Snippets of memories

Caption required

2009-10-20T15:40:06+02:00

I've been scanning old photos again...this one from the late 1980's!

I'd almost forgotten that i'd once met this old fellow >" class="middle" border="0">

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Mystery artist

2009-08-22T18:06:43+02:00

Isn't it surprising what one finds in one's 'nostalgia' box suitcase.

I wish I could remember the name of the artist who drew this pencil sketch of me.

I remember it was a friend of a friend who came to visit me with aforementioned friend in about the year 1976 .

I remember I was sat on a chair in my little London council flat while he sketched from the settee.....and that is about all I remember ...oh and that he was quite good-looking

It wasn't too bad a likeness either

I still have the heavy lidded eyes, they were there in my childhood photos too,
I still have the nose that veers off to one side with one nostril wider than the other and I still have the same indentation of the lower 'split' lip which formed after years of it splitting due to the cold northern winters of the 1950's.

Only one criticism though and that is that he drew my top lip too thinly....only one can't complain as I can't remember posing for too long...couldn't stay still for long in those days Xx

Compare a photo of me taken around the same time

Just a thought but why don't all you bloggers over forty years old post a photo of yourself when you were in your teens or twenties

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It was in '74

2009-06-27T20:23:46+02:00

I'm enjoying watching Crosby, Stills and Nash at Glastonbury on BBC4 TV.
It reminded me of when I saw them at Wembley Stadium in 1974 (along with Young)
Joni Mitchell was also on the bill..and the Band!!
I loved Joni back then and the first album I ever bought was this one of hers.

Flyer

The memory is a bit hazy....i'll have to start posting more on this blog before I forget the lot!!!!

Edit
They've just finished the gig with 'Teach your children well'...wonderful
Here they are in 1977 looking more like I remember seeing them back in 74

Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you will cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.......

btw... Lulu came to the Wembley concert with me, she was aged four

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'cos it's a Sunday

2009-06-07T11:57:42+02:00

When I was born, back in 1948, my parents lived at my grandmother's house, gran was an active member of the Salvation Army so it followed that I was christened by them. It didn't follow that I went to the Sally Army services during childhood though but I do remember waking up to the band playing in the 'ring' outside our 'new house' (actually it was a pre-fabricated bungalow hastily erected after the war for new families to live in )very early on a Sunday morning and dashing out, sometimes in my jimjams to throw a copper in the tin.
No, When I was about eight or nine I was sent to the Ebenezer Gospel Hall Sunday School with my elder sister who took charge of me while mam prepared traditional Sunday roast dinner and looked after our youngest sister who is seven years my junior.

Big sister and me once had a task set at Sunday school.
To memorise and recite all the books of the Old Testament.
Elder sister was more diligent than I, but on this one I wouldn't let it rest until I had it mastered and believe me for a nine year old lass with a broad Yorkshire accent it was no mean feat getting one's tongue around some of these names!

Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther (Hebrew)*
Job
Psalms
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Solomon
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
and last come ....Malachi

I haven't thought about this for decades, in fact my memory was jogged when I read this KIBITZ post
I've discovered that over fifty years later I can still recite it without too many mistakes ...fascinating innit !

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Which one is the waxwork

2009-04-01T18:08:37+02:00

We've all got them, most of us with kids anyway, the photos of ourselves and/or the children standing next to a famous person or failing that A WAXWORK at Madam Tussauds.

Delving through my old photos, as I do periodically I came across some taken in the late eighties/early nineties.
The kids were very picky about the celebs they wanted photographing alongside.
There's the usual ones with us all stood next to the royal family when Diana was a member and there's one of Bella stood next to Pope John Paul which I insisted she pose for
Another one which was taken when Lulu was about 16 made me smile,
she had chosen to be photographed alongside Dame Edna Everage and a bonny pair they looked too
Another pic has one of my neices (probably aged about eleven) sat on a bench alongside Jimmy Saville, she must have chosen him due to the Yorkie connection

Then there's mine!!...don't ask why I chose this gentleman...he was probably in the news alot back then and I thought it might impress t'old man who was working in the Middle East at that time>" class="middle" border="0">
What a wally I look, I must have been trying to blend in with the decor..and it worked

So, come and tell me, who have you been photographed with? either a waxwork or in person.

...and if you've any waxwork pics you'd care to share, post them on your blog, i'd love to see them

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What do I remember about my infant school-days?

2009-01-22T20:08:53+01:00

What do I remember about my infant school-days?

They began in 1952, the year of the Coronation. I vaguely remember a street party and being given a mug "
I was four and in the nursery,
I remember a huge rocking horse which we all clambered upon and played "Gee up popo" for ages

It was deemed that every day we should all have an afternoon nap so a 'nurse' came round and popped us under a blanket in a fold-up bed.

We had free milk and cod liver oil capsules at break time and if you were lucky you would have a little snack in your bag.
I don't recall there being many snacks in mine, we were so poor that mam had all on putting three square meals on the table ... what I do remember is the absolute shame I felt when one day it was discovered that I had eaten another girl's banana

I don't remember this too well (just the shame) but bananas were an absolute luxury in those days and I was only four.

