Memorable stuff from your formative years

[ancienturion]

And the windows in the carriages were lifted and dropped by a very thick leather belt, which used punched holes over a steel button to fix at the desired height. Iirc, there were no warning notices telling passengers not to stick their heads out of the windows, because it was fucking dangerous and everybody knew it.

Those leather belts were great as razor strops.

 

[HE117]

Jings, that takes me back. Robertson's Ginger Beer was my favourite, much better than the Schweppes.

My grandad had a lemonade factory in Edinburgh.. Before the 60s most towns had at least one if not more, many set up in the 1880s in the wake of the temperance movement and the importation of cheap sugar from the empire..

It was a relatively simple process.. most of the cost was in the bottling and distribution hence the local nature of many of the businesses. Most of the raw material was cheap and plentiful.. water and sugar with a bit of citric acid, flavouring and colouring. The CO2 was originally made from marble chips and acid, compressed using a rotary pump. Latterly it was obtained as a by product of the brewing industry.

What is interesting is that most of the flavourings and colouring used to come from the Manchester company of Duckworths, which ran an "Essence Distillery" in Stretford Road. It had a magnificent brick building which I visited when I was at Uni in Manchester.. don't know if it is still there..

The local industry got a real hammering during WW2 when it was nationalised (not a lot of folk know that..) and there was a real struggle to get going again after the war using what was basically Edwardian equipment. They used to produce some really high quality stuff on very tight margins..

A couple of things really killed the industry in the mid to late 60s.. The first was companies like Corona who had a very aggressive marketing strategy, with a very narrow range of extremely cheap products. They introduced a range of highly coloured, very highly sugared (using sweeteners) fizzy pop in 14oz bottles which went through the corner shop trade like a tidal wave. It only lasted a couple of years but it killed off large numbers of local companies who lost this vital trade. The real killer however was the brewing industry which cut deals with national companies like Schweppes to supply their tied houses. This was the end for most of the small companies.

Sad really.. I still have Grandad's recipes somewhere.. you could never afford to make pop the way he did, even if you could find a replacement for Duckworths essences..

 

[adouglasmhor]

My grandad had a lemonade factory in Edinburgh.. Before the 60s most towns had at least one if not more, many set up in the 1880s in the wake of the temperance movement and the importation of cheap sugar from the empire..

It was a relatively simple process.. most of the cost was in the bottling and distribution hence the local nature of many of the businesses. Most of the raw material was cheap and plentiful.. water and sugar with a bit of citric acid, flavouring and colouring. The CO2 was originally made from marble chips and acid, compressed using a rotary pump. Latterly it was obtained as a by product of the brewing industry.

What is interesting is that most of the flavourings and colouring used to come from the Manchester company of Duckworths, which ran an "Essence Distillery" in Stretford Road. It had a magnificent brick building which I visited when I was at Uni in Manchester.. don't know if it is still there..

The local industry got a real hammering during WW2 when it was nationalised (not a lot of folk know that..) and there was a real struggle to get going again after the war using what was basically Edwardian equipment. They used to produce some really high quality stuff on very tight margins..

A couple of things really killed the industry in the mid to late 60s.. The first was companies like Corona who had a very aggressive marketing strategy, with a very narrow range of extremely cheap products. They introduced a range of highly coloured, very highly sugared (using sweeteners) fizzy pop in 14oz bottles which went through the corner shop trade like a tidal wave. It only lasted a couple of years but it killed off large numbers of local companies who lost this vital trade. The real killer however was the brewing industry which cut deals with national companies like Schweppes to supply their tied houses. This was the end for most of the small companies.

Sad really.. I still have Grandad's recipes somewhere.. you could never afford to make pop the way he did, even if you could find a replacement for Duckworths essences..

I went out with a girl from Manchester and she stayed at her grandparents when back home, I wnet down with her a couple of times to go to gigs, and her grandad had been a "Nose"* at Duckworths.


*A chemist in the perfumes or flavourings industries who does quality control by smelling the products.

 

[beefer]

Nope.

