Memories - early or general

Lindatee2002. Believe it or not we used to skate down Trinity Street in 1937 on adjustable skates, you just slid them back and forth and tightened them with a screw, the front piece under the heel sort of.

If I close my eyes I can almost imagine this. Great memories.

This is me in my cowgirl outfit circa 1955. It originally had a skirt and a cute hat but the skirt impeded my ranch activities. My grandma sacrificed her fur stole to make my Davy Crockett hat, complete with luxurious tail. Where did that go to? I had a two holster gun belt and a rifle, the caps were the ones on a roll that came in a little round cardboard box. The scowl came with the outfit. The photo, with my mum and baby sister, was taken into the kitchen of our home on Beake Avenue. Happy Days or Trails.

Lindatee. A real little Annie Oakley if there was one. We lived at 381 Beake Avenue in the early 50's - the new end, opposite the Dunlop playing fields. A lady called Pearl and her husband lived next door.

I can remember in 1967 that you could get 12 pints of Ansells Mild for £1.00 (1/8d) per pint, M&B Brew 11 was 1/11d per pint. The first draught lager I can remember was Harp at 3/6d a pint. This was in the Half Sovereign, probably 1969?

Similar memories to you Mick. First drinks at the Radford in 1968 - mild 1/8d per pint. My first draught lager was Harp - 3/7d at the Coundon in 1970. Cheaper than buying bottled lager but still vastly overpriced. Within a few years its popularity meant it maintained a high price. The brewers must have been laughing all the way to the bank! Levi jeans - I bought my first pair in Dec 1970 out of my birthday money for my eighteenth - seem to remember only paying 59/11d. Is that a false memory? Previously I could only afford Dickies jeans at 49/11d as I was still at school.

My friends and I used to buy our stockings and then tights from the Indian man who had a fabulous selection on his stall at the market. They were much cheaper than Owen's or even Woolies. I think we paid 1/11d. I remember paying more than £3 for a pair of shoes from Dolcis - I thought my mum was going to strangle me.

My mum used the market a lot and always said the stalls around the outside had better bargains. I remember one right by Woolies entrance that sold birthday cards, ran by a guy in a wheelchair. Was Dolcis the shoe shop opposite Woolies entrance? If so, you may have been served by my sister.

One of our young chaps had a father who was a market trader. Shoes. But not men's, only women's. He used to say there was no money in men's shoes, because "a man will buy a new pair of shoes when the pair he's got has worn out"!

Who remembers the old type fuses, when they blew you had to find the little card with about 4 different thicknesses of wire on it. Choose the correct thickness and repair the fuse.

Mick. What do you mean, the old style fuses! We only went over to RCD 2 years ago. I still have a number of old sockets with round pins that my dad used back in the '30's. Also have his old Megger AvoMinor meter.

Don't know if I'm imagining it, but think I can remember my dad mending fuses with the silver paper from his Woodbine packet when he couldn't find the wire.

Silver paper was usually used for plug fuses. I also came across copper wire and on one occasion a nail being used as a plug fuse.

We bought an old house in about 1977 and decided to put central heating in. An electrician came by let us know what we needed to do to upgrade the electrics in the house and he almost ran out screaming. He dug a little into the wall and showed us the really badly degraded wires, which looked like licquorice shoe laces. The house would have to be rewired before we go any further and no, he didn't want the job. We found ourselves another electrician and agreed upon a price. He came by a few days later an started on the job and finished a day later. The house looked so much better with those new plug and switch plates. My husband took a plate off and discovered that our workman had actually only replaced the plates. We called and raged but he was drunk and the money was gone. My husband went down to the library and got a book to show him how to do the job and he and my dad finished it over the weekend. We had yards of 'licquorice' in the bin. The man came from the local council checked and passed the work. They never told him who had done the job. We could have saved ourselves 100 quid.

I remember my first day at work. September 5th 1966. Told to report to the Wickman gatehouse and bring a 6 inch steel rule (my dad got mine from Phillips in Primrose Hill Street).