had known about his return home , just had phone call to come and get him
ReplyDeleteNow That is a Memory...
DeleteBefore the Rugby starts -
ReplyDeleteI just want to wish any-one in the path of the snowy storm due soon, every good wish.
I hope you all stay safe and secure.
Me - only very cold, with hard frosts, are forecast.
I had my tonsils and adenoids taken out when I was 7. Seems to have been fashionable in those days. I was also told by my mother that I would get ice cream but it never appeared. I just remember being left alone and once thinkinking I heard my mum's voice outside the ward and running out into the corridor to look for her.
ReplyDeleteNext day an old man in a white coat put a rubber mask over my face while I was struggling.
When my daughter had appendicitis aged 8 I was with her practically every step of the way. The staff was wonderful and she could even have mum or dad spend the night. I accompanied her down to the prep room and she was given a little sedative by a jovial anesthatist who put me and mine at complete ease.
Thank God attitudes and practices have changed.
When I was a junior doctor doing a paediatric rotation we had a 3 month old baby in with whooping cough. There were strict visiting times for the parents. Sadly the baby didn't make it and I stayed on after my shift had finished to be there when it died as it's parents weren't. That's one memory that will always stay with me.
ReplyDeleteWhat a poignant memory for you, and so lovely to share it.
DeleteThis must have made a massive impact on you at that time, which must have helped you in your profession, in a sad and strange way.
CC I had Whooping Cough at 6 weeks my mum blew down my throat not knowing it was a kiss o f life. I could not be left for a second. As this was October 1947 no NHS but my paternal grandad paid for the Dr. How lucky am I to be here 🙏🏼
DeleteThere is an amazing story in the County Press today which you can access online. In 1940 a German pilot with fuel tank riddled with bullets landed on the island. A young man aged 19 driving a lorry was flagged down by Horst. He drove him to Newport to turn him over to the police but on the way Horst asked to stop at the Blacksmiths Arms for a drink! In Newport, the policeman was on holiday so he then took him back home where his Mum gave him food and tea. Presently a contingent came for him but she said he had to finish his cup of tea before they took him. Afterwards his plane was raided by the locals and mostly taken away but the culprits were heavily fined at the rates of £2, 10s and 5s according to their participation! What a tale!
ReplyDeleteMay I just add a post, which is very different, to the current chat?
ReplyDeleteMy niece's hubbie (the OZ family), was brought up in a UK circus, along with his 8 siblings so has a lot of circus skills.
As such, he has set up a mini circus school where they now live, on the OZ Gold Coast. This is for pre-school 2-5 yrs youngsters, to give them a different outlook and experience. He has already 2 classes full for 2 terms, and is being asked to do sessions in some nursery schools, as well.
I am only posting this, as it is so nice to hear something so positive, in this still difficult time.
Lovely story Miriam.
ReplyDeleteAnd children of that age are so flexible that to have those lessons in balance and flexibility will set them up for life. That muscle memory will stay with them.
My father was an army instructor in exercise and gym and had me doing all sorts of balancing and strength exercises at that age. I am still very flexible getting on for 80.
Remembering time in hospital - I had my tonsils removed at the age of 20!
ReplyDeleteI’d been having chronic throat infections for years, so it was thought getting rid of them might help and prevent me having so much time off work.
After the operation I expected ice cream too, but my first meal was lunch and it was salad on the menu with sliced tomatoes! They were agony on my my very sore throat. I was sent home the day after the operation, though I didn't feel at all well. Later that evening I had a haemorrhage and had to be rushed back to the ward where I was kept for a further week!
I was in hospital when I was five- it was thought I had meningitis but after a lumbar puncture the conclusion was viral pneumonia. I can remember clearly refusing to eat (those were the days!) and being promised strawberry jelly and banana which sounded lovely. It duly came and looked pretty but tasted of mouldy cheese and onions. I gagged. The nurse was kind but the Sister shouted at her because I hadn't eaten it and I felt terrible. I'm sure it was perfectly nice and it was my fever that made it taste horrible.....
ReplyDeleteMinty, you have reminded me of something that happened when I was in hospital, also aged 5, for my eye operation. Both eyes were bandaged and I couldn’t see anything, so the nurses had to feed me. One breakfast time I was told there would be eggs for breakfast. Nurse arrived, told me to open my mouth, and shoved a spoonful of very hot salted porridge in!