The disgrace was so bad that it penetrated my core and I couldn't be a thief now even if I was so inclined as the risk of getting caught would be too much to bear

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A bag of gold coins

2008-12-14T22:29:03+01:00

Following on from ELLIES Fab post
about by-gone christmases, it reminded me of another post I did a couple of xmas's ago when I remembered my favourite toys.

I could remember when my sister and I shared a sweetie shop like this, one Christmas in the late 50's (look where it was bought!)

I also remember getting a Post Office similar another year.

One year I got a black baby doll whilst my sister got a white one. I'd never ever seen a black person back then in the mid 1950's and this dolly seemed very special!

We only ever got the one "large" present each but we always got an orange,an apple and a bag of nuts and if we were really good we might get a net bag of choc 'gold coins' .

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Homage to the flat cap

2008-11-27T13:21:16+01:00

"I'm going to need a new flat cap soon" said t'old man "this one's about had it's day"

T'old man has always worn a flat cap in the winter months although more for weather protection than tradition, unlike the men in the pit village where I grew up who wore one come hail or come shine outdoors and just as often inside.

Miners in the 1920's

The wearing of flat caps has gone on for centuries The style can be traced back to the 14th century when it was more likely to be called a 'bonnet and they were almost universally worn in the 19th century by working class men throughout Britain and Ireland, and versions in finer cloth were also considered to be suitable casual countryside wear for upper-class English men (hence the contemporary alternative name golf cap). Cloth caps were worn by fashionable young men in the 1920s.
The stereotype of the flat cap as purely 'working class' was never correct as hey were frequently worn in the country, but not in town, by middle and upper-class males for their practicality.
"A cloth cap is assumed in folk mythology to represent working class, but it also denotes upper class affecting casualness. So it is undoubtedly classless, and there lies its strength

The first person I ever saw wearing one was my dad in the 1950's.
I haven't got a pic of dad in his flat cap but this is the typical style I remember on a random man in the 1950's/60's

In British popular culture the flat cap has been particularly associated with older working class men, especially those in northern England, as personified by Fred Dibnah
and comic strip anti-hero Andy Capp.

The popularity of the flat hat also remains strong with fans of English country clothing, rural and agricultural workers, the country set or those who simply find them practical, though it tends to be associated with an older generation of wearers, some younger members of the Royal family have been seen to wear flat caps too

Throughout the eighties, nineties and this decade media stars have gravitated towards the humble flat cap making a fashion statement as these pics of Maddona and Bond star Daniel Craig show.

Children can wear flat caps effectively, and teddy bears too

Is that enough pics of flat caps now???
..Oh just one more
..From the mid 1970's

IT'S ME...I wore a flat cap then too
It was the 'heroin chic' look before it's time, looks like i'd had a late night the night before

Honestly, i've no shame...i'll use any subject as a post so's I can post a photo of myself >" class="middle" border="0">.....now where was I?..ah yes..i've got to go buy t'old man a flat cap

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A scrapping surprise

2008-10-30T16:41:46+01:00

A couple of years ago my daughter Lulu, as a hobby, used to run a 'scrapping crop' which is a weekly group meeting for people interested in scrap booking and card making; so when she asked me to scan and e-mail her a selection of both old and recent photos of mine I wondered what she was up to!
I finally found out last week when she presented me
with a gift ........ I opened the box

Inside the book each page had a different topic ranging from my early childhood to the present day, each surround created by Lulu to enhance the pics.

The subject of first page happened to be the earliest photo in existence of me aged four.

(btw, I placed Popeye and Olive there solely to cover up 'real names' )

Here are a few other pages using photos from my past.

Early adulthood

My babies

Random

What these photos may not show up is the time-consuming pleating on some of the borders and she must have spent an absolute age doing them.

There are more pages to come she says ...

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It used to be mice but now it's snakes

2008-10-24T09:04:47+02:00

Have you ever had a snake wrapped your neck
I have and i didn't like it

About seven years ago myself and two friends were sat in the hotel lounge in Tunisia watching the cabaret, a snake charmer.

After a while, he finished charming them and headed over our way

Suddenly I was sitting by myself, my mates had scarpered

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Lollipop Happiness

2008-10-18T15:33:56+02:00

Happiness is mostly a by-product of doing what makes us feel fulfilled. As a baby of the late 1940's suckling at my mother's breast was all that was needed As a child of the 1950's just riding a tricycle created happiness          In my young teens the school gatherings of the early 1960's gave illusions of happiness Late teens/ young adult in the late '60's and early 70's ..no more to be said Adulthood and we think materialism brings happiness , the money God It's all a false illusion as we search for the elixir of life

   and that one may drown
      One can still pursue happiness by going on holidays, dancing on tables etc.and one still does but at the end of the day priorities change and now my motto is IF MY KIDS ARE HAPPY, I'M HAPPY   Happiness is the ultimate realization that everything was, and is, exactly as it should be."

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She's a ginger nut really!