One of my female friends in 6th Form years had one of them: there was a dead straight, slightly undulating stretch of road near us (southbound into Watford from Hatch End - ish?) where - if her car hit the first undulation at just the right speed, and she kept the speed constant, the suspension got into some kinda harmonic cycle, and it was like a tots fairground ride for the better part of a mile

But - no - the car my mate had was more upmarket, mebbe aspiring to the nascent VW Golf market. By its looks it was very definitely a child of the DS fambly (and OBTW it had hydrolastic suspension), and was very aerodynamic, barely any wind noise even at high speed, but with nice curves, and none of the odd rearward angles of the Ami posted above by @Joker62 , nor the slightly 'I've been stepped on' look of the original DS.

I'm kinda wondering if it was a 'UK' only model

Citroen GS.

My first Flight Commander in Münster had one and we used to travel back to UK together to share costs.

Had hydropneumatic suspension which was quite revolutionary for its time. No need for a jack if you got a puncture, move a couple of levers and the guilty wheel would lift up and Bob’s your Mum’s brother.

 

[ancienturion]

View attachment 554887
Citroen GS.

My first Flight Commander in Münster had one and we used to travel back to UK together to share costs.

Had hydropneumatic suspension which was quite revolutionary for its time. No need for a jack if you got a puncture, move a couple of levers and the guilty wheel would lift up and Bob’s your Mum’s brother.

I vaguely remember my 1937 Rover 10/25 had an automatic jacking system, as well as a freewheel - and a screenwasher (which was done be squeezing a rubber bulb. The rubber bulb was filled with water first).

 

[ericferret]

I vaguely remember my 1937 Rover 10/25 had an automatic jacking system, as well as a freewheel - and a screenwasher (which was done be squeezing a rubber bulb. The rubber bulb was filled with water first).

Did you buy it new?

 

[ancienturion]

Did you buy it new?

Nope. Cost me 12 guineas second hand.

 

[ericferret]

Nope. Cost me 12 guineas second hand.

A gentlemans chariot.

 

[Border_Reiver]

I vaguely remember my 1937 Rover 10/25 had an automatic jacking system, as well as a freewheel - and a screenwasher (which was done be squeezing a rubber bulb. The rubber bulb was filled with water first).

Friend of mine had a Rover 75 .... lovely car ... built like a Tank ... it too had freewheel .... and a manually adjusted accelerator control mounted by the steering wheel ...

 

[Tedsson]

And the windows in the carriages were lifted and dropped by a very thick leather belt, which used punched holes over a steel button to fix at the desired height. Iirc, there were no warning notices telling passengers not to stick their heads out of the windows, because it was fucking dangerous and everybody knew it.

Every single train I went on in the sixties and seventies had a sign warning you not to lean out of the window.

The signs were mostly white on BR green background.

Almost universally changed to DO NOT CLEAN SOOT OFF THE WINDOW"

Regarding the second bit, you might know that, we might know that but not everybody knows it. In North London many trains/stations have this sign:

What might seem blindingly obvious to any sane person is not obvious to the yoof who go train surfing. And frequently die falling off (it's a long way down!), hitting overhead gantries and getting electrocuted.

 

[Tedsson]

Donating money at Primary Skool used to be called, and I quote - no wah - "giving to the Black Babies". And those capitals were emphasised in spoken Scots-English.

I would bet folding money that everyone did this once.

And once only. Never to be repeated.

Parent: "Finish off your dinner Billy"
Scruffy Kid: "Can't. Not hungry"
Parent: "There are starving children in Africa that would eat that"
Scruffy Kid: "Well send it to them then"
Parent: "WHAT did you say"
Scruffy Kid: "Errhhh . . . "

Which leads on to the best joke that came out of the war in Biafra back in the late sixties. The TV was full of images of starving Biafran kids with huge bellies (to which the less sensitive souls muttered "they doan look bleedin ungry to me".

Vicar walking the parish looking for assistance for Biafran babies. Knocks on door:

Vicar: "Hello Mrs Sykes"
Sykes: "Ooh ello vicar"
Vicar: "We are trying to help Biafra and wondered if you wanted a three pound Biafran baby for Christmas"
Sykes: "Err, no thanks vicar,. We're having turkey"

 

[PFGEN]

Friend of mine had a Rover 75 .... lovely car ... built like a Tank ... it too had freewheel .... and a manually adjusted accelerator control mounted by the steering wheel ...

