Let's Reminisce.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Dorothy, this may make you smile, it will certainly take you back in time.

[DaveinGermany]

Going down the marsh at the back of the railway station by us & catching frogs & newts with tiddler nets, get a bucket full then let them go again, heading home covered in gunk & goo, then swearing blind we'd not been down the "Swamp".

[dotti34]

Oh, Margaret, thank you - that certainly brought back some good memories. Mind you I doubt my dad knew more of the song than the first few lines because he never seemed to get past those.

Yes, Thermogene was the word I was trying to think of. It kept the chest warm and so supposedly would ward off colds. I do remember the emulsion.

[dotti34]

More memories. The weekly bath in the little tin bathtub. Friday night was bath night for me. Afterwards my mother would comb through my hair with a fine-tooth comb and vinegar to make sure that no unwanted guests had moved on to my head. I had longish hair but through my mother’s diligence I never had any visits from those nasty little critters. Mind you the smell of vinegar lingered for a while. The school nurse would visit regularly, we would all line up and she would check our heads. If she found any nits then everyone knew about it – the child’s feelings were not considered. Boys with nits often had their hair shaved off. Hurtful times that would not be tolerated these days.

Another thing we lined up for was vaccinations. No-one had any option – line up, sleeve pushed up, and jab…’there that’s done, move along - next one, please’.

[dotti34]

Inkwells in desks, pens with nibs – and a slap on the hand if the pen wasn’t held correctly. .
Girls with plaits were fair game for having these dipped in the inkwells by the horrible boys who sat behind them. The cane. Whack, whack, whack – on the left hand if you were right-handed and vice versa, so that it didn’t matter how much the hand hurt you could still do your schoolwork. Irrespective of all that, schooldays were mostly happy ones. None of the pressure like today and we always knew there would be employment at the end of it.

Parents didn't interfere with what went on at school. Definitely would never abuse a teacher.

[monkey hanger]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Dorothy, this may make you smile, it will certainly take you back in time.

brilliant. sounded like something from the late and great spike jones. if theydid it again the word fat would have to be replaced with obese.

[monkey hanger]

[QUOTE=dotti34;1242644] None of the pressure like today and we always knew there would be employment at the end of it.

that could be the reason there was no pressure on kids in those days. there was pressure at grammar school as it was really just an examination passing factory. if you got a job and didn,t like it you just left. her in the kitchen left one job a couple of times on a friday night and started another on monday. most ended up in a job that suited you with less round pegs in square holes like nowadays where just getting a job is the thing whether its really for you or not.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by dotti34

Oh, Margaret, thank you - that certainly brought back some good memories. Mind you I doubt my dad knew more of the song than the first few lines because he never seemed to get past those.

Yes, Thermogene was the word I was trying to think of. It kept the chest warm and so supposedly would ward off colds. I do remember the emulsion.

Dorothy, I really liked that song.....I might even download it onto one of my MP3players....it is a very cheery ditty.
Glad it stirred the memories for you as well.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Dorothy, if you went home and said you had been caned or had been in trouble in class - then you were in far more trouble at home...so if you had any sense at all then you kept your gob shut.

By the time I went to school, your parents had to give permission for vaccinations.
You took a little slip of paper home and they signed and you took it back.
Nitty Nora was different...she just used to come in without warning.
Dental checks were done at school too....and the school Dental Service was at the Clinic on Cannon St.
The Dental nurses there were like Russian Shot putters......and if you did not comply with their 'requests' they would hold you down....(this was the beginning of my Dental phobia).
I remember being only about 8 and going on my own, the dentist hurt me and I tried to get out of the chair.....this huge woman held me down until the dentist finished....I cried my eyes out on the way home and did not go to school that day.
I cannot remember my parents doing anything about it....but that is how it was back then.....as you say Dorothy,children's feelings were not considered important.

[dotti34]

As a teenager, dancing to Big Bands such as Ted Heath and Joe Loss. Famous bands and singers would come to local dance halls and the price of admission would be the same as if it was an ordinary Saturday night. I remember going to a dance where the brilliant jazz singer Sarah Vaughan was doing her stuff.

Going dancing at every opportunity.

Listening to Radio Luxembourg Top 40’s on a Sunday evening.

[Margaret Pilkington]

I used to go to a church hall somewhere in Spring Hill.....it started at 7pm and finished at 9.30.
It was just pop records played on a record player....no sophisticated disc equipment back then.
I would call for my friend Sheila and her dad would walk us over to the church hall. It was fourpence to get in and this entitled you to tea and biscuits....or if you wanted to live dangerously, Kia-ora Orange drink.
I could not dance for toffee and spent most of my time sitting on the seats at the edge of the hall.
Sheila's Dad would appear at the door just after nine pm and he would walk us home....so ther was never any chances for any kind of hanky panky.

I used to hear the girls at school talking about Mort't and Knowlemere street, but I never ever made it to either of those places.
Oh, I planned to go many times, but my plans were always scuppered by telltale snots of brothers....who would tell Ma and she would put the block on such adventures by telling me that there were people who worked there that she knew and they would let her know if I was seen in either place....too late now!

[Margaret Pilkington]

Looking back, I realise what a sheltered life I lived.

[walker]

Playing Cowboys and indians , Simon says, farmer farmer, making slides in the snow or using tin trays from the oven to slide down hills in the snow.

[Margaret Pilkington]

And the mean people who came out of their houses and sprinkled ashes onto your slide...spoiling all the fun.
Did you 'polish' your slides with water to make them faster, slippier? We did, and were mightily upset when they were sabotaged.

[DaveinGermany]

Originally Posted by monkey hanger

the word fat would have to be replaced with obese.

In all probability even that wouldn't be allowed, something more along the lines of "Weightily challenged", in modern wakey snowflake land!