2008-07-23T21:34:05+02:00

Blog friend Adamantixx has posted about his admiration for natural red-heads, http://adamantixx.blog.co.uk/2008/07/22/flame-4485545

Thirty seven and a half years ago I gave birth to a little bundle of joy and was surprised to see that on her head were little tufts of red hair, I shouldn't have been surprised though 'cos both her grandmothers had red hair too.
As she got older it grew and grew and I used to have great sport combing the tangles out of her lovely mane

Then when Lulu became a teenager she went through her goth phase and wanted to dye it black!!..I put my foot down so she didn't just then, but as soon as she reached adult-hood she covered over the colour of her crowning glory never to give it remission to this day
Her latest 'concession' to her natural colour came last week and although not the ginger nut I remember, I did quite like it

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Bring back pan stick

2008-07-18T20:05:17+02:00

Pan Stik! ... Doesn't anyone under forty years old know what pan stick is?

Kibitz asked me,on a comment, what on earth it was so I thought perhaps I had better explain

Max Factor's bestselling stick foundation is now over 60 years old.

Pan Stick. A true beauty classic, the product was used on Ava Gardner and Rita Hayworth in the Forties, and today remains a favourite with Hollywood make-up artists who uses it on supermodels and top actresses around the world.
In the 1960's, long before the "natural look" was fashionable we would never be without our pan stik in our handbags. Before we went out for a night on the town we would dot it sparingly over our face then blend with fingers or a damp sponge for a flawless look.

It was caked on!!

It would cover every blemish and pimple you had and depending on the shade one could look quite anaemic 'cos if I remember correctly I never wore blusher with it, it created the perfect canvas for black eye-liner and rouge red lipstick though.
The major draw backs were that you were in danger of clogging your pores if you didn't remove it from your face properly thus creating more of the pimples one was trying to conceal and it also left a nasty stain on your collar.

So now you can see why it comes in useful in order to cover over a 'bruised eye'.

This is a friend and myself on a night out around 1966/7..as you can see the make-up was thick

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Gym slips and Lyle stockings

2008-06-13T19:16:17+02:00

... were what we wore at my old Grammar school!!

Recently I was reminiscing about my school days again and I came across a name I recognised.
The name was in an old programme which had the cast list of the School Variety Show of 1962.
I was in the show that year acting in a little fantasy play which was set in the roots system of a plant. In this roots system there was a board room and I was playing the part of the Minister for Pollination ..and that is about all I can remember about the plot although I do have one little reminder of the performance and that is this litle ink-stained photo which is the only school photo I actually have in my possesssion (as opposed to finding pics on the net)

..i'll let you guess which one is me.

I digress....the name in the programme was 'Carol Fletcher' who was one year down from me. She was a very pretty but delicate looking girl but one who was highly talented and full of confidence.
In the variety show there was a section which was dedicated to famous American songs (remember it was 1962) and she appeared wearing a frilly dress with ringlets and carrying a parasol. She was about 12 years old at the time and she sang the song 'Sweet Annabel Lee' ..I think she also sang 'Big Rock Candy Mountain' with a few other warblers and the performances were very well received in the school hall.

I never really got to know her but nevertheless, one day, many many years later I was watching tele and I spotted a familiar face and the name in the credits confirmed it...she had gone on to earn a living as a performer although the route she took wasn't exactly as I would have expected as she had joined the troupe Hot Gossip and the tele show I was watching was the Kenny Everett show.
Take a trip down memory lane and watch this videoclip of Hot Gossip in 1978 even though it was rubbish then and is still rubbish now (maybe a little kitsch)
Carol is the zombified blonde one on the right hand side of the still and the one at the very end of the line when they are in single file.

As for me.. I went on to enter the school Christmas talent concert the following year and gave a rendition of 'Silent Night'...I failed on some of the high notes and I heard the giggles in the audience.

This abruptly ended any thoughts of me ever acting or singing in public again!

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Button tins

2008-05-27T20:04:45+02:00

I was rummaging around in the garage looking for the key to an old bicycle lock when I came across this old button tin which I must have had for over thirty years

Do people keep button tins any more?....I mean apart from the ladies who do dress-making professionally or as a hobby. Does the button tin have a place in today's home as remembering to cut buttons off old clothes now seems to be nought but a chore.

I seem to remember mum always had a tin and whenever the clothes which had been passed down from child to child were finally done, then the zips and buttons were cut out for future use. Not only was her button tin a storage container for buttons but it was also a means of keeping us children amused when it was too wet to play outside. Stories could be woven around the various buttons, the military ones, the sparkly ones even the plain shirt buttons.
We learned to add and subtract with buttons.
"How many red buttons?"
"If there are three red buttons and two yellow buttons, how many all told?"
"And if we take a red and a yellow button away, how many left?"

