Memory Lane

[HKP90]

1 hour ago, Xela said:

Yeah.

I was up before the Headmaster for starting one of these. The poor lad on the end let go and was slung across the tarmac playground, only using his face as a brake. I still remember his Mother's screams when she saw his face when she came to pick him up to take him home. It looked a lot worse than it was, and it healed quickly leaving no permanent marks, luckily. 

Oooooohhh. Ouch.

[mjmooney]

5 minutes ago, bickster said:

I've got a similar job on, except with my Dads photographic slides. I can't go on lugging them around with me if I move, So I've got to reduced the amount I have. Even on a first glace there are slides from an International Eisteddfod in LLangollen which must be from the 50s, so I'm thinking of asking them if they want those for an archive they may have (no idea if they do), some are just awful photographs, they'll be getting binned, some are of family members I was never involved with but have heard of, I'm certainly not in touch with any of those. There will definitely be some of various schools my mother taught in and housing developments in Brum / West Brom etc more stuff possibly for museums....

Huge job

 

Yes. I should add that - apart from the huge pile of prints (and, like you, slides) from my own lifetime - I have several boxes that my parents had kept, going back to well before The War. I recognise some of the people in them, but have no chance of identifying the majority. Add to which, my wife has inherited a similar archive from her own family - like mine, mostly undocumented. It's fascinating and frustrating in equal measure. 

[HKP90]

On 15/05/2023 at 20:31, sidcow said:

What was the game, a variation of tig, where if you got tigged you had to stand with arms out wide whilst the 'on' person went to find a new victim.

In the meantime anyone not yet tigged can run under your arm and release you. 

Normally ruined by someone who had been tigged suddenly deciding they weren't after all and deciding to run around releasing people. 

Was it called statues? 

Oh man, you just broke a memory! Yes, statues!

[HKP90]

On 15/05/2023 at 20:24, mjmooney said:

Here's a game that as far as I remember didn't have any particular name, but was quite popular. You need as many kids as possible to stand in a line, holding hands. The kid at one end starts to turn around, swinging his partner, who swings his partner, and so on. The ripple down the line quickly starts to get more pronounced due to centrifugal force, eventually resulting in the kids at the far end being whipped around with considerable force - if they let go, they hurtle through the air, risking injury when they hit the ground or any other object. Bad enough on grass, deadly on a hard playground. Choosing to go at the 'fast end' was a badge of courage. If it wasn't called 'whiplash', it should have been. I think it may have been banned at our school eventually. 

Also just remembered that we called this 'Trains', for some reason.

[sidcow]

Those sweet dispensers that they left outside sweet shops. Usually contained gobstoppers or similar hard round sweets. 

You put 2p in the slot and twisted the handle around and the sweets would drop into the chute covered by a chrome flap. 

I shudder to think how unhygienic they were. 

Still couldn't knock 24hr access to sweets. 

[mjmooney]

5 minutes ago, HKP90 said:

Also just remembered that we called this 'Trains', for some reason.

Yes, maybe it was trains, it's a vague memory. I still think whiplash would have been a better name. 

I only went on the fast end once, and I can still recall the exhilarating feeling of flying as I left the ground, and then let go. Fortunately I landed on grass without any major injuries. 

[mjmooney]

5 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Those sweet dispensers that they left outside sweet shops. Usually contained gobstoppers or similar hard round sweets. 

You put 2p in the slot and twisted the handle around and the sweets would drop into the chute covered by a chrome flap. 

I shudder to think how unhygienic they were. 

Still couldn't knock 24hr access to sweets. 

And refrigerated milk machines. 

Not to mention cigarettes. Back in my smoking days, my girlfriend of the time had a craving for a post-coital smoke in the middle of the night, and had run out. So she insisted we get dressed and walk the streets looking for a fag dispenser. I went along with it, but I wasn't too impressed. 

[VILLAMARV]

On the subject of stacks of old photo's, my dad is more than a bit ocd, so we set him the task of writing any known information on older snaps, all the really old stuff that came from his dad of great uncles and great great aunts we wouldn't recognise. It's turned out to be a good test of his memory in some cases but bought other memories flooding back too associated with addresses, where the bakery that sold iced buns was etc etc. Fascinating stuff but we wouldn't have a clue about any of them so in a family history type of way its info that would otherwise get lost.

