There were a number of St George flags hanging in windows and off cars as the Leek bus came through Sneyd Green tonight. The air of expectancy hangs heavy as our boys set off for South Africa and their destiny in the World Cup.
I was thinking as the bus weaved its way up Ralph Drive of what it was like on a similar estate Abbey Hulton 44 years ago when we won the Cup. I cannot recall much triumphantism. No St George flags, no dancing in the streets. I did my 11 year old bit by reading a book about Agincourt, “on, on. You noblest English” I am imagine people were pleased, but not the orgasmic celebration that will almost certainly occur if Rio Ferdinand lifts the trophy on the 11th July.
When did the St George Flag flying start? I would pin it down to Euro 96. I don’t recall it in 82, or 86 or even much in 90. And what do I put down the discovery of the St George Flag. It’s a hunch but it’s probably a response to devolution for the Welsh and the Scots and also a reaction to Europe.
I mention 1990 when famously Gaza shed those tears. The match before that England played Cameroon and overcame the Africans mainly through Lineker’s penalties. It was hard fought and the game flowed backwards and forwards. I was watching the match in the Westend in Oakhill with my brothers. At some point a group of Vale fans came in an engaged in racist grunting at the Cameroon team. One of my brothers challenged them and pointed out (a) England had black players in the squad such as Walker and Parker, and (b) Vale had black players such as Earle and Beckford. A fight nearly broke out and I recall on of the Vale supporters in an attempt to sound reasonable say what would I think if I discovered my wife in bed with a black man. I said that I would be upset irrespective of his skin colour. Psychologically it probably said it all. The Valeites left before England equalised and then won the match.
If anyone things I am making an anti white point here I should point out that approximately 40 miles away friends in a pub in Wolverhampton witnessed Sikhs engaged in the simian- like chanting against the black players.
Racism is largely controlled in football especially in the Premiership although I noticed a couple of years at Yeovil in a cup-tie against Liverpool when black players were abused. On continental Europe in Spain and in the countries that made up Yugoslavia it remains endemic. Although I have only been to Stoke twice in recent years- the cost being prohibitive- I think that racism has largely been tackled. It was not always so at Stoke and the bigger grounds. In the 1994 I heard monkey noises made at Beckford who was playing for Oldham at the time. And when Stoke beat Stockport in the Auto Glass Final two years earlier the tedious coach journey was not improved by some of the victorious fans abusing any Asian driver they saw on the motorway.
The experience of black players also mirrors the changing climate. When I did the “Port Vale Tales ” project I read of former Vale player Mark Bright’s experience playing for Crystal Palace at Newcastle when a stall at St James’s sold bananas to fling at black players. Garth Crookes when playing for Stoke in the late 70s also wrote in his autobiography a similar experience at Liverpool.
The manager of Stoke in the 60s Tony Waddington once called football “the working class ballet” and from my trips in my youth down to the Victoria Ground I saw some of the best practitioners. When the Hungarian Puskas died the Guardian writer David Lacey called the “galloping major” as one of the 5 greatest players one of the last 50 years along with Pele. Cryuff, Best and Maradona I saw three of the greatest at the Victoria Ground with the exception of the “hand of god” fellow and the Dutchman. I also saw the Russian Yashin, the Frenchman Kopa and veterans like Wally Barnes and Wor Jackie Milburn play in the veterans match prior to the World X1 playing in the Matthews Testimonial in April 65. I think I am blessed to have witnessed this..
I will watch the World Cup and reveal in it as a spectacle. I will want England to do well, but do not expect them to win. I have the English cynicism too much at my core. I am reminded the last time in the quarter finals against the Portuguese when Ray Winston read chunks of Henry V at the squad unfortunately the team behaved too much like the foppish and vain French ” see how the sunlight glints off my armour” than the yeoman English.
