Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

I think the big difference is that when transport was not available we took it for granted that we would walk - sometimes even when it was available! I regularly walked a couple of miles to primary school on my own, to save the penny bus fare, even in thick fog in the early 50s, although my journey involved crossing several major roads. It was not practical for my mother to accompany me with two younger children. I understand that nowadays teachers are not allowed to teach in the area where they live; by today's standards many of them are too far from school to walk in bad weather, so schools have to close for lack of staff, even though most pupils are within walking distance.

Further comment from daughter in Finland when I told her that it was all starting to melt 'Ah we have lost our daily entertainment - laughing at the Brits!'

I finally got around to replenishing the bird feeder. It is amusing watching the larger birds queuing on the fence to catch what the smaller birds have knocked onto the ground. Sadly this morning they were all chased away by a grey squirrel who hung upside down and emptied half the contents on its own, and then sat on a nearby branch until it was ready to tackle the remaining half, keeping all the birds at bay. I think I shall send my husband out in the cold to refill it - I don't seem to be as hardy as I was 60 years ago!

Katharine - it would have been DR's 20th anniversary - she arrived in the middle of the war at the tender age of 30 - quite a responsibility for a comparatively young woman! Also bear in mind that from the air the Hertford school probably looked like a barracks, making it a potential bombing target!

Fjgrogan wrote:I think the big difference is that when transport was not available we took it for granted that we would walk - sometimes even when it was available! I regularly walked a couple of miles to primary school on my own, to save the penny bus fare, even in thick fog in the early 50s, although my journey involved crossing several major roads. It was not practical for my mother to accompany me with two younger children. I understand that nowadays teachers are not allowed to teach in the area where they live; by today's standards many of them are too far from school to walk in bad weather, so schools have to close for lack of staff, even though most pupils are within walking distance.

Further comment from daughter in Finland when I told her that it was all starting to melt 'Ah we have lost our daily entertainment - laughing at the Brits!'

I finally got around to replenishing the bird feeder. It is amusing watching the larger birds queuing on the fence to catch what the smaller birds have knocked onto the ground. Sadly this morning they were all chased away by a grey squirrel who hung upside down and emptied half the contents on its own, and then sat on a nearby branch until it was ready to tackle the remaining half, keeping all the birds at bay. I think I shall send my husband out in the cold to refill it - I don't seem to be as hardy as I was 60 years ago!

While we have a squirrel-proof feeder the deer have figured out that if they keep banging the feeder, each time they do so, some of the seeds fall out. They can empty it in about ten minutes.

Pre CH days, I certainly remember walking two miles to school in deep snow when I lived in Farnham, (Surrey) in the early 1950's.

I used to get 2d money for a return bus fare, but walked and used it for sweets on most days. 2 x penny gob-stoppers, or eight farthing blackjacks, which, incidently wouldn't be allowed to be sold today as the paper wrappers had a golly's face on them.

How times change !

I once somehow managed to get one of those blackjacks stuck in the back of my hair (I had waist-length ringlets!) and eventually had to have it cut out! I remember similar pink ones called Fruit Salad, I think. Also flying saucers, aniseed balls, sherbet fountains, lemonade powder, and many others. I still remember what the man in the sweetshop wrote in my autograph book when I left to go to CH - 'If you hitch onto a star, make it your own honest effort' - not sure I ever did that, but he was clearly an important man in my life!

Find them here guys, though a tad more expensive that 4 for 1d
http://www.aquarterof.co.uk/

englishangel wrote:Find them here guys, though a tad more expensive that 4 for 1d
http://www.aquarterof.co.uk/

Still pretty good value, Mary !

J.R. wrote:

englishangel wrote:Find them here guys, though a tad more expensive that 4 for 1d
http://www.aquarterof.co.uk/

Still pretty good value, Mary !

Let's see... A quarter of a pound would be about 20 sweets. So that would have cost 5d (or about 2p). Here they're offering a quarter of a kilogram (= app. 44 sweets) for 197p.

So one blackjack cost 0.1p then, and 4.4p now. That is a factor of 44. About twice the rate of inflation over this period. So in real terms, they've doubled in price.

I remember skating on Doctors Lake. One of the housemasters ?Archbold used to practice "edges" because he spent holidays inthe Cantons.

My biggest disappointment was that after the initial phase of snow, which for us started on Boxing day, somehow my mother managed to take advantage of a lull in the weather and got me back to school for the whole Lent term. It was my last year in Prep A and my main memory was of ice on the inside of the dorm windows and exercise sessions in the hall + plus runs and even more runs.

Cleared paths - yes definitely!

There was a terrific thing in House for putting milk out on the snowy dorm windowsills to make "ice cream"!