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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: Jane Masri on Sunday 28 March 10 18:55 BST (UK)
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I heard a door slam not so long ago which reminded me of train doors slamming, something we don't hear anymore, it's all hiss, swish & thump these days :) This got me thinking about other sounds that are no longer with us, the musical 'ting' of a cash register & the old fashioned telephone ring.
Does anyone have other fond memories of bygone sounds?
jane
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Not that I can remember, but I miss (?) the ting before the elevator doors open.
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We old-fashioned people still have telephones that go "ring - ring" !
And even mobiles that go "ring - ring" too! When they're not on "silent".
(I LOATHE "fun" ringtones)
eadaoin
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I think you'd like this web site (http://www.telephonesuk.co.uk/) then ! :)
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Call of the rag-bone man, now mostly replaced by the soft thunk of a charity shop collection bag on the doormat.
The one round our way was very nasal and his call rose from low F (Rag) to middle C (Bone). I've just tried the notes out on OH's piano!
:) Barbara
with 'Nokia tune' on her mobile, I think that will be a nostalgic sound for many people in years to come. I know it's got a proper name but can't think what it is!
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I miss the urgent sound of the old ambulance bell and the old fashioned police car siren. I can hardly tell what's making the noise behind me these days.
Sometimes when I forget that I've put the kettle and the water's cooled I wish I still had the old fashioned whistling kettle to remind me I need a drink ;D
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Have you noticed though that although trains have been electric etc for decades, toddlers still go choo-choo puff puff for a train noise!
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Call of the rag-bone man, now mostly replaced by the soft thunk of a charity shop collection bag on the doormat.
The one round our way was very nasal and his call rose from low F (Rag) to middle C (Bone). I've just tried the notes out on OH's piano!
:) Barbara
with 'Nokia tune' on her mobile, I think that will be a nostalgic sound for many people in years to come. I know it's got a proper name but can't think what it is!
You wouldn't if you lived by me, we get around 5 differents ones a week!!!!! Ranging from the bugle with a shot of 'Any ol iron' to a constant pipping of the horn.
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I can still remember the sound of clogs on the pavements as people went to work in the early mornings in Manchester, and the laughing mill girls going home all covered in the lint from the raw cotton. They were always dressed up in tissue paper and streamers on the Friday before their wedding day and the obligatory gifts which they had to carry through the streets unwrapped were a
chamber pot and a wooden spoon to bang it with.
I was only thinking yesterday after an episode of "Dad`s Army" how we used to hear The Boys` Brigade bugles, The Church Lads` bugles and The Scouts` bugles on Sunday mornings. Life has never been the same since the Scouts went into long trousers!!!!
The Salvation Army bands always came round playing Christmas carols too on Christmas Eve, and collected for the homeless and needy for whom they provided a meal on Christmas day.
How time flies! Viktoria.
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The daily clip clop of the horse drawn milk cart and the one I really miss is the sound of men whistling a happy tune, that's been replaced by the early morning and late night banging of car doors.
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The clattering sound of girls typing and the 'ting' of the typewriter when you moved it to the beginning of the next line.
Carol
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The clattering sound of girls typing and the 'ting' of the typewriter when you moved it to the beginning of the next line.
Carol
I worked in a massive typing pool for a year and there's nothing better than hearing the speed of the competition to get your own speed up ;D
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Wasn't there a song or TV jingle where they incorporated the sound of the keys & the 'ting' at the end? ???
jane
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Wasn't there a song or TV jingle where they incorporated the sound of the keys & the 'ting' at the end? ???
jane
Are You Being Served?
Also did 'Money' by Pink Floyd have the till sound?
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Yes Jane there was a song or tune about typewriters with the "ting" at the end, but I'm dashed if I can remember its' name.
Cuthie
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"The Typewriter" - played by the Strauss Festival Orchestra, Vienna
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2LJ1i7222c
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The Hooter at Gresford Colliery , specially blown on New Years Eve, the roar of the Blast furnace at Brymbo Steelworks, also the orange sky it made at the time. The sewing machines in the Laura Ashley factories before we were all made redundant ( cheap labour overseas)
My Dad shouting me to `get in here NOW`.
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Everytime somebody remembers a byegone sound it triggers a few of my grey cells.
