The auld farts thread

[jimmyjambo]

don't know if its been mentioned but there was a shop on Nicholson street near surgeon hall, I think it was called Jax which sold Levis and was the place to go back in the 70's

 

should have posted that in the shops thread 

[Stuart Lyon]

Boston Jambo - this link may answer your question re the Rhino

 

http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/0_a_o/0_around_edinburgh_-_where_is_it_rb_1965_edinburgh_tenements_and_wall_sign_560.htm

[Stuart Lyon]

Boston Jambo - go to Reply 4 in the above link and their is a link "paperback bookshop" which shows an excellent photograph of the bookshop complete with Rhino head.

[@VladMagic]

The flumes opening at the Commy pool and the endless rumours about Chuggy and razors!

 

Buying stink bombs from Score Commotions and letting them off on the bus on the way home.

 

Building tree houses at the top of the tallest tree you could find and watching your Mum go white when she found out where it was.

 

Tickling trout out the stream at Flotterstone.

[John Gentleman]

Watching Bill & Ben the Flower Pot Men on the telly when skiving school. Strange thing is, I remember it in colour but it couldn't possibly have been ? colour broadcasting didn't arrive until the mid-60s and I was watching B&B long before then........

[John Gentleman]

The flumes opening at the Commy pool and the endless rumours about Chuggy and razors!

 

Buying stink bombs from Score Commotions and letting them off on the bus on the way home.

 

Building tree houses at the top of the tallest tree you could find and watching your Mum go white when she found out where it was.

 

Tickling  Guddling trout out the stream at Flotterstone.

 

FTFY  

[John Findlay]

I didn't realise there was so many of us auld farts around.

[@VladMagic]

FTFY  

 

LOL Thanks I got pretty handy at Guddling a trout or 2!! Taught by Dad of course. I remember the first time he showed me the skill. I was absolutely gob smacked!

[luckyBatistuta]

Got my fingers caught in the hinges of the bathroom door and a fire engine came out to free them. After taking the door off and freeing me, they gave me a firemans hat to wear and took me for a trip round the block with the sirens on, just to make me feel better.

 

The good old days, when they didn't have to worry about following procedures and being worried about being sued.

[Boris]

Shoot magazine "League Ladders".

 

[Stuart Lyon]

Ah forgot about Bill & Ben with Little Weed! Who remembers Muffin the Mule, The Woodentops and Rag, Tag and Bobtail?

[¼½¾]

Strictly speaking, salt'n shake were a re-issue of the original packets that all contained the wee blue bag. When s&'s were introduced, ready salted crisps had been introduced many years before.

The originals had a wee bit of twisted blue paper with the salt in, not the sealed bag that was there when they were brought back.

[Boston Jambo]

Boston Jambo - go to Reply 4 in the above link and their is a link "paperback bookshop" which shows an excellent photograph of the bookshop complete with Rhino head.

Yep, that's pretty much where I remember it, thanks.

[Boston Jambo]

Going to the record shop, picking out an LP that someone told you about, going to the booth and trying to look cool as you tried to judge it's worthiness in a couple of tracks.

 

Then taking it home, you had to play it all the way through just to make sure it didn't have any scratches or jumps on it, cos you knew you'd never get your money back if you left it a couple of days, Such was the lack of customer service back then.

 

Talking about bad customer service I remember in Bobby's Bar trying to send back a bad pint, the bartender tasted it and gave it back to me saying " Nah, tastes fine to me"

 

At a busy bar on a Fri or Sat night getting passed up while waiting to order drinks " Sorry pal, regulars first"

[Huguenot]

Old grey whistle test.

 

Call my bluff.

 

Mr and Mrs

 

The Clangers.

 

Carbolic soap at the Glenny baths.

 

New PJ's on christmas eve.

 

Tiswas

 

Pink News.

 

Toffee apple man coming round the street.