However I will reveal in the competition, as it will reconnect me with my youth especially that wonderful Brazil team of 1970 and such memories! The save of Banks, the amazing dummy that Pele sold the Czech keeper, the attempt on goal from the halfway line and Carlos Alberto’s goal- the 4th- against the Italians in the final.
Football does not, I think, produce the greatest sports writing, that honour probably goes to either Boxing or Cricket and its probably the famous lines by Thompson that sum up the pull that sport even cynical and world-weary, despite all its faults, still has over me. And it is an antidote to all the crass, tabloid generated nationalism that we will be subjected to in the next month.
“For the field is full of shades as I near the shadowy coast,
And a ghostly batsman plays to the bowling of a ghost,
And I look through my tears on a soundless-clapping host
As the run-stealers flicker to and fro,
To and fro: -
O my Hornby and my Barlow long ago!”
For any Geordies reading this. Blair got criticised for saying that he saw Milburn play. Blair was born in 51. I was born in 55 but saw Milburn play at the Matthews testimonial game in April 65. One incident I remember is the ball played out to Milburn who could not get to the ball as it went out of play. He turned to the crowd and patted his midriff as if to say I cannot do this anymore. It got a good humoured appreciative roar from the crowd
The Cricketer AN (Monkey) Hornby is buried not too far away at Acton Church near Nantwich. He died in 1925. Coincidentally it was were my great great grandfather Thomas Cawley married Mary Barnett in November 1826.
There is a clip of film on You Tube of Hornby playing in 1901 in the Mitchell and Kenyon series
As ever Bill, well written and researched.
The modern (extremely modern) fixation with the Cross of St George is responsive.
I have only recently discovered it. It’s called National Pride. The Pride of Orwell, Hardie, Attlee – not Moseley, Griffin or Jim Davidson. It is my flag as much as anyones’ with right wing politics. It is my duty to point out to the rest of the world that tolerant, liberal, Englishmen exist.
The Devil should not have the best tunes – he should not have the best flags either!
Come on England!
tonyjohnt: tolerant, as in showing respect for the rights or opinions or practices of others? really
At times Ian, you strike me as a little terrier yapping at my ankles.
The far right have hijacked the Cross of St George – well, no longer.
Can you not understand that tolerance involves “…showing respect for the rights or opinions or practices of others…” but not necessarily agreeing with them?
I’m as English as sunburn and am quite sick of having to be apologetic for the stereotypical drunken skinhead. There is far more to England than crusades and terrace fights. Thankfully, the left are getting wise to this.
To quote Woodie Allen re impact of the Sun I don’t tan I stroke.
Owd cryptic Bill. He shakes his stick and the world scratches its head.
My last comment on this thread: we either surrender the flag to the far right or reclaim it. A complete no brainer.
Although if I could design my own flag it would feature women, beer and Richard Thompson (dressed as Che Guevara).
[quote=tonyjohnt]At times Ian, you strike me as a little terrier yapping at my ankles.
The far right have hijacked the Cross of St George – well, no longer.
Can you not understand that tolerance involves “…showing respect for the rights or opinions or practices of others…” but not necessarily agreeing with them?
[/quote]
But tonyjohnt even when you do agree with others, such as in the Education thread when most people agreed that rewarding bad behaviour was not the way forward, But you seemed unable accepted this (or show tolerence)due to others associations which goes agisnt your claim of being tolerent.
Another thing didn’t Skinheads emerge from the working class in their attempt to stand apart from mods and their smart suits and to fight the government of the time. Skinhead culture was based around rude boys, reggea and ska, Skinheads where a multi cultured working class scene. So Why are you using the media stereotype of a footy hooligan image?
Just been on Bob Piper’s website and someone has given the game away. Apparently, so they say, the new Coalition Government is very concerned at the research which shows that men’s willies are getting shorter.
Consequently they have asked that any men who have a penis of under three inches display a flag on their car – a white background with a red cross on it …….
Oh Ian, my companion – where to begin.
