LarryG
Western Thunderer
I was leaning over the deckchair this afternoon looking at the grass and thinking I had done this before. My mind went back to a back garden in the early 1950's. We had nothing in those days, but there was no shortage of things to do. I could pop up town to see the steam railway or elderly buses and each surrounding town had its own differences. Even in bed I could hear trains whistling in the night because in those days, railway lines were everywhere.
I became familiar to some of the town's bus crew's and they would ask me to tell than what was special about about their bus. Some conductors even paid my fare out of the 'tea' money!
My parents knew nothing of my after-school activities, nor did they care. They had probably not had a good word for each other since 1940! A boy was expected to "find out for himself" and become street-wise, or so it seemed. My wish to roam freely was not without the occasional smack in an age when gangs of boys were very territorial. I expect all heavily industrialized towns were the same, and so I roamed into areas hoping to find an individual to chat to, which in turn introduced me to his gang.
If I lived in that town today, what is there to do? It hasn't even got a railway line now, but I expect there would some fun in riding on the new-age trams. The nearest heritage line is the East Lancs. Only my cousins survive now and we only tend to meet up at funerals. Keeping in touch on Facebook is what we're down to today.
I became familiar to some of the town's bus crew's and they would ask me to tell than what was special about about their bus. Some conductors even paid my fare out of the 'tea' money!
My parents knew nothing of my after-school activities, nor did they care. They had probably not had a good word for each other since 1940! A boy was expected to "find out for himself" and become street-wise, or so it seemed. My wish to roam freely was not without the occasional smack in an age when gangs of boys were very territorial. I expect all heavily industrialized towns were the same, and so I roamed into areas hoping to find an individual to chat to, which in turn introduced me to his gang.
If I lived in that town today, what is there to do? It hasn't even got a railway line now, but I expect there would some fun in riding on the new-age trams. The nearest heritage line is the East Lancs. Only my cousins survive now and we only tend to meet up at funerals. Keeping in touch on Facebook is what we're down to today.
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