THE FLATLEY DRYER

[Stanley]

You're right Ian and it was a bit strong, I apologise to all vegans!

[Stanley]

Thinking about energy bills, can you remember the days when a bill dropped through the letter box and you went down to the gas or electricity showroom and paid over the counter? Life was simpler then. Today's system suits me, direct debit, I do not need to do anything but as my recent experience shows, this puts me at the mercy of their systems and all I can do is hope that they are managing them well. The sight of TSB melting down and the implications for other big systems that have a bad track record is not inspiring.
We are told that this is better for us and more 'efficient'. Funny thing is I don't recall any problems in the days of corner shops and banks on the High Street. Am I just an old dinosaur? Or is the growing trend to bigger and bigger groupings and automated systems storing up problems for the future.....

[Stanley]

The same applies to electricity meters. A man called to read my 'smart meter' yesterday, he told me he reads a lot of them. It appears they are not as smart as we thought they were! I can remember a time when they simply read what you have used..... In addition it is reading two tariffs, one day and one night! I knew nothing about this......

[Stanley]

I am reminded of the electricity meter at Hey Farm which I suspect dated back to when they were first installed. I was intrigued by the fact that the more welding I did, the lower my bill. Being an honest lad I contacted YEB who were our suppliers then and asked them to have a look at it. They came and after a trial run ascertained that when I struck an arc the meter went into reverse and started seriously lowering the reading. They installed a modern meter and this cured it. It didn't make much difference to our bills and I had the benefit of a self-righteous glow. They never attempted to claw back what I had saved, a reward for honesty I suspect.

[Stanley]

My memory of the past is, I am afraid, still with us. One day in the 1960s the gas went off at Hey Farm. I was home at the time and went for a furtle. I found a gang from the Gas Board working on the mains in Longfield Lane, Crow Row, about a hundred yards away from the Hey. I told them that our gas had gone off and they were very surprised because they had no record of our connection. I later found out that this was not an uncommon occurrence and applied to water mains as well. It was so bad that a man who had worked for the BUDC when they ran the water supply was employed by Rolls Royce and the then Craven Water Board had an arrangement with Rolls whereby they could 'borrow' the man when they hit a problem with unrecorded mains. I doubt if the present suppliers know where all the smaller supply pipes are and wonder how this impacts on leakage figures.
I've just remembered that the same thing happened when the Craven Water Board took over the former Gledstone Estate private water supply in the 1970s. A man called Jack Brown had worked for the estate and was retired. He was called out regularly by the CWB to help them locate stop taps and connections.

[Whyperion]

Most smart phones have display options for digital 24 hr am/pm or analogue sweep formats Inc count up and count down stopwatches , apps to GPS to calculate speed and acceleration. I Assume a 24he analogue option could be choosable on some systems there is a large mechanical one at Greenwich .

[Stanley]

Worth noting as well that electricity first arrived in the 1920s from Keighley so there will be some supply mains that are getting on for 100 years old....
Another thing I have realised over the years is that I was born in a brick-built environment in Stockport. The local rock there is a very soft sandstone which does not stand up well to the ravages of time. Barnoldswick is an entirely different kettle of fish, the built environment came from the Tubber Hill quarries which are an excellent Millstone Grit that is virtually indestructible. The house I live in is not old in local terms but the masonry has survived 150 years with no discernible erosion for the most part. This is why anything built of stone of concrete stands out like a sore thumb. The stone is a true millstone, they were made at Noyna from the same outcrop but it had more bed in it. The Tubber Hill stone is more homogeneous with fewer layers and was not suitable even though just as hard.

[Stanley]

I suppose one thing that has changed out of all recognition in the last 70 years is women's fashions.... I'm old enough to remember when it was still not uncommon to see older women in long skirts almost down to the ground. I saw the explosion of fashion after WW2 when the 'A' line came in and remember the shock of the mini skirt in the 60s and 70s. Today I look at the fashions in the windows of the 'boutiques' which are springing up in the town and the main thing I notice is how little material is used. I can remember Jim Pollard once saying that if the Chinamen would add 2" to their shirt laps the Lancashire industry would have it a lot easier! On that measure, modern fashions don'r demand anywhere near the production that went into the long dresses. One thing seems certain, they can't get much skimpier, or can they........