I lived in a port which was extremely busy receiving navy and merchant ships of all nationalities plus our own fishing trawlers. I used to love lying in bed and hearing the different ship's hooters, especially when it was foggy and there was a veritable chorus of responses and I'd guess how large the ship was from it's booming hooter or another's high pitched reply.
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Thanks Rena - enjoyed listening to it again and also enjoyed the Jerry Lewis version.
Cuthie
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The clattering sound of girls typing and the 'ting' of the typewriter when you moved it to the beginning of the next line.
Carol
I worked in a soundproofed cell office, so the non-stop clattering of teleprinters, reading reels of punched tape, wouldn't disturb other office workers in the building... including the typing pool! ;D
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Thanks Rena for that link, I enjoyed watching it & the Jerry Lewis one :)
jane
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My mum saying "go and listen for the fish man", he had a handcart and rang a handbell.
Mazi's OH
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The last time I travelled on a train it still had slam doors. Have British Rail aquired new rolling stock?
No one ever tells me anything ;)
Carole
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We lived beside the river when I was a kid and I used to lie awake in bed at night and listen to the rattle of the machine hammers of the night shift rivetters in the shipyards. I loved all the sounds of the river, the ships sirens,
the 7.25 and then the 7.30 shipyard buzzers. On new years eve the whole river erupted with noise. All gone now, the yards are mostly housing estates,all the big cranes sold off. Very sad
aberdein
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The sound of the two pennies (that's the big old brown ones !) dropping into the phone box as you pressed button A !!
The clip, clip of the garden shears as my dad cut the hedge ...nowadays it would be a mechanical cutter.
And the whirring sound of a push mower as you cut the grass ... I gave mine away when I had acres and needed a ride on ... now I've got a patch about 5 yards by 3, I could use it !
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The sound of the market vendors, all competing with each other and how about the BBC steam radio's intro, "In Town Tonight" yelled out by a newpaper man.
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Yes the call of the Rag and Bone man - "Any old rags? Rags and bones"
I remember one day (I was about 8) he was giving a goldfish for every armful of woollen rags. My mother returned from shopping to find the bath full of goldfish and all our winter woollens gone. :-[
And the sound of the miners hob nailed boots as they came home from a long arduous shift down the pit.
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lol Ebch - how long was it before you could sit down in comfort? ;D
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It must have been quite some time - woollies were handed down in those days :D
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I've just remembered a bygone sound ... by youngest brother crying mwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaarw
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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The one o'clock gun...fired from a cannon situated over in Birkenhead... used to remind me it was time to walk back to school after spending dinner time at home.
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I`ve had one go at this topic already so if it is not too greedy-----the big black kettle was always on the side of hob, just simmering away ready to be put directly over the fire when needed for tea or very hot water. It made a distinctive sound, a gentle soft whistle,not because it was a whistling kettle but it was just the noise the simmering water or perhaps the steam made.So "home"and all that stood for.I can hear it now in recollection.
It is the 36th anniversary of my dad`s death today and so he and "home" are much in my thoughts, with so many lovely memories .
Smells and scents are very evocative too,---my hubby has a stiff back and is smothering himself in linament, the house smells just like home when dad suffered lumbago and reached for the SLOANE`S . Quite moving today.
When the "Bygone sounds " thread comes to an end there could be a "Bygone smells" Viktoria.
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The one o'clock gun...fired from a cannon situated over in Birkenhead... used to remind me it was time to walk back to school after spending dinner time at home.
I remember that. I used to work in various shipping offices in the 1960's down by the Pier Head, Liverpool and to me it signals end of dinner hour and was time to get back to work. Oh happy days :)
Jean
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The peaceful tick ... tock of the clock on the mantelpiece in the kitchen at mum's house.
... and the smell of baked potatoes in the ash pits of her Aga. :)
Paul
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Concorde: I remember it flying over South London when I was at school and then over Berkshire (adult residence) for umpteen years.
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Concorde: I remember it flying over South London when I was at school and then over Berkshire (adult residence) for umpteen years.
Oh Yes!!! I lived in Slough for some years and when the wind was in the right direction I'd get a few nights listening to the planes take off and land at Heathrow. I could always recognise Concord from all of the others. There was something about it you just couldn't mistake.