Firstly, I’m sure a search through previous threads will confirm this… nobody agreed with me that rewards/incentives for good behaviour and application was a good idea. I seemed to get slated for promoting rewards for bad kids – not what I was saying at all.
As for your assertion that skinheads are somehow multicultural class warriors… get real! Of course they liked black music, but they just didn’t get it. I’ve been the “pet lefty” or “pet hippy” of many a skinhead group and they ARE racist and they ARE homophobic.
Why does a man shave his head if he’s not losing his hair? Could fighting and violence possibly figure in it?
“Why does a man shave his head if he’s not losing his hair? Could fighting and violence possibly figure in it?”
Possibly so but I know several who do it because work involves sweating under helmets or hats and a few who are simply too lazy to do anything else with it. Apparently the joy of being able to wash and dry your hair in microseconds is something incredible. The same people are also either too busy or too lazy to get involved in trouble of any type.
Discrimination by hairstyle now ?
“The far right have hijacked the Cross of St George – well, no longer.”
Nobody “hijacked” anything – it was dropped and someone picked it up. The option is there for everyone. Blaming one group for flag-waving when nobody else could be bothered to do it is a bit sad really.
I have had a skinhead for about 20 years now (never liked sweating in a brain box) thank you for telling me I am a racist I never realised before !!.
Designation WCWW, it appears now that anyone who has short hair is racist, and violent?
Nobody with right wing views is allowed to wave their national flag, as this is only the right of the left wing thinkers.
And this is tolerance?
I have a skinhead, I’m not racest, far from it. I shave my head twice a week becouse I have a very high hairline and high forehead, and I don’t want to look like Phill Collins or Elton John, so off it comes with a bic. Saves money as well, not been to the Barbers for 15 years.
Redmik….lol…love it, it may take off like the right wing ‘they are stoping me from flying the flag’ fibs. I can’t work this car flag thing out, why is sticking a cheep bit of nylon, that is highly flamerbel, fixed to a cheep bit of plastic out your car window deemed to be patreotic, the bit of tat will more then likeley come from The Far East anyway. Another thing, why have some got England printed on them to, is it becouse some of the buggers need reminding of there countey.
I’m not bothering with the footie, no real fan of the sport anyway, give me F1 or Rugby, and I have the flag out last weekend for Lewis and Jenson, and it will be out again this weekend to.
Not so much a can of worms as a bin full! Still, there’s nowt like feedback.
I note the usual right wing mindset : to disagree is censorship or intolerance. Not all men who shave their heads describe themselves as skinheads, to some it’s a hairstyle – to others a lifestyle.
Like many men of my age I shave my head to disguise what nature is unravelling, at no point did I intend to suggest that all shorn men are racists.
As for you Warren – not a footie fan? And to think I liked you!
I don’t have a car redmik – yet my penis is ENORMOUS!
I’m just saying we should reclaim it, not a popular stance judging this and other threads. To quote Billy Bragg :
Our neighbours shake their heads
And take their valuables inside
Whilst my countrymen piss in their fountains
To express our national pride
Look out, my country’s patriots
Are hunting down below
What do they know of England…
Who only England know?
Know what? We are so much better!
I’ve seen some cars with one flag, many with two, saw one yesterday with four. I’m wondering if research would show the size of the tool to be inversely proportional to the number of flags.
My neighbours car still sports a Comic Relief Red Nose and he’s just brought out the old England flags he had from the last World Cup and put them on his car.
Dunno what that says about the size of his tool but it does demonstrate just what a tightarse he is.