I must have carried on the tradition when I left home but I can't remember ever sewing the buttons which I had cut off from my jumble sale buys on to any other items of clothing
I know people collect interesting buttons as a hobby but I never kept them for this reason...so why have I still got them after all these years

Oh, I remember now..it's because I also throw obsolete keys in the tin too just in case I ever need them again

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Down the old school lane

2008-05-05T19:13:11+02:00

it's been a long day today, whiling way the hours until we depart at 11pm tonight in order to catch our plane to Nimes.
I've had my bath, ive cooked the main meal, i've defrosted the fridge, i've checked the bags in case i've forgotten anything and then inevitably I ended up browsing on the computer.
I wasn't searching for anything in particular but somehow I landed up on a site which an ex-pupil of my old Grammar school has created.
It was fascinating and I have spent a good couple of hours down memory lane as there are plenty of photos from the early 1960's (of which I have none) on the site.
I recalled the chemistry room and how I used to giggle at the back, the gym, the grounds, the school plays...I read articles from the old school magazine and relived many events that I had long forgotten...I found a picture of the long jump pitch which I had jumped the length of many many times ..I saw a photo of the hockey team I was briefly a member of (before they threw me out) and recognised two of my best friends from back then who I haven't seen since, which is nearly 45 years ago...and strangest of all amidst the random selection of form 'class' photos I discovered one which included ME taken in 1962!!

I am the one with the 'sort of' Helen Shapiro haircut second row to the back and fifth from the left

Yes, if you're trying to kill time waiting for an alloted hour then I wholeheartedly recommend a trip down memory Lane
I didn't really excel at school after the second year and was 'rather' disruptive according to my old school report (which I have also delved into just now):XX" class="middle" border="0">
but this unexpected encounter with the past has left me with fond memories of the old place

Only four hours to go now before we lock the doors to the house for five days... what should I do now

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Once a hoarder..

2008-04-05T18:49:12+02:00

So I said to t'old man on a wet April afternoon
"while i'm stuck indoors, i'll wade through all those old programmes and souvenirs that i've got stashed in boxes"
The idea being to free some cupboard space and incorporate a bit of spring cleaning.
So I got them all out, scattered the various 'piles' all around and a spent a lovely couple of hours wallowing in nostagia

"Where's all the waste for the rubbish bin then?" enquired t'old man much later.
"Errr...here it is" I muttered as I handed him a couple of old travel brochures and some scrap bits of paper.

"Is that all ?"..he asked in bemusement

"Well Yes".....after all how can I possibly throw away the special viewers that we were provided with when we went to witness the eclipse in Strasbourg in 1999..or the Arena de Verona tickets to see Carmen in 2003..or the plastic spoon sets we brought home from EuroDisney when I took a 9 year old Bella there in its first year of opening in 1992...or all the programmes from our broadway theatre visits and the folk festivals..........................

"No sorry love...once a hoarder always a hoarder"

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Blueberrys and strawberries : no go

2008-03-28T15:30:39+01:00

When Lulu was just a little girl she was given penicillin to treat a common childhood illness. She developed a rash and very large blisters all over her body so immediately on return to the doctor's surgery it was written in her medical notes that on no account must she be prescribed penicillin.
35 years later and she hasn't been prescribed penicillin since, at times it has been difficult as she often gets slight reactions to other medicines too.
She has suffered with asthma too since childhood although it wasn't diagnosed properly 'til she was a young teenager and took many years for it to be properly controlled....she likes cats and still has two even though she is probably allergic to cat hair.

All well and good as her general health has been stabilised for quite a while now....then last week after spending the day in London with a friend they went to an trendy cafe where Lulu had a delicious piece of blueberry cheesecake, about 20mins later her friend asked what was wrong with her eyes, they were all red, swollen and puffy, then a rash appeared all over her body and large welts appeared, she told me that she also became very wheezy, and felt nauseous for around 4 hours.
I asked her what had triggered the reaction?
She's had cheesecake before with no problems, but not blueberries apart from earlier last week when she bought some fresh ones to try and ate half a dozen.. the following morning she had a tummy upset but thought nothing of it.
But thats how allergies go, the first time you are generally OK, then you develop anti bodies, so when you have them a second time, the reaction is worse, and once you are sensitised, the reactions continue to get worse each time!

She had the foresight to take a snap of the "welt" to show her doctor who confirmed she had a severe allergy reaction to blueberries and even gave her epipen adrenaline in case she has a reaction again.

You're never too old to develop new allergies it seems
So no more blueberries for Lulu!!

Bella on the other hand only has one known allergy...to strawberries... when on consumption she gets little ulcers on her tongue and inside gum.

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The Cure

2008-03-22T14:32:01+01:00

In the early 1980's on the wall, behind my head, in my computer room where I am sitting now, there used to be a huge poster of Robert Smith of the Cure...something like this

It was there because this room used to be Lulu's bedroom and when she was about 14/15 she was a massive fan of The Cure.

Now at age 37 she often reminds me of how I 'robbed' her of the chance of seeing them live.
Now I don't remember too much about this accusation but I can only summise it was because the gig was too far away and we didn't have much money or any transport back then in the early 1980's.

On Friday Morning I received a text from her saying "had a great time at Wembley last night"...yes, she had finally managed to see the 'Cure' in concert at last.

Moral to the story is...ALL THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO WAIT!!

