I wanted to choose a slightly more recent photo.
Or should I say I didn't want it to be of a similar age to the last one... I'm not fooling anyone that this one is in any way shape or form recent.
If you're wondering ...and I know I would be...I'm the one with shocking hairstyle and terrible jumper - fashion was never one of my strong points!
Actually I have photos of worse outfits and hairstyles than this.
I may NOT being sharing those ones!
I have no idea where this photo was taken ... what I do know is that it must have been a Sunday afternoon.
I know this because my parents had a 'corner shop'. It was open 7 days a week but we shut at noon on a Sunday so that we could have some family time.
If the weather allowed we all piled into my Dad's work van - these were always red Ford Escorts. Us kids sat in the back.
No seat belts ... *yep I shudder to think about it now*.
In fact there were no seats! We had cushions, blankets and as we got older sometimes a beanbag.
 |
| This isn't me - it's my sister. |
We didn't have another car. We went everywhere in the back of that van. Even to posh restaurants!
A lot of those Sunday journeys involved water. We usually found a stream to paddle in or a ford to drive through. Sometimes we took a walk alongside a river.
Most of these were in Derbyshire. We lived just in Derbyshire but these trips took us into a more attractive part and usually took between 30 and 45 minutes to reach.
Sometimes we took friends along with us - 5 or 6 of us sat in the back of a van!
 |
| My brother is on the right |
In the summer we might call into a pub for a drink. Children didn't go into pubs back then so we used to sit in the beer garden ... or sometimes we'd sit in the van with the doors open. And if you were hungry all that was on offer was a packet of crisps, salted peanuts or pork scratchings (yak to the latter).
And we would have a bottle of pop - with a paper straw. Which collapsed after a few minutes or so. You had to keep tearing the soggy bit off.
If you weren't careful the straw got too short to reach the drink!
In winter we often went to Clumber Park and walked through the conifer woodland. We could walk for hours and we very rarely saw anyone else. I loved those walks.
I remember those red shoes - they gave me terrible blisters. That is when I learnt that if you have wide feet you need a good fitting shoe.
When I got older I appreciated that my Mum had always made me wear 'proper' fitted shoes for school. And had refused to buy me heeled shoes ... I realise now how awful young girls can look in them.
There are a lot of other things my Mum didn't allow me to do, that I may have begrudged at the time but am now very thankful for.
You only realise these things as you grow up and sometimes only when you have your own kids...
...or am I thinking of that moment when you hear your parents sayings coming out of your mouth?
Well you wouldn't know I'd struggled to think of what to write would you? I do ramble on sometimes...
I heard that comment of 'only sometimes?'
Thanks for popping by,
Louise x
Great memories again. Yes we used to be all bundled into the back of our estate car with grandparents etc occupying the seats. No sign of a seat belt. Paper soggy straws remind me of school milk. I too had proper fitted shoes and I thought I was the only girl in the world in them. I had an excellent pair of "wedge" sandals that I bought myself. I was accomplished at falling off them. Even my boyfriend called them my surgical boots! Ahhh memories!
ReplyDeleteSchool milk - I was one of the few who actually liked it. Well apart from in the summer when it went sour!
DeleteI can remember climbing from the back to the front of the car (we had one pre living in the shop) to the back, taking it in turns to sit on my mums knee.
I really enjoyed reading this. We used to mess about in a little stream every Sunday afternoon as our parents piled us into the car and drove us to the same local beauty spot every week. I can remember my Mum telling us my dad wasn't coming out to play with us because he was too old.and I realised with a shock the other day he was the same age my DH is now!
ReplyDeleteMy parents had us young (mum was 21 when she had my brother and I followed 18 months later). So by the time my Mum was my age she had seen two of us through University!
DeleteWhat great memories to look back on. The health and safety police didn't have a clue back then did they? I can remember going on holiday and the back seat of the car was decked out with cushions like a bed and at other times all my dolls sat alongside me. Oh and I remember those paper straws too! Thanks for sharing x
ReplyDeleteI remember being carried out to the car in a sleeping bag as it was still dark and waking up when it was light and we were most of the way on holiday. We used to go from Nottingham to Worthing - must have taken a lot longer in those days as I'm sure the car struggled to get over 50 or 60 mph :)
DeleteLovely story, had me smiling throughout. I think water & kids are such a natural coupling.
ReplyDelete