Random Visitors

[sweep]

I seem to remember there was always someone in our house, not necessarily friends as such but just a random collection of people maybe the insurance man or club man (remember them) collecting there money or someone from down the road who had lost someone or something or who just wanted help with something, one thing they all had in common is they would plonk themselves down drink endless amounts of tea chat for hours and sometimes even settle down to watch tv no one was ever kept on the doorstep. its a little sad that the friendliness and sense of community has been lost but most people who knock on my door stay on the outside.

[battyrat]

Re: Random Visitors

Our neighbours used to do that but tradesmen(apart from the Avon lady)were never allowed in nor were any other cold callers.

[darren]

Re: Random Visitors

i know what you mean about the sense of friendliness and communmity having gone which is sad.
we always had neighbours and when they knocked they where asked in and would talk away about anything for hrs it was fun klistening to what they said.
sometimes the fella who came to empty the meter would chat for a while thats when you put fifty p's in the meter.

we even had a fella who delivered bread in his blue van john was his name we would see him on average once a week and he would talk away about all sorts.
this is like from early eighties to early nineties before he quit whichj was quite sad.
his vn would be full of bread white brown long rolls.


we would have a milkman he never came in but stood at the door and nattered as well.

I seem to remember there was always someone in our house, not necessarily friends as such but just a random collection of people maybe the insurance man or club man (remember them) collecting there money or someone from down the road who had lost someone or something or who just wanted help with something, one thing they all had in common is they would plonk themselves down drink endless amounts of tea chat for hours and sometimes even settle down to watch tv no one was ever kept on the doorstep. its a little sad that the friendliness and sense of community has been lost but most people who knock on my door stay on the outside.

[sweep]

Re: Random Visitors

i know what you mean about the sense of friendliness and communmity having gone which is sad.
we always had neighbours and when they knocked they where asked in and would talk away about anything for hrs it was fun klistening to what they said.
sometimes the fella who came to empty the meter would chat for a while thats when you put fifty p's in the meter.

we even had a fella who delivered bread in his blue van john was his name we would see him on average once a week and he would talk away about all sorts.
this is like from early eighties to early nineties before he quit whichj was quite sad.
his vn would be full of bread white brown long rolls.


we would have a milkman he never came in but stood at the door and nattered as well.

Sounds like we have very similar memories so it obviously wasn't. a local phenomenon oddly the milkman was one of the few people who I don't remember entering the house, but the meter man (I remember those coin meters well) and the coal man were regulars even used to get a lift to school of the coal man wreaking my brains trying to remember his name, then we had Tom the local shopkeeper who sometimes delivered grocery's in his little blue van and was never in a hurry to leave. don't ever remember cold callers apart from gypsies trying to sell pegs and lace.

[Trickyvee]

Re: Random Visitors

Same here, neighbours came in but not tradesmen. That said, when people like the window cleaner and postie came around they'd chat for a while if my parents were in the garden and my parents werent concerned if I chatted to them myself when they weren't around. Those were different times.

[battyrat]

Re: Random Visitors

I think the person I do remember quite a bit was the TV repair man.I used to sit behind him when he had the back of the TV off.
Thinking harder about our milkman and postie we seemed to had the same ones for years but today we get a diffrent postie every day of the week.The postie also came very early in the morning then again there was a later second post in the afternoon so we had more chance to get to know him.

[darren]

Re: Random Visitors

yeah the coalman he came in too,in later yrs both him and his son came in his dad was called wilfie.

Sounds like we have very similar memories so it obviously wasn't. a local phenomenon oddly the milkman was one of the few people who I don't remember entering the house, but the meter man (I remember those coin meters well) and the coal man were regulars even used to get a lift to school of the coal man wreaking my brains trying to remember his name, then we had Tom the local shopkeeper who sometimes delivered grocery's in his little blue van and was never in a hurry to leave. don't ever remember cold callers apart from gypsies trying to sell pegs and lace.

[amethyst]

Re: Random Visitors

yeah the coalman he came in too,in later yrs both him and his son came in his dad was called wilfie.

YES I remember the coal man turning up with bags of coal,the milkman on payday postman we didnt have any cold callers like double glazing

[sweep]

Re: Random Visitors

I think the person I do remember quite a bit was the TV repair man.I used to sit behind him when he had the back of the TV off.
Thinking harder about our milkman and postie we seemed to had the same ones for years but today we get a diffrent postie every day of the week.The postie also came very early in the morning then again there was a later second post in the afternoon so we had more chance to get to know him.

Yes the TV repair man forgotten about him, we had a rented TV he was round nearly every week always blamed the aerial when in fact it was their TV's that were clapped out.

[sweep]

Re: Random Visitors

yeah the coalman he came in too,in later yrs both him and his son came in his dad was called wilfie.

Mr Gill the coal man, still cant remember his first name always remember the big orange Bedford truck he drove, we had him for many years until we eventually got a gas fire.

[battyrat]

Re: Random Visitors

The coalman was a familiar sight.Our coal was put by the side door and we carried it through to the coal shed out the back.But we used to go to the coal yard or the coalmans house a few doors down from the coal yard to pay for it.The little hut like building is still there but it's used for selling garden ornaments these days.

[darren]

Re: Random Visitors

our coalman came sometimes twice a week and he emptied the coalbags into the coalshed himself.

we never bothered with round coal just the normal.
he was not really a stranger nor the breadman as they came regular over a period of more than ten yrs the coalman wilfie it was more like 15 or 20yrs.
wewould just pay at the end of the week.

he camer in a big coal lorry there was an entry way behind the houses where we lived and still live enrty way still there and he drove up it sometimes so he did not have to carry those huge bags so far.

the entry way you could go in and out 2 different ways.

The coalman was a familiar sight.Our coal was put by the side door and we carried it through to the coal shed out the back.But we used to go to the coal yard or the coalmans house a few doors down from the coal yard to pay for it.The little hut like building is still there but it's used for selling garden ornaments these days.

[amethyst]

Re: Random Visitors

Yes the TV repair man forgotten about him, we had a rented TV he was round nearly every week always blamed the aerial when in fact it was their TV's that were clapped out.

Yes my dad would have the tubes replaced on the black and white tv in them days you wouldnt chuck away tvs you had them repared

[battyrat]

Re: Random Visitors

The smell of the tubes when the tv started up,now that's a memory.The items that had tubes like the tv and radio gram had such a distinctive smell and feel to them.Often they also had a gentle hum soundwise.
I think our old tv's used to break down on a regular basis.The first colour one we got seemed to always be broken more so then the black and white sets.

[sweep]

Re: Random Visitors

Yes my dad would have the tubes replaced on the black and white tv in them days you wouldnt chuck away tvs you had them repared

I suppose in those days TVs were considered more as a luxury item, in our area in the 70s there was still I significant number of people who didn't possess one, plus they were hugely expensive to buy so you didn't throw them out until you had to, I think that's why so many rented no repair bill and the ability to upgrade. wonder what happened to all those TV repair men I think the profession bottomed out sometime in the late 80s.