NOW we are talking about MY ‘era’ 1966 world cup, skinheads mods rockers etc,
I was born in 1953, (June 2nd coronation day as it happens) and I am sure Blair was born that year as well, because I remember noticing that he is about 3 weeks older than me, but I digress,
1966 world cup, I was 13 at the time and remember it well, at that age I had little or no interest in football, in fact I would go as far as saying I hated it (yes I was one of those weird kids) think the film ‘Kez’ and the kid FORCED into goal wearing the oversized shorts because he had no proper kit, THAT actually happened to me,
I remember where I was when England won the world cup, I had managed to drag my cousin to the pictures and HE loved football, but the ABC in Hanley were showing ‘Dr who invasion Earth’ for ONE day only, I managed to convince my cousin that he could watch the match, later but we only had the one chance to see the doctor,
Well, on leaving the cinema it MIGHT well have been “all over” but you could have been forgiven for thinking it wasn’t, it was just like any other day, no fireworks no flag festooned cars no chanting singing drunken mobs, we had to wait until we got home to find out that it was indeed all over and that we had won,
I think should we win THIS time things will be ‘slightly’ different,
Skinheads, I was a “Rocker” sworn enemy of both the skinhead and the mod, and whilst social historians may tell you that skinheads were born out of their preference for certain types of music, as someone who was there at the time, on the front line, so to speak, I can tell you it was ALL about violence, and very little to do with music,
The skinheads hunted in packs, the boots and the shaved heads were about violence, the shaving of the head was to give them the advantage in a bit of ‘agro’ as we rockers or greasers had long hair and could be easily grabbed by it (a thing I learned all to well)
the skinheads would have a go at anyone who they saw as ‘different’ provided the odds were heavily in their favour of course, they were also known to be snivelling little cowards unless ‘mob handed’
their victims would be, rockers, hippies, black people homosexuals and sometimes mods,
So it’s not really surprising that they gravitated towards the right wing hate groups such as the NF and combat 18, After all they have the same mentality, and it can still be seen to this day.
OF COURSE not ALL men who shave their heads are skinheads otherwise I would be one because I shave mine, although I did once have to do some fast talking to a car full of Rastafarian gentlemen who had totally got the wrong idea!!!,
How about this, Copeless?
http://enemiesofreason.co.uk/2010/06/08/england-shirt-polish-bus-driver-tale-update/
Owd potter you paint a nice picture of “nasty skinheads” that attacked anybody and carefully left out the fact that rockers (greasers) (of which I was one) could be as violent as the skinheads, Teds and others with their bike chains and knuckle dusters.
Once again a section of society is put into a convienient box to try and prove a very tentative point?
Going down the road that skinheads are NF and combat 18, what does that make rockers, Teds, and punks?
Terry I can only speak from my own experiences, the guys I “hung around” with in my youth were of the “greaser” rocker type, and were not violent or “troublemakers,”
with us it was all about the bikes and going to rallies (camping weekends) getting drunk and having a laugh n chasing the girls,
I remember 4 of us spending 2 hours one night helping a MOD to fix his scooter,
However we would defend ourselves when the need arises and arose quite often, usually instigated by an aggressive mob of skinheads who saw it as their duty to rid the world of likes of us,
I remember being attacked by about 40-50 skinheads or skinhead types, while alone and on crutches, I happened to be passing a night club full of them as it emptied,
and I know many “bikers” who sadly have ideas along the lines of those of the BNP,
and I have no doubt there are many young (or not so) men who would call themselves skinheads who are decent chaps, I just haven’t met many,
You are forgetting fribs in your tour d horizon of the youth scence circa 1970. I suppose the smell emanating from Afghan coats could have counted as a chemical/biological weapon although there were not many on the Abbey. My brother Andy caught the skinhead thing and bought the Ben Sherman shirts, docs, tonics and Crombie coat. There were a few gangs around at the time such as the Smallthorne Clampets who I think were vale fans. From memory it was football rather than race that was the driver.