DeleteI remember being horrified at the texture, taste and how hot it was and spluttered the whole lot out. The nurse was not pleased! It put me off porridge for years!
You poor things! It is horrible when food isn't what is expected. I worked for a year in a children's home in Scotland before going on to study. The first time we had porridge for breakfast I was astonished to find it had salt instead of sugar in it.
DeleteThe scots if I remember correctly always ate their porridge with salt.
DeleteI started working in childrens homes over 50 years ago, the children always had cereal followed by a cooked breakfast,so different today.
Archerphile, it must have been so frightening for you, in a strange place with horrible things happening and with your eyes bandaged. At least I could see my tormentors approaching!
DeleteMistral I looked back at your memories and your first, most important one was that memory of being aware of self for the first time and being happy. I can remember a very peaceful scene :my son sitting under a plum tree in my grandmothers garden, the dappled light highlighting his face: he looked up smiling, “I’m happy” he said. I was surprised that someone so young, about three, could be so self aware.
ReplyDeleteMy mother used to try to insist o Scott's porridge oats because it was , according to the commercial "central heating for the body"., with kids going to school on those dark cold Scottish morning's glowing with inner warmth thanks to the porridge.She made it with water and salt. It resembled wallpaper paste which would have probably tasted better.
ReplyDeleteNowadays it's fashionable to have oatmeal for breakfast. Personally I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.
It was Ready Brek gave you that glowing orange outline. Sadly, it never worked when we tried it ; )
DeleteMy Granny used to make us porridge when we visited. I don't recall if it was salted, but it was almost certainly made with water not milk. I liked it, my siblings hated it. So when Granny went into the kitchen Mum had to hastily eat their up!
She used to make the best rice pudding I've ever tasted too. Can't remember what my siblings thought of it.
My other Granny always made us steamed syrup pudding - it became quite a joke as we always pretended to guess what she'd made us. Universally popular with everyone except Mum who hated syrup!
I have a memory of sitting with my sister in our parents double bed, and I feel sure it was a Saturday morning for some reason. We both had a bowl of porridge with salt.
ReplyDeleteAnd I liked it.
I think it must have been the first time with salt, and perhaps a rare treat to be in that bed with breakfast, for it to be such a treasured memory.
I don't have porridge on a daily basis, make my own muisli instead, but when I do have porridge I make it with water, often have maple syrup and love it with cream.
I still have my tonsils and am glad that I do, because they have protected me when I have had throat infections. But my sister did have hers out, and she did have ice cream.
Oh dear this talk of childrens homes has made me all nostalgic. and in particular of 2 gifts I was given, The first was a packet of tide soap powder, odd I know but also very thoughtful as we were always running out of the powder we were allocated and as staff we always bought more..
ReplyDeleteThe second was a pottery dish I was given by a young teenage boy who was passing through the short stay unit I was working in. Sadly I dont remember his name as I would so like him to know that some 40 years later I still use it every day
I remember a sort of gift I was given once Cowgirl. I had a young client, 16 years old and a major escape artist, who was passed on to me having worn out his previous social worker. He had bunked out of one place he was in while awaiting trial and when he was found I was given the task of taking him to a supposedly really secure unit . I was thinking to myself as I began the drive and trying to keep him engaged in conversation, how on earth am I expected to get him there without him doing a runner? and then he said " Don't worry I like you and I'm not going to get you in trouble by scarpering while you are taking me. I shall go there, have a good meal and a sleep tonight and be gone early tomorrow morning."
DeleteI got into the office next morning , phones ringing with utterly exasperated and embarrassed secure unit staff, and of course he had gone.
I remember him with great fondness because he could have caused me such hazzle on that journey but he chose not to. Another lad that great things could have been made of in the right family.
It started with Listen with Mother and then moved onto hospital memories. As a child I also heard a lot about "almonds" with ice-cream and have managed to enjoy both to this day. Tonsils are called amygdales in French (which is also a part of the brain), the Latin word for almond being amygdalus which means "tonsil plum". I spent some time in hospital on observation as a child and on release sobbed violently. Ten years ago I spent a week in hospital for something more serious but remember it as a period of being away from everyday life, my sister visited each day and it felt good to be cut off from normality. Of course I have no wish to repeat that experience but that's how it was.
ReplyDeleteMy dad would always put salt on his porridge. He was not Scottish.
ReplyDeletePorridge for me was, and still is, just oats cooked in milk, with demerara sugar put on top.
ReplyDeleteI can't it eat with salt - but that is my taate, only.
