How's This For Nostalgia?

Aunt Bea, how true that photo of today's phone culture has become.

Has anyone ever been to the Henley-Royal-Regatta? Not much has changed over time.

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So reassuring that some things survive.
It's much the same at The Goodwood Revival.

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Never went to the Regatta but am a subscriber to its YouTube channel:



HenleyRoyalRegatta - YouTube




One of my fave channel on that site. The chat we have on its race days are among the finest online chats I have ever had. Wonderful folks post there. Hopefully, the HRR will return soon.
 

What a fabulous thread, I have so many cherished memories that this thread could be my calling card.

About a couple of years before the pandemic I was at a vintage inspired festival. A friend was painstakingly trying to talk me through how to connect a smart phone to the internet. He failed miserably, but he did show me, on his internet connect phone, a wonderful photo from a hundred years ago. I scribbled down the website, then once back home, I looked it up. Here you go:
View attachment 159101
What really struck me was the fellow's shoes.
Have you ever seen such a striking pair of shoes?
No, me neither, but I know an artisan, a very skilled artisan.
One phone call later and dictating the website over the phone,
he texted me back with the message: No problem:
Is he an artiste or what?
View attachment 159102
Those shoes get comments, remarks and sometimes insults, but only in a jocular way.
Like: "Will they be back in fashion sometime soon?"
They certainly beat the ubiquitous trainers any day of the week.











people in photo: Douglas Fairbanks, Sr & beautiful Mary Pickford
 
The New Forest, where I live, is a 40mph zone throughout, not that some obey it, but it's great for cycling. There's a number of tracks too, a little bumpy but quite manageable, I've yet to get a puncture on them. Twice a week, more when the weather is clement, my old, 1922 Phillips bicycle comes out, it's got a lady's frame, which is ideal for me, the whole point of cycling is to follow doctor's orders and keep the hip replacement joint exercised. There's a quite a few different types of watering holes in The Forest, most popular are the thatched roofed pubs, but there's also tea rooms, cafes and my particular favourite, a former railway station.
holmsley1.jpg
holmsley2.jpg
It's not just the hip that has a problem, my bladder doesn't have the holding power that it once had and as Holmsley is within bladder distance, I cycle there and back. After refreshments, I came out to find a group of cyclists gathered around my bike. They were, like me, retirees, in fact seeing them gathered around my bike, they look like a pack of 'Q' Tips, those little white sort of cocktail sticks with a cotton wool bud on the end.

"Is there a problem?" I asked, turning round and seeing me caused a spontaneous laugh. They were all dressed for cycling, modern day cycling. I was dressed as was, when the bike was new. Turns out that they are members of some retirement club, and would I like to join? Thanking them for their offer I declined, explaining that we, that's my wife and I, are so busy we wouldn't find time. Then one fellow said that he thought that he had seen me somewhere, probably prompted by my mode of dress. "Would it be here?" I asked him, holding up a picture of my MG at a classic car show. "That's it!" he said, "last year at East Boldre." "Correct." I said. "You wore a hat that day," he replied, "So did my wife," I answered. https://newforestrun2019finish.shutterfly.com/pictures/9#101

I then had to pose, phones and cameras came out, click, click, click they went. We said our farewells and away the went. I guess it was the old bicycle that amused them so, I find that my old MG has a similar effect. In case you missed it when I posted it previously, here's my old bike.
holmsley4.jpg

Just in case you might think that I have been ignoring the lockdown rules, I must add that this took place just before the pandemic broke.
 
When I was a kid these mail chutes used to fascinate me.

A few of the old banks and office buildings in this area still use them.

nyMailChutes_large-story.jpg
images
mailchute.jpg
 
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Aunt Bea, that letter box with the padlock on it, is fabulous. Our postal service, known as Royal Mail, has lost so much postal traffic that they have decided to challenge the parcel market. The explosion of internet orders has given them a new lease of life. Nowadays it's possible to post a parcel, just like we did with letters.

parcel box.jpg
 
Mine was this style, OneEyed.

I was given the cassette/radio player by a mom I babysat for, and the music never stopped on it!

I remember spending one New Years Eve recording song after song on the top 100 countdown! All my favourite songs!

s-l1600.jpg
That brings back memories.

When I was in my teens my parents asked me what I would like for Christmas.

