OneGuyFromBarlick

The harder the tyre the less rolling resistance and deformation. In the days of the old cross ply tyres it was this flexing that generated heat and led to blow outs. When Michelin brought in steel belted radial tyres they looked to be under inflated and it took us a while to get used to this. We weren't used to the bulge! One consequence of the new tyres was that we found out that strange things happened to front tyres, they wore in a 'threepenny bit' pattern on the shoulders. It took us a while to realise that the recommended toe in of the front tyres to accommodate the steering geometry was different with the radials. In general you had to reduce it, on some vehicles to parallel.
I have a story about radials.... In the bad old days I was loading Egyptian spuds at Felixstowe and noticed that the Davies Brothers artic in front of me had overloaded his four in line trailer and had twenty tons on, about 5 tons over the legal load. Funny thing was that his back tyres were stood up straight with no bulge at the bottom. I asked him if they had concrete in them and he said no 160psi! Far higher than the recommended limit. He said that in general they stood it OK but if one did burst it turned the whole unit onto its side and smashed the suspension.

When I had that flat last week I had to replace the wheel with the skinny temporary one from the boot and drive into town (no faster than 50mph) to get a new tyre fitted on the proper wheel. When I fitted the `skinny' I checked its pressure and it was about 60lb, whereas my usual pressure is 33lb. I left it at 60 assuming that must be correct. The garage mechanic confirmed that the skinnies have to be at that higher pressure. At least I now know in case it happens again. But I was surprised there was no warning on the tyre or in the car's manual stating the need for the high pressure. Replacing a wheel was interesting, I haven't done it for decades, and I was glad to know I could remember the important bits like checking the handbrake was on, putting the car in gear, chocking the wheels and loosening the wheel nuts before jacking up. The tool kit provided with the spare was very good, much better than anything I remember from so long ago (but then we carried a bag of tools in the car all the time, of course), and the jack was very effective and required little work to raise the car. Definitely progress!

On wagons left hand side hubs had left hand thread and right hand the normal ones. We had a flat on the old Neville Bedford at Harrisons one day and found it was impossible to get the left hand tread wheel nuts off. We tried everything and we were just bout ready to resort to burning the nuts off when Cecil Parker, the estate gamekeeper who was watching us (12 bore under his arm) asked us why we didn't try turning them the other way. We looked at each other and Billy said we'd better try it(even though we knew that they were LH thread.) The nuts came loose straight away! It turned out that someone had done an enlightened repair of a buggered hub by replacing it with a right hand hub of the old army Bedford rusting away at Smearber Farm. Cecil waked away well pleased with himself.....

I've been reading a book about the local railway system around Taunton. It mentions an AEC 3-ton wagon used to shift timber from the Blackdown hills down to the station in the 1930s. Someone remembers that they would put the wagon in neutral and roll down to Taunton. They got booked several times for speeding, once for reaching 27mph. Would there have been a speed limit below 27mph for such wagons or was it because it was in neutral?

Tiz, to the best of my knowledge it was 20mph in the 1930s.

The same book (Taunton Steam, by Colin Maggs, 1991) mentions how loco drivers used to make a bite to eat by `putting a potato in the steam valve'. I imagine that was frowned on by the authorities!

I would imagine that that was lodging a spud on top of the valve chest. That would be favourite for keeping tea warm as well. Bacon and egg was fried on a clean shovel held in the firebox doorway when they were stopped. A standard fitting on steam launches used to be a boiler for clean water for tea-making that was heated by live steam. Len Pitts, the boiler man at West Marton heated his tin of Irish Stew for dinner by placing it on top of the steam cylinder of the Weir pump every day as soon as he came to work. (Always Tyne Brand Irish Stew!)

One of the things we seem to have forgotten nowadays is the glory of slow cooked food. Get hold of a copy of 'Food in England' by Dorothy Hartley and read how food used to be cooked. None of this flash frying and ten minute steaks, cheap cuts simmered slowly for hours until a rich gravy builds up. You can't beat it!

I wonder if Ian & Sally heard `The Three Belles' on the Radio 4 BH programme this morning? I would think it might be right up their street! LINK

Missed that Tiz but we have seen plenty of 40's style girl trios etc at the various dances we used to go to. The 40's dancing and band scene is quite vibrant and popular across the country. I couldn't help thinking that the producers of the VE Day show yesterday in London, although excellent in the main, could have done somewhat better than the Strictly crew's American Smooth and their rather modern take on Jive. They could have asked any number of Lindy and Swing Dance societies from around London who would also have come in fully authentic dress of the period.

We listen to the same programmes Pater... I heard them as well.

Of late we have seen the decline of the term 'class war', many assert that it no longer exists. I fear they are wrong, it is still there but modified now into a war between the underclass and the over privileged. This of course includes many who previously were 'middle class'. Very similar to the old term 'North/South Divide', Long ignored and derided but it is now official government policy to improve things with the creation of 'The Northern Powerhouse' How long before they recognise the new class war?