I love a traditional rice pudding, esp with a skin on. Again, I still eat it as I did as a child, with a dollop of jam on top (to be stirred in!) But these days I prefer a spoonful of marmalade on top (home-made of course).
A steamed jam/syrup/sultana pudding, was a staple one as a child, with lashings of custard, as was a good bread + butter pudding.
We had a bakery van which stopped outside, selling wonderful fresh bread. but sadly went stale quite quickly, if not eaten up.
I have just turned a circle, as have arrived back at Bread Pudding... This I still have the recipe for, as posted a while ago by another blogger.
They say things always come around again - 😂🤣
PS I am not confusing Bread + Butter pudding, with Bread Pudding. Both were made.
DeleteI constantly confuse the two. But I know I don't like either!
DeleteWe once had to make one or other of them in a school cookery lesson. If a dish wasn't liked by the family we could make something different. But Dad liked it so I had to make it. Then we had it for pudding at tea time : (
Have you tried bread and butter pudding with marmalade spread on the bread?Yummy.
DeleteI still love suet, when in a pastry crust as a topping on a pie, along when used in dumplings.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I hated suet roly-poly, or similar, when used suet was used in a pudding.
I have tried vegeterian suet, but it does not work and so the results were just awful.
I like suet pastry too Miriam. Very yummy !
DeleteMy mum was surprised when she first married my father because in Hampshire they ate roly poly pudding as a desert with custard, but in Cornwall with boiling bacon and gravy. My dad said he'd like some roly poly pudding and was taken aback when it arrived with custard.
DeleteI had a smile today when a friend texted me to say that she had had the A to Z jab. She was confused for a while when I replied "you'll know where you're going now".
ReplyDelete😂
DeleteHi Cheshire Cheese Your memory of your days as a young doctor was poignant and helps to illustrate the dedication, duty and love that the frontline NHS have always shown and now still show.
DeleteWe had our first jab on Sunday - excellently run from our point of view with cheerful vounteer marshalls- I was seen by a young female doctor who, when I proceeded to immediately expose my arm, expressed pleased surprise that I wasn't slowing things down.
In our brief chat she asked me where i lived, told me I was being AstraZenicad and I found out she was volunteering, delighted to have a job and seemed very positive.
As good an experience as it could be in circs
I have scirocco sand on my balcony blown from North Africa, which looks like rust. The forecast is for some very cold weather, so I was told to enjoy a sign of the tropics.
ReplyDeleteGolly Basia, I remember we had that sand once here. Or rather we had it in London, I don't know if the rest of the UK got it. And I can't remember how long ago it was.
ReplyDeleteBut I do remember talking about it to my mum so must have been before 2000.
Goodness, that’s a long way north for the Sirocco sand Basia.
ReplyDeleteWe were on holiday in Cyprus some years ago and the was a terrible storm one night. Amazing thunder and lightening and the wind was so strong that palm tress outside our room were blown horizontal and all the sun terrace furniture was blown into the sea.
The next morning, the whole area was covered in sand up to a foot deep in places, all the cars were half buried in sand and we were told it was sand blown in from the Sahara. It more or less ruined the last few days of our holiday. But was quite some experience!
Janice I had a similar experience, a young boy, well known to the police who were waiting to pounce on his reaching the criminal age of responsibility.He was in custody and the police were refusing to let him return to the childrens home overnight. After a lot of argument he was allowed to stay with me overnight. I duly got him to court for 10. Whilst waiting he wanted the toilet, I left him at the door only to find he had escaped through the window and was on the court house roof. I had to confess to the police who duly got him down and we spent the rest of the time in an unlocked cell. he was remanded to a secure unit and the social worker and I were escorted by a police officer for the 3 hour journey there, needless to say he didnt escape.
ReplyDelete😂 😂🤣 Good times funny times and sometimes embarrassing and occasionally frightening times but hopefully we did some good along the way!
DeleteWe also had the Sirocco sand, very gloomy mucky orange /grey cloud all day.
ReplyDeleteWe had the sand in Bristol about 9/10 years ago. I remember seeing the fine dusting on cars. It was the day I had a hospital appointment about a persistent cough and I remember feeling that my cough was worse that day, then hearing about the sand on the news.
ReplyDeleteI remembered this week!
