Author Topic: Recycling and home deliveries have never left us,  (Read 889 times)

Alfred

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Recycling and home deliveries have never left us,
« on: Jul 06, 2018, 04:07:26 PM »

Thinking back to my childhood living in the east end then near to  the three docks where many factories existed, many more that i never knew about, how ever coming round to recycling, i remember the rag and bone man, going round the streets with his horse and cart, collecting what ever he could,
 

another time i remember another man going round the same streets this time with a rotating drum to which you could sit in and if you gave this man so many jam jars you got a free ride on the drum ,


and the weekly visits from the dustmen  who in those days collected much more than they do today, except large furniture, or very heavy objects,


then came another man who gave you a gold fish in a jar if you gave him so many news papers,
of course in those days  on a Sunday morning another man walked the streets with his long wheel barrow ringing his bell as he called out his wares, he sold eels, celery. shrimps, prawns, crabs winkles, cockles and other odds and ends,


for those of you who would also remember the tally man who called with his suitcase where many people then including my late mother paid weekly payments for slightly up  market clothes,
and coming to home deliveries the coal man delivered to your house, even putting the coal in the cellar, then the baker as well as the milkman also called every day



in later years in the early years when my wife and i were newly weds there was a man who called once a week and delivered big sacks of potatoes to your door  , and naturally you had to balance when you needed another bag,


even horse droppings where collected as people placed top priority on horse manure for their roses,

and finally  taking empty beer bottles back to the off licence, as then i think we got a penny for every bottle, even the milk came in bottles,  which were reused, again and again,  presumably after they had been sterilised, before refilling,


so thinking back it seems that recycling and home deliveries have never really left us.


Q; Do you remember those times,   if so what other things do you remember ,.

zoony

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Re: Recycling and home deliveries have never left us,
« Reply #1 on: Jul 06, 2018, 04:43:11 PM »
Our rag and bone man used to hand out new donkey stones which mum used on the back step then she'd use Mansion Guardshine on the front one.
"Listen to the wind, it cleans the mind."

"Never use money to measure wealth, son"

                                           cowboy wisdom.

Michael Rolls

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Re: Recycling and home deliveries have never left us,
« Reply #2 on: Jul 06, 2018, 04:46:14 PM »
Back in 1945 we lived just off the Old Kent Road. My paternal grandfather ran a pub, the Windsor Castle in Coopers Road which was four storeys, in one of which we lived.
The pub had been lucky. One of the raids during the war had demolished several of the houses on the opposite side of the road, but the pub had only suffered broken windows and bits blown out of the brickwork.
Now to the crux. Yes, a penny a time for the return of empty beer bottles, the local boys used to be regular callers at the off-licence.  One day, Arthur, my granddad became suspicious that not only had he seen the lad bringing the bottles before that morning, but quite possibly also the bottles. He went out the back where the yard where he kept the crates of empties was reached by gates, which were hung on quite ornate pillars. It was a foggy morning and as Arthur stood there he felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't work out what. He came back inside and a little while later realised what had been wrong. The two pillars were each adorned by a small statue of a small boy in a classical pose, kneeling with forehead resting on clenched fist. Thing was, the bomb which had destroyed the houses opposite had also knocked one, but not both, of the statues off its pillar, but when Arthur had gone out, both pillars were occupied. The lad had almost been caught in the actor of scaling the wall, but had 'frozen' copying the pose of the remaining statue. I reckon for sheer ingenuity he deserved every penny he made!
Mike
Thank you for the days, the days you gave me.
The older I get, the better I was!

sparky

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Re: Recycling and home deliveries have never left us,
« Reply #3 on: Jul 06, 2018, 05:13:03 PM »
I don't know why, but can only remember little snippets of my young life in the East End, but I do remember the shell fish bloke with his barrow on a Sunday morning, because it was always winkle sandwiches for tea on a Sunday, after spending ages getting them out of their shells.

Scrumpy

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Re: Recycling and home deliveries have never left us,
« Reply #4 on: Jul 07, 2018, 11:55:13 AM »



I think we were re-cycling all the time back then.. Clothes were handed down .. socks were darned .. leftovers were eaten the next day and a pram would be used by other Mums over and over again and finally used to go to the coal yard..  We didn't have any fly tipping nor did we go to the council tip...
It was a time when things were made to last and neighbours were not out to go one better than the Jones's.
Everything will be alright in the end, and if it’s not alright, its not the end.

Michael Rolls

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Re: Recycling and home deliveries have never left us,
« Reply #5 on: Jul 07, 2018, 01:49:08 PM »


I think we were re-cycling all the time back then.. Clothes were handed down .. socks were darned .. leftovers were eaten the next day and a pram would be used by other Mums over and over again and finally used to go to the coal yard..  We didn't have any fly tipping nor did we go to the council tip...
It was a time when things were made to last and neighbours were not out to go one better than the Jones's.
Very true. We moved from London in 1947 - straight into one the coldest winters of recent years. The only heating in the house was coal fires in the two downstairs rooms or turn the gas oven on in the kitchen if we ran out of coal - the roads were so icy the coal merchant stopped delivering so mum and I had to take the pram down to the goods yard and fill it with coal (fortunately by then the youngest child no longed needed  it!). Holding onto/pushing the pram and holding onto each other to stay on our feet was hard work,
Mike
Thank you for the days, the days you gave me.
The older I get, the better I was!

Scrumpy

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Re: Recycling and home deliveries have never left us,
« Reply #6 on: Jul 07, 2018, 09:22:21 PM »
My mum used to send us kids down to the coal yard.. It was an adventure for us . Most of the kids from around came with us. We had to go down country lanes to the yard. We would all take turns in being pushed in the pram and racing down the lanes.. Not many cars around back then.. The journey home with the coal wasn’t as exciting.
Everything will be alright in the end, and if it’s not alright, its not the end.

firenze

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Re: Recycling and home deliveries have never left us,
« Reply #7 on: Jul 08, 2018, 01:54:58 AM »
What lurks in my memory was just awakened by your posts, our lives were not very different North or South.  Sitting on the curb with a bag of winkles and a safety pin was sheer bliss. Having a metal shelf out of a coal fired side oven wrapped in blanket to warm the bed. Luxury!
Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.

Mark Twain.

zoony

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Re: Recycling and home deliveries have never left us,
« Reply #8 on: Jul 08, 2018, 03:01:07 AM »
There's something very Yorkshire in that firenze.."We 'ad to get up an hour before we went to bed, breakfasted on 'ot gravel and lived in a cardboard box at the bottom of a lake...Try tellin' t'kids of today that an' they don't believe you!" ;D ;D  Such a memory..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue7wM0QC5LE
"Listen to the wind, it cleans the mind."

"Never use money to measure wealth, son"

                                           cowboy wisdom.