How much is enough?

[rileymuk]

On 8/3/2022 at 10:10 PM, Bper said:

Why are retailers and supermarkets altering their prices daily as well as not passing on the reduction in the wholesale price of petrol? With the wider increase in living costs this is nothing more than profiteering.

The government are also raking in vast amounts of extra fuel tax with these high prices. This madness has to stop.

 

Yes you're right but maybe govt also involve in this corruption!

[Rhymes with Paris]

Hello Albert.

That quote in your post is from Bper,Bob.

I am Paul, but no matter, I understand your post entirely.🙂

And completely recognise your description of heating the old terrace houses at the time, even though it may be before I experienced it.

Aside from the the WC,we had an inside one aswell as a down the yard one, but the rooms with no lit fire got very cold indeed.

In fact I well remember in 1963 seeing ice on the inside of the window in my unheated bedroom,no wonder annual childhood bronchitis was the usual for me.

Coal theft was also quite common back then, I assume by the same kind of low lifes who must be very happy about their choice to commit crime being justified by some,as caused by the "cost of living crisis".

As you say, there is no choice but to heat for older or ill people,so I treat that as a necessary priority cost, along with food.

But at the same time, I don't waste money on trivia and frippery , like so many that I know do, and then constantly complain about having no money.

I choose to save it for essentials, and my car is an essential for me aswell,no idea what I would do if the doctors ever stopped me driving.

 

 

 

 

[Cyker]

An interesting discovery - Burned through the rest of my tank quicker than expected (Damn The North and it's cold weather! Yes that's what I'm blaming it on and not the large number of blazing overtakes I've done today ), and had to fuel up at a random village BP for safety.

It was already considerably more than my locals (Although still much less than motorway services, hence the decision!), so I thought sod it and went for the super E5 - WOW that stuff is smooth!! the BP Ultimate has now shot to the top of my chart, ousting the Esso Supreme E5 noticeably for reduction in engine vibration.

I hope the car enjoys it while it lasts, as I ain't putting that in again any time soon for that sort of cost (Well, unless I get caught out again!), but whatever additives they put in there the car does run noticeably smoother, even the idle charging, which is one of the bigger annoyances with the Mk4.

If this is not just a fluke, it would explain why so many people seem to use BP, despite them being the most expensive!

[Roy124]

Stamford BP is actually  Apple Green and is 147.9 compared with Shell a mile down the road.   The BP station is between village miles and town and has easier access, go figure.

[Bper]

8 hours ago, Haliotis said:

Are you surprised, Paul?    It is a frequent practice to drop energy prices in the warmer months, then hike them up to fleece us when we have to heat our homes.  The advice to lower boiler temperatures and/or thermostat settings is not a practical option - I don’t feel the cold as much as my wife does, and she will wrap up well whilst I am in a T-shirt.  So the heating stays set at a comfortable level.  

I grew up in a terraced house, with a coal fire and no other form of heating.  The warm rooms were the living room and kitchen. In wintry weather, thick wooden blankets and hot water bottles were the order for bedtime, and hygiene performed at the kitchen sink, with the gas oven lit and the door open.  And the WC was “down the yard”.

Most of the older terraced houses were demolished as being “unfit for habitation” - now, the energy wing of the government is pushing for us to cut back on the use of our C.H. And, indirectly, telling us to run our homes in an environmental manner not unlike that of a basic terraced house.

Ofgem is supposed to operate in the interests of the whole population, but on occasions have openly admitted that price caps were set to protect the viability of the energy companies.

And standing charges were supposed to be for the purpose of maintaining the grid networks - now they are fiddled to support the kidology that unit prices for energy are kept at respectable levels.

As for “green energy”, what use is it if most of the general public cannot support it?

Hi Albert,

Reading your post reminded me of how nostalgic the era that many of us actually grew up in was when the working class population had more or less the same lifestyles.

Washing in the sink with the oven door open, two bob for the gas meter and having to light the Ascot water heater when it blew out. The Sunday night tea with either Shell fish, fish paste and battenberg cake.

The rebate we got back from the gas man when he emptied the meter seemed more than we actually put in the meter. The insurance man from the Prudential who came along once a month to collect and fill the payment card in. If you wasn't in you could leave a sash window unlocked and he would lift the window, take the money off the window sill, fill the card in and put the window back down.

The coal fire in the living room or a paraffin heater (when you could buy the paraffin from the petrol station or local hardware shop). Later on if you could afford it, a 3kw electric fire and a very small one for the landing.