[Sharpie]

I don't think it has been mentioned, but there was an older man who came around with a grinding wheel, on wheels, and he would sharpen knives and scissors. I know like many things I am repeating myself remember my mother and one of the neighbours racing each other to get the droppings when the coalmans horse let its bowels go. The manure was for the roses in their big front garden which measured about 15' x 2'.  They were really good friends, but they were no nonsense women, I have seen them team up on a coalman or other tradesman and leave the poor guy like he had been attacked by a horde, they would give him his character, and sometimes in language that one would suspect they had been trained in a how to swear in a ladylike manner school. If you were in trouble you were just as likely to say leave me alone or I'll get my Ma.

 

I honestly don't know how I feel about this thread, its entertaining, but when you are going back relating things from at least 75 years ago, one becomes a bit wistful about how the world has changed, happy days, and thinking of all the people who had been so much a part of my long and happy life, and so many are gone and like the thread just a memory now. Oh well, hold off on all the thanks for me cheering you up with my wistful thoughts.

[Sawdust Caesar]

Bus tokens

The shows at Portobello

Speedway at Meadowbank

Family Chinese takeaways every Saturday

Working all day Sat in a butcher shop for ?1.50 and a parcel of meat!

Going to St Cuthbert's Depot on Morrison Street at 6 am to try and get on a milk round

The old tramp around town with wellies tied to his knees

Buying jeans in Cockburn Street

The Commie Pool when rubber key bands were state of the art!

Single fags from newsagents and fag machines outside cafes

Playing football from dawn till dusk...street, parks, school playgrounds

Getting chased by school jannies!

 

Fantastic thread!!!

I remember you got a deposit, 10p I think, when you handed the band back but sometimes there wasn't a staff member at the exit window and you had to wait for your deposit but they had baskets with all the different coloured bands within reach so you'd nick a handful of them which meant the next time you went to the pool you could stay longer than your hour if you switched to whatever colour band was to be worn for that hour. They eventually sussed that out and moved the baskets out of reach.

 

Catching bees and wasps in jars then in our bare hands

Me and a mate used to catch wasps in a jar, put some water in the jar so their wings would stick and they couldn't fly off then put them on to the train tracks of his Hornby train set and run them over with a Flying Scotsman, all the while twirling our imaginary moustaches like Dick Dastardly.

 

The first VCR we got had a remote control. It was on the end of a wire that reached from one end of the livingroom to the other.

So was ours. We kept tripping over the cable so much that the plug end which fitted in the VCR was bent out of shape and would just simply fall out the socket. I got a porno video from a mate and thought I'll watch this as my mum was at work, or so I thought, but she wasn't and halfway through it I could hear the key in the door and was furiously trying to stop the video whilst pulling my breeks up but the damn thing kept playing, the cable had fallen out so I practically dived across the living room to switch it of with one hand trying to zip up. Thankfully my mum went straight to the kitchen which gave me time to compose myself and thus saving me from acute embarrassment.

[¼½¾]

I remember you got a deposit, 10p I think, when you handed the band back but sometimes there wasn't a staff member at the exit window and you had to wait for your deposit but they had baskets with all the different coloured bands within reach so you'd nick a handful of them which meant the next time you went to the pool you could stay longer than your hour if you switched to whatever colour band was to be worn for that hour. They eventually sussed that out and moved the baskets out of reach.

 

Me and a mate used to catch wasps in a jar, put some water in the jar so their wings would stick and they couldn't fly off then put them on to the train tracks of his Hornby train set and run them over with a Flying Scotsman, all the while twirling our imaginary moustaches like Dick Dastardly.

 

So was ours. We kept tripping over the cable so much that the plug end which fitted in the VCR was bent out of shape and would just simply fall out the socket. I got a porno video from a mate and thought I'll watch this as my mum was at work, or so I thought, but she wasn't and halfway through it I could hear the key in the door and was furiously trying to stop the video whilst pulling my breeks up but the damn thing kept playing, the cable had fallen out so I practically dived across the living room to switch it of with one hand trying to zip up. Thankfully my mum went straight to the kitchen which gave me time to compose myself and thus saving me from acute embarrassment.