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Lesson learnt

2008-03-05T17:31:14+01:00

I wouldn't say that Jane is my best mate but she is probably the one i've known the longest
It was around 1973 when she was about 17 and I was 23, we were hitch-hiking to a camp-site in Dorset..the driver of a 'taupalin covered' lorry stopped to give us a lift.
Jane was a smoker at the time and during the course of a pleasant chatty journey where we were perched at the front of the cab with the driver she tossed her lighted tab end out the window (as you do/did).
Five minutes later, still cruising along, we heard a car horn peeping loudly.
The driver looked into his rear mirror and saw a cloud of smoke.

The tab end had only landed under the taupalin and had set fire to his load which was BALES OF WASTE PAPER!!
He screeched to a halt in what was a relatively quiet country road and we became panicky as we saw flames beginning to lick. the fire brigade was called and Jane apologised profusely.
Lesson learnt!
Fortunately the lorry driver was pretty cool about it and told us not to worry... in fact when a car stopped to see if we needed any assistance the driver insisted we accept the lift to the nearest town that this 'respectable business man' was offering.
Accept we did and the conversation soon veered away from the perils of throwing tab-ends out of moving vehicle windows to lipstick and false eyelashes
It turned out that our Good Samaritan was a closet transvestite and was taking the opportunity to glean some make-up tips from a couple of rather dizzy, giddy young women.

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It comes to us all eventually

2007-12-27T13:02:33+01:00

It wouldn't be funny if it wasn't so true... Julie Andrews turned 69 - To commemorate her 69th birthday on October 1, actress/vocalist, Julie Andrews made a special appearance at Manhattan's Radio City Music Hall for the benefit of the AARP. One of the musical numbers she
performed was "My Favorite Things" from the legendary movie "Sound Of Music."

Here are the actual lyrics she used:

Maalox and nose drops and needles for knitting, Walkers and handrails and new dental fittings, Bundles of magazines tied up in string, These
are a few of my favorite things.

Cadillacs and cataracts, and hearing aids and glasses, Polident and
Fixodent and false teeth in glasses, Pacemakers, golf carts and porches
with swings, These are a few of my favorite things.

When the pipes leak, When the bones creak, When the knees go bad, I
simply remember my favorite things, And then I don't feel so bad.

Hot tea and crumpets and corn pads for bunions, No spicy hot food or
food cooked with onions, Bathrobes and heating pads and hot meals they
bring, These are a few of my favorite things.

Back pains, confused brains, and no need for sinnin', Thin bones and
fractures and hai r that is thinnin', And we won't mention our short,
shrunken frames, When we remember our favorite things.

When the joints ache, When the hips break, When the eyes grow dim, Then
I remember the great life I've had, And then I don't feel so bad.

(Ms. Andrews received a standing ovation from the crowd that lasted over four minutes and repeated encores.)

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Enjoy

2007-12-10T23:19:39+01:00

In homage to the millions of novice guitarists who practised and practised Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven'
Take a listen to this
It gets better as the video progresses.

Stairway to Heaven live (Rodrigo y Gabriela)

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Some old folks having fun

2007-12-10T21:58:10+01:00

Some old folks having fun" was the parting line of Jon Snow as he closed the channel 4 news programme tonight.
He was referring to a feature on the Led Zeppellin concert.

Did I ever tell you about when I saw Misters Page, Plant and Bonham?
Well...when I saw them I didn't actually attend the concert.. it was October 1969 at the Lyceum in the West end of London and I was living in a squat and was totally skint at the time, so we went to the back of the building and heard the "noise" through the walls.
Until the end of the concert that was, then, on playing the last song the entrance doors were opened to let the audience out and we rushed in just in time to see them do an encore
I don't remember that much about it but I do remember this amazing long-haired God of a figure stood on stage with guitar in hand and the atmosphere was electric.
They sure don't look like that now although i'm sure the gig will be just as electric .

Oh and did you see Joni Mitchell on tv last week?
I saw her in concert in the early 70's and she personified everything I thought a modern young woman should be back then, so pure and natural ...so it was scary seeing her as this post middle-aged lady now dressed all in black wearing a black fedora instead of a bandana, smoking away while being filmed and who revealed that she had been smoking cigarettes since she was nine years old
Joni's comeback album has arrived courtesy of the coffee chain Starbucks's label 'Hear Music'. She was unrepentent when asked if there was any difference between a major record label and a fast-food multinational these days, as there is something a little odd about a woman who complained long and hard about the exploitative nature of the music business throwing in her lot with Starbucks, a company that has, over the years, faced a series of charges of unfair labour practice.
"well", she said "It was a very good deal"
Ah well, as Jon Snow just said "Some old folks having fun"

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Watch out!

