jonab

I was lucky in always having an indoor facility but I was very used to an outside bog at my granny's who lived on Occupation Road, Hucknall. The house is still there and the bog and coalhole buildings seem to be still there as well. My other granny lived in Rempstone - she didn't have a toilet at all. Initially it was an earth closet (boards over a hole in the ground) but her son (my uncle) bought her an Elsan chemical toilet.

On the subject of the three men stabbed in a Reading park. I wonder how many attitudes and sympathies changed after it was revealed they were gay?

Pleased your mother is OK, Brenda. It is worrying time for us all. With the fireflies, It's a little bit early for them here but I have seen a few which make me hope it will be a bumper year for them. Fascinating insects with a number of uses in medical science - probably including research into this ghastly virus that's plaguing us at the moment.

- - and she's due to retire soon.

Beekay - I also read your earlier post. Why has it disappeared? I have had posts vanish into the ether in the past. Is there a gremlin at work - not only here but on other sites as well?

To go with democracy should be the disappearance of diplomacy and statesmanship. Who in the motley collection of world leaders at present could be described as a democrat, a diplomat or a statesman?

In the ten years I was local to the forest area, the keepers Lodge was used as a tool store for the cemetary gardens and the flower beds around the bowling green.

Those flowers are like the ones near here. They're strange as they change colour as they age, going from a deep crimson in bud fading to a pale yellow.

I remember that bowling green on the Forest from my days working on Gregory Boulevard. It was at the Mansfield Road end. One thing that sticks in my mind about it was a big hoo-haa from the officials running the green about players wearing outfits made of Terylene instead of the regulation white linen. This caused protests amongst the players and it was really amusing to see loads of mature citizens/pensioners parading around with placards raising their objections to the silly rule. The pensioners won in the end! The frames for swings were there but there were no swings attached to

Those prickly pears are a damned nuisance. There seemed to be a plague of them here a few years ago when some clever-clogs vine grower thought it would be a good idea to use them as hedging plants around his vineyards. The biggest problem with them was that almost any of the pads (leaves) - even bits of them - which became broken off would attempt to grow roots and establish a new (fast growing) cactus. The prickly pears are supposed to be edible. Well, you can eat them but why would you want to? They are all but tasteless and resemble chewing a piece of wet rag. Even so, they are on sale

Depends on the conditions under which they work. My situation is somewhat unusual in that being disabled, I need a full time carer but also, I am lucky enough to be able to afford staff to look after my property and housekeeping. I pay them fairly, perhaps even generously compared with some of the employment rates around here. They get free, comfortable accommodation and food and we all seem to be a happy little household. I could never manage to live here without help even discounting my disabilities (after all these years - the French are an odd lot) and I think we have pretty m

Brenda, someone said to me once that putting a "Made in Italy" or a "Fabrique en France" only requires that the label making that statement be made and attached to the item in that stated country. The actual product that the label is attached to can be made anywhere. I'm not certain how true that is but, knowing some of the people involved in French haute couture, it is only the catwalk originals that are made by, and in the country of, the designer. Every other is made by the slave labour we are discussing.

Let it not be forgotten that the only way that these retailers can sell items so cheaply is because the manufacture is done in the Indian subcontinent and the Far East by extremely poorly paid workers - in many cases the modern day equivalent of slaves where these poor souls are effectively "owned" by their employers. It is not only low cost items that are produced in this way, many so-called upmarket products (especially fashion) are produced in the same slave-like workshops (sweatshops) therefore making even more profit for the slavemasters. Think twice before buying

I have never been a fan of burger bars. I was first put off in the 60s by the very Wimpy bar at the top of St James' Street (as mentioned by Brew, above). Even in those days a substantial proportion of the stuff sold there was not what it purported to be. Their "chips" were called something like "Tastee Fries" and comprised a deep fried paste extruded from a device above the deep fat fryer. The substance called Tastee Freeze was what they tried to pass off as ice cream - but it wasn't ice cream as it didn't comply with the legal definition. I hesitate to imagine what the burgers were like prio

Just before I left England in the 1980s, Lee & Perrins introduced a product made from the dried residues from the manufacture of Worcestershire sauce. It was sold in little shaker salt type pots. This stuff was excellent on fish and chips and I think I remember a chip shop on Mansfield road having it on the counter. Anyone remember this product? Is it still around?

I'm with Jill on this. As far as I'm concerned he was a psychotic leprechaun intent on causing as much patient discomfort as he could. Perhaps he was good to some of his victims but that didn't help a large number who found him wanting. Another dentist I found to be "less than good" was Brian Lawson who had a practice opposite Basford gasworks. I've mentioned him on these pages before, as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c32wI4bDazc

The Boulevard Butcher. I was one of his victims.

I have vague memories of a statue of (or at least a memorial to) Bendigo in a park near Huntingdon St bus station. Was Bendigo black? I don't think so. On the subject of respected black people in Nottingham (or more precisely Hucknall) Dr Wallen should be borne in mind. He was a G P with a practice at the top of Duke Street - opposite Beardall Street school. He was very well liked by his many patients. I can't vouch for the veracity of this next bit but I understand that, as well as being a medic, he was an actor who stood in for Paul Robeson https://en.wikipedia.org/wi

The keyword is "industrial" methylated spirit which is colourless and smells (and tastes) pretty much like strong vodka. The purple colouring is, as you say, to deter people from drinking the Mineralised methylated spirit and it additionally contains crude pyridine to further dissuade from its drinking.

Reading the BBC website the other day and the "comedian" Leigh Francis was apologising for dressing up as various non-white performers in his earlier career. This got me thinking, whatever happened to the Black & White Minstrel Show? https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/100-voices/people-nation-empire/make-yourself-at-home/the-black-and-white-minstrel-show

Be careful drinking hand sanitiser. There is nothing to stop it being made with industrial methylated spirits which contains 5% methanol the ingestion of which can easily result in blindness.

My forum name is derived from a misspelling of my first christian name and the initials of my second christian name and surname. My full surname is on these pages somwehere if anyone cares to look - the family was quite well known (and large) in Hucknall early/mid 20th century. I don't know about the current family residences in the town as I've lost contact with everyone but, I have to say that I'm not that much bothered as I didn't get on with many/any of them in my time there. Note: I have just checked in the UK telephone directory and see that there are no telephone users with

Again for what it's worth, there was a Mee family living in Hucknall in the 40s - 60s. I don't recall much about them but I think they had a shop.

Just noticed I put "la Manche" in my earlier post. What I meant to put was English Channel. Apologies.