That's trainee serial killer stuff, if ever anything was.  Me and a pal, if we found a slater (aka: woodlouse or baby armadillo) nest, would impale them on twigs and stick them in the ground so there was a forrest of them.  I feel like I post that before somewhere. Maybe the 'Being Shan' thread?

 

As for your VCR 'antics':

[Tams bird]

Saturday morning cinema at the Odeon. Booing the baddies. Going to record exchange on the way home. Playing kerby in a street. Fishing in Mickeys burn in the Inch Park.

[Marvin]

Probably been mentioned, but I haven't played kerby in years, mind that car now. 

 

Edit: just saw Tams post above

[Huguenot]

Skipping ropes.

 

Peevers.

 

Girls keeping scraps.

 

Hunting for  crabs round the back of Cramond island.

 

Fishing with a hand line bought from Terry's at Granton pier.

[aussieh]

Old grey whistle test.

 

Call my bluff.

 

Mr and Mrs

 

The Clangers.

 

Carbolic soap at the Glenny baths.

 

New PJ's on christmas eve.

 

Tiswas

 

Pink News.

 

Toffee apple man coming round the street.

CANDY APP LE.

[The Real Maroonblood]

Briquettes for the fire.

There was a place down the Pleasance which sold them.

Square and egg shaped ones.

[argyjambo]

Boris, on 09 Mar 2016 - 11:46 AM, said:

Shoot magazine "League Ladders".

 

 

 

Vaguely remember Shoot! I was more of a Charles Buchan's Football monthly sort of guy. Only switched to Shoot when forementioned periodical ceased publication. When I grew out of that, it was many many years before the acceptable alternative of 442 arrived.

[Sydney]

A rhino's head sticking out of the wall near Parker's store?

 

Am I remembering or imagining it ?

 

Bob Sharpe, over to you.

Yes there was a rhino's head.

 

It has been "revived"

 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jim_Haynes_rhino%27s_head,_Edinburgh.JPG

 

 

Sorry - just seen Stuart Lyon's response.

[TNCASTLE]

Lucozade in an orange plastic wrapping

Funny, you only bought it in the Chemist. It was viewed as a kind of medicine, glucose and all if you had flu. Now it is a normal drink in Petrol Stations. The orange wrapping was a bit strange. All before 1/6d pint at Betty Moss's at The Old Chain Pier!!!

[Stuart Lyon]

There was a rival for Lucozade called Ferguzade I think.

[The Real Maroonblood]

There was a rival for Lucozade called Ferguzade I think.

There was.

[Tasavallan]

 All before 1/6d pint at Betty Moss's at The Old Chain Pier!!!

 

My very first pint was there.  A pint of mild at 13p (after decimalisation).  I got 1 pound pocket money on a Friday which would see me for bewvvy on a Saturday night (no Sunday licencing then) and a mealy puddin' supper afterwards.  

 

A bunch of us would go in with our school blazers worn inside-out.  Cool dudes.  As I had facial hair (sideburns were the fashion) I was the one that was sent to the bar to order the drinks.  It was my 'local' for many years until it was breweryised in the late 70s after Betty's death and I migrated to Norway..   

 

At night we'd sit on the rickety balcony and bet on the sh*te coming out the toilet overflow at head height directly into the Forth..

[Tasavallan]

Before Civilised Licensing Laws in Scotland

 

Before the Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976 pubs had restrictive opening hours which were put into place during WWI.  This was to get men out of the pubs and into the munitions factories. .  

 

There was no all-day drinking.  Weekdays and Saturdays they could open for three hours at lunchtime then close and re-open in the evening (18:30) but close at 22:00.  Last orders would be about 21:45.  There was no Sunday opening.    

