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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: Treetotal on Saturday 29 October 22 14:08 BST (UK)
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The roads were quieter with less traffic and Sundays were for Family days out and the shops were closed!!
No pavement cyclists, electric scooters sharing the pavements.
Happy Days ;D
I found this posters in a bag of donated albums, thank heavens for hoarders, without them there would be a dearth of items of Social History for us to learn from.
Edited: I seemed to have caused offence where non was intended
Carol
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You would be happier if people on mobility scooters stayed indoors as they had to in "the good old days"?
rayard.
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No....they have their independence and are not in a wheelchair without access to shops and public buildings, that's progress.
Just a comment on comparison of then and now, not a criticism and no offence intended, most of them are polite anyway.
Carol
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I just am thankful I do not need a mobility scooter.
Anything that helps with convenience and a measure of independence is to be encouraged .
So occasionally we able bodied are a trifle inconvenienced ,by comparison trifle is the operative word !
As has been said people with mobility problems are most grateful especially if we just allow them some independence.
Attitudes have thankfully changed ,no one has the right to limit another person’s best attempts to some some ordinary life with its varied activities
including independence.
It is not always helpful to be over helpful,let the person with mobility problems decide for themselves ,their intelligence is not affected by less mobility than we are fortunate to take for granted .
Viktoria.
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How strange...I posted a leaflet on what I thought was interesting information on the accident rate, in 1948 compared to todays congested roads and accident figures, not a debate about mobility scooters. :-\
Carol
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How very sad that there are those amongst us who have to "nit pick". :'( :'(
AND you definitely don't want to know my thoughts on SOME electric or mobility scooter operatives :-X :-X :-X
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Most interesting Carol, thank you.
Like you I can’t quite see how mobility scooters come into it :-\
National Pedestrian Crossing Week is a new one to me.
Here’s a link to a 1949 film about it https://www.rootschat.com/links/01rwd/
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Most interesting Carol, thank you.
Like you I can’t quite see how mobility scooters come into it :-\
National Pedestrian Crossing Week is a new one to me.
Here’s a link to a 1949 film about it https://www.rootschat.com/links/01rwd/
Ooh,
did anyone notice the lady giving the little boy a gentle cuff round the ear ;D ;D
Mike
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Thank you Carol. that is really interesting. :)
I can't see where mobility scooters come into it either. :-\. Perhaps a misunderstanding of 'electric scooters' that are mentioned which can be such a menace on our footpaths as well as being illegal in most of the country.
Was the little boy you Mike ;D. Sorry I was not thinking you are much too young to be in a 1949 film.
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Hmmmm the link I posted via my iPad doesn't seem to work on my computer, perhaps this one is better.
https://www.britishpathe.com/video/VLVAB3GNWF5FXVADHEHM6OUUA76IV-NATIONAL-PEDESTRIAN-CROSSING-WEEK-EMPHASIZES-SAFETY-IN-CROSSING/query/wildcard
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For reference the original unedited post contained comment about mobility scooters on the pavement, it is now removed.
rayard.
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Carol, this is all rather fascinating.
I just found this (rather tedious) 1949 parliamentary question in the House of Lords about the Pedestrian Crossing Week referred to in your snip, and apparently among other things, elephants were used to publicise it :-\
......Pedestrian Crossing Week, a week which, as noble Lords no doubt have noticed, has started in certain areas with the spirit of carnival, supported by elephants and other animals.
https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1949/apr/06/use-of-pedestrian-crossings
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Thank you Carol. that is really interesting. :)
I can't see where mobility scooters come into it either. :-\. Perhaps a misunderstanding of 'electric scooters' that are mentioned which can be such a menace on our footpaths as well as being illegal in most of the country.
Was the little boy you Mike ;D. Sorry I was not thinking you are much too young to be in a 1949 film.
It could easily have been me, I was eight and a half then. ;)
Incidentally who remembers policemen on point duty, one major junction in the centre of town had a white box for them to stand in.
I remember him stopping all four lanes of traffic to remonstrate with me on my bike as I sneakily turned left, hoping he would not notice.