2007-11-04T13:39:02+01:00

Mischief night seems to be a Northern thing - November 4th, the night before Bonfire Night has always been known as Mischief Night in Yorkshire for as long as I can remember; I'm not certain of the origins of the tradition but perhaps it was because on this night Guy Fawkes placed the last of his gun-powder underneath the Houses of Parliament (very mischievous)
What we can be certain of, is what will go on tonight because kids across the county will run riot, dustbins will be tipped over, pets might be at risk and even extremely dangerous activities such as throwing lighted fireworks through letter boxes have been known to happen.
When I was a kid in the 1950's I remember indulging in the relatively harmless pranks of knocking on doors and then running away, the removing of house gates etc...I actually thought it was legal - 'coppers can't arrest you on miggy night.' That was the folklore."
Nowadays the most common prank is the throwing of eggs at house windows,so much so that the supermarkets have now stopped selling eggs to under 16's in the run-up to mischief night.
Then after all this it is bonfire night
We spent weeks assembling our Guy, stuffing it and attiring it in Dad’s old clothes, then we would take to the outside of the working men's club, probably with dad inside (would be an outcry now) and on the night, we burnt him (the guy not dad)in a blaze of glory and traced our names with sparklers then dancing around the fire singing

Bonfire night, the stars are bright
Three little angels dressid in white
One with a fiddle, one with a drum and
One with a pancake stuck to it's bumtarara..bumtarara

PS
After recalling the fun we used to have asking for 'penny for the guy' when I was little, I felt a real heel yesterday when I had to request that a young lad aged about nine (with his make-shift guy) to move along from outside the main supermarket doors.
Unfortunately even registered charities have to book a slot with the event's co-ordinater when they wish to collect in-store.
Even though this seems a little mean, it is necessary, 'cos if it wasn't regulated hundreds of kids in the area would be in all corners of the car park accosting customers right left and centre and believe me there would be mayhem!!

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Once a goth always a goth

2007-10-27T13:11:31+02:00

Lulu was born in late 1970 so by the time the mid 1980's arrived she was a fully fledged scary teenager." class="middle" border="0">
She had naturally curly long red hair throughout all of her childhood
then what did she go and do aged 16?...she shaved it up at the back and developed what looked like a D*cks A**e (ask a teddy boy)at the front, only this D.A wasn't greased, more back-combed and lacquered which seemed to go on forever covering most of her eyes.
She developed a liking for Goth fashion from the look pioneered by the Gothic punks she liked listening to..like Siouxie and the Banshees and the Damned, I remember she had a massive portrait poster of Robert Smith from the Cure on her bedroom wall. Black was uniform, with fishnets and short skirts being later replaced increasingly by a more slinky vampiric look. She left home aged 18 to go nurse training and her look was toned down somewhat although I do remember around about then that she had a phase of having lots of piercings done, mainly on her nose and eyebrows but in other places too .
She's 37 years old now and her 'making a statement' phase seems to have long passed. She is happily married now with a senior nursing position in the NHS and has no desire to have children.
So what does she do for relaxation?..well she has bred siamese cats in the past although she doesn't any more and now she spends hours 'scrap-booking' and 'card making'
She came to visit last Tuesday and told me that she was going to Whitby for five days with a group of female friends..the occasion being Whitby Goth weekend which is an annual event which takes place there every year and is immensly popular, with guests booking hotel rooms up to one year in advance...the same scenario as when the August folk festival is held, an event I used to love taking the kids to when they were small.
Anyway I digress..she came to visit and we hauled out the plastic sacks and old suitcases in which I have piles of old clothes stashed.
She waded through them and took a black velvet cape, a shabby lacy dress and various other odds and sods in which to re-create the lost Gothic look of old to accentuate the long black wig she has bought specially for the weekend.
I gave them to her gratefully and told her I didn't want them back and besides her plan is to make it a yearly event so she can wear them every year...and guess what?...the final look must have worked 'cos I received a text message yesterday saying:-

"Just been filmed and photographed for the Whitby Express!!"X

Old habits die hard,eh

I've just had a look at the on-line Whitby gazette and here's a few pics from the April goth event which she also attended HERE

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It was 1980

2007-10-23T21:54:37+02:00

I met t'old man in 1980, he was between overseas contracts and was living in his brother's house whilst his brother was away working in Poland.
It was the year that the electrician Lech Walesa rose up and formed 'Solidarity' the movement that led to the occupation of the Gdansk shipyard by Polish workers in 1980, demanding recognition of their independent trade union which was instrumental in the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union and the primary catalyst that would transform Poland from a repressive communist state to the EU member democracy it is today.

T'old man's brother lived in Poland for around five years, marrying a polish girl who he eventually brought back to England to raise their family but while he was still there t'old man took great interest in the political accounts on the ground which would be relayed back home.
T'old man worked in the Middle East intermittently for the next eight years but he would often express a desire to go and see Poland for himself.

Now, more than 25 years later, who would have thought that you could buy cheap flights to Poland with a Hungarian airline (Whizz) for only £32 return!!!
Gdansk is the destination and apart from knowing about the ship yard and its industry (greatly diminished now), I didn't know much else about Gdansk. The flights are booked and we go to visit for five days early in November.

I have booked the hotel in the old town (which was reduced to rubble in the war but has been magnificently restored) and on researching I was pleased to find that Gdansk and the Tri-City in general have emerged as a powerful player in the world of culture. Along with the vibrant thespian scene and a whole host of festivals and exhibitions, one can find plenty of world-class museums worthy of attention.
It seems to be a lively and interesting city so i'm really looking forward to our little trip now. Co-incidentally this week Michael Palin was on TV visiting Poland and it showed you a little of Gdansk...I think we will like it, even though it will probably be cold!