ReplyDelete7. Constructed a valley Maida Vale (I like this one 😊)
8. Posh Spice Victoria
9. Alpine chalet Swiss Cottage
And the new ones
10. Gives access to a home county
11. Othello’s entrance
12. This station is falling down
I said all the answers are stations on the Underground or DLR. It seems that one is now part of LOndon Overground, although it used to be Underground - perhaps it's just wombling free! (Although the wombles won't help you get the answer, they're just a red herring.)
How's everyone doing? Anyone got 9/9 so far?
Have fun with this week's clues.
Yes, I have.
ReplyDeleteSoz, 7/2, 11.32 a.m.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely memory for you. Does your son remember it?
I think that for me, it was a comforting memory, with my mother's voice, and looking for me, not my older sister, and finding a special place, being cosy.
I don't have all colour vivid memories as some have described, really have little memory at all, even looking at photographs. I remember emotions better than visuals.
Yes he does remember it, in fact he jogged my memory. It was a special moment partly because his face was glowing with happiness and he recognised that feeling.
DeleteThe way you describe that feeling of safety and the comfort of your mother’s voice, reminded me of times spent hidden under the table in my little world yet within earshot of the grownups somewhere near.
How lovely that you both remember.
DeleteWe used to put a tablecloth over the clothes horse and make a den, which I had completely forgotten until I read yours above! It was red with a white fringe...
OWIAS, I have got 8/9 so far! It is fun! I have never lived in London though and am using a map! It's nice remembering places as I search!
ReplyDeleteThanks OWIAS. I’ve got 9 so far - didn’t know Turnham Green. I like 12 but will have to think about the other two.
ReplyDeleteIt definitely brightens up Mondays!
8/9. You said at the beginning that we would be begging you to stop. I think that’s a long , long way off.
DeleteI have 9/9 but I do live in the area .
ReplyDeleteLanJan are you able to watch the cricket?
ReplyDelete9/9!
ReplyDeleteOnward...
5/9 here.
ReplyDelete8/9 for me, couldn’t believe I didn’t get Liverpool St!
ReplyDeleteNo significant snow where I am, trying to decide whether it looks more like icing sugar or dandruff 🤔
I also have 8/9 and dandruff on top of scirocco on balcony.
DeleteI think I have all three. Will have to wait and see if I've got them right.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Cricket:
ReplyDeleteThoroughly enjoying it, especially Rooty’s performance and the beautiful sunshine in India, BUT -
I now have Mr A, in pyjamas and dressing gown, slumped in front of the TV from the time he rolls out if bed until 11.30 each day.
At least I get washed and dressed first!
Sounds oh so familiar AP!
DeleteI think I’ve got the stations. Talking of Underground stations, it took me a long time before I realised the game Mornington Crescent was a spoof.
ReplyDeleteSurely you're mistaken!
DeleteI have a book of rules for it somewhere.
Well, not rules exactly, I think that book is permanently out of print. But definitely a book about the great and noble game of Mornington Crescent.
Spoof indeed! You'll be telling me next that Nessie is a figment of my imagination ; )
I had never heard of Mornington Crescent and have just read about it on Wikipedia. Feeling rather perplexed!!
DeleteI was lucky enough to see them play it live on stage in Hull a few years back - it was hysterical. But must admit the first few times I heard it on the radio I literally hadn't a clue what they were banging on about and why people were laughing!
DeleteThe only time I got out at Mornington Crescent was because of was an alert and very shaken continued on foot to work, it must have been in the early 80s. It was the closest station for Camden Palace.
DeleteHilary, perplexion is the correct response to Mornington Crescent, especially when variations are added.
DeleteGoogle and youtube should give provide you with several sample games. At the end of them, you will probably be none the wiser and no better informed : )
Thank you, OWIAS! I will investigate and look forward to being amused!
DeleteMy hero!
ReplyDeleteJimmy Anderson 2 wickets in 3 balls
And it’s all because he wears 613 on his shirt, my lucky number since childhood.
England just W ON 1st Test Match in Chennai
Great Captaincy Joe Root!
Well done England!! One of your greatest away wins!
A very cheering piece of news amongst the gloom
We are a happy household this morning, even if one if us is still in jimjams! 😃😄😁
*** MY EARLIEST MEMORY ***
ReplyDeleteJanice, over to you.... Enjoy!
Hope everyone is cosy inside or wrapped up well if outside - we've had about a foot of snow overnight! Everything looks beautiful and you can hear a pin drop. I'm a happy man!
ReplyDeleteOWIAS - I'm still not doing well at all on your quiz. I think so far I have got 2 out of 9.
