Meanwhile In England

[Farrelli]

11 hours ago, Alf Hartigan said:

Just don’t answer the door. Works up here

Or put some dog shit on your door bell. 

[Not in Crawley]

14 hours ago, BobyBrno said:

Eeeeeee t'were much better in't olden days, tha knows
 

😉

Yup - you got me bang to rights there! 😁

[Not in Crawley]

Best display I went to was in Beckenham - it was the year Bowie died and being a local lad they did the display set to his music - was oddly quite emotional.

Already done one this year at the Whitstable Oyster Festival last month - was quite special sat on the habour front watching fireworks being set off against the sea. Made Essex in the distance even seem quite beautific.

Anyroad back in't my day we had the one next to the Scout hut in smithills woods just opposite the house....until someone burnt down the actual scout hut! Still got the step leading down to it. Or there was one in the woods near Limefield Road just near my old primary school that was good. Although looking back both were pretty dangerous. No wonder Welephant had to do his slide show rounds. Still remeber the golden rules....

- Put your trousers over your wellies in case a rocket some how finds its way insdie and blows your feet off.

- Empty your mum's sewing stuff out of the metal quality street tin and put all fireworks in there

- Every day and for weeks check your bonfire, otherwise you will personally be responsible for the localised mass extinction of the hedgehog population

- Never stray more than five yards from a bucket of sand otherwise you'll have your eye out with a tepidly warm sparkler

- Never go back to a unlit firework, unless you are a half cut father of two who can protect themselves against any firework burns trauma with the words, 'be reet'

(cut to quick run through of slides of primary school aged children with burns/hands and eyes covered in bandages. Lights up, eneter Wellephant, then back for tidy chairs away and hometime prayers

Edited October 25, 2024 by Not in Crawley

[gonzo]

They send my dog in to proper sad state.

Sat trembling under the dining table.

If we are out and he even hears a car back fire he's off back down the lane running home bless him.

Mad as he's meant to be a gun dog. He wouldn't pass 1st grade

[Ani]

51 minutes ago, Not in Crawley said:

 

Anyroad back in't my day we had the one next to the Scout hut in smithills woods just opposite the house....until someone burnt down the actual scout hut! Still got the step leading down to it

Hang a fucking bout. You lived on Temple Road ?? Down the bottom end with Sandy Holt ? Or further up the road near Raveden Close ? Or up the hill ? 
 

Remind me how old you are ? 
 

I lived on Temple Road till 1983, there used to be 2 bonfires, one in the woods and one in the land right at the bottom. We then joined into one massive one. Later they built on the land, remember the scout hut burning down but not sure what year. 

[Big E]

59 minutes ago, gonzo said:

They send my dog in to proper sad state.

Sat trembling under the dining table.

If we are out and he even hears a car back fire he's off back down the lane running home bless him.

Mad as he's meant to be a gun dog. He wouldn't pass 1st grade

Percy isn't keen on them but Bert is absolutely petrified of them. All started when we were in the back garden and someone set some off in the courtyard. think it was to celebrate a festival or something. went off right over his head. now its tail down and won't go outside. 18 hours without a piss last year. hopefully he will use the puppy pads this time around. 

there is a shop by us that sells massive ones which i just don't get. get a proper display. basically just end up with scrotes causing havoc with em. a lot of it is cash only as well especially for the laundering requirements. surely we could just let lads legitimately launder £50k each or so to avoid this shit. 

[Dimron]

12 hours ago, Zico said:

Half term

Mum used to leave me a couple of bob for the chippy and go to work... we'd all clear off on our bikes and play footy til dark. No organised activities and holiday parades and the economy kept moving on.

I did see a group of youngsters kicking a ball on the rec last night so maybe they're not all spoiled brats

[Dimron]

1 hour ago, gonzo said:

They send my dog in to proper sad state.

Sat trembling under the dining table.

If we are out and he even hears a car back fire he's off back down the lane running home bless him.

Mad as he's meant to be a gun dog. He wouldn't pass 1st grade

Thankfully my now 13 yr old staffy has become virtually deaf 🙂

[Ani]

If you ban fireworks how will the drug dealers that people know they have had a delivery ? 

[gonzo]

Just seen Asda are selling ones that don't bang.

