What do you remember- seems impossible now

[cati]

if you made a typo, you weren't allowed to correct it - if you couldn't fix it without any hint of a trace of what you had done, you had to type the whole document again.

I remember working with a lady who told similar stories - apparently she got very good with a razor blade - scraping the typo off the surface of the parchment - health & safety would have a fit these days!!

You got an even better result if, after you'd scraped the typo off, you polished the surface of the paper with your wedding ring!


I went to an illustrated talk by a Friend of the local living museum last night: I was probably the youngest there, but I seemed to be the only one who was prepared to admit 'I used to do that!'  Clearly advancing years, as I can remembering cleaning a black lead grate....

[Winterbloom21]

Wedding ring, eh?     Well, I bet that was one of the things the Senior Secretary kept to herself - she was the only one qualified to use one of those!

I remember a lovely thing from another firm I worked for in London.    You know how these days if you even have an office Christmas do, it involves copious drinks in the pub followed by a meal in a local Italian or Tandoori, if if you're lucky?   All of it funded by the participants?       Well, in the early seventies I worked for one of the biggest firms of solicitors in London.       Every six months they gave everyone on the staff a bonus of 10% of their salary and at Christmas they hired the ballroom at the Dorchester, complete with Joe Loss or a similar band, for a five course all inclusive dinner and dance.    They even hired rooms in another hotel nearby so that we could go there after work and doll ourselves up properly in our evening dresses.    Everything was paid for by the partners.  Ah, those were the days!

[billkent]

Before the war there was a man with a horse and cart with a small roundabout which was geared to the axle and turned when the cart moved, we called him 'the jamjar man', he would call out "jamjar a ride" we kids would dash out with our jamjars and get a ride on the roundabout about a hundred yards up the road, he sold them back to Robertsons jam factory in Catford for a ha'penny each.

[Ermintrude46]

Robertsons jam factory in Catford

I was brought up just down the road from there, the smell of warm strawberry jam takes me right back to my school days.
Ermy

[billkent]

I remember that smell Ermy, wonder what became of the huge Golly on the wall outside the factory.

Bill.

[LizzieW]

apparently she got very good with a razor blade - scraping the typo off

We were shown how to do that in typing class.  So much easier now with a computer, no excuse for typing errors.

Lizzie

[LizzieW]

One thing we used to do that would be impossible today for various reasons, not just health and safety.

We'd wait on the station platform until the train (steam) arrived and then the driver would lift us into the engine cabin, where we were allowed to throw coal into the engine and when the train was about to depart, we could pull the whistle, before being lifted back out of the cabin.

Another thing we did that was harmless, but would seem odd today, was go and sit with the old men at the park, or just play around them.  They would keep their eyes on us and we would talk to them, which they enjoyed.

Lizzie

[Roger in Sussex]

I remember when the Science Museum in London had a TV running in the entrance area so that country bumpkins like myself could stand and marvel at the wonderful machine, black and white of course!

[janan]

I remember when the Science Museum in London had a TV running in the entrance area so that country bumpkins like myself could stand and marvel at the wonderful machine, black and white of course!

And I remember it had an automatic door as an exhibit - as a small child I found it very exciting to walk through

Jan