He Were Shoutin' Dead Loud !


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just got in from doing a spot of xmas shopping yesterday, and restin' me feet, when.. what should I hear outside but a chap bellowing at the top of his voice..

"any rag bone.. aaany rag bone"

now I ain't heard this for years, and it took me straigh back to the fifties when the rag and bone man would be a regular visitor to the streets..( any rag bone - goldfish for rags! ) :blink:

now.. either there's been a massive upsurge in the price of junk, or times have become that desperate that they've had to resort to this.. ;)

either way it was very nostalgic! :rolleyes:

nodoubt if I'd have gone out and offered him a few old T shirts and a chicken carcase there would have been some verbal contretemps.. :angry:

I would hazard a guess that what he really wanted, and what he was really inferring was..

"any scrap gold" "any gold rings" "aaany gold chains" ?! :P

ilko.

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Going back to the early fifties, me ode grandad was a 'general dealer' he had a horse and cart very similar to that one in the last picture..

the horse he kept at the back of Skills on Alfreton road, I can see it now, a lovely placid off-white stallion..

I remember once being taken on the cart when I was around 4or5 years old, sitting at the back whilst he did his rounds, the location as I remember being at the top of Mapperly plains, so he must have travelled some during the day..

it was all exciting stuff at the time! :)

ilko.

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The chap with the bike is probably the same one as I remember too, he was tall, thick set, and had longish dark hair..

I reckon it was the same man that travelled round Ilkeston, and he might have even lived up here as well..

he'd be well into his late 70s nowadays, but its only a matter of about 5/6 years ago I last saw him walking in the precinct, wearing his old gabardine raincoat and scarf..

always pleasant and well mannered when he came to the door, you felt a bit sorry for him, and would give him a knife or a pair of scissors to be sharpened..

but trying to use the scissors afterwards was another tale

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  • 8 years later...

Our Rag and Bone man these days seems to have been replaced by an Old White Lorry and a taped recording of Any Old Iron followed by an unmelodious blast on a trumpet,it caused complaints a while back as it is seven days a week and must disturb some shift workers,if it wasn't for that it would be comical because you find yourselves singing along with it,Woe be tide if you leave anything out side that can be misconstrued as rubbish as when he comes round it will go.I'm pretty sure there are no goldfish involved or if he would take old clothes,It does come in handy to get rid of you'r junk.

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