Paul
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another one from me,
when our daughter brings the granchildren to stay, her 'bygone' sound is "that wretched clock chiming and keeping me awake".
how times change
mazi's oh
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I don't often hear "Coronation Scot" now (signature tune of Paul Temple) but when I do for some reason I always feel safe and sort of contented.
Cuthie :)
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I lived near a railway line, so there was always the sound of steam engines, then diesel, then electric.
Also I miss the clickety-clack of the wheels over the joints in the rail.
Being on the route [ a couple of minutes away] from Manchester airport . I got to recognise and identify each aircraft on sound alone.
The sound of the family's Austin 7, 'Little Puddle Jumper'.
Telephones? I miss the sound of the old fashioned dial.
The tune they played before the football results on the radio.
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If you like Salvation Army Bands the put this site in your collection and spend an hour or two (or more) ........ good stuff ....... I remember the sallies playing outside the pub next door quite often ... brilliant musicians;
http://www.regalzonophone.com/Selected%20Playlist%20-%20International%20Congress.htm
enjoy,
joboy
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The ker-ching of the old cash registers :)
I can't abide the endless beep..beep..beep...beep when at the supermarket, nowadays.
Our world has become a cacophony of beeps!!
What sounds will future generations get nostalgic over I wonder?
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Many thanks joboy, that was lovely. My mother -in-law was a Salvationist and two of her grandchildren played in the band at Star Hall Manchester.
I love brass bands, thoroughly enjoyed the programme about the revival of Dinnngton Colliery Band.
My grandad was bandmaster of a Church band in Collyhurst M/C and played for a while in Culcheth Military Band Oh what bliss on Whit Monday!-------those were the days. Viktoria
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I too enjoyed the programme about Dinnington Colliery Band's revival and was so pleased to hear them "keep up" with the Post Horn Gallop. I conducted a Male Voice Choir for just under 20 years prior to retiring and many a rousing concert we had with various brass bands, including the Salvation Army.
Cuthie
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We have so many remembered sounds and hope 3 isn't too many? :)
When attending the infant's school together 1941-3 a German Plane flew over and the teacher's whistles all blew at the same time, while us children scurried down to the air-raid shelters.
Also during WW2 we could hear Steam Hammers forging Anchors for Warships, the same ones had made them for HMS Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary and The Titanic.
A vivid one my wife has when a child, a large piece of hot shrapnel from 'friendly' anti-aircraft guns near where we lived came crashing through her neighbour's roof.
It landed on the baby's cot, but she had begun to cry so much her Mum had taken her to their own bed just before. And apparently, she rarely ever cried at night!
The house is still there with it's repaired roof, but not the baby as she is a Grandmother now. ;D We are still in touch with her by the way.
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Midlanders post reminded me of, not so much bygone sounds but bygone tastes. My mother who was bombed out during the war would tell me that whenever she heard air-raid sirens (many years after the incident) she would get the taste of lime in her mouth...possibly from bombed masonary :-\
jane
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Midlander's post also reminded me of one evening at a family gathering at Christmas. The gaiety stopped when the adults heard the approaching whistling of a doodlebug. All faces turned towards the sound, sighs of relief when it whistled over the house and then there was sudden silence, a pause and then a 'crump'. The adults guaged that it had flown over all the houses and would have landed in a field and that's what we discovered next morning when we joined other curious neighbours walking along the road to see if all the houses were standing.
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The cry of "Harwich shrimps" as the vendor cycled all over Ipswich selling them by the pint from a large basket. One day my cousin, who was about 11 at the time, used her pocket money to treat herself to a pint of shrimps. She took them in and, looking forward to her feast, spent a very long time carefully shelling them and placing the plump pink shrimps into a bowl. Finally finished, she went to the kitchen to get some vinegar. She was only gone for a moment but when she returned, all that remained was an empty bowl - the dog had eaten every one.
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aw greensleeves I feel for your cousin losing the treat! Until the last couple of decades every pub I've ever frequented across the country used to have a shrimp seller come in and sell his wares to the customers on a weekend. There was another caller in the pubs and that was the Salvation Army girl selling "War Cry".