Another piece of media news about Poland I spotted this week was a snippet in the metro newspaper...

POLAND; Fed up housewives are calling for the closure of their village pubs and off-licences because their husbands are 'drinking like there's no tomorrow'. In a letter to the Mayor of Bedzelin they said: "Drunken groups cluster outside the off-licences at all hours. Alcoholics pee in nearby gardens and sing songs.
We need help fast"

hehehe.. I can imagine the Polish housewives singing to their flowers in the garden to make them grow then the drunks come along and pee on them hence killing them off!!..no wonder they need help

Oh dear...I should have known there could have been another reason for t'old man's interest in Poland..looks like i'll have to keep him away from the villages eh!

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In the distant past

2007-10-19T10:57:58+02:00

It was 1967 and I was on the receiving end of what seemed like unrequited love.
He was a student at the local art college, we would meet in town every weekend at the pub, he with his friends me with mine, we would drink, laugh and be merry and afterwards he would always be the one who would walk me to the bus station where I would get the last bus home.
I knew he liked me 'cos our passions were aroused many times but alas our lust was never completely consummated for lack of opportunity.
This went on for many months until I despaired of us ever getting together in a 'proper relationship'.
Being from the same crowd we would always meet at the same pub each weekend, we were always at parties together and even went camping at the seaside ..but always with groups of friends.
I remember him soulfully playing his harmonica and he once talked of his dream of living in a fishing village mending fishing nets and raising two little girls who would skip along in red shoes with buckles on.

It was the summer of 1968 and things were not progressing, so after much deliberation I upped and went to work in a family hotel in Great Yarmouth for the summer season...but still I would phone the pub in Yorkshire at the weekend just to hear his voice.

The season over, I returned home where we picked up where we left off.
He was sensitive while I was loud and it was not unknown for a boozy argument to ensue..I still have a crumpled note that he wrote forty years ago apologising for throwing a pint of guinness over me.

The following summer I decided to go to Bournemouth, I soon got a job in a Hotel but it didn't take long for me to give it up to hang out with the local hippies.
I still thought about him but accepted it wasn't to be, one of his friends once said to me:-
"Isadora, he really, really likes you its just that he's waiting for you to grow up" (I used to be quite reckless and irresponsible in those days )
I never went back home to Yorkshire when the summer ended, somehow I ended up in London where I met an 'intriguing' young man who became my first husband.
I did go back home to see my parents though, it was on the occasion of my 21st birthday. My sister, unbeknown to me had informed the pub crowd that I would be out on the town that night. My 'unrequited love' surprised me..for when I walked into the pub for the first time in five months.. he was there with a homemade card and a sponge cake, all were singing happy birthday as I walked in the door.
It was a lovely evening and when it was time to leave he turned to me and said "Isadora don't you think its time you came back
home..permanently?
Tears stung my eyes for it was too late, I was more or less committed to my beau in London.

Years passed by and I heard he had married and moved to a fishing village on the south coast, he had two little boys not girls and was working as a graphic designer whilst still painting and playing music.

Fast forward 14 years to 1983.. I had returned to Yorkshire after living in London for 10 years. I was walking down the street alone, seven months pregnant with Bella and all of a sudden a familiar face appeared in front of me. We connected at the same time and instantly I melted. He teasingly referred to my swollen belly, I blushed and became uncharacteristicly coy especially when he took my hands, looked me in the eyes and told me I looked great.
It was only two or three minutes then we both went our seperate ways.
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That was 25 years ago and I haven't seen him since...plenty of water under the bridge since then but occasionally he would come into my thoughts and I would think .."if only"

WELL ... yesterday... I put his name in a google search and *guess what*..I found him :XX" class="middle" border="0"> his name, address, e-mail, phone number, the address of his studio, the lot...and... there's even a photo of what he looks like now
He looks his age, he will be about 57 now with silver white hair but lots of it, he's wearing an earring in one ear and he has a kind of rugged handsomeness..of course I won't do anything about it 'cos I've got t'old man now and he lurves me as I do him.. but I can dream and maybe one day I will go and have a little holiday at a fishing village on the south coast...after all you never know who you might bump into

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The story behind the dress

2007-10-02T10:41:53+02:00

Silk material for Wedding Dresses was very limited after the war but at the end of the war there was a surplus of parachute material and ladies were encouraged to purchase this material for Wedding Gowns. In order to entice the 'brides to be' to purchase surplus material, a bundle of the material was made available along with a pattern for the Wedding Gown.
I found this example on a web site...isn't it lovely? Would you wear a wedding dress made from a parachute? What if that parachute had saved your groom's life?