When I was a lad we often travelled on the 'workman's trams' so called because there was a special low fare for workers. The thing I remember most clearly in contrast to today is that in the days before employers provided work clothes everyone was dressed in what can best be called shabby Sunday Best. When clothes reached their sell by date they automatically became work clothes. I can remember seeing melters in the steel works at Rotherham dressed in old sports coats and flat caps whereas today they would be in full high viz overalls, safety boots and hats and face visors. If there was a splash of molten metal they simply turned their backs, hunched their shoulders and the molten splashes just bounced off them. The only 'professional' clothes and equipment were the obligatory white scarves which were a badge of office and the chief melter had a pair of dark glasses which he bought himself and guarded jealously because if he had to get a new pair he had to relearn the colours he was watching for in the converter or the furnace.

The other thing I remember about the trams was the heavy nicotine staining of all the interior wooden surfaces and the prominent sign "Spitting Strictly Prohibited. Penalty 40 shillings"

Nicotine staining of wood was an obvious feature in the old pubs too. I was reminiscing the other day about visiting St Bees, Cumbria, in the 1960s with one of my mates on a camping trip. We got there dying for a glass of beer and the locals pointed us to a private house in the middle of a typical northern terrace. No signs, just an ordinary house from the outside. The old lady who lived there ushered us into her front room, sat us down in armchairs and fetched us pints of bitter from her cellar. I can't recall now whether she brewed it or had a cask delivered from a brewery. Have you any examples of similar things in Barlick in the past

We were members of the CTC & the YHA, we planned on Fri night to stay at a hostel somewhere in Derbys. arrived there in the dark to discover the National Coal Board had taken it over as lodgings for trainee miners, we found a local pub who agreed to do b&b, so we had a few ? pints, after closing time the landlord said bugger you lads, i'm going to bed, help yourselves and put the money in the drawer !, wouldn't happen today !

I can't remember the name of it but there was a little pub in the Dales which was just a front room. I can't remember the road but I think it was going up to Aysgarth. I went there by walking over to the west from the falls above Clapham.
Then there was the little cider shop in Hay on Wye....

I can remember back in the 70s when I spent time around Malham there was a pub at Arncliffe that brought its pints up from the cellar on a tray. I've just looked on an OS map and it's got `Falcon P.H.' at Arncliffe, that must be it.

I love the cider house photo! I can't quite read the name of the cider in the red plastic casks but expect it must be Weston's. Somerset used to have lots of cider houses; there was one in our village run by a lady called Mrs Pester and when she died it remained untouched for many years, left exactly as it was on the day she departed. Unfortunately it was cleared out before we arrived, otherwise we might have been campaigning to get it preserved!

You're right Tiz, I've looked at the high res pic and it's Weston's Vintage cider.



Click to enlarge this. Lots of interesting stuff about! It was 1998 when I was there with Daniel and two of his friends. We were just in time the lady died shortly afterwards and the shop closed I think.She had one good story about being patronised by some of the Great Train Robbers!

Unfortunately the back yard of the pub wasn't quite as interesting or quaint as the interior.....

That reminds me of a pub in the centre of Launceston. The first time I went there I had to ask where the Gents was because I couldn't see a sign or an appropriate-looking door. The locals gave me directions, which i didn't believe and accused them of trying to play a joke on me. But they insisted, so I went. Out the front door of the pub, dodge the traffic, cross the road, into a ginnel, turn left and you're in one of those old-style `pee on the wall' Gents that probably harbour rare species of fungi and have a smell that could corrode metal. Then repeat the journey in reverse and if you don't get run over by the cars and wagons you're back in the pub and checking whether they've drunk your beer on the assumption you'll either get squashed or never find your way back.

The favourite used to be to line the wall with slabs of slate and the better landlords dosed the wall with Jeye's Fluid to 'sanitise' it. Remember the pineapple chunks we used to have in the gutters?

The old cast iron urinals were occasionally painted with hot gas tar to achieve the same object.



The urinal at Winewall.....

I think I must be a dinosaur. I was raised to believe in self-medication and have spent the last two days applying the principles instead of going to a doctor. It seems to have worked. Perhaps it's a skill we should teach our kids.

Looking back to the days before we had antibiotics I often wonder how we survived. I suppose the answer is a good immune system honed by being exposed to all sorts of infections. I can remember my dad having a very bad bout of flu and the treatment then was 'M&B' tablets. I don't know what they were but can remember my dad saying they were worse than the flu! These experiences lead me to constantly wonder about our modern obsession with 'cleanliness'. The adverts which assure you that the product kills 99.9% of all known germs.... Perhaps we aren't exposed enough to what populates the world around us, the oldest and toughest life forms on earth, the bacteria. Perhaps we ought to learn how to live with them instead of attempting mission impossible and killing them all.