Hilary I’ll speak very softly so OWIAS and other believers don’t hear but .... there are no rules. Oh dear I’ve said too much.
ReplyDeleteIt’s the oooohs and ahhhhhhhs from the participants and the audience which fooled me for longer than I care to remember.
As I type, I'm listening to a game. The host has just been down to the Radio 4 vaults to check the rule book.
DeleteHow could you possibly doubt the veracity of this noble game? ; )
(In a soft whisper) Thanks Soz! How very intriguing!
DeleteI have just now listened on youtube to a Yorkshire special game of MC - hilarious!
Deletemust try and find that by gum!
DeleteOh drat, can it wait until later today Gary? I have been enjoying people's memories very much.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to ask something if I may.
I enjoy my food but since last Thursday when I had the vaccine I have lost my appetite ( no bad thing as I put on half a stone over the Christmas period!). I looked it up and apparently 1 in a 100 people can have that as a side effect. I wondered if anyone else who has had the Oxford vaccine has experienced the same, and if so how long did it last. It is just so unusual for me to be off my food. I think if any company could isolate what part of the vaccine causes it they would be on their way to making a fortune.😉
I didn’t have the Oxford vaccine, I had the Pfizer one, with no side effects at all, until last night.
DeleteA full 10 days after the jab my arm became very itchy at the vaccination site. This morning it is still very itchy but also very tender and painful if touched - rather like the reaction I get to flu vaccines.
I find it odd that this should happen 10 - 11 days later. Anyone else had the same with the Pfizer one?
Two of my neighbours reported a loss of appetite that lasted a couple of days Janice, but I don't know which jag they had I'm afraid...
Delete(And of course you can do your memories at your leisure!)
Soz, you asked earlier if I was watching the cricket.
ReplyDeleteBecause of our situation at the moment I can't sit and watch but it has been on in the background.
Archerphile ,I have had no problem with the Pfizer jab at all .except for a sore arm the first night.
Janice I'm sure we did some good along the way, I at least still have my foster son, who reminds me from time to time, that I was the only one to stick by him.All those broken windows and verbal abuse a thing of the past, we can now laugh about .
ReplyDeleteThe most frightening thing that happened to me was with the most difficult client that I ever worked with, she and her children attended the day care unit I was running. Social workers and police always visited in pairs as he always carried a knife. One night she called me out, I didnt think anything about it just went to visit as she was distressed. When I got there she locked me in goading me to call the police etc, I have to confess I was pretty scared, but didnt show it of course, after some considerable time she said I could go, I just sat there and told her I would have another cup of tea. Looking back I think she needed someone who wasnt scared of her.
It stood me in good stead as when I worked in Birmingham something similar happened, though not a client but a local resident who had been in prison for knifing someone. I finally managed to get him out of the door. Hr never spoke to me again, but was always asking after me and said he admired me so perhaps some good was done .You said you had had frightening episodes also
I gave up trying to understand Morningten Crescent many years ago, spoof or real.
ReplyDeleteI do know much of the London Underground as a Londoner, but I could never recognise any of the connections, and without the benefit of a sense of humour I just felt lost.
Gary, I've only got two out of the nine also.
This kind of quiz just doesn't even make a dent in my consciousness.
Does anyone else, like me, see a families face in that picture currently at the top of this blog ?
ReplyDeleteI think that woman looks very like a young Stephanie Cole.
It can't be her, because she was born in 41 the year before me, and I would say that the children and the picture are of the late forties, early to mid fifties, when S. Cole herself was a child. But the similarity strikes me every day.
Oh yes Mrs P now you have posed the question I totally agree!
DeleteJust listened to Mornington Crescent Yorkshire edition. Had a good laugh. Jack Dee couldn’t do a Yorkshire accent if his life depended on it.....makes it funnier.
ReplyDeleteJanice I had the Oxford jab but no loss of appetite 🤣 However I did surprisingly to me get some side effects. My temp went up to 37.9 by late in the evening. Next morning 37.1 but by late evening 36.3 🤗
ReplyDeleteI also felt ( but was not) sick a couple of times and went to the door for the cold air. Muscle in arm very slightly sore with some movements but the jab itself I did not even feel and well impressed with the set up from start to finish?
Archerphile my arm did the same as yours last night although only 3 days in for me.