 

These laws were a major reason Scotland and the Scots got a bad reputation for hard drinking.  There would be a group of us, with a nucleus of about 4 that would go out on a Saturday night (Rose Street, High Street or Grassmarket hauls) with the object of drinking as much as possible in the allotted time.  Rounds were bought in strict order and a next round was bought as soon as someone had finished his pint. Drinking 4 pints an hour was common.   We probably consumed the same amount of alcohol after as before the 1976 Act but it was done over a longer duration. 

 

On Sundays you could drink in a hotel if you were considered a patron.  Or you could drive over the border (to Berwick) for a drink. 

 

I remember a few of us pre-76 drinkers would be out with some colleagues who only started drinking post-76.  The rate that which us pre-76s drunk at was much faster than the post-76s.  We ended up keeping 2 separate rounds going.  I still drink too fast for my own good.

 

Do other of us auld yins have memories of drinking before 1976?  Or after 1976 for that matter.

[The Real Maroonblood]

Pre 76 by a bit

11:00-14:30

17:00-22:00

My mates and I used go to a hotel which was set in woods between Oxgangs and Caystane on a Sunday.

Happy days.

[John Findlay]

Before Civilised Licensing Laws in Scotland

 

Before the Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976 pubs had restrictive opening hours which were put into place during WWI. This was to get men out of the pubs and into the munitions factories. .

 

There was no all-day drinking. Weekdays and Saturdays they could open for three hours at lunchtime then close and re-open in the evening (18:30) but close at 22:00. Last orders would be about 21:45. There was no Sunday opening.

 

These laws were a major reason Scotland and the Scots got a bad reputation for hard drinking. There would be a group of us, with a nucleus of about 4 that would go out on a Saturday night (Rose Street, High Street or Grassmarket hauls) with the object of drinking as much as possible in the allotted time. Rounds were bought in strict order and a next round was bought as soon as someone had finished his pint. Drinking 4 pints an hour was common. We probably consumed the same amount of alcohol after as before the 1976 Act but it was done over a longer duration.

 

On Sundays you could drink in a hotel if you were considered a patron. Or you could drive over the border (to Berwick) for a drink.

 

I remember a few of us pre-76 drinkers would be out with some colleagues who only started drinking post-76. The rate that which us pre-76s drunk at was much faster than the post-76s. We ended up keeping 2 separate rounds going. I still drink too fast for my own good.

 

Do other of us auld yins have memories of drinking before 1976? Or after 1976 for that matter.

I remember on a Sunday my dad with my Grandad his father in law would go to the Wardie Hotel for a drink. I think that was the in place for the men from Granton and Royston back then. My drinking started in 1979. Robbies bar on Leith Walk with the drivers from Bon Accord. I was a delivery boy there from June-September 1979.

[Stuart Lyon]

Worked in the Doo'cot 1969 to 1970 when the opening hours were 11 to 3pm I think and 5 until 10pm. Sundays were spent in the Barnton Hotel or the Fox Covert. Occasionally we would venture further afield and visit working men's clubs in Fife.

[John Findlay]

Worked in the Doo'cot 1969 to 1970 when the opening hours were 11 to 3pm I think and 5 until 10pm. Sundays were spent in the Barnton Hotel or the Fox Covert. Occasionally we would venture further afield and visit working men's clubs in Fife.

Saturday lunch time must have been at least 400 men in the bar. Lounge was for the women. Left from the doo'cot for the 1976 Cup final. Stayed in Ferry Road Drive at the time.

[highlandjambo3]

Buying a pen knife from the local newsagents and playing knifey wi your pal.

hahaha.......forgot all about that................knifey was like twister was it not??..............if the knife stuck in the ground you had to get a hand/foot to the knife and pull it out then attempt to spike it in yourself as you shoogled about......only hands/feet allowed to touch the ground yes??

[Sharpie]

Remember on a Sunday becoming a traveller and going in to a hotel where as a traveller it was legal to drink. You had to sign a book and found that you were likely to meet Cary Grant, Bing Crosby, Humphrey Bogart as just a few of your fellow drinkers. They must have been in a private part of the bar or else they had developed Scots accents.