I remember the term ‘Fribs’ Bill, in my understanding of the word it was used as a general term for all types of ‘hairies’ from bikers to hippies or heavy metal fans,
in the same way that my self and my biker friends used the term ‘boneheads’ as a general term for skinheads, mods or ‘trendies’
trendies were the lowest of the low in the overall pecking order as I remember, These were the ‘fashion slaves’ they bought every No1 single for no other reason than the fact it was No1 they changed their hairstyle almost as often as their clothes and were in mortal terror of being thought of as ‘unfashionable’ They were also excellent ‘P’ taking material,
I counted my younger sisters as ‘trendies’ they provided me with hours of taking the P, poor girls, I gave them hell, hehe,
As for affghan coats,
(I know we are off on a tangent from the original topic here, but you have steered an old fart down memory lane)
You MUST remember a certain Mr K parkin? the Abbeys pet hippy, I bought HIS affghan coat of him and converted it into a waistcoat by chopping the arms off cutting the length down and turning it inside out so the fur was on the outside I then wore it over my leather jacket, It (I felt) gave me a certain ‘viking’ look hehe, and the left over ‘fur’ I glued to my crash helmet, I had NO shame, good days though.
I remember getting stopped by a copper who thought it was my hair and that I wasn’t wearing a crash helmet, he tested it by giving me a ‘donk’ over the head with his truncheon, in a good natured way of course,
Excellent story. I remember Mr Parkin’s sister Linda who was in my class at Carmount. I think she has done very well for herself
All I am saying is you cannot put people into boxes because of their msic, fashion, or politics, as not everybody thinks or acts the same.
Nowt the matter with Fribs, Moshers, Headbangers, Rockers, Bikers, Greesers, Punk, Proper Skinheads (Oi!)Goths, Mods or New Romantics, and we all used eye liner, come on, admit it. It was then buggers in to bloody Abba I could not abide.
What errant nonsense. Your music, fashion & politics (like mine} mark you out for who you are. Why should I not disagree with you because you believe people who were born in Britain by accident of birth are superior?
If that’s not what you believe, ditch the British Nazi Party because it is most definitely what they believe!
GRACIES CAFE HANLEY while the old days are being discussed where was this cafe? Can anyone jog my mind please. I keep thinking it was opposite the ABC Thanks
Ive just given my brother Jess a bell, he’s an authority on most things old & Stoke. Even he’s not sure. We do agree however, it’s NOT Broad St.
He thinks Hope St is more likely.
Why anyway Denise?
Hi I keep asking people about this cafe. I remember going with my aunt who was then in her teens in about 1965? it could have been Hope street at the bottom end near to Chawners outfitters. I think it was a “bikers” meeting place. No one seems to remember it! My Aunt is not around to ask now. I can remember being bought a drink by a leather jacketed boy (i think it was called Hubbly Bubbly- the drink not the boy) Or i may just have imagined it all. If i am right someone,somewhere must have a photo. It’s just a happy memory that i’d like some clarity on. Thanks for taking the trouble to enquire and reply D
Spoken to my other (considerably older) brother Denise, you really got me going on this… he reckons you are right, Gracie’s was down Broad St / Snowhill way and was indeed a hub for bikers! We have learned and grown together!
That Aunt of yours must have been one crackin’ lady to take you there so young. It’s stayed with you afterall!
Hi Thanks for that, i will keep searching for info. I thought it was Broad street (ish) Going past Hancocks pet shop and the ABC come to mind. I must be getting old and maudling when i start to think about how Up ‘anley used to be! All the information is greatly received (pity there isn’t a local memories group….) Thanks again D..
Denise, it was just past where the roundabout is now,and used to be opposite Martins electricians, and just down from Rosina Wards in Broad St.
They had a realy great juke box.
Thank you !! Great juke box too!? So was it on the same side as Rosina’s ? I can’t remember Martins at all. Was it a bikers place? Was the owner called Gracie? When did it open/close? I have so many questions without answers ! What year did you go there? (if thats not being to nosey) Thanks again for the information D
deinise, it was on the opposite side (sorry misslead you), yes bikers did get in there at night, I went there fom 66 to about 69 when I joined up.