 

[Not in Crawley]

29 minutes ago, Ani said:

Hang a fucking bout. You lived on Temple Road ?? Down the bottom end with Sandy Holt ? Or further up the road near Raveden Close ? Or up the hill ? 
 

Remind me how old you are ? 
 

I lived on Temple Road till 1983, there used to be 2 bonfires, one in the woods and one in the land right at the bottom. We then joined into one massive one. Later they built on the land, remember the scout hut burning down but not sure what year. 

Yeah - mum and dad are still there, and my aunty and uncle live there as well - both down the bottom, we were about 5 houses down from Sandy Holt's house I guess - a red brick opposite the last of the row of Holmes Cottages. I'm 46, we moved in 82 just before my sister was born from Bury (saved me a lifetime of shit support that did)

I remember them building the houses right at the bottom as had a friend called Alison whose dad I think built one of the houses. My mates lived on Loen Cresent so spent most of my childhood knocking around in that close or in the woods building crap rope swings - loads of families lived there at that time so always seemed there were kids playing on the road, sadly not the case now both sides of my parent's house stand empty as the people who lived there had died in the last few years.

I remember the scout hut burning down as my bedroom had the best view so everyone woke me up to look what was happening - so I guess about 86/87 maybe?

[Big E]

20 minutes ago, Ani said:

If you ban fireworks how will the drug dealers that people know they have had a delivery ? 

by playing certain songs on the ice cream truck silly 

[Not in Crawley]

26 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Just seen Asda are selling ones that don't bang.

 

Yeah - we've bought a pack from Aldi of silent ones as there are thousands of dogs round here and whilst I'm not a dog lover, seems a bit unfair.

[Dimron]

29 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Just seen Asda are selling ones that don't bang.

 

Bit like non alcoholic beer in some ways

[Traf]

Fireworks are a visual experience, they don't need to bang.

All non-silent fireworks should be banned.

[Sweep]

39 minutes ago, Dimron said:

Bit like non alcoholic beer in some ways

only enjoyed by homosexuals?

[London Wanderer]

3 hours ago, Sweep said:

For me it would just be a simple pasty or a pie, I know a traditionalist like @Spiderwill no doubt rave on about parkin and/or black peas.....both of which generally have the density of a collapsed star, and are rank. They're both the sort of food that people say they like, from some childhood memory, and when they eat them as an adult, they realise how grim they really are (hence only scoffed/produced for 1 night a year)

😁

I have to agree with the warm pies or pasty brigade.

Had an incredible pork & mushy peas pie the other day, that was a first.

Also had a Macaroni pie with a beautiful whole grain mustard filling. Heaven

[Tonge moor green jacket]

2 hours ago, gonzo said:

They send my dog in to proper sad state.

Sat trembling under the dining table.

If we are out and he even hears a car back fire he's off back down the lane running home bless him.

Mad as he's meant to be a gun dog. He wouldn't pass 1st grade

Same here.

One tries to dig through the wall.

We're building them dens again, but with extra cardboard this year for sound proofing.

Blankets over the top.

I'll get some more pet remedy spray too.

[Ani]

1 hour ago, Not in Crawley said:

Yeah - mum and dad are still there, and my aunty and uncle live there as well - both down the bottom, we were about 5 houses down from Sandy Holt's house I guess - a red brick opposite the last of the row of Holmes Cottages. I'm 46, we moved in 82 just before my sister was born from Bury (saved me a lifetime of shit support that did)

I remember them building the houses right at the bottom as had a friend called Alison whose dad I think built one of the houses. My mates lived on Loen Cresent so spent most of my childhood knocking around in that close or in the woods building crap rope swings - loads of families lived there at that time so always seemed there were kids playing on the road, sadly not the case now both sides of my parent's house stand empty as the people who lived there had died in the last few years.

I remember the scout hut burning down as my bedroom had the best view so everyone woke me up to look what was happening - so I guess about 86/87 maybe?

Small World, we lived at number 32, opposite Loen Crescent, which was not even built when we were younger kids.

Pretty similar childhood memories, we had a group of us , me and my brother, next door the Pie family who had twins my age at 34 then the Aspinals at 38 who had a lad my age.  Couple of others in those house 3-4 years younger or older so a good group knocking about together. 
 

