Off Topic I Remember When

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One of my most vivid memories of early infant school was receiving fruit on Empire Day. Usually an apple or orange but sometimes both, they were gifts from other countries of the British Empire ( now the Commonwealth). You've no idea how that fruit was protected all the way home on the tram to show my parents where it was delicately shared amongst the family. That was in 1949 at Thomas Street School in Monkwearmouth and it was the very first time I'd seen an orange.
 
I remember in school you had to go the teachers desk if you needed the pencil sharpened. There was a thing clamped to the edge of the desk and you cranked a handle and out came something sharper than a bloody sword. Lethal, but you still sat down and stabbed your mate in the leg with it.
 
One of my most vivid memories of early infant school was receiving fruit on Empire Day. Usually an apple or orange but sometimes both, they were gifts from other countries of the British Empire ( now the Commonwealth). You've no idea how that fruit was protected all the way home on the tram to show my parents where it was delicately shared amongst the family. That was in 1949 at Thomas Street School in Monkwearmouth and it was the very first time I'd seen an orange.
Empire day! Stand up and be proud! When I was in the infants on Empire Day the headmaster had us kids march around the school yard and when we got to where he and the teachers were standing, holding a Union Jack, we had to salute the flag. The memory makes me cringe a bit now, but in those days everyone took it seriously.
 
One of my most vivid memories of early infant school was receiving fruit on Empire Day. Usually an apple or orange but sometimes both, they were gifts from other countries of the British Empire ( now the Commonwealth). You've no idea how that fruit was protected all the way home on the tram to show my parents where it was delicately shared amongst the family. That was in 1949 at Thomas Street School in Monkwearmouth and it was the very first time I'd seen an orange.
Hang on, mate! How come you got fruit and we got nowt? You owe me an orange!
 
I remember in school you had to go the teachers desk if you needed the pencil sharpened. There was a thing clamped to the edge of the desk and you cranked a handle and out came something sharper than a bloody sword. Lethal, but you still sat down and stabbed your mate in the leg with it.
Memories mate. Once, when in senior school the teacher handed me a bundle of new pencils - they were blunt at both ends. The only sharpener - the same type you describe - was in an unused classroom. I stood for ages trying to get a point on those bloody pencils. Everytime I got them near to a point they broke. When I got back to the classroom the teacher started to blast me for taking such a long time, but he became speechless when I handed him a bundle of pencil Stubbs!
 
Memories mate. Once, when in senior school the teacher handed me a bundle of new pencils - they were blunt at both ends. The only sharpener - the same type you describe - was in an unused classroom. I stood for ages trying to get a point on those bloody pencils. Everytime I got them near to a point they broke. When I got back to the classroom the teacher started to blast me for taking such a long time, but he became speechless when I handed him a bundle of pencil Stubbs!

thought i was the only one that could never sharpen a pencil, every sodding time the end would snap...i used to have to try and 'half sharpen' them, just enough to get a bit of a point but not enough to snap it.

you not left handed are you sandy?