However all very minor issues in relation to what we are so lucky to be receiving overall. No concern returning for second jab on 23/4 ⭐️
Americanism in the weather forecast tonight Tomasz Schafenacker ( ? ) declared it is and will remain remain SUPER cold 🤔
ReplyDeleteYep !
DeleteI noticed that too.
Tonight isn't the first time he has stumbled or been lost for words I have noticed.
DeleteA son + daughter of my Big Sis's 2nd husband, have both now tested +ve. They share a house together and are both prison officers, working in the same HMP.
ReplyDeleteIt is just 🤞 that all will be OK.
A worrying time for you all. Here's hoping they're both OK. And that everyone else at the prison gets the all-clear. I imagine the virus could spread very easily with so many people locked up together, although, of course, they will be taking all possible precautions to stop this happening.
DeleteI listened to the 6.30 comedy before The Archers this evening, a look back at Victoria Wood. It's a long time since I laughed as much as much as that.
ReplyDeleteI love Victoria Wood, sadly gone too soon. Over the last festive season, a lot of her shows were shown on TV, esp. The Secret List, The All Day Breakfast and many others. I recorded them all, as they make me laugh so much.
DeleteIt is obviously my sense of humour (silly I know).
Esscee - My sons took me to see a show of I'm Sorry.... being recorded. The humour in the show is in the joining in of the audience in the gags aimed at the radio audience. (Shall we tell the truth about 'Samantha?')
ReplyDeleteThe ridiculous round for Mornington Crescent is funny purely that the audience joins in the joke with their ooohs, ahhhs and cheers after each station is named!
If you have ever heard the skit in Sound Charades for "The Last Tango in Paris", the absolute side-cracking moment is when the audience realise what the panellists are aiming for. Difficult to explain but it is so funny and my sons and I can replay that joke, word for word (and often do!)
A white tailed eagle has just returned to the island after 17 months away. He did a tour of Birmingham and Sheffield not to mention the Yorkshire moors. They are amazing birds! He flew 4904 kilometres in all. What stamina!🦅🦅
ReplyDeleteI hope he's now quarantining himself ; )
DeleteFor 14 days in a hotel,!!🦅
DeleteI love ISIHAC and Mornington Crescent. I can’t make up my mind whether it is too intellectual for me or it’s just a load of old nonsense but it does make me laugh especially the zeal of participation by the panel and the audience!!😂🤔
We went to see a recording of ISIHAC ( two programmes recorded back to back) and had a wonderful evening. However producer Jon Naismith asked the audience laugh out loud for the benefit of the radio listeners, and I realised that I usually listen in near-silent, helpless giggles. So I had to make an effort, not just to laugh - but to produce a suitable noise.
ReplyDeleteEv, it's just wonderfully silly in a specifically radio 4 sort of way. Personally, I usually play MC by the Euston rules (third and most recent edition of course), which makes life particularly difficult when my son insists on sticking to the more traditional Nine Elms version.
ReplyDeleteLate arrivals at the Electricians' Ball; Pray give a warm welcome to Mr & Mrs Lear and their sparkling daughter, Crystal Shanda Lear
😀👍👏😄
ReplyDeleteLove the 'Late Arrivals..' round. Also one song to the tune of another. The family cannot ever hear Scotland The Brave' without chorusing 'Gene, Genie!'
ReplyDeleteI have an abiding memory in my head of 'She'll be coming round the mountain' to the tune of Land of hope and glory'. I use it as an example whenever some philistine of a worship leader comes up with new words to a well-known hymn tune which manifestly only fit in the sense that Cinderella's slipper fitted the ugly sisters.
DeleteOWIAS - I have just read your comment about about the prison population. It was the fact that Thanet has five prisons and detention centres that caused the awful rates which put Medway and the whole of Kent into the highest tiers before Christmas. Luckily now rates are coming down and we are below average for new cases in most areas although there are outbreaks in Canterbury where 'asylum seekers' are housed in the ex-Army barracks.
ReplyDeleteSpoke to youngest son yesterday, who is now back at work after having Covid and two weeks sick leave from work. He is most annoyed as in the whole time he has worked there, 23 years, he had had less than two week's sick leave in total!
I used to listen to The Clue but now that I've grown old I don't like the occasional smutty joke. Apparently Jack Dee said he wouldn't take over if they didn't let him carry on in this way.
ReplyDeleteOh Basia! The double entendres spoken by Humph were equally as bad as those told by Jack Dee!
DeleteI know, it's my attitude that has changed with time, HL was much older than me and JD is younger if it makes sense.