Mike
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I've never seen a mobility scooter; not sure I know what one is. I could sure do without motorcyclists who think that the way to deal with one-way streets is to drive on the sidewalk, though. It's illegal, of course, but it's the standard Ecuadorian practice and the cops pay no attention to it. I live in a neighborhood that is a maze of one-way streets and I've nearly been wiped out several times.
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Incidentally who remembers policemen on point duty, one major junction in the centre of town had a white box for them to stand in.
This famous one in the centre of Durham controlled the traffic approaching the Market Place from three different directions https://www.durhamnarpo.org.uk/2013/01/pc-bob-bell-durham-market-place-about.html
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Crikey - how did anyone even notice the policeman, never mind take notice of his instructions?
Back to the electric vehicles - on holiday in the south of France this spring/summer, we were on a fairly quiet campsite BUT there was at least one electrically-operated vehicle - manned by young children - which sped around the site totally unsupervised :o
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Crikey - how did anyone even notice the policeman, never mind take notice of his instructions?
He controlled the traffic lights some distance away on the narrow approach roads.
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Many thanks - at that time I was living in a small village in rural Cheshire, so I have very little knowledge of life in towns and cities. I did visit my grandmother in Halifax in the early/mid-1950's and was then taken to Morecambe for a couple of weeks. Horrendous thought now, but my mother would take me to Manchester and put me on a bus to Halifax, telling the driver that I would be collected! :o
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"my mother would take me to Manchester and put me on a bus to Halifax, telling the driver that I would be collected!"
My mother did the same thing. When I was three or four, she'd put me on a bus and send me across town where my aunt would be waiting at Ken's Corner Store to pick me up.
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Manchester to Halifax is at least 23 miles, not "across town" !! BUT I survived. :)
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Across town was about ten miles - it was a township, not a village.
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I survived quite a few journeys unaccompanied from Manchester to Shrewsbury by train aged eight .
About 80 miles by road, not sure of the length of the train journey.
Viktoria.
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Crikey - how did anyone even notice the policeman, never mind take notice of his instructions?
Back to the electric vehicles - on holiday in the south of France this spring/summer, we were on a fairly quiet campsite BUT there was at least one electrically-operated vehicle - manned by young children - which sped around the site totally unsupervised :o
I remember policeman on "Point Duty" at busy junctions, they were on a raised platform in a square box and the policeman wore white gloves. They held up one hand to stop the traffic whilst waving the traffic on with the other.
Carol
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I was just reminiscing yesterday about the cycles our family had from the 1940s onwards. We lived in very flat terrain and at peak hours the roads heaved with pedal power.
(" ... According to Hull's Streetlife Museum, 100,000 people in the city still rode regularly in the early 1950s – one third of the population. ...")
My first real bicycle was a small gents rusty cycle, which was a bit too large for me so I had to set off with my foot on the kerb and stop near the kerb, unless I wanted to do myself an injury lol.
By the mid 1940s instead of walking to visit relatives, I had a new "Rudge" cycle, my mother also had a new cycle with a baby seat at the back and my father had added a seat onto his crossbar for my brother Gordon to sit on. I don't ever recall cleaning the old rusty cycle, but one of my Saturday jobs was to clean my own, plus my father's, cycle. I have the newspaper advert where both my mother's and my bicycle were offered for for sale for the princely sum of £7.10s.. That was the end of my mother's cycling days but my cycle was replaced by a gold coloured straight handlebar "Sun" cycle. The "special" thing about that cycle was that I could turn the handlebars upside down and have a half drop handlebar, plus I could turn the back wheel around so that when I stopped pedalling the bike stopped = no need to use the hand brakes. I must have been standing in manure because by the time I went to the "big" school two miles away I needed a bike that wasn't too small. My final bicycle that I didn't outgrow was a speedy, drop handlebar, purple coloured lightweight Raleigh Sovereign with Sturmey-Archer gears and very narrow wheels = . :D ::) I got to know the backs of buses and no bus could leave me behind ;D When I eventually left school for an office, my dad took 20 minutes to get to the same office, that I cycled to in 12 minutes flat.