The penny sweets you could buy and the lemonade bottles that you took back to the shop and they would give you tuppence. The milkman who delivered your daily pinta, the coal man who delivered your bag of coal carried on his shoulder, same as the dustman that also carried the metal dustbins on their shoulders.

The neighbours who would look out for each other and far too many other things to mention. It's a stark contrast to today when so much is wrong with this country and the incompetence of those who are so out of touch who are supposedly governing it.

 

[Roy124]

Bob, recognise some of that.  Where we were we used to get product marketing.   A gang of women would come around handing out small cereal packets.  Novel then but sold now as multi variety packs.  

I would hang over the side fence and they would give me a couple, then go round the front and give me some more.

Anyone remember Saltines?  The Coop opposite had the whole window filled with packets from large to effing ginormous.   They were Canadian and they hoped to penetrate the market.  We were not long out of rationing and buying more than a couple of days  or a week of anything was anathema.   They failed. 

Now they are marketed as Ritz or similar.

The Coop breadman was a regular supplier of manure for our roses.

[Big_D]

2 hours ago, Cyker said:

If this is not just a fluke, it would explain why so many people seem to use BP, despite them being the most expensive!

Our BP is actually the cheapest, usually by a couple of pence per litre

[Bper]

22 minutes ago, Roy124 said:

Bob, recognise some of that.  Where we were we used to get product marketing.   A gang of women would come around handing out small cereal packets.  Novel then but sold now as multi variety packs.  

I would hang over the side fence and they would give me a couple, then go round the front and give me some more.

Anyone remember Saltines?  The Coop opposite had the whole window filled with packets from large to effing ginormous.   They were Canadian and they hoped to penetrate the market.  We were not long out of rationing and buying more than a couple of days  or a week of anything was anathema.   They failed. 

Now they are marketed as Ritz or similar.

The Coop breadman was a regular supplier of manure for our roses.

Hi Roy,

I vaguely remember Saltines and you can still buy versions of them online. So many things come to mind when we spend time looking back like the toffee Apple van that used to come round every week delicious. 

[Rhymes with Paris]

Ah, the nostalgia.

Who among us remembers asking to borrow next door's joint to make the gravy?

Boasting that we had a leg of mince in.?

Cheeking the coalmen on the "robot" coal lorries so that they would throw lumps of coal at you to take home, similar with greengrocers on the market who obligingly threw potatoes at you if you pulled faces at them.

I reckon Bob had a privileged upbringing,my dad told me the gas meter that took shillings, was a money box to save for my future education.

Well it never extended to Oxford,or indeed the local grammar,so maybe his wisdom in telling me "never go looking for trouble,it will find you soon enough" stood me in good stead.

 

 

[FROSTYBALLS]

We had a coal stove and back boiler in the kitchen, with an open coal fire (backing onto the kitchen fire) in the lounge (later replaced with a Parkray). Gas poker to light.

Coal deliveries - the Co-op delivered the coal and later coke. Usually a ton at a time. Sacks emptied out into a pile in the back yard. I had the job of shovelling the fuel into the coal house just outside the back door - used to fill the coal house up to a height of around 5 feet. Fuel kept up by boards which slotted into the door frame. Lowest board had a hatch to allow coal to be shovelled out into the coal scuttle.

Do remember the pollution from the coal fires and factories (Birmingham) before clean air acts brought greater use of smokeless fuels (anthracite, etc). Thick fogs most winter evenings.

Paraffin heater in the hall.

Although a 3 bedroom terraced house, our estate was built just post WW2. Instead of wooden roof trusses, the houses had alloy roof trusses cast from recycled military aircraft.

We lived opposite the private estate of a brass foundry owner. From my bedroom window, I looked out over the fields, gardens, and orchard of the estate and could watch the small herd of cattle. Not bad considering we were only 5 miles from Birmingham City Centre (late 50's, early 60's), and housing and factories extended way past where we were. When the foundry owner died, the entire estate was left to the City on condition it forever remained a park for the enjoyment of Birmingham residents.

[Roy124]

Sheesh Frosty,  a whole ton, 20 sacks at a time and TWO fires.

We used to get 4 sacks at a time.  We had four fire places, 2 up 2 down but only ever lit the living room.  The Aladin parafin stove did the hall and landing. 

Occasionally we got a load of Welsh Steam Coal.  Huge lumps that I had to break with a hammer.

Don't ask where we got the Coal from 🙂 but my father's ship was a Coal burner.  I also used to get chocolate from the liferafts.

