Don't fight it man, just go for it. Bit out of season now like but the frozen stuff is good for a pie or a crumble
Can still remember eating a bowl of steaming hot porridge in front of the coal fire before going to school.
My earliest memories before radiograms etc was of Saturday night card schools where about seven or eight mothers would play nine card brag for a penny a round. Can remember a few arguments about misdeals etc. Anybody had a haircut at home with cold hand clippers? My Grandad was a dab hand at hair cutting. short back and sides and nowt else.
Back in the day, what about the red phone box strategically placed to serve about five thousand people and was never vandalised? Whenever there was any mischief the neighbour would yell "I know every one of you and I'm telling your mothers" Best behaviour for days because the attitude then was children lie and adults wouldn't fabricate accusations, and a good hiding for "showing yourself up" would follow.
I can still remember getting our first phone, our number was 4 digits 3442 and my mother hated it cos it added up to 13 ?????
I remember that, going round to my nana and grandas for summer holiday in south shields. She had an oven to the side of the fire in the front room and every morning my granda would get the fire going with paper n kindling. we would sit there toasting the uncut bread my nana made while they sat drinking tea and smoking tabs. My granda drank his tea from the saucer and used evaporated milk or carnation milk in his tea.
used to love going there for my summer holidays, walking to the beach at shields every day and getting a minchellas ice cream if we were good lol.
Had one mate. My granda was an ex barber and used to take me to his mates who still cut hair and that was the only cut he knew, that and short back and sides. I also used to help him mend football boots cos he ran a team in Grangetown and was quite handy so he used to replace all the studs for the team. I remember he had a big box of studs that needed nailing onto a big thick heavy sole. They were like pit boots and weighed a ton FFS!!!! The two things i kept and still have to this day are his little hammer and cobblers last he used. Wish i could have kept some of the studs as well but he'd got rid of them as he got older.
Remember them well, studs gave way to bars that could be nailed on the same way but lasted longer and were easier to clean. This barber wasnt in Leechmere Rd by any chance.
Nah mate, my granda used to luv walking cos he had greyhounds and he used to walk the legs off me. It was in Southwick, yes Southwick, sadistic or what? for a young lad of around 10 that was a canny hike like.
I walked from Monkwearmouth to Grangetown nearly every day, pre-school age, the highlights of that journey are still imprinted on my brain. I also hung around Southwick later in life about the age of 8 or 9 and remember swinging on the old gas lamp-posts. And buying a glass of pop from various back doors down the lanes playing in the lorries in Evans brickyard at night, those were the days.
I was born in Grangetown but lived most of my younger life in Town End Farm mate, often strayed as far as Southwark cos i went to Rehouse Comp. It was good back then eh? you could walk the streets without fear of being molested by some aped, my kids never experienced owt like that but i wish they had.