When I was about nine/ten years old, my younger brother and I were quite bored and asked if we could cycle to the seaside, which was about 22 miles away on the other side of the town. The answer was "Yes, be careful", the one drawback was that our six year old brother heard the conversation and he wanted to come with us. We three cycled along empty roads, a bottle of water and jam sandwiches in the saddlebag, with me on my dad's large green cycle, Gordon on my bike and in between us being pushed (!) was the pest sitting on the rusty bike. Every couple of minutes Gordon and I would shout that he wasn't peddling - he must have been dog tired poor little thing. lol
Oh to be a kid again, doing what we did again.
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That brings to mind a day a mate and I cycled from Faversham to Sittingbourne.
At one point there was a long decent and assent, a good "big dipper"
As we were going down, on the way home,we were pulled over by a policeman, for doing more than the posted speed limit :o :o :o
I cannot remember what the speed limit was, but we both were very chuffed at
a) being able to do that speed, and
b) being pulled over :P ;D
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I remember policeman on "Point Duty" at busy junctions, they were on a raised platform in a square box and the policeman wore white gloves. They held up one hand to stop the traffic whilst waving the traffic on with the other.
I can remember the same in Scotland as a kid (1960s), makes me feel so old now!
Annie
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Interesting - thanks for sharing, Carol.
I love the artwork too.
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Interesting - thanks for sharing, Carol.
I love the artwork too.
You prompted me to have a closer look.
Did you notice the naughty pillion passenger apparently kissing the driver? I don't know what's the matter with young people today....... :-X
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Have I ever driven the wrong way down a one way street???
Back in the 70s, I was driving, overnight, from just south of Manchester to Hampshire. About 01.00 in the morning I arrived on the outskirts of Oxford and decidd to drive through the town rather than round th bypass. I found my way nto the middle easily enough but I simply couldn’t find any way out again.
I pulled up next to a plod, explained my predicament and asked him how I could head south. ”Difficult”, he said. “You see that one way street over there, drive down it the wrong way and just keep going. If the police car at the far end stops you, tell him I told you to do it.”
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When I was a teenager, and we bought me a new bike on hire purchase, my mother had to get her brother to guarantee the loan, as we had never used credit. The bike cost £25 in about 1963.
Going further back, that same uncle had a tale of his youth when he and a friend cycled from East Kent to Maidenhead, Berkshire to visit an aunt. The trouble was that only my uncle had a decent bike, the other boy's was rather decrepit, so they took turns to ride the good one.
My son kept up the tradition - when he was studying at Norwich in the 90s, he cycled back to Kent. His problem was the Thames crossing - no bikes allowed, so the crossing police took him over in their vehicle!
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When I was learning to drive, you had to be able to describe the signals given by a policeman on point duty, and to signal your intention of, say, going straight on.
I'm sure these things were still in the Highway Code well after point duty became history.
My mum and friends were great cyclists just after the war. If they were setting out having worked Saturday morning, they would do a "short" ride - to Southport, 30 miles away, but with few hills. New Brighton and Chester, each about 45 miles away, were common destinations. If they were feeling energetic, Rhyl was only 70 miles from home.
Returning the same day, of course. All on a second-hand bike without the benefit of gears!
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I sometimes think we could do with a "straight on" signal at a junction near here. Relatively minor roads, but much used locally, one classed as the major road, but the ones joining or crossing it carry nearly as many vehicles.
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That brings to mind a day a mate and I cycled from Faversham to Sittingbourne.
At one point there was a long decent and assent, a good "big dipper"
As we were going down, on the way home,we were pulled over by a policeman, for doing more than the posted speed limit :o :o :o
I cannot remember what the speed limit was, but we both were very chuffed at
a) being able to do that speed, and
b) being pulled over :P ;D
You must have been good! You've reminded me back in the 1940s when our dad bought an old banger so that he could take the family out into the countryside at the weekend. We were chugging up Skidby Hill, which was a one in 10 hill, when a large group of male cyclists shot passed us. I looked at the milometer and saw we were going as fast as the car would allow at 25 mph., "Put your foot down Dad. Pass them Dad" was the chorus from the back seat
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I remember coming home from work one evening. The route I used was used by quite a few recreational cyclists.
The speed limit went from 30 to 40, and I came upon one such keeping up about 38 mph.
Not having the chance to pass him, I noticed his calf muscles. Most peoples' calves are rounded; his showed defined muscles, and he was using them.
