Jill Sparrow

Not a pleasant thought is it, Margie? I read somewhere that the average person swallows between 20 and 30 spiders during their lifetime, usually when asleep! From the unfortunate arachnid's perspective, however, it is probably floating around inside Colly, wondering about the strange new universe it now inhabits! Colly should have some empathy with that!

Yes, it was a red kneed tarantula, MD. He also had a snake! My two orb web weaver spiders seem to have disappeared. Perhaps they're cheesed off with their webs getting damaged or maybe they've packed their traps and scuttled off to Gretna Green together.

I suppose the obvious place to look would be the Nottingham City Council archives but, somehow, I suspect they wouldn't be much help. If you suspect your relative died in 1936, the 1939 register won't help, unless you know the names of those he lived with. It might yield an address.

A few years ago, a colleague told me about her son who had a Tarantula named Rosie! She was given the name due to the reddish colouration of her 'knees'. My colleague wasn't wild about sharing the house with Rosie but they respected each other's space and no one came to any harm. I believe they have pretty long lifespans but I don't like to think of any living creature being cooped up in cages, tanks or having their freedom taken from them...criminals excepted!

You can still get it. I've seen it in Morrison's deli counter, among other places.

Poor old Howard! He was one of my favourite characters. The other end of the spectrum from our Ben!

They sound like tricky customers, nonna! I'm glad I haven't got any. The moggies would be up all night chasing them...the ultimate cat toy, even better than the laser mouse!

A male nursery teacher would have been a very rare animal back then, big brother! I started school at 4 and we never had a lie down on a cot in the afternoons. Might have liked it better if we had. Lots of people of my age and younger talk about afternoon naps when they started school. I obviously went to the wrong school...and at age 11, I definitely went to the wrong school!!

Poor Big Bertha! I'm sorry she's gone scuttling off to the golden web in the sky. You will miss her. A decent burial sounds a good idea. You could say a few words. I certainly won't think you're loopy. I talk to everything in the garden! There's what I think is an orb web spider near my back door. Again, probably female. She spins the most elaborate web. I've damaged it accidentally a couple of times and last week when my winter fuel was delivered, the chap destroyed it altogether. I apologised profusely to her when he'd gone and suggested that she might be more sensib

Those little tins of coffee. Powder, not granules! One of those wouldn't last me a day! I don't drink tea. Blue order book lived on the bottom shelf of the pantry when not in use, alongside paper bags which had been smoothed flat for reuse. EEEEH! You can't teach this generation much about recycling, make do and mend. Bubble and squeak for Friday tea, using up the leftovers. In our house, food was never wasted. Mum's mantra was. WASTE NOT, WANT NOT and it's very true!

Barkers potted beef...that was it! Norman Hurstfield's grocery shop just round the corner on Alfreton Road stocked that along with tub butter, cheesewire cheese wrapped in greaseproof paper...very deftly...corned beef, cold meats, pastries, etc. Nowt was wrapped in plastic, the carrier bags were made of strong brown paper and string and the sooner we get back to that, the better! Little blue order book went in once a week. Those pots were nice, Beekay. Usually a swirl pattern on the side. Those were the days. F f f f fetch your cloth, our Ben!

I remember the salmon paste in those decorative, ceramic bowls, big brother. The paste had a layer of butter on top. Similar with potted beef. Today, it would be a plastic container! Always wondered whether the empty bowls went back for refilling. Our Ben will know.

Reminds me of my father's tale of the National Loaf during the early war years. Bellfield's bakery in Beeston received no more of my grandmother's custom after she found a dead cockroach in one of their loaves! Dad always said the National Loaf was made with sawdust, sweepings and wasn't fit to eat. Perhaps the cockroach ate some. Would never have happened at Marsden's!

Then there's the skill of buttering up the lady customers! Not forgotten that one, have you Ben?

I remember my sister getting a smack for upsetting a box of dried peas all over the kitchen floor just as we were all getting ready to go out somewhere. Mum had to clean them up before we could go. I was only tiny at the time but have never forgotten it. I also remember being shouted at for pinching the muslin bag to wear as a hat to go with my nurse's outfit. I had a nurse's outfit every Christmas as a child and it was always minus a hat!

For me, cheese is a staple food. Love it. The moggies like cheddar, just a taste. Brie, caemembert, stilton, anything of that ilk. Dad adored gorgonzola but I wouldn't go that far. Grandad Sparrow's favourite pastime was buying whole smelly cheeses, drilling holes in them, which he filled with port, and then wrapping them up for months, to be brought out at Christmas. If you think that sounds bad, you should have tried grandma Kate's Christmas cake. Even the birds wouldn't eat it. Her culinary skills were very bad and she hated housework. Hmmmm, sounds like me

Carol Ann, you may or may not be aware that 700 Hucknall Road was the old Basford Union Workhouse. It was in use in the 1920s and 30s partially as a hospital for the elderly or what we would now designate dementia patients. My maternal great grandmother died there. Nottingham City Hospital now covers this area but I believe at least part of the original building still survives. It was known as the infamous and dreaded Bagthorpe, which as was probably intended put the fear of God into most people.

There was a Mr James on Gregory Boulevard. His house was later taken over by a group practice. They were my dentists for a while before they sold the practice on. By that time, I had moved away from the area.

Thought you might!

Pauline recalls a number of male orderlies, as they were then termed, but no one named Kevan. She does recall Cliff. He was the chap whose responsibility it was to saw the plaster casts in half for those who were destined, like Malcolm's aunt, to spend some years at Harlow Wood. This enabled bed baths to take place. She also recalls 'Sir', who was the tutor for the children hospitalised at Harlow Wood and who had to attend lessons each day. His name she does not remember.

Yes, it was a square of greaseproof paper. Sour tasting but went well with cucumber, mum's favourite way of eating it, smothered in pepper - dad's favourite way of eating it or as the filling for savoury choux pastry. Messy but my favourite way of eating it. Wish we could have Colwick cheese back again. Yummy!

I've heard of filling brandy snap with whipped cream but never cream cheese. Used to love Colwick Cheese from Wealthalls on Radford Boulevard. I don't think it's permitted now. Something to do with unpasteurized milk? We ate tons of it in our house and it didn't do us any harm. Certainly much preferable to this Philadelphia rubbish.

That sounds familiar, denshaw. I think the biscuits did contain ginger but they were very light in colour and didn't burn your tongue as brandysnap did.

It's nice to know that some traditions remain!

Wonder if it's still possible to buy brandy snap at Goose Fair. Emily and George from Garden Street went, without fail, to see the fair open on Thursday lunchtime...it was Thursday to Saturday in those days....every year. Emily always bought brandy snap and some kind of round shortcake biscuits from the fair. I've never liked brandy snap because I don't like ginger but the shortbread was nice. Ay up, big brother Beekay, we're talking biscuits again! Emily and George could probably remember when Goose Fair was in the Market Square!