Do you remember?

[mrs l]

Hated the newspaper cut into squares that passed for toilet paper in the outside loo!
Loved lying in the tin bath in front of the triplex fire with a drink in my hand when I was first married and we didn't have a bathroom.

[Johnboy]

Hi Primrose,
My first introduction to female anatomy was courtesy of a female woolen bathing costume. We used to swim in the River Wye down by The Bunch of Carrots pub which was a wide bend in the river and all the sand ended up there and was 'Our Seaside.' My 16 year old cousin had knitted herself this bathing costume and as she came out of the water it simply revealed all the parts it was meant to cover. I can remember as though it was yesterday going home and telling my mother of the event and getting a thick ear for being smutty!
I regret to say that I can remember Petrol at 4 gallons for 10/-.
As for maps Richard, you were robbed! I have a perfectly adequate map bought at 'The Works' for £1.99p. and I have since seem them even cheaper.
JB.

[oldherbaceous]

Things i do remember without affection.

Spending twenty minutes writing all the things i do remember with affection, only to lose them all just before i went to submit it.

I'll try again latter, breakfast is calling.

[oldherbaceous]

Lets try again.

Riding back on top of the hay or straw cart.
The sight of farmer John Knox's show dahlias in full bloom, he used to beat the professional growers at the national shows with these blooms, so quite an achievment.
The first new lamb of the year.
Helping a small-holder in the village deliver his milk, he use to deliver the milk in a very early Oxford traveller and i used to sit in the back, doors open and legs dangling out the back.
The lovely smell of wood in the kindling shed.
The earthy smell of the potato shed on the farm, and then the riddling of them on a hand cranked riddling machine.
The freedom as a boy to wander where i wanted.
The many wonderful characters that the village used to be full of, but now there are very few, which does sadden me a lot.
The delightful W.I Christmas party with all the food and games, and an odd present.
And the village carol singing which people would return to Milton Bryan even after moving away. Sadly both have now ceased.
Feeding the farm animals Chritmas morning, now that always had a very special feeling to it.

Now i know some of these are just personal things to me so, please forgive me for that, but some i still enjoy as much know as i did then, so i'm not going to apologise for them in the slightest.

Just reading back through them, why i didn't go into farming i never will know.

[oldherbaceous]

Now i knew there was something that i had missed out on, and that was the sight of the many pretty girls in the village wearing a soaking wet woolen bathing costume.

Now that's where my very vivid imagination comes in handy, so not all is lost.

[glallotments]

[quote="The Mouse"]
What does it do that a five quid book of maps can't do?

Apart from the price, I'm not sure there's a lot of difference.

quote]

Must admit I wouldn't be without mine. When I was working as an IT consultant I had to travel round all the schools in Wakefield and just being able to pop in a postcode and arrive on the school doorstep was great. I didn't just have to know one route to each school but how to get from one school to another. Also when going to conferences etc in other parts of the country - I would be given directions on how to get there but no home through the one way systems. It isn't easy to use a map when driving alone and maps don't actually give all the information that you need.

Our SAT NAV has found a gite in the middle of France which wasn't on the map and we have ended up on the doorstep of various places that we wouldn't have found without it. The places we want aren't always indicated on a map.

It's not foolproof but I had a lot of confidence setting off on long journeys on my own knowing that I had it to help. I know it does depend on which SAT Nav you have - we have two - the first one bought before we changed the car and ended up with one built in. They operate very differently and of course you have to remember that you are the one driving the car and use some common sense

[glallotments]

Just remebered the lovely patterns on the bedroom window after a particulary frosty night.

[Primrose]

The run up to Christmas when our teenage band of village bell ringers would take the handbells out on several evenings and ring carols at some of the bigger houses in the village. At each house we were fed mince pies and a glass of sherry. By the end of each evening we were all squiffy and our renderings of 'O Come All Ye Faithful' were totally incoherent.

[Mike Vogel]

Exercise books you bought in shops with arithmetical tables of eccentric measures like Troy weights and scruples, etc.

The rag and bone man with his horse and cart - funnily enough when we moved to an older part oftown in 1985 we ha done who came round - but if course that was with a truck.

Chilblains - and the funny stuff that came in glass phials which you put on them and it didn't work.

Rag, Tag and Bobtail and the Flowerpot Men.

78's and grammophones with needles the size of carpet tacks, which you had to discard after playing one record.

Darning socks