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
Pre WW2, The 30s, The Toboggan Run
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
Pre WW2,The 30s, Schooling in Britain
Returning to a British school in 1930 seemed totally alien from what I had experienced in Africa. The hours were different, I had to walk over a mile each way to school, morning and afternoon and the classes were bigger. When I arrived we worked with rooms lighted by gaslight in winter afternoons and, worst… Continue reading Pre WW2,The 30s, Schooling in Britain
PreWW2, The 30s, Butcher’s Backslang
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
Pre WW2 The 30s, Beefdripping
The Very Poor And The Not So Poor I would like to relate the story of me and the beef dripping. Not far from my Grandmother’s house was a Victorian slum building known locally as ‘The buildings’. It was not unlike a poor version of the tower-blocks of the 60’s, though without balconies, bathrooms and… Continue reading Pre WW2 The 30s, Beefdripping
Pre WW2, the 30s, I write – you compare
Through the 30’s habits started to change at a snail’s pace, but it was so smooth one wasn’t aware of it. In the bigger shops they had those lovely wooden balls containing money or receipts, rising the full height of the shop at a twitch of a string, then rolling gently along metal tracks, with… Continue reading Pre WW2, the 30s, I write – you compare
Can we climb out of the hole
I expect like me, you have been listening to the pundits and politicians with ever decreasing belief that they know where they are going and what is best for us. The level of disagreement I find frightening, and the problem is that they take their values from just a short base, instead of realising that… Continue reading Can we climb out of the hole
Amature Carers
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
Credit Cards
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
Pre WW2 – the 30s, A brush with religion
To most boys coming from my background, religion was a means to an end rather than an end in itself. It was an entrée into the Scouting Movement, which, was church affiliated, offered bun fights and picnics’ in lieu of TV On cold wet winter evenings, apart from the Cubs and Scouts, there was the… Continue reading Pre WW2 – the 30s, A brush with religion