Lancashire brogue
Spooky. Preparing to post this photograph I discovered that it was the anniversary of the event, even down ...approximately... to the time of day. It was, then, precisely 39 years ago, on Tuesday 15th September 1970, that I took this photo, near St Helens, Lancashire. It was taken at what ...as I realised 20 years after the event... was a Happy Moment. At any rate it was for me, though the peculiar charm of lying on one's back in the scrubby, junk-infested grass at the lip of an enormous quarry near St Helens, whilst watching smoke drift away from the chimneys of the associated brick and tile works, might have been lost on others. Actually I can't think why I didn't wait for a more impressive display of smoke. Every few minutes there was a spectacular, black, soot-rich discharge which trailed across the sky, slowly dissipating. This snap must record one of the long intervals between extrusions. I must have grown impatient.
Punched brown brogues may seem an unusual choice of footwear for one still in youth, but I was more middle-aged in those days than I am now. I remember they cost what was then a very hefty £9 at Hancock's in Staple Hill. I also remember my father's snort when he heard how much they had cost, and some remark along the lines of "more money than sense". History records that they were on this day worn in combination with a pair of tan trousers, a cream nylon shirt and a dark green ex-BAOR tunic, purchased from Maggs, the army surplus shop, also in Staple Hill.
I was ravenously hungry and, after getting to my feet and dusting myself off, I called at a shop and bought a pork pie, two small bottles of lemonade, two packets of Revels and two oranges. What a combination! At St Helens Junction Station, I noticed with asperity, the gas lights were being replaced by electricity. Back in Liverpool I bought the Late Northern edition of the Telegraph and settled into a mercifully empty train for the trip back and a doze. I had been up since 4.20. Further period minutiae: day return fare Bristol -Birmingham 32/- (£1.60); day return Liverpool-St Helens 4/3d (22p)
Lancashire brogue
Spooky. Preparing to post this photograph I discovered that it was the anniversary of the event, even down ...approximately... to the time of day. It was, then, precisely 39 years ago, on Tuesday 15th September 1970, that I took this photo, near St Helens, Lancashire. It was taken at what ...as I realised 20 years after the event... was a Happy Moment. At any rate it was for me, though the peculiar charm of lying on one's back in the scrubby, junk-infested grass at the lip of an enormous quarry near St Helens, whilst watching smoke drift away from the chimneys of the associated brick and tile works, might have been lost on others. Actually I can't think why I didn't wait for a more impressive display of smoke. Every few minutes there was a spectacular, black, soot-rich discharge which trailed across the sky, slowly dissipating. This snap must record one of the long intervals between extrusions. I must have grown impatient.
Punched brown brogues may seem an unusual choice of footwear for one still in youth, but I was more middle-aged in those days than I am now. I remember they cost what was then a very hefty £9 at Hancock's in Staple Hill. I also remember my father's snort when he heard how much they had cost, and some remark along the lines of "more money than sense". History records that they were on this day worn in combination with a pair of tan trousers, a cream nylon shirt and a dark green ex-BAOR tunic, purchased from Maggs, the army surplus shop, also in Staple Hill.
I was ravenously hungry and, after getting to my feet and dusting myself off, I called at a shop and bought a pork pie, two small bottles of lemonade, two packets of Revels and two oranges. What a combination! At St Helens Junction Station, I noticed with asperity, the gas lights were being replaced by electricity. Back in Liverpool I bought the Late Northern edition of the Telegraph and settled into a mercifully empty train for the trip back and a doze. I had been up since 4.20. Further period minutiae: day return fare Bristol -Birmingham 32/- (£1.60); day return Liverpool-St Helens 4/3d (22p)