Aaaaahhhhhh! The memories - going up chimneys to clean them, school marms with big canes, visits from those nice men the local priests, rickets, polio....... It's all flooding back.
Goodsons in Bushey High St takes me back a bit. There was also Units the grocer where they sold their biscuits loose from glass topped display tins. A lb of broken biscuits was always good value as you tried out all of the stock. Sugar taken out of a sack, weighed and put into blue paper bags, bacon sliced in front of you with a hand turned slicing wheel and cheese cut off large blocks to your requirements. The smell in the shop was a grand mixture of so many of the products on sale and the service was second to none with the assistants knowing all of the customers, and with life at a slower pace they had time to talk about local news.
OFH, your youngest is 8 months older than me. I remember having apple juice and toffee yogurt from the milkman, thankfully not in the same container and my little sister had orange juice. I also remember going to the local shop in Watford Fields with my Dad to get the Evening Echo on a Saturday evening - we moved from there to North Watford when I was 6. I also remember Spangles as a kid and tuck shop at Cubs had a lot of the sweets you guys are describing and the Mars Bars were bigger when I was younger - it was thought by some that the introduction of the King Size bars (now replaced by Duo) were their "true" size. Anyone grow up in Bennetts End? I remember when I went to my grandparents, I used to go round to the Spinney. I can only remember that was a slide there set in a wooden triangle which you either climb or sit under.
Ahhh - such a happy contributor Acid drops - remember them? Shops - everyone must remember Peter Spiveys sports shop near Clements that was
Blimey! Camping in the Lake District (4 of us in the back of the car with enough equipment to supply the boys in Kandahar and a bloody great rack strapped to the roof); Wimpey of a Saturday as a treat with proper plates, cutlery and mugs; finding loads of things to do by candlelight because you never knew when the power was going to be cut off; British bulldog; learning to cook on a bonfire with your dad teaching you rather than having to rely on Deliah or Jamie. the list is endless - great thread guys.
British bulldog - now that was fun - you got hurt but did not care. .... and Wimpeys - loved Wimpeys and never eat MacDonalds
I remember going in our ancient humber hawk for a holiday to norfolk..... you had to hit the inside of the door to get the indicators to come out!. Lovely old leather seats... and a starter handle.. we use to park it on a hill outside our flat in croxley to bump start every morning.. I also remember us going all the way up on a holiday to the highlands in a A35 in which the hand brake did not work!
Used to play British Bulldog at cubs - the building the where I went for cubs, you always wanted to go to the end where the doors were as they were swing doors but the other end you were running into a stage.
British Bulldog - great times! Pirates in the gym - a kind if "it" with apparatus. H&S elves put a stop to that...
Yes that was the end of term "treat" after weeks of climbing jumping and other excruciating PE tortures!
yes!! i used to love those camping trips! And British Bulldog (mainly coz most girls didn't play it lol)
I remember Acid Drops - terrific - makes the sweets of today taste real wimpy...... I also remember Peter Spiveys - used to buy my subbuteo stuff there - in the 60s there was a problem with the machine that made the subbuteo balls and for a long while you couldn't get the smaller size of ball (which required more skill to aim). Our league had to play with the larger balls (which, despite the double entendre, was not as much fun.....)
Subbuteo stuff at Spiveys for me too. Better than Dave and Petes in St Albans Rd. Junior 2RJs are made to play Subbuteo from time to time - Football, Rugby, Cricket and of Course Subbuteo Angling!!
Subbuteo Angling...now there's a thought. Not the fastest game in the world but plenty of time for contemplation and sipping a glass of Tizer while waiting for a bite!
I had Watford & Coventry (Liked the sky blue strip) teams, could not afford the official pitch so had an old army blanket and the pitch was marked out on that to official dimensions including shooting area (made a great playing surface and it used to lay flat. I also prefered to use the crouching goalie to the diving goalie that could not always stop hard shots. As for Subbuteo Angling - I had a game where the fish had metal tips to there noses and the rod had a magnet on the end of the line and you dropped the line into the bowl to catch the fish. I've missed a few pages so has anybody mentioned Saturday Morning Picture?