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Our Street
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Our street contained about 200 houses all like ours and had about four
small shops which were fairly evenly spaced along the road. We had a
small grocers shop next door and I often used to pop in for things we
needed. The lady had big jars of sweets and many things which today are
pre-packaged were weighed out. Bacon and ham was sliced while you waited.
The lady used to send me "lucky bags" of sweets regularly and used to tie
a paper bag onto a piece of string and hang it over the fence at the back
for me to find. There was a green grocers, a hairdressers, a chip shop, a
drapers and an off licence all within 30 yards of our house and these were
not the main shops, these were at the end of the road about 100 yards away.
When we walked down to the shops, my mother always said "Hello" to
everyone we met, as she knew everyone in the street. Originally there
were small gas lamps but these were replaced by larger electric lamps later.
Our Street showing the old and new Lamp Posts
There was a "Picture House" (cinema) near the shops and I can just remember
the Black and White films, although we did not go very often. My other
granny’s house was in a street at the end of our road and we used to visit
her several times a week and go for tea on a Sunday. Sunday tea was always
bread and cream cheese (the sort that came in round boxes with six pieces
wrapped in silver foil) and lemon cake. We used to go a walk "round the
lane" after tea. My granny had an old fashioned black range next to the
fire in her kitchen for cooking on. It was heated by the fire that was
on one side. She also had a gas cooker and used that more often than the
range. She had an iron that needed to be heated by the fire (not electric)
and a crock hot water bottle.
The milk was delivered by a milk cart drawn by a horse and mother always
had a carrot or a lump of sugar for the horse when he came. Sometimes the
horse tried to drag the cart up the steps into our house to get his treat.
Gradually battery operated milk floats replaced the horse and cart. We
also had bakers and butchers vans come round but the post was delivered by
a postman on foot in the same way as today.
The Milkman's Horse and Cart
My Family
Our House
Our Street
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