Ships still carried liferafts post war as there were still mines.   Eventually the rafts were removed as we got some of the tins.  Barley sugars too.

[Cyker]

Good grief how old are you people?! What did I have... Uh... 4 TV channels, lead paint, Thundercats aaaand... uhh... the Green Cross Code man!...? 

[Stopeter44]

8 hours ago, Roy124 said:

Barley sugars too.

I used to love those !

[Roy124]

8 hours ago, Cyker said:

Good grief how old are you people?! What did I have... Uh... 4 TV channels, lead paint, Thundercats aaaand... uhh... the Green Cross Code man!...? 

Four TV Channels!  You had  a TV.

Actually we had a TV.  B&W. It was as long as a modern TV is wide.  9 inch screen with a magnifying glass, curved convex and filled with oil. 

The living room was packed during the coronation. 

In 1950 I remember one front bedroom was cleared, curtain removed, and again packed to glimpse the Queen drive passed after she had launched the Ark Royal. 

A roundabout down the hill had been modified with gates so she could drive through rather than round.  Well it certainly had gates.

[FROSTYBALLS]

9 hours ago, Cyker said:

Good grief how old are you people?! What did I have... Uh... 4 TV channels, lead paint, Thundercats aaaand... uhh... the Green Cross Code man!...? 

We had two channels - BBC and ITV. 

The Adventures of Twizzle, Torchy the Battery Boy, Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray and Thunderbirds

We had the Kerb Drill before the Green Cross Code:

 

[Paul john]

8 minutes ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

We had two channels - BBC and ITV. 

The Adventures of Twizzle, Torchy the Battery Boy, Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray and Thunderbirds

We had the Kerb Drill before the Green Cross Code:

 

Was that before bbc2?

[Primus1]

14 hours ago, Bper said:

Hi Roy,

I vaguely remember Saltines and you can still buy versions of them online. So many things come to mind when we spend time looking back like the toffee apple van that used to come round every week delicious. 

Wait…there used to be a van made from toffee apples!

[FROSTYBALLS]

1 minute ago, Primus1 said:

Wait…there used to be a van made from toffee apples!

Had a rather fruity exhaust .....

[Primus1]

1 minute ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

Had a rather fruity exhaust .....

And sticky tyres, was it driven by Granny Smith..?

[Cyker]

You lot are driving me bananas...

[Roy124]

Couldn't get Bananas

[Cyker]

Even in pyjamas?!   Horrible! I cannot imagine the hardships you had to deal with!!

[Haliotis]

4 hours ago, Cyker said:

Even in pyjamas?!   Horrible! I cannot imagine the hardships you had to deal with!!

That’s the funny thing, Cyker, we didn’t think of them as “hardships”.  We thought of ourselves as all being the same although, if you had a friend with an indoor loo and bathroom, you did envy them. And if their home was semi-detached with a garage (even a fabricated one) then you really felt as if you were rubbing shoulders with royalty.

One of my jobs was to take an old pram and collect cheap coke from the local gasworks.   On Saturday mornings my grandad gave me sixpence (6d - there were 40 of them to a £), and with a friend I would go into town on the tram (1/2d), go into Lewis’s and buy  a cup of tea (1-1/2d), a cake (1-1/2d) and an ice cream (2d), and the tram back home (1/2d).  One Saturday I found half-a-crown (25p today) and my friend and I gorged ourselves, and went home feeling like kings.

Today’s young may have more comfortable lives than we did, but they have lost the knack of enjoying the ability to manufacture playthings from nothing.  And we had more freedom because there wasn’t the risks from evil as there are today.

[Roy124]

When I was old enough I would get the bus to school but get off at the stop after the school stop.  We would go into the bakers for a stale bun (half price) and walk back to school.

We would blow into the bun to freshen it up and make it warm.

 

[Bper]

Thanks for your comments regarding the toffee Apple van and the other nostalgia comments just to add a couple more.

Does anyone have memories of  the TV repair man working on the back of the TV when it broke and changing one of the valves which seem to be a common problem and the TV high street rental shops. D.E.R, Rediffusion.Radio Rentals.Granada,Vision Hire.

Toys growing up Jonny Severn, Superball,YoYo,Clackers,Etch A sketch,Spirograph.

Some sweets we used to buy, Black Jack's, Fruit Salads, Jamboree Bags,Parma Violets, Gobstoppers.Everlasting strip,Sherbet fountain.Sherbet Dip Dipdab to name a very few.