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Hi,
My name is Sly and I just stumbled over this slice of nostalgia whilst talking to a friend about school assemblies. A quick good search later and before you know it I've wasted a fair bit of time reminiscing about all the stuff that used to be but isn't any more.
It's going to be a fairly long post. Sorry, I know I'm going to get carried away and I'm sorry if I bore you.
As a kid growing up I lived in a redundant train station village that was no longer serviced by the rail. It was before my time, but blame the M62 for that. Apparently it went right through the train station, but old railway lines can still be found in the middle of nowhere if you look close enough.
The street I grew up in was a red brick terrace house with cobbled streets and on the lower end of the street there was a old school butchers and a tobacconist/sweet shop. Every sweet in that shop came in a big jar. And I mean everything, the only place you could get wrapped sweets was the other two shops which I'll mention later.
At the top of the street was a park with all the usual suspects. I drove up there recently and they were all gone. I blame health and safety for this. There was a football field where the local pub team used to play and a rec where people used to walk their dogs. A lot of parents didn't like their kids going down the rec, but as kids we knew better and did it anyway. There was loads of water to mess about in and loads of cool trees to climb. Some of the kids even made tree houses down there. There were also a lot of allotments, in the spare areas near the motorway and nears the rec. I cannot remember the last time I saw one of these.
On the main road at the bottom of the street there was an electrics store (used to be a cake shop when I was really young apparently) that sold fuses and bags for vacuum cleaners. It always had lights in the window like it was Christmas and was one of the few shops I had ever seen at that time that had a grill on the inside of the windows. I think it was more for hanging items on than it was to keep burglars out, but then again I don't really know, I was a kid.
Across the road was a pub that had different areas. I used to love the smell of it, and I loved playing on the arcade machines. Because I was a quiet kid I could get away with going in the games room too, something which didn't really happen all that often, I think you had to be 14 to go in that bit or something.
On the T junction where the electrics place and pub used to be, there was a fish and chip place and a post office/newsagents. The post office had toys on the shelf which where there when I was in nursery until I left the village to get on with my life. No one ever bought them ever. You used to be able to subscribe to magazines, I'm a big computer geek and I remember my dad subscribing me a magazine that came with games on a cassete tape taped to the front. They always scribbled your name on the cover of the magazine. You used to be able to get wrapped sweets here as well as 10p mix up, which was kept in to open wooden shelves that had compartments in them.
Next to the post office we had a police house. One police man used to walk the beat round our village. He knew all the kids names and families. It's something you don't really hear about now, but when I was a young 'un last thing I wanted to happen was get caught doing something he thought I shouldn't be doing.
Last two shops where the Indian store and the green grocers. The Indians sold stuff like soap powder, bread and loads of other house old stuff that I don't remember much about, as well as wrapped sweets. The green grocers was a proper old school place, dirt all over the floor, everything came in wooden boxes and it smelt awesome. My mum used to send me on a run of all the shops sometimes with a list of what to buy for dinner. Of course, the only place that had a till was the post office and pub, everywhere else just had a wooden tray and a pad of paper to work the price of what you were paying out.
A bit further out from the street I lived in were a library and a small church. My school was on the other side of the M62.
Sadly a lot of it has gone now. The post office, the police house, the electric store, the butchers, the Indian convenience, the chippy, the library, the pub, the church and the tobacconist all changed back to normal houses. The only shop still going is the grocers, but that is now just an amalgam of all the other shops in one store front.
Old people often joke about it 'Used to be all fields when I were a kid' and after driving through where I grew up it suddenly hit me that I now fall into this category.
It's no longer of a case of everyone knows everyone now. Back then people used to club together and do stuff, now they just keep themselves to themselves. That's progress for you.
Do I win a prize for the longest introduction thread?
My name is Sly and I just stumbled over this slice of nostalgia whilst talking to a friend about school assemblies. A quick good search later and before you know it I've wasted a fair bit of time reminiscing about all the stuff that used to be but isn't any more.
It's going to be a fairly long post. Sorry, I know I'm going to get carried away and I'm sorry if I bore you.
As a kid growing up I lived in a redundant train station village that was no longer serviced by the rail. It was before my time, but blame the M62 for that. Apparently it went right through the train station, but old railway lines can still be found in the middle of nowhere if you look close enough.
The street I grew up in was a red brick terrace house with cobbled streets and on the lower end of the street there was a old school butchers and a tobacconist/sweet shop. Every sweet in that shop came in a big jar. And I mean everything, the only place you could get wrapped sweets was the other two shops which I'll mention later.
At the top of the street was a park with all the usual suspects. I drove up there recently and they were all gone. I blame health and safety for this. There was a football field where the local pub team used to play and a rec where people used to walk their dogs. A lot of parents didn't like their kids going down the rec, but as kids we knew better and did it anyway. There was loads of water to mess about in and loads of cool trees to climb. Some of the kids even made tree houses down there. There were also a lot of allotments, in the spare areas near the motorway and nears the rec. I cannot remember the last time I saw one of these.
On the main road at the bottom of the street there was an electrics store (used to be a cake shop when I was really young apparently) that sold fuses and bags for vacuum cleaners. It always had lights in the window like it was Christmas and was one of the few shops I had ever seen at that time that had a grill on the inside of the windows. I think it was more for hanging items on than it was to keep burglars out, but then again I don't really know, I was a kid.
Across the road was a pub that had different areas. I used to love the smell of it, and I loved playing on the arcade machines. Because I was a quiet kid I could get away with going in the games room too, something which didn't really happen all that often, I think you had to be 14 to go in that bit or something.
On the T junction where the electrics place and pub used to be, there was a fish and chip place and a post office/newsagents. The post office had toys on the shelf which where there when I was in nursery until I left the village to get on with my life. No one ever bought them ever. You used to be able to subscribe to magazines, I'm a big computer geek and I remember my dad subscribing me a magazine that came with games on a cassete tape taped to the front. They always scribbled your name on the cover of the magazine. You used to be able to get wrapped sweets here as well as 10p mix up, which was kept in to open wooden shelves that had compartments in them.
Next to the post office we had a police house. One police man used to walk the beat round our village. He knew all the kids names and families. It's something you don't really hear about now, but when I was a young 'un last thing I wanted to happen was get caught doing something he thought I shouldn't be doing.
Last two shops where the Indian store and the green grocers. The Indians sold stuff like soap powder, bread and loads of other house old stuff that I don't remember much about, as well as wrapped sweets. The green grocers was a proper old school place, dirt all over the floor, everything came in wooden boxes and it smelt awesome. My mum used to send me on a run of all the shops sometimes with a list of what to buy for dinner. Of course, the only place that had a till was the post office and pub, everywhere else just had a wooden tray and a pad of paper to work the price of what you were paying out.
A bit further out from the street I lived in were a library and a small church. My school was on the other side of the M62.
Sadly a lot of it has gone now. The post office, the police house, the electric store, the butchers, the Indian convenience, the chippy, the library, the pub, the church and the tobacconist all changed back to normal houses. The only shop still going is the grocers, but that is now just an amalgam of all the other shops in one store front.
Old people often joke about it 'Used to be all fields when I were a kid' and after driving through where I grew up it suddenly hit me that I now fall into this category.
It's no longer of a case of everyone knows everyone now. Back then people used to club together and do stuff, now they just keep themselves to themselves. That's progress for you.
Do I win a prize for the longest introduction thread?
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