THE FLATLEY DRYER

[Stanley]

If Flatley Dryer country consists of things that have been lost, this qualifies. It is a lost garden just south of Arisaig on the West Coast of Scotland. The story is that a wealthy man was an avid collector of plants and brought plants from all over the world in the late 19th and early 20th century to this garden and planted them. In the mid 1920s he decided to build himself a house there and set his architect and builders on. Unfortunately he lost all his money when the stock market collapsed and the house was never finished. For almost a century the garden has been forgotten except for a university, Aberdeen I think, that keeps an eye on it. If you are ever up there, stop and go for a walk, it's a fascinating place.

[Stanley]

In my youth the knife grinder with his bicycle was a common sight. Today they have completely disappeared. When I worked in Rochdale there was a man with a grindstone set up in the back of his van who went round butchers and restaurants re-setting their knives. Ernie Roberts told me about a man who went round sharpening knives but took them round the corner and sharpened them on the kerb stones because he had no equipment.
I have an idea there might be a market for a door to door service today.

[Stanley]

Fifty years ago we had a Wilson Wallflame oil-fired boiler at Hey farm exactly the same as this one and it was entirely trouble free but of course Flatley Dryer country now. Or so I thought until I looked it up and found that there are still some of them giving good service. Well any of our modern gas boilers give over 50 years service? I doubt it.

[Stanley]

Before the days of tea bags this was one way of brewing loose tea. Largely Flatley Dryer country now but some diehards still use them.

[Tizer]

We still have those and I used to use one every day at breakfast because Mrs Tiz has coffee and I have tea. Now I use a lovely little, bright, stripey teapot instead! But when we go to holiday cottages I still have one of those with me.

[PanBiker]

We still use loose tea at Clarion House and brew up in a large enamelled tea pot. A tiddly little thing like that would be no use at the house. We just use a standard mug sieve when poring into the pots. We have mod cons via an electric on demand boiler nowadays. Far cry from the three Belling boilers we used to have when we vended from what is now the boot room. When they were all up to the boil it used to be a bit like a Turkish Bath in the brewing emporium.

[Stanley]

Can you remember buying fuse wire at the corner shop on cards like this? Not quite Flatley Dryer country yet evidently as they are still sold.

[Stanley]

See THIS Wikipedia article on the invention of the microwave oven in 1946. Any time before that is the Flatley Dryer country. Unimaginable today not to have one in the kitchen.

[Whyperion]

Single Pints of Milk in the Larger Supermarkets. Have they disappeared - ( small shops have the Pint - or the 500ml ones), but it seems profit margins are dictating the use of space for filtered milk, assorted milk with cream removed / added / stirred ) or 1ltr Organic at twice the price - or Goats/Ewes/Camels milk in the big shops - is this a return to when milk came in quart bottles ?

[Stanley]

Nowadays we have electric toasters but I can remember the time when all we had was the toasting fork and the open fire. Toasted teacakes or crumpets were a lot more fun then because we all used to do our own..

[Tizer]

Talking about open fires, I remember as a young child seeing my `Uncle Fred' (he was really the next-door neighbour) running a rubber tube from his kitchen gas oven to light the fire in the living room!

[PanBiker]

Single Pints of Milk in the Larger Supermarkets. Have they disappeared

The problem doesn't exist if you use a local milkman and it comes in glass bottles. You pay more for it but it helps the supply chain and it also get delivered. You hit the nail on the head regarding the need for profit margin, that is of their own making though by screwing the farmers.

[Big Kev]

Oddies in Foulridge sell single pints of milk.

[Stanley]

In our house at Norris Avenue built in the mid 1930s both grates had bayonet fittings for gas pokers. You plugged it in, lit it and left it until the fire was going. Eventually the end of the flattened tube that had the gas jets in it burned off because it got red hot every time you used it. Mother never bothered, she just kept on using it.....

[Whyperion]

Grandson's house is one built in the mid 1970s ish , and does not have an open hearth fireplace. He came over to his Great-Grandma's flat (one of the last to be built with fireplace and chimney - which had a gas feed to the coal fire operable with a key, this at least meant an easy change when London introduced the smokeless zones and the council paid for a new Gas Fire - I think it needed new radiants when the change to north sea came in. For various reasons the gas supply to the property is now u/s and a mock gas electric fire presently resides in the remains of the fireplace. Grandson asked what the ' Companion Set ' (Edward Lears - Broom and The Shovel and The Poker and The Tongs') was. A little bit of explaining , though mums was more ornamental in a 1960s chrome plate style, the Brush has lost its bristles, the shovel (I forget the name for a small pan one) , fell apart ) but its still kept - how can you chuck them out so it stays gormless in the firesurround awaiting a return to solid fuel somewhere. As he attends a forest school he has an interest in fire (pits and barbecues). so no doubt one day will be a smith of some kind (he has not discovered the ex coal scuttle currently in the kitchen doing duty holding spare bottles for the fizz of the week)

[Stanley]

There was a time when we were a cricket playing nation. It would appear that that is now Flatley Dryer country. We have lost the Ashes. That's bad enough but our last innings we were all out for 68 runs and one of the young Aussie bowlers had figures of 6 wickets for 7 runs. The least said the better but we will no doubt be given all the stock excuses later this morning.

[Whyperion]

Aside from it being lack of ability to resist going for every shot (I blame 20/20 and other ltd over games), and some rather good opposition bowling, it has been the loss of the back alleys free of car traffic, where kids could hit a ball from in front of a painted wicket, (same goes for football), we have put our sports into sanitised fields and we drive to sports centres rather than wear heavy clogs and build up staminer as kids. The Phrase on most municipal green spaces of 'no ball games' should be banned.

[Stanley]

I wonder what young lads have in their pockets these days. We had pocket knives, marbles, pieces of string and other goodies. I doubt if modern lads would have any use for the last three. Now knives could be a different matter but not for the purposes we intended.

[Stanley]

Just after the war my dad was a Member at Old Trafford Cricket Club and one of the perks was that he got a free membership for his son.... In season we used to go to Old Trafford every Saturday and I looked forward to it because I used to have a bit of pocket money, got ten Woodbines on the ground and sat in the junior's enclosure smoking my heart out! I saw some good cricket too! Flatley Dryer country, today a ten year old lad would be pounced on if he was smoking in public!

[Whyperion]

They Vape now.

[Stanley]

I can remember my mother saving the paper wrappers from lard, margarine or butter. They were used for greasing baking tins and when they had lost their fats were used for wrapping butties up when they were given to us when setting off out to play. We knew we weren't expected back before tea time.......

[Stanley]

Come to think, the act of sending your kids out to roam with a marmalade buttie in their pockets would be seen as child neglect nowadays! Our parents weren't bad they simply trusted the world and our common sense.
That attitude is Flatley Dryer country.

[Tizer]

I can remember my mother saving the paper wrappers from lard, margarine or butter. They were used for greasing baking tins...

We were doing that until recent times but margarine is now only about 40% fat compared with the original 80% (same content as in butter).

[Whyperion]

I can remember my mother saving the paper wrappers from lard, margarine or butter. They were used for greasing baking tins...

We were doing that until recent times but margarine is now only about 40% fat compared with the original 80% (same content as in butter).

The little i cant belive its not butter inner wrap in the plastic tub I suppose has some use. I do have some Waitrose basics butter wrapped in the traditional butter wrapper paper.

[Stanley]

Another thing I remember was that if you knocked on someone's door and politely asked for a drink or to use the toilet you were seldom refused. I wonder what the response would be today? (Or indeed, if anyone would knock and ask.)