 

As a polis saw many Friday, Saturday night tragedies, most of them involved the bottom of a paper bag tearing out because of dampness, and a valued cairy oot bleeding on the ground amid smashed glass. Flood warnings had to be immediately issued because of the volume of tears flowing.

 

The 10'00pm closing was fine for the Polis, it meant that the majority of your Friday, Saturday night fights were over by 11.00pm. That left just the house rows to deal with.  Everything in those days did have a proper synchronised order.

[Tazio]

I remember when we all got our first penknives as kids. An entire summer holidays of cuts and stab wounds. The start of that being some western on the telly where someone did that thing of putting your hand flat on the table and seeing how quickly you could stab the table in the gaps between your fingers. I've still got a couple of scars on my fingers from that 40 years later. 

 

Then we decided to peel all the bark off trees on the old railway line at Granton Road station. It took us about a week as it was some odd kind of network of smaller trees. The odd thing was that we did it in a very organised way, turning up to "work" every morning at about 9.30am and working until about 5pm with a quick nip home for food round 1pm. The tree stood in that condition for many years after and if I was visiting my parents I would get a wee feeling of pride when I saw it. Sadly the large quantities of blood that used to be on it from the many injuries was long washed off.

[Neilson's Shank]

The term bona fide traveller, was ruse to cicumvent the then Sunday opening debacle. It was roundly abused, for example someone from Edinburgh could go to Musselburgh and sign the book at the hotel and claim to meet the criteria. However to meet the terms of the law and be a bona fide traveller your refreshment stop had to be en route as part of a longer journey i.e. if you were travelling from Edinburgh to Berwick you could stop and have a drink in for example in Musselburgh you were fine. Going from Edinburgh to Musselburgh and back to get a drink ( and the bladder bursting journey back home on SMT ) did not actually qualify you to get a drink but signing the book was regarded as proof of entitlement.

 

Hopefully this level of useless detail will cement my status as an auld fart beyond reasonable doubt.

[Maple Leaf]

Worked in the Doo'cot 1969 to 1970 when the opening hours were 11 to 3pm I think and 5 until 10pm. Sundays were spent in the Barnton Hotel or the Fox Covert. Occasionally we would venture further afield and visit working men's clubs in Fife.

Wasn't there once a time that you had to be a 'bona fide traveller' in order to get a drink on a Sunday?  You couldn't just go to your local to get a drink, but had to journey a certain number of miles and sign a book to say that you were actually on a journey.

 

Edit:  just saw Neilson's Shank's post. 

[Section Q]

Wasn't there once a time that you had to be a 'bona fide traveller' in order to get a drink on a Sunday?  You couldn't just go to your local to get a drink, but had to journey a certain number of miles and sign a book to say that you were actually on a journey.

 

Edit:  just saw Neilson's Shank's post.

 

Also remember you had to have a "make believe" meal on the table.

[aussieh]

Can any of my fellow auld farts, remember the name of the tv show with the dinosaur puppets.

And I still can't find the guy in the snow government warning ad.

Both are doing my nut it.

[The Real Maroonblood]

Remember on a Sunday becoming a traveller and going in to a hotel where as a traveller it was legal to drink. You had to sign a book and found that you were likely to meet Cary Grant, Bing Crosby, Humphrey Bogart as just a few of your fellow drinkers. They must have been in a private part of the bar or else they had developed Scots accents.

 

As a polis saw many Friday, Saturday night tragedies, most of them involved the bottom of a paper bag tearing out because of dampness, and a valued cairy oot bleeding on the ground amid smashed glass. Flood warnings had to be immediately issued because of the volume of tears flowing.

 

The 10'00pm closing was fine for the Polis, it meant that the majority of your Friday, Saturday night fights were over by 11.00pm. That left just the house rows to deal with.  Everything in those days did have a proper synchronised order.

Worked in The Merlin in the sixties and I found it quite amusing when the panda car arrived and the 2 constables would join the staff for a few pints after the place closed.

