h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

We're very resiliant at that age Sho,i remember being told he had died,and i remember what mum wore for his funeralreally,the thingsthat stick in our minds.I went to see his grave last year for the first time,,when mum died.It was dusk,so we didn't manage to find it,but i'll go back when it's warmer.

so now we're coming up to the Gruesomes are asking me to tell me some memories of Halloween from when I was a kid
But we didn't used to do it.

Apart from one year my mum made a lantern out of a turnip, and soup out of the innards. Which was horrible!

that sounds horrible!!!My eldest daughter was telling the grandchildren only today that all they used to get was a turnip,and how hard it was to get the middles out of them.
We were there for sunday lunch,and,much against my better judgement(i knew i would hurt tomorrow),i helped the children scoop the middles out of the ,and helped them prick the patterns out for their various themes!!!
Last year we grew some in the greenhouse for them,and this year we have two still growing in the garden,and it was fun just helping them today,but my girls memories reminded me of what you said.The things they did when they were little seemed SO important then,and now they don't have anything as insignificant as a turnip.
I can still remember the smiles on their faces when they took them outside ,carrying them with string threaded through though.

I can remember when this thread first started way back, I put a few entries in but then realised that I had written most of my memories in the Snippets I do for
Mind you, its nice to see this thread back again
Smudger,

oh sorry...

As for Halloween, it was only the Turnip Soup I didn't like. The rest of it was really good fun.

But I was just posting on another board and I remembered this:

I remember way back in the early 70s there were a lot of power strikes in the UK. We had a gas oven, as did many of the houses on our estate (in Sandhurst) but many others had electric. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason in the distribution of the gas/electric.

Until the strikes came - usually in the winter. They alternated, gas and electricity... so that the women got together (the men were usually away) and took it in turns to cook, two or three families buddied up.

Our heating was electric, so we used to sit round the gas oven on non-electric days, with camping lamps and torches and play games and tell stories. And for my birthday there had to be candles in jars, which was lovely.

The only big inconvenience I remember was having to miss Penelope Pitstop! (even refrigeration wasn't a problem because it was around 2°C outside - colder than a fridge.

It's strange when you think about it,people always seem to come together in any sort of emergency.I can go weeks without seeing any of the neighbours,but if there's something unusual going on ,everyone's out!!!
I remember all the power cuts,we shared meals,torches,candles,any form of heating that we could use,but everyone missed their television!!!
What will you be able to tell your little ones
about bonfire night i wonder Sho??The ones i remember as a child aren't a bit like the ones we have now..
Smudger.haven't seen much of you recently....Hope you and MK2 are keeping okay .

Well, I grew up as an Army brat - so bonfire night was great. During the 70s we lived in Windsor, near the Great Park and our barracks used to have a bonfire in one corner of the park. Organised fireworks done by the soldiers, and the chefs used to do soup and baked potatoes & hotdogs. Probably there was beer for the adults too.

And lots of single soldiers, away from home, used to be there too, enjoying it as much as the kids, and often lifting us onto their shoulders so we could get a good view.

Very happy memories. Alas, since we live in Germany, there is no Bonfire night for them to see. The only fireworks we see are on New Years Eve - but since I don't agree with fireworks in private hands, we only watch those of the neighbours.

Bonfire night isn't like it used to be,is it??
I can remember all the old furniture been out for people to sit on until it went on the fire,and each neighbour doing their own thing,hot dogs ,potatoes,toffee apples,and pies and mushy peas!!!
When our children were old enough we decided we'd have our own bonfire,so it was kept safe,and under control.and it became a famiy tradition.Our eldest daughter does it now,and everyone descends on her house.This year we decided that we'd still have a bonfire...after much soul searching.My mum died last year on the 6th november,but she'd have said "oh get on wth it",so we are doing.

It's a nice way to remember your mum though, isn't it? Even if it might be a bit sad this year.

lived, as a kid, next to a family with about 7 kids. One year one lost 4 fingers due to a rocket and his proximity to it. Bad enough.