Only when the limit upped to 60 did I get a chance to overtake, and then I noticed the distinctive sideburns.
Bradley Wiggins heading home!
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thanks for sharing Carol
before my time but i did have experience of driving a double de clutch car which was practically an antique at the time . An extra difficulty for a new driver. It was a Ford .
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When my ancestor moved from Norwich to London in about 1780, the journey would probably have taken about 16 hours if across land. (He may have gone by sea though, up the river Yare to Yarmouth then down the Suffolk and Essex coast to London). By 1816 the horse and cart trip from Norwich to Liverpool Street took about 14 hours. Hence why travelling today is a breeze compared to back then, but people did it if they wanted to find work.
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I wonder if Pedestrian Crossing Week actually worked. The figures shown are pretty static from year to year.
Were the accident figures for 1949 and 1950 better?
Remember that those numbers are just for Hull! Certainly, the current figures are much improved, or we would have Hull mentioned every day in the national news.
We seem to have learned a fair bit since then. What do you reckon has had most effect? Some ideas:
- Car design - more pedestrian-friendly bodywork
- Car design - safety cells, seatbelts and airbags to protect the occupants
- Road design - better separation of vehicles and pedestrians
- Speed limits
- Drink-driving laws
- MOT tests to ensure roadworthiness
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All those probably, though I am not sure about road design. Car occupant safety will be even better when they get round to designing car interiors around women as well as men. I heard that one company is just trying out a female crash test dummy.
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I remember coming home from work one evening. The route I used was used by quite a few recreational cyclists.
The speed limit went from 30 to 40, and I came upon one such keeping up about 38 mph.
Not having the chance to pass him, I noticed his calf muscles. Most peoples' calves are rounded; his showed defined muscles, and he was using them.
Only when the limit upped to 60 did I get a chance to overtake, and then I noticed the distinctive sideburns.
Bradley Wiggins heading home!
Bradley spent some time in a flat above the local barbers just down the road from here - you could often see the pile of freshly launderd GB jerseys in the window! Rob Hales also lived a few miles away and I assume he got sick of people asking to see his olympic medals so he humg them in the front room window.
A late friend of mine was cycling in the Cheshire lanes a number of years ago when she overtook an old chap travelling slowly. She wished him good morning, as cyclists do, and then reallised she’d just said hello to Reg Harris.
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Reg Harris - now there's a name to remember (especially if you're married to an ex-cyclist) plus of course Bradley Wiggins, Tom Simpson, etc. etc. etc. OH was a racing cyclist from the 1950's onwards - we still have his BLRC (British League of Racing Cyclists) metal badge.
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Reg Harris - now there's a name to remember (especially if you're married to an ex-cyclist) plus of course Bradley Wiggins, Tom Simpson, etc. etc. etc. OH was a racing cyclist from the 1950's onwards - we still have his BLRC (British League of Racing Cyclists) metal badge.
I'm sure you know of Brian Robinson, who lived just up the road from me (I went to school with his daughter) and who died last week. Obituary here https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/more-sports/obituary-brian-robinson-the-first-of-his-kind/ar-AA13wcJr (https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/more-sports/obituary-brian-robinson-the-first-of-his-kind/ar-AA13wcJr)
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Yes, OH did know him.
AND we do have a photograph of OH racing against Jacques Anquetil - IoM back in the 1950's.
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Interesting - thanks for sharing, Carol.
I love the artwork too.
You prompted me to have a closer look.
Did you notice the naughty pillion passenger apparently kissing the driver? I don't know what's the matter with young people today....... :-X
No I didn't notice that Jen ;D
Carol
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No one ever mentions the "Green Cross Code" these days, I don't know if if is still mentioned in schools.
I do remember my Mother telling me to "only cross the road at the Belisha Beacons"
Also our two children wore orange arm bands with reflective lights in the winter months.
Carol
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We had school crossing ladies who were stationed at points near the schools where children would have to cross a major street. I did not have to cross the main street to get to school. Usually I took a short cut along the railroad tracks and entered the school grounds from the back. But I knew the crossing lady, Mrs. Perlman - she had bright red hair and so did her daughter who was a pupil at the school.
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No one ever mentions the "Green Cross Code" these days, I don't know if if is still mentioned in schools.
