Getting Old?

[Jah Lush]

Yup, seen that one before. Busted.

[computedshorty]

another Annie.

If I can reassure you that the items I stated are facts, can I elaborate further?

I remember that at the outbreak of war in 1939. your home at 85 was a grocers shop called Fletchers, the entrance door was on the corner, the glass window faced Landcroft Road. Then looking from the shop you would have seen a pair of houses facing Goodrich Road on the corner, these were in the process of being rebuilt as flats, but the war halted that they stayed in a state of dereliction all through the war with a red brick addition at the back and flat roof, the site started of being surrounded by a fence made from scaffold boards stood upright making the enclosure about twelve feet high, this was I think one of the Tilt Estate Agents buildings, any building rubbish would no doubt be carted to Dawson?s Hill their dump.

There was a large red Post Box on that corner, I remember posting all our letters in that, one strange thing about that box was that the letter box opening was not facing the pavement, it faced more down the hill and onto the road.

Looking towards the Church you would only be able to see part of the back end with windows, we used to go to Sunday School in the basement. I remember that when they removed the iron railings from the front of the Church they left those at the side as there was a slope and steps going down.

One of the lads nearly got electrocuted, the trams passed the front, running on a pair of steel rails, the electricity was obtained from a slit in between the rails, a thing they called a plough was dragged along hanging down in this, it picked up the power to move the tram, one of the lads decided to take one of the iron bars from the pile of broken fencing and drop it down the slit, there was an almighty red and blue flash, and we all ran like hell, the trams did not run again for some time, when the workmen came and opened one of the maintenance manholes that were every fifty foot along the road.

The street lights in Lordship Lane were a lamppost each side of the road with a wire between the light suspended over the middle of the road, these were cleaned by a man who had a handle inserted into a ratchet that wound the lamp from the middle of the road to the post then it descended to the cleaner.

The lamp post used to be on the corner of Goodrich Road outside the other sweet shop called Merton's, it had a very wide base made of cast iron with two projecting rods one either side these were for the cleaner to rest his ladder against to climb, and had been gaslight, but altered later.

There was paving slabs along as the pavement, outside your side wall was an inspection cover for the GPO to work on their

Cables, we used to watch them joining the coloured wires.

Years later there was a Radio Rentals service called British Relay Television by a wire, and every house had these black wires nailed to the front of their houses, at each house they made a little cover to connect that house, if anyone refused to have it as my dad did, they pushed it through the GPO underground pipes bypassing that house.

In my teenage years we used to sit on the step of Merton's shop in the evening, there was a radio serial called Dick Barton Special Agent, in each episode, the gang would be left in a tricky situation, so it meant getting out of that and into another one, we had listened to that evenings episode and, we would go from one to another making up our own versions.

Strange how on the spur of the moment you had to get that person out of the situation, ours were more comical than theirs.

One went like this the gang were left in a deep pit with no way out. A snake slithered over the edge spitting with it fangs, it dropped onto the ground to be killed by blows from a stick, when it had became hard as rigormortis had set, it was propped up to the side and they used it to climb out.

I also remember that one evening one of the lads told us of the radio saying of finding of Belsen Horror Camp where thousands of people had died, one of the lads commented he was glad he would never see anything like that. We were shocked and all agreed.

Fate then took control of my destiny, for four years from that date having been called up for the army, I was in fact sleeping in the very buildings that those Guards had used while guarding those prisoners, these were brick built not the wooden ones in the Prison Compound, there were still very many displaced persons in another compound all dressed in ragged clothes or army uniforms that had been dyed other colours, they stayed there as they had nowhere to go, there homes had been destroyed, or they just did not want to go back, they had no money to travel anyway. I went once to the old camp that had been bulldozed down and burnt, the sensation was as if I had gone deaf the way your ear goes pop, as all sound stopped even the birds became silent, and the nearby noise from the Autobahn and Railway ceased. I never went back again.

[katie1997]

I think I have been gullible where computedshorty is concerned...all those lovely old diary memories from London in the 30's.....do you get this from history books or research? Entertaining posts but...I think you have been busted too! ;-)

[Ladymuck]

katie1997 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I think I have been gullible where computedshorty

> is concerned...

Don't worry about it...you are not the only only...believe me! (*looks highly embarrassed*)

Just expect him/her/it to morph into something/someone else...humour him/her/it and enjoy the ride...it's all good clean fun...(I think)...

[katie1997]

:))oh i see okay...hehehe..thanks ladymuck...yes, you're right i am sure it is all good clean fun! i have certainly enjoyed his/her/its postings since i joined the forum

[Ladymuck]

katie1997 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> :))oh i see okay...hehehe..thanks ladymuck...yes,

> you're right i am sure it is all good clean fun!

> i have certainly enjoyed his/her/its postings

> since i joined the forum

Exactly...the laughs have outweighed the...ahem...embarrassment(s)...

Long may he/she/it continue!

[Ted Max]

I've just seen this thread.

Drown me in huge guffaws and call me Helen, but this character (if that's what it is) is nothing to do with me. Nor is any other "character" poster. Bloody hell.

[woofmarkthedog]

Ted Max Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I've just seen this thread.

>

> Drown me in huge guffaws and call me Helen, but

> this character (if that's what it is) is nothing

> to do with me. Nor is any other "character"

> poster. Bloody hell.

__________________________________________________________

I can understand your anger Ted

What were "they" thinking.

Indeed

W**F

[KidKruger]

Gutted.

But was fun reading.