[Stanley]

" One thing seems certain, they can't get much skimpier, or can they........"
I spoke too soon, amazing what a bit of sun can do to dress in Barlick..... Not always a pretty sight!
Thinking about clothes..... I often wonder how I managed to accumulate a large wardrobe full of clothes, mostly bought in the US because they were so good and cheap. It wasn't like that when I was a lad! We weren't particularly poverty stricken but clothes weren't as important in those days and of course there was rationing.... What we had was good and we wore the same ones all week with a change after Bath Night on Friday. I tend the same way even now and find it's OK, Susan tells me I am not getting to be a smelly old man!

[Big Kev]

What we had was good and we wore the same ones all week with a change after Bath Night on Friday. I tend the same way even now and find it's OK, Susan tells me I am not getting to be a smelly old man!

I agree with Susan, 'smelly' people are on my 'people to avoid' list although some don't even realise they do smell. I remember directing a man to the soap aisle in a supermarket once, he looked very confused. I know we all sweat (ladies excepted, they just 'glow' apparently) but I don’t think there's any need for people to stink

You'd know if you were smelly as I would direct you to the soap

[Tizer]

Stanley's fragrance is probably `Eau de Carbolic'!

[Stanley]

I agree Kev. I tend to think that some unfortunate people have a tendency to smell. I once met a mill owner who was famous for stinking like a ferret. I worked with a bloke named 'Smelly Ernie' by everyone in the mill.
Of course it may be that I have no sense of smell!
The kids always say that they like the smell of me, good tobacco and cutting oil...... In my cattle driving days it was the smell of cows.
I always bridle a bit when 'historians' talk about the fact that people used to be smelly. I don't remember it when I was a lad.

[Stanley]

One smell I do remember from the war was the smell of a newly bombed out house. It was a peculiar earthy smell, a bit like the smell of an old fashioned bucket closet in the backyard! Funnily enough I don't remember the smell of burning or explosives, just the vaguely repugnant musty smell. It made a big impression, I can remember it as I write.....

[Stanley]

My mother always made sure we were in bed early if possible even on the long light nights of Double Summertime. The curtains in my bedroom were green and very thin so the room was light. I remember lying in bed listening to the tinkle of water dripping into the gutters if it was raining and the sound of shunting in the nearby railway yard. Such a strong memory, I am back there as I write!

[Stanley]

Even in the worst of times when clothes got shabby and we kids knew that money was short my mother never skimped on our boots. This is another habit that stuck through my life. When I was amongst cattle I always wore clogs with double irons, the best and most comfortable footwear I ever wore. I had to give them up when I moved into the engine house because of walking on steel surfaces, they were too slippy. They had many advantages, the cattle could hear you coming and you got kicked less frequently, your feet were always dry and I put the good condition of my feet now to good boots and clogs.
I got some funny reactions over the years. I remember delivering some cattle in the South of England to a very wealthy farmer and his kids insisted I take my clogs off and let them walk in them, they will never have forgotten that experience! Two young lasses in Paisley were very excited, they thought I was wearing 'build-ups' which were popular at the time.

[Stanley]

Memory is a strange and wonderful beast. What is it about some experiences that are so indelibly printed on your brain that makes you hold them indefinitely? I have a very clear memory of being in my mother's arms in the back seat of a very small Italian open car called a Diatto and we were travelling along a road with steep sides and white rocks. Nothing strange about that until I asked my mother about it and she was surprised I remembered because it was in the summer of 1936 and I was less than six months old. That was the only time we were ever in the car and it was a day trip into Derbyshire. I have no other memory of the car but know it was a Diatto, god knows how that stuck. (Diatto was an Italian manufacturer who made cars between 1905 and 1927). I also remember the names of the owners, Reg and Phyliss Lawley.
Never underestimate a baby's capacity to remember, I checked this out with my mother and as far as I can tell it is a true memory.