I told them that I would like a reel to reel tape recorder priced at around $150.00. There was no mention of my choice or the price so my hopes were high.

What I got was a radio/cassette player similar to the one in your post. I realize now that a reel to reel tape recorder was a very foolish choice and that the cassette recorder was much more practical.

That was the last year that I ever took the bait and asked for anything.

It's funny/sad how some situations shape your life and create memories that last forever while other things are forgotten as soon as they happen.
 
That brings back memories.

When I was in my teens my parents asked me what I would like for Christmas.

I told them that I would like a reel to reel tape recorder priced at around $150.00. There was no mention of my choice or the price so my hopes were high.

What I got was a radio/cassette player similar to the one in your post. I realize now that a reel to reel tape recorder was a very foolish choice and that the cassette recorder was much more practical.

That was the last year that I ever took the bait and asked for anything.

It's funny/sad how some situations shape your life and create memories that last forever while other things are forgotten as soon as they happen.
A lovely story, Aunt Bea!

I very seldom asked for anything for Christmas either, especially knowing mom and dad were always so poor, but boy, did I ever have a long secret list of things I dreamed of from day to day, and not expensive things either.

Regarding the radio/cassette player I got, I had babysat for the mother all summer long... Monday through Friday, early in the morning until late in the afternoon, and of course I earned my pay, a whopping .25Ā¢ an hour, so when she presented the cassette player to me at the end of summer as an additional thanks, I was ecstatic.

All we had in our house was moms big old clunky console stereo, which she didn't like anyone touching, and being the young girl that I was, all I wanted was a music player of my own... all mine.

The radio/cassette player was a dream come true.

I don't know what something along the lines of a radio/cassette combo player cost back in the day, but most families I knew didn't have extra money to throw away on things.

Really made me feel so appreciated.
 
Bournemouth 1954.jpg
This is the popular seaside town of Bournemouth circa 1954 and features: Old Christchurch Road. You won't see a single vehicle on this road today, it's been pedestrianised. Only delivery vehicles are permitted and that's before ten am & after four pm.
The store on the right called Brights, was bought up and re-branded, Dingles. Later, Dingles were absorbed into The House of Fraser empire. The store survives today, but is only hanging on by it's fingernails.
 
The New Forest, where I live, is a 40mph zone throughout, not that some obey it, but it's great for cycling. There's a number of tracks too, a little bumpy but quite manageable, I've yet to get a puncture on them. Twice a week, more when the weather is clement, my old, 1922 Phillips bicycle comes out, it's got a lady's frame, which is ideal for me, the whole point of cycling is to follow doctor's orders and keep the hip replacement joint exercised. There's a quite a few different types of watering holes in The Forest, most popular are the thatched roofed pubs, but there's also tea rooms, cafes and my particular favourite, a former railway station.
View attachment 159277
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It's not just the hip that has a problem, my bladder doesn't have the holding power that it once had and as Holmsley is within bladder distance, I cycle there and back. After refreshments, I came out to find a group of cyclists gathered around my bike. They were, like me, retirees, in fact seeing them gathered around my bike, they look like a pack of 'Q' Tips, those little white sort of cocktail sticks with a cotton wool bud on the end.

"Is there a problem?" I asked, turning round and seeing me caused a spontaneous laugh. They were all dressed for cycling, modern day cycling. I was dressed as was, when the bike was new. Turns out that they are members of some retirement club, and would I like to join? Thanking them for their offer I declined, explaining that we, that's my wife and I, are so busy we wouldn't find time. Then one fellow said that he thought that he had seen me somewhere, probably prompted by my mode of dress. "Would it be here?" I asked him, holding up a picture of my MG at a classic car show. "That's it!" he said, "last year at East Boldre." "Correct." I said. "You wore a hat that day," he replied, "So did my wife," I answered. https://newforestrun2019finish.shutterfly.com/pictures/9#101

I then had to pose, phones and cameras came out, click, click, click they went. We said our farewells and away the went. I guess it was the old bicycle that amused them so, I find that my old MG has a similar effect. In case you missed it when I posted it previously, here's my old bike.
View attachment 159279

Just in case you might think that I have been ignoring the lockdown rules, I must add that this took place just before the pandemic broke.

WoW...had no idea you live in the New Forest. That's where I grew up. Then when I was thirteen we moved to London!
 