View attachment 554910

Family had a succession of Rover's when I was a nipper. No seat belts, sat between my mum and dad on the front bench seat. They all had red leather upholstery. All second hand. If somebody visiting was arriving by train one of the men folk would be dispatched with the Rowvaah to pick them up from the station so they wouldn't have to use the charabanc.

 

[Stonker]

View attachment 554887
Citroen GS.

My first Flight Commander in Münster had one and we used to travel back to UK together to share costs.

Had hydropneumatic suspension which was quite revolutionary for its time. No need for a jack if you got a puncture, move a couple of levers and the guilty wheel would lift up and Bob’s your Mum’s brother.

C'est le blaireau!! Merci, mon ami

Although quite why a frenchman would name his design after a Brit infantry shovel has me perplexed, as does the fact that - despite this - I couldn't recall the car's correct nomenclature!

A work of art: a masterpiece of avoidable mechanical complexity containing myriad fastenings/components that were amenable only to the application of Citroen proprietary tools (thus ensuring outlandish servicing costs at properly licensed and equipped dealerships), but a lovely ride.

 

[Trackpen]

C'est le blaireau!! Merci, mon ami

Although quite why a frenchman would name his design after a Brit infantry shovel has me perplexed, as does the fact that - despite this - I couldn't recall the car's correct nomenclature!

A work of art: a masterpiece of avoidable mechanical complexity containing myriad fastenings/components that were amenable only to the application of Citroen proprietary tools (thus ensuring outlandish servicing costs at properly licensed and equipped dealerships), but a lovely ride.

As you say, a nice vehicle but occasionally it’s technicals ranked as complex rather than sophisticated .
I was once loaned one from the company car pool. All went well until the time the car failed to start one morning - battery. Tried to push it out into the street for a bump start, but no power = no hydro suspension and the vehicle remained in the low-slung position.
And, by God, it was low. So low it stuck on the wee gate post in the middle of the drive: stuck fast, so breakdown had to lift it off.

 

[Conniesdad]

Nope.

More like the CX:

but smaller, as I recall it, anyway

The GS then?
Beaten to it I see!

 

[Stonker]

As you say, a nice vehicle but occasionally it’s technicals ranked as complex rather than sophisticated .
I was once loaned one from the company car pool. All went well until the time the car failed to start one morning - battery. Tried to push it out into the street for a bump start, but no power = no hydro suspension and the vehicle remained in the low-slung position.
And, by God, it was low. So low it stuck on the wee gate post in the middle of the drive: stuck fast, so breakdown had to lift it off.

Is there an emoji for "gallic shrug of indifference"?

 

[Choux Bun]

My mother used to give my sister and I cod liver oil and orange juice. I hated it and it used to make me sick (no allergy tests in those days - but it seems I'm allergic to fish). The doctor told Mum to give me Virol instead. It was thick, sweet malt extract, I loved it. Can't get it now, but today you can pay a fortune for the jars/ceramic containers in antique shops.

 

[quilter]

My mother used to give my sister and I cod liver oil and orange juice. I hated it and it used to make me sick (no allergy tests in those days - but it seems I'm allergic to fish). The doctor told Mum to give me Virol instead. It was thick, sweet malt extract, I loved it. Can't get it now, but today you can pay a fortune for the jars/ceramic containers in antique shops.

Info: Holland & Barrett do a jar called Cod Liver Oil and Malt by Potter's Herbals. Tastes a bit oily, more so than the original Virol but I expect it is very good for you

 

[HCL]

Roast belly pork for sunday dinner where the fat was about an inch thick.
Lost due to government breeding policies.
Hence the Lincolnshire curly coat pig went extinct in the early seventies.
Now if by chance anybody knows of a good source for fat belly pork please let me in on it.

Paging @Scaley Albereto

 

[MoleBath]

View attachment 554887
Citroen GS.

My first Flight Commander in Münster had one and we used to travel back to UK together to share costs.

Had hydropneumatic suspension which was quite revolutionary for its time. No need for a jack if you got a puncture, move a couple of levers and the guilty wheel would lift up and Bob’s your Mum’s brother.

Is that the GS Liverpool special edition ?