DeleteThank you for writing that Basia, makes me feel less alone.
DeleteAlthough I never liked ' smutty'.
I was taken everywhere as a young child ( never understood how that was allowed ! ) and remember very clearly watching Max Wall, parents laughing along with everyone else. Of course I didn't understand, but some instinct informed me, and I did NOT like it.
I still don't, but know now that my age contributes to my distaste even more than when young.
I have become very disenchanted with what used to be one if my favourite radio shows - The News Quiz. I used to love it up to when Sandy Toksvig or Miles Jupp was the host and the likes of brilliantly funny Andy Hamilton were on the panel. I could even put up with the rants of the late Jeremy Hardy who could be extremely clever and funny.
ReplyDeleteBut the last two or three series have been abysmal and neither Mr A or I can listen any more.
The host has no control, everyone talks over each other, none of the panel are funny, the entire programme feels like an anti-government propaganda show and, worst if all, the canned laughter, used because there can be no audience, almost drowns out the conversation.
A good programme ruined.
Yep, got to agree there.
DeleteI used to listen to the comedy slot on Mondays and Fridays, then Fridays only, now as Archerphile says the News Quiz is falling apart, there are no news cuttings, the radio 4 presenters used to be on a roster which they very much appreciated, I wonder how they feel now.
DeleteTotally agree Archerphile. There was an article in the DT about the dearth (and death!) of BBC comedy in sit coms. I would also add comics. There are few comedians nowadays as many believe they can just stand up and rant about the PM or the present government and they are certain to get cheered and clapped. Sadly I believe it began with Jeremy Hardy, although, as you say, he could be witty!
DeleteThe TV show 'Have I Got News For You' used to be quite even handed with its dishing out of criticism of all political parties, but that has gone now with the introduction of the 'guest' questionmasters.
There are some comedians who are capable of entertaining an entire audience, not just those of the same political persuasion. I like Michael MacIntyre and his long recurring stories which end up as a very funny joke like the kitchen cupboard contents all complaining how often they get taken out. My favourite is the contents of the 'Man-Drawer' ie old keys, mobile phones and odd currencies from previous holidays.
Our two drawers in the dresser are now labelled the man-drawers!
Does anyone remember 'Weekending' on Radio 4 Friday nights back in the last century now! It was very funny, clever and bang up to date. They used to record just hours before broadcasting. It was stopped when Tony Blair became PM. Not a co-incidence! Same with Spitting Image.
Spicy, yes - "Weekending", I even went to a writers' meeting at the BBC, it came to nothing but it was fun.
DeleteJohn Finnemore is capable of making fun out of nothing and he sings too!
Early memories:
ReplyDelete1. Sitting on slate flagstones in coloured pools of light. About 2 years old. It wasn't until I was grown up that I could place that memory. Before moving into the farmhouse my parents had lived briefly in a place that had slate flagstone flooring and a porch door with old Victorian stained glass in the top half. The glass is still there. I think that experience must be why I have always liked stained glass windows.
2. I must have been about 4 and at our local beach in the summer with my mother. This was in the days before it became well known to visitors, just a few were beginning to find it, and long before there were lifeguards . It was a rough sea and there is a dangerous rip current just off shore. Three men on holiday were in bad trouble and some local men who could swim well had gone in to attempt a rescue. They got one to shore and laid him on the sand just a few feet away from us, and there was nothing they could do because he was already dead so they went straight back out again to try to help the others. I remember my mother saying Poor man, poor man, and me looking down at him and thinking how very still he was. Then mum decided it was best to take me home so I was never sure what happened to the others.
Thinking about Linda (Snell) a man in our local village received the OBE a few years back after many years of spending his spare time running the local lifesaving club for generations of youngsters. They were all taught skills that will last a lifetime including how to cope if caught in the rip , how to rescue people, and how and where to tombstone correctly (as they were going to do it anyway!) and there are a fair number of people alive now rescued by people that he trained as youngsters.
3 I think the summers of the 50's really were warmer and drier, and occasionally my mother if she had time would make miniature cakes and jellies and tiny sandwiches, and I would have a doll's tea party on a little wooden table under the sycamore tree just outside the farmhouse. The guests were usually my two dolls Angela and Melanie ( my dad had wanted to call me Melanie but my mum apparently wouldn't so I called the doll Melanie for him instead) Golly and Teddy, and whatever animal friend happened to be around at the time.
Oh to be young and free as the air again.