This is the story behind this gown,
made from the nylon panels and cords of a parachute that helped a man safely escape a burning plane during WW II. According to the Smithsonian (where the dress is currently housed), "Maj. Claude Hensinger, a B-29 pilot, and his crew, were returning from a bombing raid over Yowata, Japan, in August 1944 when their engine caught fire. The crew was forced to bail out. During the night he used the parachute both as a pillow and a blanket. He kept the parachute and used it as a way to propose to Ruth in 1947. He presented it to her and suggested she make a gown out of it for their wedding."

I don't know much about wedding dresses, so I have no idea if this is good-looking or not. However, sometimes it's not the garment itself, but rather the story behind it, that makes it worth wearing -- and this story is just about perfect.

Besides, at least it wasn't a camouflage parachute. That might have been slightly less romantic. ;

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Rag and bone

2007-10-01T19:04:55+02:00

Bella's mentioning of a 'vintage' shop got me thinking of the old clothes I have got in an old suitcase in the garage and being at a complete and utter loose end today, I got it out and took a look.

In the late '60s/early 70's when I lived near Portobello road I used to pick up the odd 'rag' for a few pence. Most of these items are long gone but one or two remained in the suitcase for the best part of forty years. Why these 'bits' are still in my possession I have no idea as they are probably worthless and useless.

This is handmade from the 1950's it is a sort of heavy silk material with velvet flowers I only wore once or twice as it was a bit tight around the waist.

This cape is velvet with gold thread motifs...I can't date it but when I aquirred it in 1969 I was told that it was 'old' then.

I remember Lulu dressing up in it one halloween night.

I turfed this out of storage after reading about the use of parachute silk being used straight after the second world war so this was probably about twenty years old when I first picked it up at the Portobello market stall it is a plain day dress made out of parachute silkalthough I did wear it once or twice back in the early seventies it has been in the suitcase ever since.
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I found this example of a parachute silk dress on a web-site-

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Oh yes, the title....When I was little in the 1950's I remember the rag and bone man coming down the street with his horse and cart shouting out loudly.."rag and bone, any ol' rag and bone"
On reflection I can understand the call for rags, but no one seemed to give him bones. The rag and bone man must have had a struggle to earn a living as there were precious few rags available, even when clothes were completely worn out but somehow though, some could usually be found for him, in anticipation of a piece of crockery in return..or if we were very lucky maybe a balloon.

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A visit to York

2007-08-07T22:18:20+02:00

The Pope's visit to York remembered
The Pope arrived on British soil at Gatwick Airport on May 28, 1982. He bent to kiss the tarmac, by now a trademark of his papacy, before heading to take Mass at Westminster Cathedral.It was a visit that many thought would never happen.
Just a year earlier, the Pope had been gravely ill in hospital after being gunned down by a fanatic in Rome.
The outbreak of the Falklands War also threw the trip into doubt.
Over the next three days, the Pope's schedule was relentless. He visited the Queen, held a service at Canterbury Cathedral, took Mass at Wembley, Coventry Airport and Liverpool Cathedral, and toured many destinations in between.
Finally, York's big day, Bank Holiday Monday, May 31, 1982, arrived.

The whole city seemed to gather on the racecourse on the day Pope John Paul II visited York including 34 year old Isadora101.

I had known t'old man for nearly two years, I knew he was Catholic, we had discussed marrying and having a child who would be brought up in the Catholic faith so I was drawn to this monumental event despite the fact that I was something of an agnostic.
Maybe I am something of an 'event's' junkie because although t'old man was away working in the Middle East, I packed a lunchbox and joined the other 26,000 people who arrived in York on special trains.
They made their way to Knavesmire in a vast human column, it was a happy smiling march to the site where we were all to witness seeing Pope John Paul in person.
More than 2,000 pilgrims had already spent the night on Knavesmire, the site of his visit and thousands began to join them from the break of dawn onwards.
On the way, they could buy a whole range of official souvenirs from one of 30 stalls. Profits were earmarked to help offset the £1 million spent on the York visit.

my souvenirs

In the event, however, £220,000-worth of stock was left unsold.

By the time the Pope was due to arrive, some 210,000 people were gathered there. They were standing in 1,000-strong corrals, separated by crash barriers. The Pope had spent the morning in Manchester before his helicopter touched down on York turf, it was 2.08pm- some 23 minutes late.
He embraced the Archbishop of York, Dr Stuart Blanch, before climbing into the famed Pope-mobile to tour among the huge crowd.
Among that crowd in one of those corrals was me, Isadora 'solo'. I had a good view of this waving robed figure as I was just yards away from the Popemobile when it passed by. It was an afternoon of elation for all the pilgrims to whom this day meant so very very much.
T'old man always hoped the Pope would come to Britain and when he did he happened to be working in Saudi Arabia. So I guess that I went along to witness the event for him. I knew that catholicism was embedded in my future husband and if we were to have children then they would be raised as Catholics.
In his address to the York pilgrims, the Pope reaffirmed his belief in marriage and family life as the basis of society. He prayed for the families in Britain and Argentina "who bear the heavy weight of pain and sorrow because of the loss of loved ones in the South Atlantic".
After he left York, heading for Edinburgh, the many thousands of pilgrims faced long delays to their journeys home.
But they did so with a joyful heart, knowing that they had been there when history was made.

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