WoW...had no idea you live in the New Forest. That's where I grew up. Then when I was thirteen we moved to London!
Small world Dana. My wife and I are Londoners. She's from Crouch end and I'm from Hackney. Our last London address was in the Ilford suburb of Goodmayes. My promotion in the company that I was working for at that time, offered me a substantial leg up the ladder, but I had to take on the company's operation in Eastleigh. A place that you and I know as Hampshire, but most others think of it as Southampton.

My wife was employed as a paramedic, she needed to transfer, the only vacancy was at Ringwood, so we went house hunting around Ringwood. By chance a property came onto the market in between the communities of Ringwood & Verwood, right on the edge of The New Forest, that's how two Londoners came to be domiciled in such a picturesque part of the country.

ww.jpg
 
Small world Dana. My wife and I are Londoners. She's from Crouch end and I'm from Hackney. Our last London address was in the Ilford suburb of Goodmayes. My promotion in the company that I was working for at that time, offered me a substantial leg up the ladder, but I had to take on the company's operation in Eastleigh. A place that you and I know as Hampshire, but most others think of it as Southampton.

My wife was employed as a paramedic, she needed to transfer, the only vacancy was at Ringwood, so we went house hunting around Ringwood. By chance a property came onto the market in between the communities of Ringwood & Verwood, right on the edge of The New Forest, that's how two Londoners came to be domiciled in such a picturesque part of the country.

View attachment 160594

It certainly is a small world HC...Now Iā€™m getting homesick! . Learnt to ride my first pony in the New Forest. Was hoping to get to the UK this year to visit relatives, but weā€™re still being held prisoner in Oz by our Prime Minister. Occasionally I attend the Jane Austen festival.
 
Back in 2019, we were at a dance inspired weekend in the Devon town of Torquay. We were there with some friends, on the Saturday morning we travelled to Paignton, where we caught the steam hauled train, on the heritage railway, to Kingswear.

When constructed the line was to be built to Dartmouth, but Dartmouth is on the opposite bank of the river Dart. The idea being to run the track along, or close to, the north side of the river, the south side was inaccessible, when the line reached Kingswear it would cross the river Dart by bridge. A terminus station was built at Dartmouth in preparation.

But the railway company had not foreseen the might of Victorian Britain's Royal Navy, who insisted on a bridge being a hundred feet high so that the masts of the navy's ships could pass underneath, unhindered. The river Dart was one of many of the navy's home ports.

A one hundred feet high bridge would have meant an almost doubling of the whole line's construction costs. So the train ran to Kingswear and a paddle steamer took passengers across the river to Dartmouth station. This quirk in history, (Dartmouth station has never had a railtrack,) we just had to see. If you are fascinated by it you can read a more detailed account on Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dartmouth_Steam_Railway

Here you see us at Kingswear Station being photobombed by Hercules, our wonderful iron horse for the journey.hercules.jpg
 
Aunt Bea, that letter box with the padlock on it, is fabulous. Our postal service, known as Royal Mail, has lost so much postal traffic that they have decided to challenge the parcel market. The explosion of internet orders has given them a new lease of life. Nowadays it's possible to post a parcel, just like we did with letters.

View attachment 159409
Not at our local Postbox it isn't....:unsure:
 
Just recently I had a text from one of my adorable God children. She had sent me a link to a photo about ladies fashions back in the 1930's. When I looked up that link I saw the most amazing pair of shoes:
London 1930s-shoe-fashions.jpg
Amazing because I have seen those shoes somewhere before. I sent my God daughter a text of this photo.
It seems that we are officially, cool. Look at my wife's shoes in this photo:
shake and stir tango.jpg
 
Just recently I had a text from one of my adorable God children. She had sent me a link to a photo about ladies fashions back in the 1930's. When I looked up that link I saw the most amazing pair of shoes:
View attachment 164430
Amazing because I have seen those shoes somewhere before. I sent my God daughter a text of this photo.
It seems that we are officially, cool. Look at my wife's shoes in this photo:
View attachment 164431
Love it, Horseless! :love:
 
Vintage Skirt-Blowing Scenes (4).jpg

Who, as a child, heard your mother say, "make sure you're underwear is clean in case you're in accident?"
Talking of accident, these two look like the archetypal kind of mothers that handed out the clean underwear advice.
I bet they never envisaged accidentally showing the world their clean underwear.
 


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