Worked at Ashworths (pot bank) just up the road a bit,Old Betty Plants was opposite down the street where Martins was,(worked there as well).
One of The Ladies behind the counter was called Gracie, but don’t know if she owned the cafe.
They were good years.
Dont know when it was closed.
Thanks Terry for your reply very good information much appreciated, Kind regards D.
Thanks Terry for your reply very good information much appreciated, Kind regards D.
Hubbly Bubbly, now that takes my back, outside the Blurton Arms after going to the park. On the way home dad would nip in for a swift pint and pass me and the sis a bottel of Orange Hubbly Bubbly and a bag of crisp each out the door. You could do that sort of thing then without any problems. We use to sit on the steps and just talk. Them where the days.
There was some strange tri-angular lolly called a “lovely jubbly” or summat as well. Stop it Warren! You’re getting me all rheumy eyed now.
And to think, we only called paedophiles close relatives then!
[quote=Bill Cawley]Excellent story. I remember Mr Parkin’s sister Linda who was in my class at Carmount. I think she has done very well for herself[/quote]
AHHH yes Linda…. I will stop there hehe memories memories,
Ken I met quite a few times when I was a stage hand, he was a sound engineer roadie, with the likes of, Elvis costello, AC/DC, and the last time I saw him he was touring with Diana Ross,
[quote=tonyjohnt]Spoken to my other (considerably older) brother Denise, you really got me going on this… he reckons you are right, Gracie’s was down Broad St / Snowhill way and was indeed a hub for bikers! We have learned and grown together!
That Aunt of yours must have been one crackin’ lady to take you there so young. It’s stayed with you afterall![/quote]
I am the SLIGHTLY older brother in question. and I remember Gracie’s cafe very well, and as has been said already it WAS in broad street, I was just a young nipper of some 16 summers in 1969, and had my first motorbike, and was far to in awe of the “big boys”
who went there to ever dare venture through those doors,
I DO remember one chap called “Sandy” (his last name was Shaw) who frequented the place a very scary chap hehe, until several years later when I worked with him and he turned out to be a “top bloke” (books by their covers etc)
packets of crisps with the little blue twisted bag of salt in em, and it was always damp,….well we ARE going down memory lane ain’t we?
Smiths Salt and Shake Owd Potter, thats what they were. Puffs (3p a bag full) one flaver from the school tuck shop, never worked out what it was, tasted like soap. I remember a kind of crisp in the mid 70′s that had little toys hidden in them as well, Tuder I think they were called, first ones to do flavers like Pickeld Onion. Don’t know if it was just in North Wales or not. We use it haladay there, can’t recall them hear.
Whilst we’re on this nostalgia thread Warren – who in their right mind would train all year to run a snickers?
I rest my (everyone’s a fruit and nut)case!
Rainbow drops , fruit salads, flying saucers (two pieces of polysterene ceiling tiles with sherbert in the middle),spanish gold (like dried worms but it was really coconut strands coated in brown sugar – very health conscious) black jacks (is that p.c.?) sherbert dib-dab (cardboard tube full of chemicals with a lolly in it) and last but not least kay-lie ??? Any more boys?might as well pass the time while they sort the new P&P out…
Talk about a trip down memory lane, or for the benefit of Tone, Owd and Bill [ex Abbey Lads] should that be Abbey Lane! Here goes:
Joules’s Ale – Abbey Suburban
Ricki Pop – Abbey Suburban
Alpine Pop – Abbey Estate
Beer at Home – Davenports Brewery delivering on the Abbey Estate.
Old Jamaica Rum Choccie – Newsagent Leek Rd,
Taking empties back to out sales for 3d
School Board man – all over the Abbey.
Sugar sarnies – when ya mum couldn’t be arsed.
Hubbly Buubly – Chewing gum
Spangles – nuff said.
Panini Soccer [football] Albums
Shale tennis courts in Bucknall Park.