[Stanley]

In those days when we had few distractions apart from my weekly comics we spent most of our free times in groups roaming far and wide. Your mother would give you a butty wrapped in greaseproof paper and tell you to come home before dark! This would horrify modern parents and could never happen but then it was normal and apart from occasional cuts and bumps there was never any problem. Another thing that strikes me is that most of us had a sheath knife in a scabbard on our belts, these were serious knives, mine was part of my Cub Scout outfit. We kept them sharp and they would definitely not be legal today!

[Bodger]

Walking home from school aged 8 or 9 we saw a pony under a tree next to the wall at the road side,, who could ride it was the question ?, me, i climbed the wall, up the tree and along the branch over the pony, lowering myself astride the animal all was well for 5 seconds, next thing i was back over the wall withe two hoof prints on my arse, i limped home and all my father cold do was laugh his head off calling me a silly bugger and i had learned a lesson the hard way, nothing ventured, nothing gained ?

[PanBiker]

Another thing that strikes me is that most of us had a sheath knife in a scabbard on our belts, these were serious knives, mine was part of my Cub Scout outfit. We kept them sharp and they would definitely not be legal today!

A shared memory for me also, I still have mine! In addition, required tooling for me included a multi bladed scout pocket knife and quite often a hand axe shoved into the utility snake belt. I also can only remember one serious injury in our gang throughout our personal risk assessment training. One lad fell about 30 feet from one of our 3, 60 or 70 foot climbing trees that we had on the ex allotment site below Bank Street. Quite handy, we dragged him up to the ambulance station just above and he got carted away and came back with a cast on his arm which of course was duly annotated. it was all normal and part of the learning curve, glad I was there and given the opportunity.

[Stanley]

And not an illegal substance in sight! Of course there were fags but they weren't illegal then. I've just remembered, a cigarette end was called a 'dimp'.

[Big Kev]

Of course there were fags but they weren't illegal then.

I don't believe they're illegal now, just restrictions on where you can fire them up

[Stanley]

They are for kids as young as I was Kev, I started when I was seven. You could buy 5 Woodbines in an open topped paper packet for 2 1/2d and newsagents and tobacconists always sold them to us 'for our Dad'. Same thing applied at the off licence or outdoor sales windows at pubs for booze.
That's something that has vanished, the 'jug and bottle department'. Many pubs had a little lobby adjoining the bar so women could get their beer and take it home in a jug without entering the premises.

[Stanley]

One thing that has always interested me is the history of underpants! When I first started to take notice many trousers had removable, washable cotton liners. My first underpants (woollen) had no elastic waistband, they had tape loops on them and you threaded your braces through the loops to hold them up. This meant that you had to tuck your shirt inside your underpants. Many years ago on first meeting a Derbyshire farmer I told Mary that this bloke is OK, you can always trust a man who tucks his shirt in his underpants! He never forgot that and reminded me of it many a time. I wonder what kids today would make of this?

[Stanley]

Years ago, in the days when gun crime was headline news a friend of mine was a long serving Police Inspector in Moss Side, Manchester. I was having a conversation with him one day when he mentioned that he had never come across a criminal who wore a hat and smoked a pipe. He reckoned that on that basis I was automatically trustworthy! I wore braces as well but didn't tuck my shirt in my underpants......

[Stanley]

As I grew up I realised that there was quite a large Traveller population in Stockport and some pubs in the town centre seemed to attract them. We used to go in them, largely because they had 'Log End' dart boards, also known as Manchester Boards. They were just what the name suggests, a disc of hardwood, smaller than a normal board and they had no trebles. It was generally accepted that a higher level of skill was needed to play well on them. It was at this time that I got quite interested in darts and had a set of Schofield's, generally accepted as the professional's choice! Not that I ever reached that level..... You had to watch your P's and Q's in those pubs, they could be a bit touchy but we got on well with them.



I still have them but haven't used them for many years....... When I shot marksman in my army days the WO2 who supervised my check shoot (in case i had cheated!) asked me whether I had ever played darts or snooker and I said yes. He said that proficiency at either of these usually went with being a good shot with a rifle.