[mjmooney]

I was thinking that all this crisp packet, cool S and water bomb stuff belongs in here.

I was never in the cubs, but my missus was in the brownies, and she was swapping notes with our 8 year old granddaughter (current brownie) the other day. Mrs M said they used to get badges for outdoor skills like rope knots, building fires and tracking. GD says they now get badges for things like mindfulness and listening. 

 

[Mark Albrighton]

A school friend (still current friend although been a few years since I last saw him) used to do the crisp packet triangle thing. 

He also used to have this habit of folding his school tie back on itself so it looked like a penis. Sort of. 

And yeah, that S design was something that was done a lot at school. Didn’t know how to do any other letters in that style so it was something of a redundant skill.

[sidcow]

6 hours ago, mjmooney said:

I was thinking that all this crisp packet, cool S and water bomb stuff belongs in here.

I was never in the cubs, but my missus was in the brownies, and she was swapping notes with our 8 year old granddaughter (current brownie) the other day. Mrs M said they used to get badges for outdoor skills like rope knots, building fires and tracking. GD says they now get badges for things like mindfulness and listening. 

 

Which is why The Brownies as an organisation are dying. 

[sidcow]

6 hours ago, Mark Albrighton said:

A school friend (still current friend although been a few years since I last saw him) used to do the crisp packet triangle thing. 

He also used to have this habit of folding his school tie back on itself so it looked like a penis. Sort of. 

And yeah, that S design was something that was done a lot at school. Didn’t know how to do any other letters in that style so it was something of a redundant skill.

I just used to write BOOBIES on my calculator 

[Xela]

6 hours ago, Genie said:

Absolutely. 
Nightlife is practically nothing now. Such a shift over time. People used to trudge half a mile through the Castle Grounds to go to Xenon. All the bars packed out. 
I’ve been out in Tamworth once or twice in the last year and it’s a task to find somewhere with enough people inside to make an atmosphere.

Keeping the thread on topic I don’t think the current generation of 18-21 year olds will spend their money on nights out like we used to. It’s just too expensive and they’ll instead get pissed at house parties and spend money on rent or car.

Some decent pubs in T'muff now. Wouldn't know about clubs.

You are right though, nightlife has changed. Not sure its cost related, just changing tastes I think. Pubs/bars have later licences now, so less head to clubs. Back in our day, the pubs shut at 11pm and you had to hit a club to carry on. 

 

[bickster]

On 02/07/2023 at 13:00, mjmooney said:

mindfulness

And that’s for the things that piss you off thread

[mjmooney]

19 minutes ago, bickster said:

And that’s for the things that piss you off thread

I'm rather hoping the brownie doesn't get her mindfulness badge. 

[sidcow]

I remember when I was a cub scout I got a section of my Bronze Arrow completed by tying my shoelace, something I had been doing since I was about 4 years old. 

By the time I became a cub leader there were far more challenging activities to complete and proficiency badges were much more up to date. 

Edited July 4, 2023 by sidcow

[Mark Albrighton]

First the worst

Second the best

Third’s the one with the hairy chest 

Fourth’s the golden eagle

And five’s the princess

This is what I’ve informed my daughter as she yet again beat me at Dobble. 

At least I think that was how the version at my first school went. I have no idea what the golden eagle was meant to be. And I assume if a boy finished fifth he would be given the mantle of princess and much hilarity would ensue.

[sidcow]

10 minutes ago, Mark Albrighton said:

First the worst

Second the best

Third’s the one with the hairy chest 

Fourth’s the golden eagle

And five’s the princess

This is what I’ve informed my daughter as she yet again beat me at Dobble. 

At least I think that was how the version at my first school went. I have no idea what the golden eagle was meant to be. And I assume if a boy finished fifth he would be given the mantle of princess and much hilarity would ensue.

First the worst

Second the best

Third the dirty rascal 

4th the golden angel

5th the fairy queen. 

[TheAuthority]

Ip, dip, dog, sh*t, you, trod, in, it.

[Seat68]

First the worst, second the best, third the dirty dog.