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There was not one single pub. The men had to walk about one half to a mile, cross the railway line, and on the east side of the line were about 4 pubs, and also 3-4 working mens' clubs. Aah, the 'good old days' when a pub was a pub, and practically the hub of local life.
Ah, the good old days - remember this one
Quote: The Great Smog of 1952 darkened the streets of London and killed approximately 4,000 people in the short time of 4 days (a further 8,000 died from its effects in the following weeks and months)
At around about 3 in the afternoon (from memory) it rolled out like a thick yellow brown blanket and made everything dark. Burnt your eyes and nose and at some points you literally couldn't see your hand in front of your face.
Some of the later ones were not so lethal but I remember one classic when I puttered to my lodgings on my motorbike, went up the drive, parked the bike and looked around to see a stream of cars sat there looking bewildered. When I asked the first driver what was going on he said that they had been following my tail light as that was all they could see, by the way, where were we? 
(I've just remembered, the police put out those smoky paraffin lamps at key junctions and other danger points, squitty little red flickering flames with masses of soot coming out of a spout at the top side- must have added to the smog wonderfully)
Yes I remember that thick yellow smog and if you breathed through your handkerchief you wouldn't want to put it back in your pocket.
Also Bus Conductors walked in front of the Bus with a flare.
At least I was not one of the 12,000 deceased.It was pretty bad in Yorkshire too. I lived between Leeds and Bradford for a short while in '46 - '47 (close by where Leeds & Bradford airport is now). You could look down into the valley and not see the bottom because of all the smog from 'tmills.
I always thought the stone they built the houses from up there was black but when I went back many years later the mills were gone and the stone had been cleaned and turned yellow, looked all wrong!
we lived in a scrape and had coal sacks for clothes (flour sacks on sunday!)
BUT seriously (can I be serious? mmmm not sure!)
I remember the curtains used to freeze on to the windows from the end of december till end of feb
and double glazing was when you had yer specs on!
I started work at 15 and 4 days a 48 hour week, and you were expected to do overtime a shock to the system!
winter '62 was a particularly appalling time 2 months of fog then 6' of snow! the summer was not much better!
Railcam: being desceased is not FUN look at some of the posts in the forum (as my MP would say zombie like) see IF you can spot them? 
Can any of you old ones remember the old fashioned high chairs for baby. I came across a photo or old advert of one years back, which was the exact one we had. It was all wood, and the base, about 2 feet square(to hell with centipedes or centimetres,or whatever they are
)was made of plywood or similar. Full height for eating, then it could be folded in half, and the base was then at waist level for the child, and toys etc were played with on it. We should have kept it. It would be worth a fortune now, as I believe it was a Chippendale.!!
Quote: Never heard of a rail 'trip'?
We had 'bus trips from our village to such exotic places as Rothbury, Warkworth, etc. in the summer holidays.2-3-4 buses of kids and the mothers off for the day; getting back about 8pm at night, with a collection for the bus driver.
One collection was 11/2d. Guess who put in the 2 pennies. I suppose that was a fair amount in those days. The driver would have been able to afford a good night out at the pub after he dropped us off.
When talking about prices in the old days, the RPI can be useful. I have a collection of books on cars from 1952-1969, giving the then current prices. Adjusting for RPI, it is surprising how expensive cars could be, and goes some way to explaining lower levels of ownership in years gone by.
Example: an 1952 Austin A40, which would have been a typical modest family car cost £774. Sounds dirt cheap doesn't it? But adjusted for RPI that becomes £19018. Not so cheap!
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