I'm having a flash back; My Mom would take me to Woolworths. She would buy curtains and stationary and I might get a painted turtle or a couple of gold fish. And we would get a grilled cheese, BLT, or peanut butter and jelly and a fountain drink, or milk shake. It was the only game in town. There were no malls. We would go by bus to town before my Mom got a car. Everything had to be done together. Shopping, a haircut, a quick lunch and maybe a visit to a studio photographer, or shoe maker. And before that there were no supermarkets, either. So, it was a trip to the butcher, the baker, the fruit and vegetable store. And then, dry goods, like cereal, and canned goods, soap, flour and Crisco. And on really cold mornings, the milk bottles on the front porch would freeze, and the cream would come out the tops of the bottles and curl over like candy canes. That was scooped off and mixed with sugar and served after dinner like ice cream. We also had a coal delivery every two weeks down a chute into the basement in a small room next to the coal stove. The truck would come early anFeatured Threadsd send the coal down the chute with a tremendous clatter. My Dad would bring me down to fill the coal stove. He would shovel in a big scoop of coal, then let me scoop up two or three chunks with a little shovel and throw them in the fire, and we took turns. Then, after breakfast of oatmeal and Ovaltine and a spoon of cod liver oil, or Geratol, I'd watch my Mom and Grandma sew or bake bread, or start a dish for dinner which would cook all day long, like a lamb stew or a spaghetti sauce filled with pork, steak and sausage. But as for the shoe maker, once again, shoes are getting pricey. This week, my wife and I both had soles glued back on shoes we bought and put away, because we both bought extra pairs we liked, and stored away. I bought a couple of pairs of Spaldine sneakers, once and when one pair wore out , I pulled out the last pair and walked the soles right off in two days. A comparable sneaker might cost $85. The shoe maker glued back the soles on an otherwise new pair of sneakers for $10.
It was fluff, but it was our fluff..." Pepina? Get in here!" " Si', Senior Grandpappa." (Real McCoys)
Yeah, Mailman, lucky to be born where and when, and not only that I always felt blessed that I wasn't born an insect. It could be a hell of a lot worse.
During the 1963 Wold's Fair in Flushing Meadows, NY, my Dad made me and my little brother both get crew cuts and wear sport jackets and ties to the event, telling us we have to look presentable because there would be foreign dignitaries present...That made me a target for "Russian Haircuts" in school. Remember? One of your classmates would put you in a headlock and he and others would rub their knuckles across your head, which burned. Our next door neighbor was a stewardess for TWA and came from Switzerland. Once she brought me back a wonderous toy. It was a chrome plated Jaguar sedan 6" long. It has a little traffic cop as a wind-up key. It has a strong mainspring and Swiss clockworks as the mechanism. It has 3 forward gears and can be programmed to travel in a circle , figure "8" or a straight line.
Dog liver (well, Husky) is high in Vitamin A, as the Mawson Expedition discovered.
I know you're in Australia, but I'm not sure if you've ever seen the TV show, Marcus Welby, MD. My friend told me James Brolin drove a '71 650 XS1-B on the show. I found the opening credits on Youtube, but it looks like he was driving a Triumph. To confound the issue, I was filpping channels, last night and the Amityville Horror movie from 1975 was on, starring Jim Brolin and Margot Kidder. And on that movie, Jim was driving a 1975 650 Special.When your standing in a shop waiting to be served and thinking to yourself why doesn't somebody answer that bloody phone!
Then when I leave the shop and check my mobile and see 1 missed call...............
My mistake, Pete. The movie description on TV gave the movie year as 1975. I just looked up the movie after your post and it was 1979. The bike was black with gold lettering on the tank. Thanks for clarifying that.
