StephenFord

Anyone a fan of Gilbert & Sullivan? This is from HMS Pinafore : He is an Englishman... He is an Englishman! For he himself has said it, And its greatly to his credit That he is an Englishman. That he is an Englishman. For he might have been a Russian, A French, or Turk, or Prussian, Or perhaps I-tal-i-an. But in spite of all temptations To belong to other nations He remains an Englishman - He remains an Englishman!

Hi Blackie. Re- your posting #826. No, as far as I know the 31 never terminated at Woodthorpe Drive. (I understand the old trams finished in the MIDDLE of Woodborough Road (!), just by Porchester Road up to early 1935 - one of the last of the old tram routes). The 9 used to terminate at Porchester Road (via Gordon Road), turning at Haywood Road, just before Woodborough Road, and this was later extended to the triangle that you mentioned at the top of Woodthorpe Drive. This link shows a 31 at Westdale Lane terminus - about 1948 I think - with one of the (then) brand new Daimlers, that were repl

Our doctor in Long Eaton had one of those Isetta bubble cars. He was a tall elderly gangling sort of bloke, and it was an entertainment to see him folding himself up to get in!

Re #1893 - I think a "mugwump" referred to someone who was either indecisive - sitting on the fence to the speak, or maybe one who tried to have his cake and eat it (or, to put it another way, he "ran with the hare and hunted with the hounds"). He was "mug" on one side and "wump" on the other.

Re-traffic lights turning red on approach : one day someone will realise that gratuitous and unnecessary obstructions to free traffic flow induce driver frustration, probably contributing to a significant number of accidents. Here's another "why?" On the railways (where everything is fully controlled by signals) track layouts at junctions that require trains to cross to the opposite line before taking a branch line to the right are now banned following one or two head-on collisions resulting from signals passed at danger. On roads (where traffic is not under any signal control) chicanes etc.

Well, maybe BilboroughShirley - but the gents smelt dreadful (I mean the gents toilets smelt dreadful!)

Re #22 - BilboroughShirley - I don't think there were any loos at the actual bus station, but I have a vague recollection of them being down by the bus park around the corner of Mount Street and Granby Street. I think they were a bit grim too !

Ah - the heroic story of the Solomon Browne and her gallant crew. I gather they still turn off the Christmas lights in Mousehole on this evening in remembrance. Inspiring - and I'm being serious when I say that.

That explains it all !

Ian, if you have a look on the E.Midlands Transport Remembered facebook page, there have been some super shots of Barton's Guys recently.

Re #782, NCT had 17 Guy Arab Utilities supplied in 1943-44. They were GTV408-416 (running numbers 88-96) with bodies by Massey and Pickering in 1943; and GTV580-587 (running numbers 80-87) with bodies by Weymann in 1944. All were withdrawn by 1960, some quite a bit earlier than that. In addition to Barton and Midland General, East Midland also ran Guys on services to Nottingham run jointly with Trent (12A Chesterfield, 36 Doncaster and 37 Retford).

Yes - Ill son, 'Aynor, A'fton and Smer-co-tees. Not to mention Cot'mney.

There was a man from Huddersfield Who had a cow that would not yield; The reason why she would not yield - She did not like her udders feeled. Or : I eat my peas with honey I've done it all my life It makes the peas taste funny But it keeps them on the knife.

...or Amwythig pronounced Shrewsbury ! Also Llandrindod is usually referred to locally as Landod (no Welsh pronunciation of the initial "Ll"). Foreign translations of well-known place names are a bit of a nightmare. I remember waiting at Rimini for a train to Munich. We were expecting the German version, but then the indicator flashed up "Monaco di Baviera" - which rather threw us. Lincolnshire also has a few oddities. Locals pronounce Threekingham (which used to have a pub called the "Three Kings") as Threckingham. Aslackby is Azleby (long A), and Kirkby la Thorpe = Kirby Laythorp (with th

Not sure whether this one might have been on here before : the reply to "But I thought..." was "Yer know what thought did - follered a muck-cart an' thought it was a wedding."

Re #3 - I assume you are referring to the shopping trolley?

And on the trolleybuses with twin rear axles they were very long - space for five or six in a row. I'd never heard them called anniversary seats before. My mum tended to dislike them. If there was nowhere else to sit without going upstairs (in the fog) she would mutter "I s'pose we'll 'ave to sit side-saddle then!"

"Get yer glad-rags on" = "Put on your best Sunday attire" !

Brains you say? When they were giving out brains, I misheard and thought they said "trains" - so I said I'd take a slow one... OK, I'll get me coat.

A load of gigantic 'orrible slabs - not an atom of character anywhere - nothing to distinguish it from a hundred similar centres up and down the land. How they can babble on about being "excited" by this apology for architecture is beyond me.

Here's the problem (going back to the original issue!) - we too need a plumber to do a bathroom refit. We have been months trying to get plumbers to come. Either they can't be contacted at all, don't answer their answerphones, don't come when they say they will, or come - look at the job - tell us they will send us an estimate and then don't etc. etc. Amongst these we did have a couple that eventually gave us estimates but their dilatory response made us very hesitant about giving them the job - we might still be waiting a year next Christmas! We did however find one very efficient company who

I think there were a number of French expressions like that, which were picked up and anglicised by British soldiers during the first world war - quite a lot of whom had probably left school at the minimum age, with little or no French.

Oz - sounds like the saloon heater - a sort of bright metal circular thing with a grill? Many buses had them - although some less enlightened operators didn't think heating for passengers was very important!

Possibly the insurers or loss adjusters - gagging at the cost of repairing a listed building. "It'll cost how many thousand? It's only a few bricks and a bit of mortar..." etc.

Another for a fool or twerp : "'E's a right cloth-ears."