The Non Minor related thread

[Toby]

Move to Reading, nice and warm in the suburbs thanks to the built up nature of it and the traffic fumes I dream of Dorset and a gentler time in history!!!

[Toby]

As if I didn't have enough to do... A possible move entails me finishing the house I've been doing for last 15 years. Have been busy building a soakaway chamber in the Edwardian style of the house to sort out the drainage for the new drive.

[chris lambert]

Toby,
That soakaway looks like a work of art to me - far too good to be hidden away under ground!
Chris

[Highlander]

Toby, Did you uses a 350 x 19 or a 400 x 18 to get the cirlcle right!!!! Well done, Alister

[Toby]

Sadly it's now buried under the paving It did end up n with a decreasing corbelled brick top. i did it so that dirt and stuff off the drive will settle in the chamber and when it's at low tide it can be cleared out if required. i like to think it will be a nice surprise for someone in the future when they lift the cover and discover it or if we don't move then I can lift the lid and admire it when things aren't going well. it would also double up as a fallout shelter.

[chris lambert]

Toby,
Shouldn't that be a 'fall In shelter'?
My nephew has a sunken well on his driveway which is covered by a circular steel frame, on top of which is a thick (3/4 inch) piece of plate glass. At night he lights it up, which does cause some 'interesting' deviations from the passing cars in the lane!
Chris
PS Can you tell me what 'corbelled' means?

[chris lambert]

Pondering the meaning of life the other morning, I realised that much of what we experience is transitory, here today and gone tomorrow, which got me wondering about one of lifes great mysterys - whatever happened to Fry's Five Boys chocolate bars?
Other things have gone or are going - in the latter category are Happy Eater and Little Chef roadside cafes, I don't suppose too many people will mourn their passing and can you still get Vesta Chow Mein Chinese 'just add water' meals? What about Surprise Peas I ask? Is there anything other forumists miss from way back when? (apart from petrol at a couple of bob per gallon!)

[Ken Martin]

Chris
Frys Five Boys! - and in particular thanks for memories of Vesta - what became of it? When I was a batchelor in a bed sit I used to like Vesta Resoto because you could cook and eat it out of one pan thus saving washing up. And it was very tasty even if the 'meat' was made of soya! I am also old enough to remember when Waggon Wheel biscuits came out and were much bigger.
Ken

[cammy]

Whatever happened to the first 200 copies of the Eagle that started at issue 1 and that I left in my bedroom when I joined the RAF?

[Tony Gamble]

OK then !

How many of you had a Meccano Set ? And how many of you still have it ?

Tony G

[Highlander]

In the Summer of 1953 I took all 10 wickets at Tadworth CC. I was given the ball. My Father, an Aberdonian, asked if takeing all 1q0 wickets was good!!!! However on returning after 2 years of National Service in the Camerons I found that my kid brother had swopped the ball for conkers!!!! I still have Wisden of 1953.

[chris lambert]

Meccano sets, Eagle comics and balls all featured heavily during my childhood, although I dont think I ever took more than 4 wickets in a school match. I certainly lost about 10 balls (a week!) in the orchard next to the local recreation ground. In the autumn we would go scrumping for apples and pears and find many of the balls we had lost earlier in the summer. Alister, you will have to re-edit your forum 'handle' to Laker, after achieving a feat like that - and three years before the great Jim did it!!
Chris

[Ken Martin]

I still have a very large Meccano set and the last model I made when I was about 16 in still complete - a model traction engine driven by an electric motor.
My son had some fun with the Meccano, but as he had a large set of parts and instruction books with complicated models in, he was far to ambitious and even I found them surprisingly difficult and time consuming to make. I should have started him with a simple set and simple models just like I started with. Perhaps if I ever have grand children I will try this approach.

[prharris25]

Ah yes, Meccano (No7) and Rugby in the winter and Bayko building set and cricket in the summer. All combined with weekend trips to Goodey's scrapyard in the faithful 10/4. What more could a lad want ? (don't answer that!) No wonder I've ended up a member of the VMR.

[chris lambert]

Rose Tinted Specs?

Some of the things I don't miss are:

Listening to Radio Luxemburg via a crystal set.
405 line TV pictures.
Non dial telephones (waiting for the exchange to answer and 'party' lines)
Smoke filled cinemas
Cafe catering with dirty cutlery and Senior Service ashtays full to the brim.
Linolium floors
Frost on the inside of your bedroom windows
Smog
Polluted rivers and polio
Spangles and Paynes Poppets Ugh!

It wasn't all wonderful, in fact I'm surprised I survived!!