No, the Green Cross Code went the same way as the Tufty Club and the Kerb Drill.
David Prowse, who was the Green Cross Code man in the adverts was also the actor who played Darth Vader in Star Wars (although they dubbed a different actor's voice on because they didn't think his West country burr was menacing enough. He died a couple of years ago.
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The Tufty Club.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVfH2TfArpY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVfH2TfArpY)
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Aw, thanks for that Mike, really interesting. That link to the Tufty Club was great to see too. My youger Brother had a red pedal car ;D
Carol
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I sometimes find myself muttering "Look right, look left, look right again -". Oddly this is usually when I am driving out of a particular junction. ???
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You are probably looking out for the Mum, pushing a pushchair with one hand and reading a text message on her mobile phone with the other, expecting drivers to watch out and avoid her :( ;D ;D ;D
Carol
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No one ever mentions the "Green Cross Code" these days, I don't know if if is still mentioned in schools.
I do remember my Mother telling me to "only cross the road at the Belisha Beacons"
Also our two children wore orange arm bands with reflective lights in the winter months.
Carol
I don't know what children are taught these days, but I do know that teenagers dressed all in black don't realise how invisible they are on some roads where trees obscure the street lighting. I'm now retired but each evening I'd drive home with nothing in front of me, then would see a ghostly white "moon" hovering about a metre above the road.
The "moon" would be the face of a teenager crossing the main road, who casually looked to see if any vehicle was driving along the road towards him/her
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teenagers dressed all in black don't realise how invisible they are
Mum told me about the time when she and dad were driving home in the dark. One chap on a bike was narrowly avoided only because he had polished his shoes.
Whatever makes cyclists think that lights don't matter?
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teenagers dressed all in black don't realise how invisible they are on some roads where trees obscure the street lighting.
Why do you single out teenagers?
My experience on the tree lined and poorly lit road leading to mine is that it’s most definitely people of ALL ages in dark clothing who don’t realise how invisible they are.
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teenagers dressed all in black don't realise how invisible they are on some roads where trees obscure the street lighting.
Why do you single out teenagers?
My experience on the tree lined and poorly lit road leading to mine is that it’s most definitely people of ALL ages in dark clothing who don’t realise how invisible they are.
Your experience is your experience.
My experience happened because I drove along roads every weekday, when teenagers were leaving school and adults were either still at work or at home.
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It tends to be teenagers here, as they are walking from the school buses. On the whole adults don't walk, they drive! Narrow village street, no lights, no pavement, black school uniforms, often on the wrong side of the road.
I was taught by my grandfather, b 1884, to walk facing the on-coming traffic, and I am almost incapable of walking on the wrong side.
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teenagers dressed all in black don't realise how invisible they are
Mum told me about the time when she and dad were driving home in the dark. One chap on a bike was narrowly avoided only because he had polished his shoes.
Whatever makes cyclists think that lights don't matter?
When I was a teenager the engineering company that my family worked for moved into the country and we moved house to be near the factory.
I had a pal at the factory and she and I would cycle to the coast to a way out place named Tunstall, where we walked through the field where skylarks would fly up into the air to distract us from their nests,. We'd have a swim and cycle back home again. One particular day the sky darkened and the heavens opened when we were halfway home. In those days our headlamp and backlight were powered by a dynamo pressed against the rim of the back wheel. For some reason my dynamo refused to light either of my lights so we rode two abreast with my pal cycling on the outside to protect me from any other traffic on the road.
As luck would have it the village bobby was out and about being vigilant on the outskirts of the village. He made sure that I got off my bike and walk the rest of the way home. I did as I was told but as there were no pavements I couldn't see his reasoning because my pal would still want to protect me but her lights wouldn't work if she cycled along at walking pace.
I think he probably had a hat on with the word "Jobsworth" printed on the front ;D
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It tends to be teenagers here, as they are walking from the school buses. On the whole adults don't walk, they drive! Narrow village street, no lights, no pavement, black school uniforms, often on the wrong side of the road.
I was taught by my grandfather, b 1884, to walk facing the on-coming traffic, and I am almost incapable of walking on the wrong side.
Ditto TotH and I did the same with my children and grandchildren