Willow wilson
-
Content Count
878 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
3
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Calendar
Posts posted by Willow wilson
-
-
While we're down this neck of the woods I'm reminded of that big garage just 50 yards to the south of this crossing, Simpson and Slater's. In the school hols it was interesting to watch them through the doorway spraypainting vehicles. The smells were rather interesting too, made us a bit light headed.
Going further round towards plantation side was a big factory, was it Hickings? That was gutted by fire twice in a few years.
-
The side fences of the footbridge walkway was made of diamond latticed strips of metal and my brother once got his head stuck through it. It took me dad ten minutes to manipulate him out.
-
My memory is that the square house next the footbridge was a railway house. There being a railway signal box across the road on the left edge of the photo. My guess is that the crossing gates would be manually operated originally.
In the 1950s (when Nuthall rd went over the new bridge) our parents took me and my brothers to stand on the footbridge at 7 o'clock each evening when there would be 3 trains coming through. From the foot bridge we could see into the signal box, hear the communication bells tinging and watch the signalman pull the levers. Then the trains would rush under the road bridge in a big blast and cloud of smoke and steam. It was a bit frightening to a small kid but it was the highlight of our day.
-
1
-
1
-
-
It were Mark Twain what sed it. Ah see y'all tekkin 'is advice.
Apart from the bombastic bit.
-
2
-
1
-
-
When promulgating your esoteric cogitations or articulating your superficial sentimentalities and amicable, philosophical or psychological observations, beware of platitudinous ponderosity.
Let your conversational communications demonstrate a clarified conciseness, a compact comprehensibleness, devoid of coalescent conglomerations of preciose garrulity, jejune bafflement and asinine affectations. Ensure that your extemporaneous verbal evaporations have lucidity, intelligibility and veracious vivacity without rondomontade or thespian bombast. Sedulously eschew all polysyllabic profundity, pompous propensity, psittaceous vacuity, ventriloqual verbosity and vaniloquent vapidity.
Shun double entendre, obnoxious jocosity and pestiferous profanity, observable or apparent.
-
2
-
-
Years ago I had two pieces of advice given to me which I thought were irrelevant. The first was from my secondary school history master who said; the future is never what you expect it to be. The second, ten years later regarding a specific situation, was from my Dad who said; don't get married.
In truth the veracity of the first covered the events following the second. :-(
-
Now days you can't stand on the waltzer walkway while it's in operation. You could in the past, which for me was the appeal of the thing. In my adolescent youth we dressed for the occasion; baseball boots, tight blue jeans (not stonewashed or ripped) white T shirt, black leather bomber jacket (collar up), brylcreemed quiff with a few (carefully arranged) strands casually brushing an unfurrowed brow. And to complete the image, a park drive hanging out the corner of the mouth. But that nearly choked me so I opted for an extra wad of gum.
The waltzers sounded thunderous when you stood on the gangway. The slats vibrating through your feet, the balustrade rattling as you leant on it. And the gals on the ride screaming and screaming. And above all this cacophony, through the massive sound system Elvis bellowed out Big Hunk Of Love and King Creole or again Lord Rockingham's Hoots Mon. Another time Red River Rock, Patricia, Paul Anka; Diana, Kalin Twins, When. This was a whole body experience for me, we were young and impressionable.
We only did the fair for 2 or 3 years and moved on but certain songs are, for me, anchored in goose fair's waltzers.
-
5
-
-
Back in the 50s the lorries weren't allowed on the forest until Monday morning. Thus the previous week saw a gradual build up of multi trailered vehicles at various places around the west of the city. One favourite lay up was behind the Wheatsheaf pub. At 8am they'd all move off joined by others from their lay-ups and clog up Gregory boulevard, Bobbersmill bridge and with the rush hour traffic totally gridlocked Nuthall rd, Aspley lane. That was changed to allow them access over the weekend before opening on the Thursday. I can remember seeing buses driving over the bridge all the way to Gregory Blvd on the wrong side of the road.
-
Hmm... Don't remember eating that.
