Do You Remember ... 

A little bit of nostalgia rather than genealogy
- and a pointer to the way we lived.

I was four-and-a-half when WW2 was declared - living on the then Kent/London border close to the Thames where I remained throughout the war.

(A few for starters and in no particular order)

World War Two

. . . WW2 being declared.

. . . collecting shrapnel.

. . . house and park railings being cut down - supposedly for munitions.

. . . being put to bed in the Anderson air raid shelter rather than being disturbed by the numerous nightly raids.

. . . being able to recognise German bombers by their sound.

. . . small local brick reservoirs for fire fighting - often built on bomb sites.

. . . several extreemly lucky escapes when bombs - aerial mines - V1's - and V2's fell very close.

. . . the blackout with clear starlit skies - apart from the search-lights - flashes from guns & bombs - smoke & the glow from fires. - Nah - scrub that one!.

. . . houses with whole walls missing exposing several floors - looking like a real sized dolls house (except for the rubble)

. . . listening to Tommy Handley in ITMA and wondering why the adults laughed at parts that were not funny.

. . . sticking saving stamps onto bomb casings to send to Hitler.

. . . watching Doodle-bugs and diving for cover when they cut-out.

. . . looking at the latest bomb sites - or the huge creaters when the V2's fell in open ground.

. . . watching the masses of aircraft and gliders heading for France on D-day with three white bands separated by two black bands on their wings and tails. It seamed strange to have aircraft flying over en-mass without the air raid sirens sounding.

. . . looking at the war maps in the single sheet daily newpaper to follow the progress of the war into Germany.

. . . street parties celibrating VE day.

Post WW2

. . . outside swimming and other pools reopening having been covered in camoflage netting throughout the war and reserved for fire fighting.

. . . tobogganing on curved sheets from dismantled Anderson shelters after the war - they were lethal - with quite a few broken bones for both those riding and those getting in-the-way.

. . . queueing for oranges when they again became available - and later similarly for bananas?

. . . black and white television broadcasts resuming for a few hours each day - with intermissions. There was only a single BBC channel and I used to occasionaly go to a neighbours to watch.

School

. . . when Boys and Girls schools were separate.

. . . doing compulsary exercises in the play ground every morning.

. . . free school milk in their 1/3 pint glass bottles that were often frozen in the winter - and milk monitors.

. . . when the only thing worse than being sent to the Heads Office was the fate awaiting you at home if your parents found out.

. . . when schoolmasters and misstresses were addressed Sir and Miss - also any adult whos surname name you didn't know.

. . . how unerringly accurate schoolmasters' could be with chalk (and other missiles) if you didn't pay proper attention.

. . . the nurse visiting the school with her steel nit comb.

. . . lining-up for inoculations (did they ever change the needle?).

. . . when most mothers were at home when you got back from school.

. . . first pair of long-trousers. Unlike today we wore shorts whatever the weather - and I've got scars to proove it!

. . . lying on your back in the grass with your friends and saying things like, "That cloud looks like a . . . ."

. . . leaving school and starting your first job - and the 44 hour week which included Saturdays.

Transport & Roads

. . . when streets were for games (there being few or no cars)

. . . steam lorries and their smell.

. . . trolly buses and trams running in London suburbs.

. . . steam trains - and standing on a footbridge and letting the smoke billow up around you.

. . . when steam rollers were just that.

. . . when Bread - milk and coal were delivered by horse.

. . . when lorries and buses had bonnets.

. . . when men walked the streets selling winkles and shrimps by the pint.

. . . when ice cream was sold from a tricycle.

. . . rag and bone men with their indecypherable crys.

. . . when the only road signs were handposts.

. . . when your parents bought their first car.

. . . wedging a piece of card against your bike spokes to transform it into a motorcycle.

. . . when two bob got you a gallon petrol and change?

. . . the Suez crisis and petrol being again rationed (July 1956);

. . . half price fares for children - who were expected to give up their seats to adults.

. . . when gentlemen gave up their seats to ladies on public transport.

. . . the excitement of going on char-a-banc outing - stopping for cherries or strawberrys or whatever was in season.

General

. . . when Back doors were rarely locked.

. . . when it was safe to roam in woods without adults.

. . . playing games in the park (and street) without adult supervision - when you agreed your own rules - when anyone who broke them would be shunned as a cheat.

. . . when Postmans Knock was a popular childrens party game - along with the cheating.

. . . when toys were made of sheet metal toys and spring powered.

. . . when Dentists drills were pedal powered with strings & pulleys - and vibrated your whole head.

. . . sitting in the pub garden eating a Brighton biscuit while your parents were having a drink. (this must have been pre-WW2 - or at least pre-rationing)

. . . swing boats at the fairground.

. . . the Festival of Britain (1951)

. . . when we led the world in shipbuilding and heavy engineering.

. . . when the Thames estuary flooded (February 1953)

. . . the first time a kid called you Mister.

. . . mobile chest x-rays units (introduced during the 1940's axed during the 1980's).

. . . when your parents bought their first TV - which took five minutes to warm up - and the picture collaped to a single dot before slowly fading awyw when you switched it off.

. . . when telephone numbers had a letter prefix and other than local calls went through an operator.

. . . spinning tops with whips (did they have a special name?)

. . . when fish & chips were wrapped directly in newspaper.

. . . the start of commercial television broadcasts in black and white.

. . . when there was early closing for shops one afternoon every week and nearly all shops were closed on Sundays.

. . . scout pocket knives with all sorts of tool and included a spike for removing stones from horses hooves that no-one ever got to use.

. . . when it was a special treat and a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents.

. . . when colour television broadcasts started.

. . . when crisps came with separate salt in a twist of blue paper hidden among the crisps.

. . . toweling nappies and Burco boilers.

. . . listening to Dick Barton on the radio (and being annoyed on it being replaced by The Archers)

. . . seasonal crazes:- making pea shooters (we used green elderberries) - marballs - tadpolling - catapults - bows & arrows not forgetting conkers in autumn - soaking them in vinegar or baking in the oven to make them stronger (not that it did much good!).

. . . when you could set your clock by the BBC programme start times - as opposed to the sloppy way they schedule programme today.

. . . when Britain was Great and we were proud to be British.

. . . when we had an Empire - and the map of the world had a lot of pink.

. . . decimal coins being introduced (5p & 10p in 1968 - the full conversion April 1971).

. . . when we used the English billion of a million million and not the US billion of a thousand million not used by politicians because they it sounds more.

. . . when top politicians were real statesmen - and the well being of the country was more important than their own images - and what they could get for themselves.

. . . when everyone stood to attention and sang the National Anthem - including at the end of films - and even at tv end of transmission.

. . . johnies - french letters - and packets of three.