Oztalgian

Before we moved house (downsized), every year when we put the decorations up every garland, or bell, fairy or lantern had to go in the same place or the kids would take great delight in making us change them until they were exactly the same as the last twenty years.

Roy of the Rovers Annual, The Beano Book. I remember getting the football board game Wembley one year, Had hours of fun with that and Forest, County and the Stags never got to the final when we played.

Yes LizzieM, Flying home on one of those after the last night of the holiday having consumed too much Sangria was never a comfortable experience when the plane was as green as you felt. Much preferred Brittania Airways out of Castle Donnington.

LizzieM, Would that have been with Court Line or Clarksons Travel with their pink, purple, lime green and other weird coloured BAC 111"s?

Back in the 80's I was at Heathrow airport waiting for a flight to OZ and going through security the baggage was scanned by a rather bored looking operative whilst those people taking an El Al flight had every bag opened and physically searched by the airline security staff, despite the obvious delays no one seemed upset and understood why it was happening. Given that many of its' flights were to the increasingly important "Middle East" the industry joke was that BOAC stood for Better On A Camel

Atomic Thunderbusters

I first flew when I was a few months old in 1950 from Manchester Ringway to Belfast Aldergrove to be introduced to my grand parents. My mum said we flew on a Bristol Brittania? I wonder how much it cost then? I bet it was a pretty penny!

Ooh, you are awful, but I like you!

"Round The Horne" absolutely brilliant radio, way ahead of its time. Who can forget Rambling Syd Rumpo and J. Peasmold Gruntfuttock and Douglas Smith the announcer. Charles and Fiona "I know you know I know" Dr. Chou en Ginsberg MA (Failed) Oh hello, I'm Julian and this is my friend Sandy with their Poari slang and companies called "Bona" Its predecessor Beyond our Ken was brilliant too along with I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again" I still listen to them on digital radio and they are just as funny as they were when originally broadcast. Classic British radio

After a very long run up his bowling action was a little unusual in that it was very front on. Looking at his career stats it was very effective. Like Ben I remember his 8fer against Australia. A great servant of English cricket RIP Bob

I can remember getting 3 gallons and Green Shield stamps for less than a quid. I think my Triumph had a 6-7 gallon tank and a very handy reserve switch that allowed you to access the last 3/4 of a gallon in the tank. a very useful feature as we got near pay day to fill up.

The security on Ford cars during the late sixties early seventies was woeful. Whenever I parked my Cortina when going to an away game with the Forest I used to take the rotor arm out. All you needed to get in them was a wire coat hanger a pro could do it in seconds.

A great riverside pub. We often used to swim across the Trent to Hazelford Island. The Bromley arms at Fiskerton and the Unicorn at Gunthorpe were great riverside pubs too. As kids we often played on the little fairground at Gunthorpe. I loved the swingboats

When we had our German Shepherd and had a BBQ he used to come outside and sit next to me in the hope that a sausage would fall off the hotplate. When one did it would never reach the floor and he would then go around all day licking his chops because the hot sausage had burnt his mouth. Never stopped him though, the next BBQ he'd be right alongside you hoping for another suicidal sausage.

As kids we never had turkey for Christmas lunch/dinner it was always a large chicken or cockerel that was bought "fresh" from the butchers. It had to be plucked, the giblets taken out and dressed, whatever that was and of course stuffed with the obligatory Paxo sage and onion stuffing. Only really started to eat turkey when we came to OZ.

Using a slide rule helped you get an idea of the order of magnitude of a calculation. I remember once whist mentoring some young engineers I asked one to do some stress calculations to help design a test rig. When he came back to me with the result from his scientific calculator I immediately told him something was not right, not the actual numbers in the answer but the magnitude of the number and asked him to go and check what he had done. He came back later and rather sheepishly said he had got the decimal place wrong in one of the inputs. Still have my Thornton Comprehensive slide rule

Mary had a little lamb She took it to the shops They went into a butchers And came away with chops. Mary had a little lamb But Mary was a glutton So Mary sat down and tucked right in to mint jelly and mutton

Whilst I wasn't in the UK from 75 onwards I still class my generation (baby boomers) as the lucky generation. When I left school in the sixties we had no difficulties getting employment and many chopped and changed jobs for a few pence an hour more. There were no major conflicts that really affected us in the UK and Australia had just finished in the Vietnam war when we arrived. I really feel for those just setting out in life after school today, minimal job security, zero hours contracts, the expectations of extended, often unpaid hours. The way technology is changing the way we live and

I can only comment on the death of the boy from Kogarah, I can only back up what Terry and Jill have said, a sad loss. Adding to what Deepdene Boy said I wonder which celebrities Nottstalgians would have round for dinner, either living or departed?

Can't remember who said it about Hattie Jacques playing the Matron in the Carry On films but when she came down the ward it was like a Spanish galleon in full sail.

Our new car has so many safety aids and fancy dodads to "help" your driving. It is the first car I have had with an electric handbrake it just comes on when you put the gearbox in park and off when you put it into reverse or drive. For the first few weeks I still kept going to put the handbrake on before getting out of the car. All is good now except that the older car we have has a conventional handbrake and guess what? ……………………………. I now have to make a conscious effort to remember to put it on. The new car has a constantly variable transmission and at the weekend we did a 500k

The closing of the stores in the town centres has left the centre of many towns empty hulks. Yes, it is happening here too particularly in the CBD as parking charges increase and the council reduces spaces and time available for free parking. Joe public has voted with their feet and gone to the out of town shopping centres where parking is free.

A number of posts mention Woolworths here in Australia. There is no link to F.W.Woolworth and Co in the UK. It started off here as Wallworths Bazaar Ltd, a rather obvious play on the UK and US company name. Having found that the Woolworths name was not registered in Australia they adopted the name Woolworths Limited in 1924. As many have said, they along with Coles have the lions share of the fresh food and dry goods market. Aldi have aggressively entered the Australian market, LIDL/Kaufland are also planning to increase their presence in the Australian Market.

I agree Brew, when we had our Republic referendum in 1999 it failed because what was put up to replace the Queen as the head of Government was a President elected by the Parliament. Thankfully 55% the Australian population did not trust the pollies and said no. A constitutional Monarchy may not be perfect but look at the other options. The USA got Trump and not to mention the faux elections that "elect" president in many other countries.

Welcome Patricia, There are instructions on how to post photos on the site I am sure many members would like to see some more history of the area. The area around the back of Bilsthorpe, Eakring, Maplebeck and Kneesall is typically rural England. We often used to go for drives in the countryside and stop for a beer at the village pubs. I remember that the Savile Arms in Eakring (if it is still open) had the floor level about 3 feet above the pavement on the main road. Loved the beer garden at The Bee Hive at Maplebeck, mum and dad often took us there as kids in the Ford Popular with