-
1
-
2
-
-
A small addendum to the spigot mortar thing. I googled it and the images showed a low concrete dome about a yard'n'half across with a stainless steel spigot on top. There was one of these on the triangle of grass and bushes at Wilkinson st and Nuthall rd. I slipped off it in 1954 and gashed me knee open.
-
1
-
-
8 hours ago, MargieH said:
Willow Wilson, I've just bought the kindle edition of 'The Music of the Primes' to read on my iPad. There's no pictures on it, though - hope that won't be a problem?
It's got a couple of tricky looking formulae in it, maybe you'll understand them, I don't, but apart from that I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
-
My adolescence started when I left school late 1959, without a certificate to my name. A lot of the time was spent in coffee bars; the 49, el Toreador, which had an upstairs called Sargasso and had fishing nets and glass floats hanging about. The 49 was on 3 floors. They were all packed out with teenagers weekend evenings. We went there some Saturdays lunchtime after the Gaumont show. The sound system in the 49 was 1 plywood box about the size of a weetabix box per floor but it was all a new experience. There were two brothers used to frequent there, Ron May and Billy May. They went on to work the oil rigs in 65 according to The Post.
Brenda Lee, Everleys, Elvis, all played thru that speaker.
I really love and treasure those halcyon days, good atmosphere good friends, mediocre coffee, and a mysterious, exciting and inviting future life beckoning.
We would visit the Flying Dutchman coffee bar in the lace market or that cafe at the top of Victoria Street in a basement where they regularly played Blue Moon by the ??Marcel's??
One week I'd be Elvis, another, Duane Eddy, and then James Dean. I really fancied my chances. Lol. Well I was 6ft, slim, 12 stone with a mass of black brylcreemed hair. These days I can say I'm 6ft.
I went to St Margaret's youth club a few times where there were a couple of youths who flashed flick knives about but it was all bravado, they weren't threatening. Besides, I knew them, they lived up Grassington road somewhere.
I'm on a roll now so I'd better stop.
-
4
-
2
-
-
On 20/09/2017 at 5:49 PM, Jill Sparrow said:
Anyone who was taught (and I use the term extremely loosely) mathematics by Mrs Davey at The Manning School knows all about numbers being unknowable and irrational. If you were unfortunate enough to get double maths with the Irish peril, you knew what infinity felt like an'all!
............feeling the pathos.
-
On 20/09/2017 at 5:39 PM, MargieH said:
Interesting thoughts and ideas, Willow Wilson. (I believe the universe didn't build itself, though!)
Some of your ideas made me think of a simple analogy - our bodies. They functioned long before we knew all the intricacies of how they worked and before any textbooks were written. Maybe that isn't quite the same as the Universe stuff but I thought I'd just share it. I, too, am fascinated by prime numbers btw.
Marcus du Sautoy, "The Music of the Primes" is my current re-read, 300 pages but also includes short biographies of mathematicians of the last few centuries. There are other books.
With regard to ourselves I guess we are all a bit of the universe and at the same time privileged observers of it. But I'm straying into the subject of consciousness there so I'll stop.
-
Wednesday's musings.
I read recently a book by a mathematician who informed me that there are 2 infinities. One is a knowable infinity derived from integers and the other an unknowable infinity derived from irrational numbers. I was wondering, is the universe aware of our system of numbering things and processing these numbers by maths and formulae. It does its thing without an instruction manual. It's not read our books. Or maybe the manual is the material.
Apparently modern computers have identified the first 10 billion or so prime numbers but we haven't yet derived a formula to predict subsequent prime numbers starting from anywhere in the series. Are prime numbers relevant to the universe or an abstract invention. A scientist will say, that's near enough but a mathematician will say no, it's got to be perfect. (So I'm told).
What interests me is that the universe built itself without reference to our mathematics or theories. What we call laws of nature are laws of humans constructed from observations & which give us a good basis for predicting things. When we say "why this" we investigate but the results more often pushes the ultimate solution another step away from us. The universe leads and we follow. I wonder if it's playing with us like we would play with a kitten or a fish on a line.