[Sharpie]

Worked in The Merlin in the sixties and I found it quite amusing when the panda car arrived and the 2 constables would join the staff for a few pints after the place closed.

 

Worked in The Merlin in the sixties and I found it quite amusing when the panda car arrived and the 2 constables would join the staff for a few pints after the place closed.

 

Different days different rules, one of my first night shifts ever was on the Dumbiedykes  beat  box at the foot of Arthur Street, I was walking in Dumbiedykes Road when a car passed, it was wandering around going quite fast and with my two weeks experience ran back to the police box and phoned it in as a drunk driver, I had even remembered to get the licence number.  Heard nothing about it and the next night  the Inspector and one of the old nae nonsense sergeants drove up.  They got out of their car and told me to come with them, we walked over and into the Bowlers Rest pub, stood at the bar and the sergeant said what will you have. Not being totally stupid I knew it was a test so I said I don't drink on duty sergeant, he replied you do drink though you were a soldier, and I said yes sergeant, he said to the barman give him a nip, at that time I was not totally focussed on a police career really wanted to go back to the army, so I said .... it and took the nip and swallowed it. The sergeant said now you have just drank on duty, you are just like the rest of us so you have to keep your mouth shut, I just said O.K. no yes sergeant.  We then headed back to the car and it all made sense it was the drunk driver car I had reported the previous night, like I say different days different rules, fortunately not much later we got a new Chief Superintendent and the old style was slowly but surely negated and a bit more discipline installed.  I am surprised that it was still happening in the Panda car days which were after my time.

[Maple Leaf]

Were fondue parties popular in Scotland in the 1970s? 

 

Those ghastly affairs where people were skewering wee bits of meat on a long fork, then dropping them into boiling oil right at the table.  The forks were colour-coded so you knew which fork was yours.  Luckily, the fad only lasted a couple of years.

[pablo]

Can any of my fellow auld farts, remember the name of the tv show with the dinosaur puppets.

And I still can't find the guy in the snow government warning ad.

Both are doing my nut it.

Did the snow warning ad start with " this man may look drunk but in fact he's suffering from the early stages of hypothermia " as staggered about in the snow on a hill ?

[argyjambo]

Maple Leaf, on 11 Mar 2016 - 8:40 PM, said:

Were fondue parties popular in Scotland in the 1970s? 

 

Those ghastly affairs where people were skewering wee bits of meat on a long fork, then dropping them into boiling oil right at the table.  The forks were colour-coded so you knew which fork was yours.  Luckily, the fad only lasted a couple of years.

Sounds like a euphemism for Penicuik wife-swapping parties

 

Seriously weren't fondue parties for bread or maybe meat dipped into molten cheese?

[Tazio]

Did the snow warning ad start with " this man may look drunk but in fact he's suffering from the early stages of hypothermia " as staggered about in the snow on a hill ?

 

I remember that one. 

 

And of course the classic "meet Mike, he swims like a fish"

[Maple Leaf]

Sounds like a euphemism for Penicuik wife-swapping parties

 

Seriously weren't fondue parties for bread or maybe meat dipped into molten cheese?

None of the ones I was at developed into wife-swapping.  Maybe I should have tried harder!

 

There were different types of fondue.  Another popular one was dipping bits of fruit into melted chocolate.

[H1B5 Owner]

Shoot magazine "League Ladders".

 

Please God, does anyone still do something like this? Sunday morning bliss updating the leagues from the newspaper. ?

 

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

[H1B5 Owner]

Ice cream tubs at the cinema interval.

Spud guns.

Roaming miles up the local woods and coming back swarming with midge bites.

Football till dark.

Kerbs.

Sherbet fountains in the cardboard tubes (hated the dib dab lolly).

Cheroots and those sweet cigarettes.

The bubble gums with the waxed mini comic.

Battle comic (Johnny Red!)

Hours down the local library in my own world.

Unlocking the front door with an arm through the letterbox.

PROPER bonfires