There used to be very much a top end and bottom end of the road, we did not mix much with the lower end, so the Holts etc, but then one year agreed to have a joint bonfire and it all became more friendly. Our equivalent of tearing down the Berlin Wall 😂😂

Very happy times then when we went Smithills School dead easy to get there. I am 13 years older than you, I left for Uni in 83 then hardly went back, parents moved away late 80s I think, remember driving past burned out scout hut so timings seem about right. 

[Duck Egg]

1 hour ago, Not in Crawley said:

Yeah - we've bought a pack from Aldi of silent ones as there are thousands of dogs round here and whilst I'm not a dog lover, seems a bit unfair.

Doesn't like dogs or Shed 7. You're an oddball you lad.

[Sweep]

1 hour ago, London Wanderer said:

😁

I have to agree with the warm pies or pasty brigade.

Had an incredible pork & mushy peas pie the other day, that was a first.

Also had a Macaroni pie with a beautiful whole grain mustard filling. Heaven

Mushy peas are only for Xmas day 😡

Funnily enough, I had a macaroni pie for the first time ever the other week, it was delicious. Which surprised me, as I thought it might be a bit rank

[Not in Crawley]

2 hours ago, Ani said:

Small World, we lived at number 32, opposite Loen Crescent, which was not even built when we were younger kids.

Pretty similar childhood memories, we had a group of us , me and my brother, next door the Pie family who had twins my age at 34 then the Aspinals at 38 who had a lad my age.  Couple of others in those house 3-4 years younger or older so a good group knocking about together. 
 

There used to be very much a top end and bottom end of the road, we did not mix much with the lower end, so the Holts etc, but then one year agreed to have a joint bonfire and it all became more friendly. Our equivalent of tearing down the Berlin Wall 😂😂

Very happy times then when we went Smithills School dead easy to get there. I am 13 years older than you, I left for Uni in 83 then hardly went back, parents moved away late 80s I think, remember driving past burned out scout hut so timings seem about right. 

Small world indeed - had some friends at the top end of the road and we used to stakeboard down the hill as kids - bit dangerous thinking about it now 😄

Didn't really knock around with the kids on Raveden Close - funny how everything so close was really localised! We bought our house from someone who moved into the bigger Loen houses.

Also went to Smithills - mum taught there so like you used to walk to school with a mate from Loen but half of the kids from there went to Bolton School - we were the poor relatives on Temple road, they were bloody massive those houses. Used to get bollocked for walking home through the woods in winter and coming back with shoes/school pants covered in mud but took about 5 minutes that way.

My Cousin went to Smithills about the same time as you - Robert Fraser - although maybe a few years below you so probably didn't know him. His parents moved from Farnworth as his mum taught English at Harper Green (my Dad used to teach Science there) so she didn't want him going there and he hated it - and moving from Farnworth to Smithills.

[Not in Crawley]

2 hours ago, Duck Egg said:

Doesn't like dogs or Shed 7. You're an oddball you lad.

I'd say being a cat owner and a fan of unlistenable post punk, stupidly loud and fast Metal and traditional folk nose flute music makes me eminently sensible 😁

Edited October 25, 2024 by Not in Crawley

[Ani]

48 minutes ago, Not in Crawley said:

Small world indeed - had some friends at the top end of the road and we used to stakeboard down the hill as kids - bit dangerous thinking about it now 😄

Didn't really knock around with the kids on Raveden Close - funny how everything so close was really localised! We bought our house from someone who moved into the bigger Loen houses.

Also went to Smithills - mum taught there so like you used to walk to school with a mate from Loen but half of the kids from there went to Bolton School - we were the poor relatives on Temple road, they were bloody massive those houses. Used to get bollocked for walking home through the woods in winter and coming back with shoes/school pants covered in mud but took about 5 minutes that way.

My Cousin went to Smithills about the same time as you - Robert Fraser - although maybe a few years below you so probably didn't know him. His parents moved from Farnworth as his mum taught English at Harper Green (my Dad used to teach Science there) so she didn't want him going there and he hated it - and moving from Farnworth to Smithills.

It was still a Grammar School when I went there. With the High School at the bottom we always walked down Smithills Dean , seemed safer than going through the High School 😂. Think it was better school back then. 

[MancWanderer]

1 hour ago, Not in Crawley said:

half of the kids from there went to Bolton School - we were the poor relatives on Temple road, they were bloody massive those houses

Did you or @Ani know Pete Campbell? Was in my class at school