Scriv

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Everything posted by Scriv

  1. Must admit that the bit about the Evening Post isn't far wide of the mark!
  2. Holland's the big place for classic American bikes; as you can imagine a lot of the 45's went over there during the last war and were sold off on the civilian market afterwards. I took mine over there last year, and did a side trip to Antwerp; mine's a WLC (Canadian Army model) and Antwerp was liberated by your boys, so in a way it was kind of a pilgrimage. My wife and I were over in Canada in 2007 (my sister lives in Kanata) and we came down near you, found a brilliant place in Courtice which specialises in old American trucks; http://www.billstruckshop.com/cu.html Really nice guy who help
  3. Since the old man worked for Hoveringham Gravels I had the luxury of being able to fish their ponds; mostly going for pike with spinners and plugs. Dad wasn't interested at all and the only other member of my family who was serious about it was my uncle, who'd be one of those match fishermen at Gunthorpe. I only accompanied him once and it bored me senseless. Never really got into fishing, once motorbikes came along my fishing tackle was consigned to the back of the shed; pity because round here there are some superb trout rivers like the Teifi and Cothi.
  4. Thanks Rog, wasn't aware of that but it would be before my time i suppose; I turned 16 in 1976. There was yet another major player in the two-wheeler market on Huntingdon Street of course; Steyr-Daimler-Puch, importers of the ubiquitous Maxi along with assorted mopeds including the lovely Grand Prix Special and the Haflinger 4x4's. Note that the front vehicle has a Nottinghamshire registration. The owner actually lives near me in Wales. One of SDP's senior managers, a Mr. Bolton, lived in my home village of Thurgarton; I was at junior school with his daughter and it was not ununsual to se
  5. I can remember "little Woolworths" as the Hockley shop was known. Well-worn wooden floorboards, Elf and Safety would have a dickey-fit if they were like that today!
  6. That'd be why the Brough's Castle forks were made to a Harley pattern then! Oldace, have to disagree; I've owned a VL, currently run a 45 (second one I've had and shouldn't have sold the first) and they're bullet-proof. Admittedly not as fast as Brit stuff, and they don't handle as well, but then again they don't need to. Harleys are made to go long distances and stand up to the hammer, otherwise they'd never have lasted over 100 years. Rode my 45 to Holland and Belgium last year, over 1,000 miles on a 70 year old bike and it never missed a beat. Different market anyway; Brough may well h
  7. No, Andy Bone's was at the top of Huntingdon Street, near the junction with Mansfield Road. Had many dealings with them over the years; they were the local agents for Garelli and did Hondas as well. Nigel was the parts/sales guy, after Bones shut he went to Daybrook Square.
  8. But it'd still be Mrs. Thatcher's fault Rog! No mention from the cloth caps of the inescapable fact that even if we did produce diesel fuel and petrol from coal, it would not only be prohibitively expensive but the country would also be subject to the whims of the union barons, much the same as we are today with the tanker drivers. That, and the fact that unlike Germany we do have oil reserves, is the reason it didn't happen.
  9. Think it's a sluice gate for a water mill, but no idea where it is.
  10. Same design as many of the other stations on the Nottingham-Lincoln; my home village of Thurgarton has a particularly fine example which is Grade II listed. Lowdham also survives virtually unspoilt. I travelled that line many a time from 1960 onwards, and I have to say I don't ever remember seeing the old station buildings; the Paytrain system came in around 1970 making the station buildings redundant IIRC. I can still remember the crossing having gates rather than the barriers; the original signal box in the left-hand picture had by then been replaced by a modern unit, which like Lowdham had
  11. Not too bad here in Carmarthen. Pick-up trucks aren't supposed to be allowed but I get away with it by using my old GMC because one of the lads who works there is mad on old American stuff.
  12. Still got some cardboard cups printed with the Hoveringham Gravels logo; my old man bagged stacks of them when Tarmac took the company over, used them for planting kidney beans in!
  13. I didn't know Bill Ivory personally, but I did know quite a few of the men he worked on the bins with. There was a fair measure of truth in the stories, and many of the characters were easily recognisable to the locals!
  14. I'm sorry to hear that, but not surprised. Bill was a typical hard-living Scotsman; when I started working for him (about 1985) he'd just given up a 60-a-day habit, which he had been washing down with a fair bit of his native country's best brew. I once asked him if he missed his fags (since all of us drivers smoked like chimneys) and I'll never forget his reply; "Aye, every time you ****ers light up; but when the man in the white coat tells you you'll be deid in six months, ye listen tae him". A real character was Bill. If anyone remembers the TV series "Truckers", well that was what working
  15. My best mate was the engineer who installed those travelling ovens. Me and him used to go out paintballing with the Pork Farms management up near East Leake. He reckoned with me being ex-army we'd have a better chance of winning! Incidentally, I bought a Pork Farms pie a few months ago as Morrisons had sold out of their own-brand ones which I'm quite partial to. Shan't buy another; it was bloody 'orrible, not at all how I remember them.
  16. Never thought I'd hear that again! When I was younger, my old dad used to take the mick out of anyone who was "bawling out their wares" with a similar version of that....."Apples tuppence a pahnd, pears the same, the donkey's pi**ed on the strawberries"... me mam used to go mad at him! So was it an urban legend, poohbear, or did that actually go on? If the prices were appropriate to the time I'd guess it was before the last war.
  17. Limey beat me to it!. That'd be a Nimbus mate, made till 1960 by Nilfisk, better known for their industrial vacuum cleaners today.
  18. Bet they didn't have the cavity wall insulation reps knocking very often!
  19. Reading this topic brings to mind a chance conversation I had with a former Carlton resident at the Millenium Stadium, where I'd been to watch Wales play Argentina; freebie from work BTW, didn't pay! After reminiscing about what was still there vs. what had gone, we agreed that were were likely to be the only two people in Cardiff who knew where Doctor Parks' Corner was. Just out of curiosity, is that still the common name? Used to catch the 74A Trent bus from Thurgarton to visit friends and family in Netherfield, get off there and walk down Conway Road; every Trent driver knew where it was.
  20. I was in the Army then; I vaguely recall something about that time. Scraps were indeed regular between the bikers and the "gonks" as we called the soul boys, most were minor but the odd knuckle-duster got used.
  21. I'd say that would be an extremely conservative estimate. Top of the range Harley, which unlike the Brough is a mass-produced bike, sells for more than that. Chap in Florida started making a Brough tribute bike a few years ago; not a replica but IMO a passable facsimile using modern kit. These sold for $36,000 back in 2007; couple of years alter one came up for auction, and to the great amusement of Brough owners, fetched only $19,000.
  22. Ha! Going a bit further back, to 1976 in fact, the bikers used to go to Gedling Miners' Welfare, IIRC on a Sunday night. I used to ride from Thurgarton on my old Garelli Rekord,OK going there up the main A612 but on the way back used to go through Woodborough/Epperstone/Goverton 'cos the lights were so bad I was scared of getting pulled by the plod!
  23. Summat like that. It used to be common practice 'mongst us "locals" to treat the 30 limit in the area with a bit of respect cos the "power rangers" used to get up to so much stuff (wheelies, burn-outs etc) that you couldn't fart for traffic cops. Like most things a few plonkers manage to spoil it for the rest, it got so that many of us more "sedate" types gave up. No different to the 60's if you think about it but I suspect the plod are a darn sight less tolerant these days.
  24. Monday night used to be bike night.... happy memories.