The very next year another kid lost some fingers too. And since then he has never agreed with fireworks in private hands.

Growing up as an Army kid, and later being in the army myself, I have also been in proximity to explosives, and seen the effects of things like that which makes me very nervous of fireworks indeed.

Although I like sparklers.

i must admit i'm nervous of fireworks myself.They are deadly in the wrong hands,and i don't think the fines are high enough for people that are caught mis-using them,or the poeple selling them before the date they're allowed to.
my hubby had a friend,when they were children,who decided to make on eof his own,and it blew up in his face..the results were terrifying.

Back onto more jolly things then!

How about smells? I was in the bakery today. German bakeries have a peculiarly sweet smell - it takes me right back to the time when the baker's van used to come round when I was a kid. Mmmmmmmm

my mother had a shop,one of those off license shops that stayed open until ten every night,(this was forty plus years ago)so there are lots of smells that remind me of things past.Fresh ground coffee instantly springs to mind,candles,for some odd reason!!!Fresh bread,liquorice,cheese,and hot roast pork,and draught beer,which she sold in jugs to take out!!!
Last year i had a favourite candle shop.it's closed down now,but they sold scented candles..coffee,baking bread,and fresh linen!!!I couldn't pass it without going in to buy!!!

Ah! yes, the smell of freshly ground coffee done in that old red grinding machine with the wooden handle, and the bare floorboards of the old grocery store
The chair in the corner for the old dears to sit while watching the man slicing the bacon on the old slicer with its hand crank handle, and the small woven basket on the counter waiting to be filled with all the shopping on the list, which he ticks off one by one with that thick pencil he keeps behind his right ear and tucks it up the straw hat that shades his eyes form the sun as it cascades through the open shop door, held open with the old style 2pound weight
Smudger,

Oh roasting coffee...mmmmm
There used to be a coffee shop, with roasting machine, near the top of Peascod Street in Windsor (nearly opposite the castle) on Saturday mornings, after having spent my pocket money in WHSmith (17.5pence on a book, 2.5pence on a bag of crisps) we used to walk down past the coffee shop to the Browns department store. Just to go in and walk around. It was a strange place, but it had these creaky wooden floorboards - every time I see a really old wooden floor I'm reminded of that place.

Our wedding reception was held in some tea rooms above a very refined coffee shop ,and the smell of fresh ground coffee always reminds me of that day.
You'd love my kitchen foor then sho,it's made to look like very old polished floor boards,complete with the odd groove,and i'm forever trying to wash the scuff marks off...of course they're meant to be there!!!

Oh this is still my favourite thread on the site.I love reading about things of the past and my Mam REALLy enjoys me telling her about the conversations.So pleased to know your all OK.Love Pinky xxxx

Hi pinky,nice to hear from you.When you're telling your mam about the thread,you must ask her if she has any memories she'd like including...i bet she has lots of things we've all missed!!!

Does anyone else find it odd how youngsters like to hear about the "old days"?

The Gruesome Twosome are forever asking about "the olden days, when you were young"

Sheesh, I'm only 41!!

Oh yes....my graandchildren have asked me about the olden days lots of times(mind you,i am old and grey,and all of 57).It never ceases to amaze me wen we talk about our younger days,how many things they don't know about.Try asking them what coal is,or a poker,and watch their faces Sho!!

We have the added (small) complication that I grew up in England as a small child, then Germany as a teenager. They have only ever been to England for holidays and family visits - so a lot of the stories about junior school, bonfire night etc, are totally alien to them.

And then there are the boarding school stories - I feel like Enid Blyton sometimes!

I've just filled in a paper from their school about what I'm going to do for the little Advent craft market that they have every year. There is a cafeteria with Glühwein, coffee and cake (typically German, I love it) and then stalls with beautiful hand made (mostly wooden) things. A far cry from the juice and fairy cakes we offered at a school jumble sale!