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The clattering sound of girls typing and the 'ting' of the typewriter when you moved it to the beginning of the next line.
Carol
Did someone do this one yet?
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/803796/the_typewriter_song/
Leonie.
:-[ yes they did. :D
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The sound of the ice cream man's hand bell, before they got the little black box that played Greensleeves. ;D
Also the sound of the railway crossing gate bells at 7:45 AM when I was still two minutes from the station. :o Late for work again. ::)
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Can't resist writing here again, but keep it brief this time. :)
VE and VJ night 1945, joyful chorus of songs with our parents and neighbours standing around a huge bonfire, middle of 'circle' down the road. (For tradesmen's horses & carts to turn round). Magic moments.
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I miss the urgent sound of the old ambulance bell and the old fashioned police car siren. I can hardly tell what's making the noise behind me these days.
Sometimes when I forget that I've put the kettle and the water's cooled I wish I still had the old fashioned whistling kettle to remind me I need a drink ;D
Exactly the 2 i was thinking of, what i used to call "Nee-Nah" cars and the whistle of my nans kettle :)
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Air raid sirens ( I wasn't born in the war!) , but local factories ( in some swansea areas ) in the 1970's/1980's used to use the old air raid sirens for knocking off work- you could hear them for miles. I grew up with the sirens as a child, the noise used to scare me . I think in recent years they have stopped using the old air raid sirens as they scared so many people
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Air raid sirens scare me, and I wasn't born until 1948 ! There's just something about them which puts chills down my spine !
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Our cyclone warning sirens on the radio. Not allowed to use them any more, they frighten the tourists. ::)
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I know i'm a bit of a youngster for this thread but i remember the noise of the engine of an RT or Routemaster sitting at the bus stop.
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The tune they played before the football results on the radio.
They still use that tune http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Gtl85_8jmI
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This is an update of an earlier post regarding Brass Bands.
These old Regal Zonophone records are brilliant and should be in the library of anyone who likes this music;
http://www.regalzonophone.com/
Tell me what you think of it.
Joe
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Thankyou,
I have just enjoyed a good while listening to that .The carols especially took me back, to the days when The Salvation Army used to come round on Christmas Eve and played and sang carols.T hey accepted donations and made sure many homeless and vagrant people would have a hot Christmas dinner and shelter for Christmas at least.
They did ,and still do splendid work among the homeless.Sadly it is probably too dangerous to go through the dark streets collecting money these days. Sign of the times.!
Thanks again. Viktoria.
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The peaceful tick ... tock of the clock on the mantelpiece in the kitchen at mum's house.
... and the smell of baked potatoes in the ash pits of her Aga. :)
and the Westminster chime of my Granny's clock - time seemed to stand still in her front room, and it was almost as if I stepped back to pre-war days.
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I remember Listen with mother, and the Dolly Suite. that introduced it, can recal listening with my mother,and it was still going when I started teaching in the late 60s.
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Oohh!! If we're allowed to mention TV programs then:
Fireball XL5, Anything can happen in the next half hour, Thunderbirds are Go!, Andy Pandy and Teddy, The Clangers, Bill and Ben the flowerpot men, Hectors House, Joe 90.
Phew ...
and hiding behind the sofa when the Cybermen were on ...
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The Rag and Bone man 'Raegbone! Anyoleraegbone!'.
Jim Bugby with his barrel organ.
The 'All Clear' siren. That was the signal for us kids to make for the fire station at top speed to watch the engine go out. We had a 'retained' (ie part-time) fire service. Almost all of the firemen worked in the shoe factories where the noise of the machinery meant the siren could not be heard, so any man outside would shout back into the factory. The fireman would instantly leave his machine and either run or cycle to the fire station. If you happened to be nearby, men would be coming from all directions, flinging down their cycles as they raced into the building. The engine could get out within five minutes of the siren sounding, and the firemen would be pulling on their overalls, boots and coats as they raced along the street, often followed by a flock of boys on bikes. One man would stay behind to take the cycles inside and make sure all was secure.
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I heard a door slam not so long ago which reminded me of train doors slamming, something we don't hear anymore, it's all hiss, swish & thump these days :) This got me thinking about other sounds that are no longer with us, the musical 'ting' of a cash register & the old fashioned telephone ring.