We are stardust, we are golden.
We are billion year old carbon.
(Stardust, Crosby, Stills, Nash.)
-
On 12/09/2017 at 4:03 PM, NewBasfordlad said:
^^^^^^^And a loading bay with a big roller shutter door that backed onto the bottom of Rosetta Rd opposite Graham Whites house
I didn't use that end, that was the welding shop. I went in Malt Cottages entrance, past the bike shed and up the flight of stairs to the 1st floor.
-
That's it Cliff Ton. Thanks for that.
-
I've just been browsing the bus threads, some posts referring Hanley street. I used to get on my bus home there and I now have vague vision of a pub attached to the west end of the CO OP at the top of that narrow street the bottom of which came out on Toll Hill. Was there a pub there coz I'm sure I've been in it?
-
Always an enlightening subject. When I was a lot younger the raw guitar riffs inspiring my emotions were Tobacco Road by Nashville Teens, Stones Satisfaction and All Over Town and, later, any of the guitar bits in Ramjams Black Betty.
And The Kinks You Really Got Me.
Hmm ...1964...Skegness..Butlins.....
Anyway, Earnie Shears' intro to Cliff's Move it we also considered brilliant because we could easily copy it and annoy the parents, along with The Pirates Shaking all Over.
Alvin Lee got a mention earlier and quite rightly too, most of his work was impressive imo. So, moving off riffs, consider the guitar in his The Bluest Blues 2nd improv, it hints at a bit Gilmor-ish in places.
Knopfler was always good for a riff too.
So much to choose from it's difficult for me to make a definitive choice, it depends a lot on the weather.
-
1
-
-
Round Sneinton market in the 80s was the Prits, Cliffoe (Clifton later Marketside), Bath, Vine, Madhouse, Alfred's, (Earl) 'ow, Lamp, Billy, Peel, Stag, Castle, Mill. Brit, (Admiral) Drunkan. And once a year the beer fest in Vic baths. Done 'em all but not all in the same lunchtime.
-
On 20/03/2014 at 9:44 PM, seaside walker said:
What about the Ginger Tom Colwick Road near the railway crossing. Now flats
Yay. Got a free pint on the house the day that opened, about 1965 I think. And joined the darts team. I seem to remember the Juke box always playing Tom Jones what's new pussy cat and The Fortunes Here it comes again. Which is what we sang to anyone of the gang who'd drunk too much and was surrendering it to the lav. Prior to that we were customers of the Manvers back room: darts, table skittles, Juke box, beer. Rinse and repeat next evening. Calmed down a bit since then.
-
1
-
-
"anyone remember it I was in a maths class at the time"
I remember it well and I was also in the maths class, poohbear. That teacher's got to be Kinder!
-
Think the metalwork staff in my era 55-59 were "Ben" Lion and Wrathall who owned an MG TC at one point. There was one teacher who owned a 3 wheel Morgan special? It was made of thin planks of wood gracefully sculptured into curves from front to back. It looked like an upside down rowing boat with a hole cut out for the driver.
-
Straight from school I started work at Syd Smith And Sons on Egypt rd Basford making and calibrating bourdon tube pressure/vacuum gauges. Doing a net search of that company produced some promotional literature and a bit of history. I think the Egypt rd site was the original family owned business and later, early 20th century, the family for some reason split and started their own individual businesses each with the name Smith or S Smith. There was one offshoot on Cinderhill rd one on Bobbers Mill rd and the original in Basford all in the valve business. The Basford one had an annexe machine shop somewhere up Palm st where I trained on capstan lathes. They also had a unit down Lenton lane where Easter park is now. The Basford business was taken over by Hattersley Newman Henderson (I think that's correct) in the early 60s after I'd left.
Bobbers Mill Road area
in General Chat about Nottingham
Posted
Good link, DaveN. The mention of so much industry points to Wade's leather works next to Berridge annex opposite Whitemoor Hotel but we're on the borders of Whitemoor now.