London Fog

[computedshorty]

This picture is of the actual fog.

To help in the dense fog three white lines were painted around roadside trees, and lamposts and the poles that carried the overhead Tram cables.

I knew that my house was fourteen gates from the corner from one end and sixteen from the other corner at the other end, in the dense fog I fumbled along counting the gates and entered into my familier gate we always went into the house round the back I went down the side alley to the back door entered and turned on the light. As the light showed I was not in my home but had counted from the wrong end corner, I turned out the light and made my way along two gates to find I was home.

At this time in the War there were no street lights, and vehicle lihts were just a small slit in the cover over the the main light, this was not to show the way for the driver but to show the pedestrians that a vehicle was coming.

If you went on a tram the windows were covered in a fine close net curtain that was glued over the glass, this was to protect the passengers if the glass got shattered by bomb blasts, there being no light inside the tram only very dim shaded lamps. Looking out through the glass window you had to spit on your finger and try to clean the ciggarette smoke stained glass through a minute hole in the netting, to see dim figures outside.

The trams could continue to run as they were guided by the rails that would take the tram to its destination.

[edhistory]

Interesting report about London Fog in East Dulwich in the 1940s.

I can only remember the East Dulwich London Fogs of the 1950s. There were pea-soupers like you see in the movies but I can only remember visibility going down to about twelve feet. The clean air act must have been starting to bite by the end of the 1950s. I think they were also becoming quite rare. Perhaps one a year at most?

Can you remember which East Dulwich coal merchant your family bought its coal from?

John K

[computedshorty]

I cant remember the Name of the Merchant but it was from his shop at number 8 Whatley Road corner of Ulverscroft Road, he kept the horse and cart in the back. The coal was trained into East Dulwich Goods yard beside the station, it arrived in open top trucks, a side flap was opened and the coal weighed with his scale on a scoop style apperatus that tipped it into the heavy black Tarred one hundred weight sacks, these were moved across to the level cart that had backed onto the Wagon.

The cart being so heavy was driven via Crystal Palace Road ? Goodrich Road to the upper parts of Lordship Lane.

Most houses had a circular opening in the front door step with a cast iron cover the cellar being below it was tipped down the hole. Our Cellar was in the house so he had to bring the sacks into the house, mum used to count the sacks as 10 were broght in.

[rememberwhen]

I lived in Forest Hill as a boy and it was always my job to count the sacks of coal for my mum's Aga.

In the sixties the Aga was ripped out and central heating installed.

It was then my job to smash the Aga into small enough pieces (and loads of clay) to get rid of.

Can you imagine a six or seven year old solid fuel Aga being dumped today?

[Townleygreen]

There was a pea souper in 1963 (I think) and I decided to walk home from school (I usually caught a bus). After 15 minutes I arrived back at the school gates. The fog was so dense you couldn't see more than a few meters.

[firekat2]

Going to school cutting through Dulwich Park thick fog back in the 60's and very scary for a twelve year old.