OLD AGE AND FREEDOM

[Stanley]

Can we revive this old topic? I thought about it when talking to a friend who has the Five Week Cold. It struck me how lucky I was to be retired and have the freedom to be selfish and do exactly what I thought was the best thing for my health without having to worry about work or the other demands of life. If I'd been a worker I wouldn't have had that luxury.

[Moh]

Like us, can go on holiday anytime we like - pennies permitting. I often wonder how I found time to go to work. I do miss the social side of it, mixing with other people.

[Stanley]

I think you are right Moh. I always said that the world of work was the best club I ever joined and almost all my old mates date back to work and related activities.
Thinking about the cold spell. I have the freedom to concentrate on comfort and warmth. I well remember picking milk up from the farms in weather like this when your hands occasionally froze the the handles... I also remember picking milk up near the Cross Keys at East Marton on a glorious summer's day and a man told me I had a wonderful job. I told him to come back in November! Even today I always spare a thought for the people who have to work outside in lousy weather. Funny thing is that in the old days when cheap waterproof clothing wasn't available it was quite a regular thing for outside workers to be 'rained off'. Nowadays they are expected to carry on regardless.

[Stanley]

I've been spending a lot of time over the last six weeks coddling myself, mainly by sitting in the warm and reading. There is a hell of a lot to be said for quiet retirement!

[Rosilee]

Good Friday Morning everyone ,wasnt quite sure where to post this ,Carol Hackenley's daughter Sue in NZ has asked if I could put a request on OGFB,Carol would like to know if Hazel and Gerald Whitehead still live in Earby or does anyone know their whereabouts,she would like to get in touch if possible thanks a lot Rosie

[Stanley]

Rosie, lovely to see you back! Here is probably as good a place as any for the query.

[Stanley]

No response to Rosie's query?
Reflected yesterday as I sat reading Len Deighton that there is a lot to be said for being old and knackered! Really enjoying Faith, Hope and Charity, the trilogy I had never caught up with.

[Tizer]

I wasn't sure where to post this pic but the penknife is certainly in old age! We found it in the garden where my father has been living the last 12 years but he can't remember if it is his or not. It's small and the base of the blade is only 5mm wide. From the colour I assume the case is brass. I love the lamp post logo for the manufacturer. Click on the thumbnail for a larger picture. I've just done a Web search for the Richards company and found this information posted on a Sheffield forum...

"If your knife has a "lamp post" trademark then it was made by Richards of Sheffield at their factory near the bottom of The Moor (at No 55 Moore Street - the site is now occupied by Wickes). The company was founded in the 1930s by two German brothers whose name was actually Paul and Stefan Richartz. They came from Solingen (Germany's equivalent to Sheffield for cutlery manufacture) and they changed the firm's name to Richards just before the Second World War. Their original factory was badly damaged in the war and in 1946 they moved to the new building on the Moore Street site. They made a wide range of mass-produced cutlery, penknives, scissors etc., and the brothers amassed a considerable fortune. Richards was bought out in 1977 by the Imperial Knife Company of the U.S.A. and closed a few years later."

[Stanley]

Nice one! One of the advantages of old age is that we have more time to pursue interesting subjects like trade marks. In the days when many people were illiterate a trade mark was an effective way of differentiating your product from your rivals. I remember the Tyzak 'Elephant Brand' (LINK) triangular knife sections we used on the old-fashioned cutter bars for mowers. (If a section was damaged you riveted a new triangular blade in place of the broken one). Another cutting edge manufacturer used an eye. Armand Hammer products still bear the arm and hammer trade mark. (see this LINK for a surprising refutation of the fact it was based on his name).

[Tizer]

The Arm & Hammer logo gets everywhere! Although the brand name is claimed not to be from Armand Hammer it's interesting that the Wikipedia page for the man say he was named "after the `Arm and Hammer' symbol of the Socialist Labor Party of America (SLP), in which his father, a committed socialist, had a leadership role at one time."

I like the elephant used as a logo, as in the Tyzak brand you mention. It always implies strength and was a good choice by Carlsberg too for this reason, although even there it was really chosen because the Carlsberg owner in the late 1800s had lived a long time in India.

[Bodger]

Any Sheffieldonians reading, re Richards Knives, i remember in the 1940s my father showing me in Sheffield a Annual penknife in a glass case, i think it was in a indoor market, the company used to add a blade /tool per year, doe's anyone else recall ?

[Tizer]

I came back to this thread and found my Arm & Hammer image above was replaced with a sign saying I didn't have authority to view it. I then logged in and found that I now could view it. Does this mean all visitors to the site who are not members will be unable to view my images? That was not the case with the old site.

[PanBiker]

I came back to this thread and found my Arm & Hammer image above was replaced with a sign saying I didn't have authority to view it. I then logged in and found that I now could view it. Does this mean all visitors to the site who are not members will be unable to view my images? That was not the case with the old site.

Is the image in your personal album Tiz or in the general gallery? I don't know for sure but this may have a bearing on it. Or even loaded as attachments.
Maybe Doc can comment.

[Stanley]

See Mystery Objects for some teasers connected to trade marks.
Bodge, can't remember the Richards' knife but in the Great exhibition of 1851 there was a Sheffield knife that claimed to have the most blades and tools ever assembled in one knife. See this LINK

[Bodger]

Stanley,that could possibly be the one, it was more than 65 yr ago !!

[Nolic]

Comrade, is this the one ? http://www.cutlers-hallamshire.org.uk/h ... mber-2011/ Nolic

[Bodger]

Nolic, It looks like it in my memory i know it was'nt a pocket knife because it was about two foot long !!

[Nolic]

Not much good for whittling eh? Nolic

[Stanley]

That's the one. No problems with a stone in your horse's hoof as long as you had a man staggering round after you carrying it!
Nearest thing to it today is probably the big SA knife like the one Big Harry and Janet gave me for my birthday. LINK

[Big Kev]

That's the one. No problems with a stone in your horse's hoof as long as you had a man staggering round after you carrying it!
Nearest thing to it today is probably the big SA knife like the one Big Harry and Janet gave me for my birthday. LINK

I have one of those, without the belt clip. Very useful bit of kit.

[Stanley]

Kev, mine is in a leather pouch that fits on your belt. A useful bit of kit. Knowing my love of knives J&H gave me a Leatherman as well, another well-made and useful tool.
I've been exercising my freedom in old age by reading Bamford's 'Body of Secrets'. Scary stuff! Read that and Baer's 'See No Evil' and you have plenty of reasons for distrusting the intelligence services, or rather the desk bound senior officers and politicians who control them. (Must stop buying books....)

[Tripps]

" Bamford's 'Body of Secrets'" It's gone all spookey again. (Literally ) I've got that very book lined up in the 'awaiting reading' queue. I think I got it in a charity shop in Harrogate, which is probably significant.

[Stanley]

David, I've just finished it. See the 'Read any Good Books' thread. Scary stuff and fully referenced for sources. Impressive book.

[Stanley]

I was talking to a young lady about the recent death of our Florist Gail at 55 years old and realised that she saw 55 as quite old. I told her that when you're 76 55 looks young! It's all a matter of perspective.