Live Dance Band – Abbey Suburban Thurs nights
Club Trip to Blackpool.
Cucumber n Onion soaked in malt vinegar in summer.
Flares in side pockets.
Marc Bolan n T-Rex
Noddy Holder n Slade.
Hated Mud and Rubettes.
Raleigh Chopper.
OK just fer starters!
Alpine pop, you bloody teaser! It wasn’t an Abbey thing though, their secret HQ was in Hanley, opposite the Cheddar Cheese.
Jamaica Rum was a kid’s apprenticeship for booze.
As for Davenports, I remember their van and its bad tempered driver. There was also a bloke who came ’round selling paraffin – different times bud.
We got our hair cut in an Anderson shelter by “Jonnie two bob”. Nobody had a phone and every adult (however stupid) could smack you one – eeee, I miss those undernourished, totally non PC days!
Johnny Two Bob – I’d forgotten about him! Although i seem to remember him cutting hair in his outside toilet and leaving 1000 Abbey kids all looking exactly the same.
Do you remember Johnny Pap-Pap? And Albert? My dad was the only person that could understand him. He did exactly what Ernie wanted him to do in the Suburban.
Memories are made of….
Ehh… it brings back so many memories … also GayDay pop (where Amanda for blinds is now) Alpine up the dirt track opposite side of the road.My Dad Dennis used to drink Ansells P.A. i asked him once “what does P.A. stand for?” he said the lastword was artist”……….. I love the new slant on the P&P site. I’ve forgotten what i came here for x
Me and Owd Potter were discussing Johnny Pap Pap today. We both thought it too out of place to raise him, given todays social mores.
I’ll ask you though Tony : was he ever at risk?
What a sham this modern thinking is! Just don’t tell Shaun Bennett! He’ll use it as an excuse for something entirely different.
My Nan & Grandad lived in Newhouse road and Johnny pap pap used to ask me to “hop in” to go up to ‘anley duck many a day (don’t tell Shaun he might be upset about not getting a lift to the top …….of Limekiln)
Last word is Artist made me chuckle Denise. I think PnP is just chillaxing for the Summer. We all went at it good style during the election. Let’s all have some R&R. Those idiots on the Sentinel forums better expect no rest though!
Jobdone!tonyjohnt&Owd potter Time for a sleep now and ‘chillaxe’ (a superb word). I was thinking shall we keep this memory stick of ours going? …we are on page 2 already, why this time next year my friends we could in the Guinness book of records for ‘going off the subject-big style’
Iam a world expert at straying from the subject Dear! My mother inadvertently coached me, by going ballistic every time I did it.
If we don’t divert them Denise, they will talk about “fiscal responsibility” and that leads to more being spent on policing than free school dinners – help me out mate!
Spanish Gold………mmmmmmmmmmmm.
On the subject of getting your hair- and eres- cut, we had a barbers shop on Hollybush, where I lived for a wile, called Eugean’s. The bloke who ran this theatre of pain knew one cut, bad. So careless and off handed was this man he kept a bottle of TCP and cotten wool balls on the tabel by him.
And Davenports, beer to your door, just like the bloody milk man. Mind you, on Blurton the milk man brought the bottels of pop round as well. Leave it on the door step with your milk he use to, never got swiped, love see it being tryed today. Blurton had a man who came round selling Calor Gas as well as Parafine.
The old rent man use to come every Tuesday for the rent and my nan use to always send most of the morning dusting, so the place looked clean for him. You knew the people who were a bit short of cash that week as well, they hid upstears from him, my nan was always the first he called on, then she use to stand by the door and watch him go round the grove, shocking when you think about it.
Looking back, by god, it’s changed. It makes you think, liveing on a diat of driping on toast, Spanish Gold and warm Cream Soda, the frige was alway breaking down, and that was the only thing the milkman had left and massive blood loss getting your hair cut, how we ever got past our tenth birthbay without droping down stone dead.