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Floss was a handyman at Ramsgate’s huge funfair called Wonderland. He worked on the Big Dipper. Early every morning he sent two cars round the track loaded with sand bags, watching the reaction of the wooden structure as the car went round, to gauge any weaknesses. Next it was my turn for a free, if… Continue reading Pre WW2, The 30s,Enforced Holodays 2

Some aspects of the economy, recently been brought to my attention, are in themselves are not unlawful, but they have a considerable effect on the viability of production in this country. A friend of mine recently had their house overhauled by a builder, and then asked him to carry out additional work. He said that… Continue reading New Slants on the Economy

Oxbridge and ex-Public School staff ran our school on Public School lines – as closely as one could for a day school. We had PT every day, vaulting over boxes, doing running somersaults, walking the high beam and everything one can imagine doing in a fully equipped gymnasium, including a shower afterwards. We played seasonal… Continue reading Pre WW2, the 30s, The Secondary School

There used to be an apocryphal story concerning the visit of the Queen to the Chelsea Pensioners’ barracks. She had been talking to several of the elderly gentleman in their red coats, and she asked one how he passed his day, he replied,’ Your Majesty, sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits’.… Continue reading Politics, then and now

For the sake of those who have only recently joined, here is a golden Oldie, to the rest, I ask your indulgence. I have said in the intro I was a latchkey child of a one parent family, I was also the baby sitter for a brother whose main aim was to gum red bars… Continue reading Pre WW2, The 30s, The Toboggan Run

In the ’30s, youngsters thought they were being terribly secretive , and of course, clever, by talking a simple ‘back slang’. I haven’t heard it for years, but perhaps I now move in the wrong circles. It was simple enough, you took the last letter or syllable of a word, made it the first, added… Continue reading PreWW2, The 30s, Butcher’s Backslang

We live in the present, anticipate the near future, refer to the immediate past, and occasionally think nostalgically, but rarely look deeply into the future. Until two years ago, I looked upon myself as having the abilities and the energy of someone 40, until I was seriously injured, and I became a full-time carer, with… Continue reading Amature Carers

Sometimes, something important, or tragic can force one to sit back and think deeply and analyse the cause. Recently a young friend of mine, with two university degrees, and being chartered as well, has lost his job, something that would never have happened a few years ago. Away back in time, most jobs were a… Continue reading Credit Cards

A little history gives a slant on what people say. We thought we were Middle Class, we had the social graces, the accent, the interests, but not the cash. We, my mother, brother and I, had just returned from Africa under the British Raj, where we had lived and, I suppose, acted like landed gentry,… Continue reading Pre WW2, the 30s, A comparison, then and now

When we first heard the King’s speech on the wireless, it was really a celebration of the Empire and its reinforcement, tightening the ties. My first recollection of Empire Day, although I know it was celebrated in most schools in England, was when it was celebrated in Livingstone. Unsurprisingly it was a ‘great day’, which… Continue reading Africa 1928 and beyond, Empiren Day and Royal Occasions