Does anyone have other fond memories of bygone sounds?
jane
I miss the sound of the fog-horn on misty mornings.
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Air raid sirens-- very scary----the one that i liked was the 'All clear' one ;D poli
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The market traders calling out their wares - I particularly loved the one who called out "Home made Toffee". He sold trays of delicious toffee which he bashed into odd-shaped pieces that poked into the side of your mouth as you chewed them. I've still got an old toffee hammer, which nowadays gets used for all kinds of jobs, but not for breaking up toffee - daren't eat it now in case it pulls my fillings out!
Gillg
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The milk float and the chink of the bottles placed on steps in the very early hours of the morning, when you knew you could turn over and have another sleep.
Actually, we do still have a milkman who comes down our road to visit a couple of houses. Until fairly recently he did use an electric float and I would occasionally hear it at about 3am, and it would take me right back to my childhood. Unfortunately he now uses a 4x4 which doesn't have the same effect!
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The milk float and the chink of the bottles placed on steps in the very early hours of the morning, when you knew you could turn over and have another sleep.
Actually, we do still have a milkman who comes down our road to visit a couple of houses. Until fairly recently he did use an electric float and I would occasionally hear it at about 3am, and it would take me right back to my childhood. Unfortunately he now uses a 4x4 which doesn't have the same effect!
I miss the electric float too. We lived near the Co-op dairy, so that was a familiar sound. Takes me right back {sigh}
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The milk float and the chink of the bottles placed on steps in the very early hours of the morning, when you knew you could turn over and have another sleep.
Actually, we do still have a milkman who comes down our road to visit a couple of houses. Until fairly recently he did use an electric float and I would occasionally hear it at about 3am, and it would take me right back to my childhood. Unfortunately he now uses a 4x4 which doesn't have the same effect!
I miss the electric float too. We lived near the Co-op dairy, so that was a familiar sound. Takes me right back {sigh}
Oh yes, as a farm-reared child that holds special memories of spending holidays with my grandparents who lived in a village on main road. How strange it was to lie awake at night with the light from the street shining in through the window, and then in the early hours of the morning to hear the milk lorry coming along, with the click as milk was left on each doorstep. But best of all was the sound of the icecream van - a very special treat in the days before freezers and supermarkets!
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As a child we lived across from what we would now call a rural farm, farm house but no animals.
The cows were kept on fields down the road, brought in for milking the sound of their hooves on the cobbled road, the sound of the cockerall about 05.00 in the morning.
Brian
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A sound you don't hear any more is a back-firing car, very seldom squealing brakes.
You don't hear CB radios blaring out of cars and lorries.
You don't hear "How do you do?" any more.
You don't hear the sound of the telex machine, or the clicking sound through the earpiece when you phone somebody up.
You don't hear your television creaking any more.
You don't hear the radio hiss or pick up a foreign radio station any more.
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Not sure if anyone has mentioned this before but you don't hear men whistling too much these days. Both my dad & grandad would whistle a happy tune whenever they were concentrating on the task in hand or walking along the street :) Maybe the advent of Walkmans & IPods killed that particular talent off :(
Jane
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Byegone sounds? The wag in me wants to offer up the words "please" and "thank you"! :)
Anyhow, what about the call of street newspaper sellers? In Belfast, they used to shout "Sixth Tele" (late version of the Belfast Telegraph) up to about 20 years ago, now it seems to have disappeared.
And what about the high-pitched whistle of the TV after the National Anthem had played and the screen disappeared into a little white dot?
And the sound of car engine starters turning over and over and over (and over) on winter mornings.
A personal one I'll miss is the gentle humming / clicking sound of the linen factory near our house when I was a child in the 1960s, it worked a night shift and the noise of the spinning machines when going to sleep became a comfort.
And cherish some of the sounds while you have them! I have a neighbour who is a keen gardener and until recently used a 1960s Qualcast Panther lawnmower to produce a stripey lawn and clippers to cut his privet hedge. Now I'm left with the sound of powertools!
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What about the very slight sound the needle used to make when you placed it down on a vinyl record? I can't really describe it - but I can hear it just thinking about it now!
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The sound of the bell on the ice cream mans bike. His bike had the ice cream on the front in a box.
Trish