THINGS YOU DON'T SEE ANYMORE (Part 2)

[Cardiarms]

Bruno wrote: I don't recall seeing a light van with a sliding driver's door recently, such as the ones the Royal Mail used to use for collecting the mail from post boxes. They used to whizz around with the door open and the driver without a seat belt, putting him (or her) in danger of flying out of the vehicle in the event of an accident, or even in the case of taking a left-handed bend too quickly, given the slippery nature of the shiny plastic seats.I wonder if this type of vehicle has been killed off by Health & Safety regulations? Mate of mine had an ex post office Dodge Commer van with doors like that. He painted it camoflage colours and kept getting pulled over by the police for being a bit crusty.

[Lilysmum]

I was thinking around bonfire night What happened to "Parkin Pigs" plenty of gingerbread men/ghosts/pumpkins but not seen a parkin pig for years?

[Leodian]

Lilysmum wrote: I was thinking around bonfire night What happened to "Parkin Pigs" plenty of gingerbread men/ghosts/pumpkins but not seen a parkin pig for years? Mmmm parkin. Nice. When I see how some people badly park their cars I think there are parking pigs around! Sorry for that play on words.

[BLAKEY]

The heavy sliding doors of the Bedford Dormobile vans were lethal. If you had to brake hard with the door open it would hurtle forward and slam shut in a fair imitation, acoustic wise, of Madame Guillotine. What with that, and the totally unsuitable wide ratio three speed column change gearboxes they were not good for delivery work.

[dogduke]

Something about to disappear from our windscreens never to be seen againThe road tax disc.According to press reports they will not be issued after Octobernext year.Its all on computer records now.

[shutthatdoor]

I think they were called "Hearth Sets". A little brush, shovel and poker, possibly also a toasting fork, that hung on a thingy and sat beside the coal fire. In fact, the last Dog Grate I saw was in an old cellar. Did anyone elses Dad "draw the fire" by holding an open page of the old Yorkshire Evening Post (Big style of yore) across the fireplace until it scorched and burst into flames? Worked though!

[Johnny39]

shutthatdoor wrote: I think they were called "Hearth Sets". A little brush, shovel and poker, possibly also a toasting fork, that hung on a thingy and sat beside the coal fire. In fact, the last Dog Grate I saw was in an old cellar. Did anyone elses Dad "draw the fire" by holding an open page of the old Yorkshire Evening Post (Big style of yore) across the fireplace until it scorched and burst into flames? Worked though! I remember the Hearth Sets "Shutthatdoor" very well, we called them "Tidys" and yes I well remember the fire being drawn with the evening paper and if it didn't catch fire it was usually badly scorched. Some people were lucky enough to have purpose made "drawers" made of metal, rather like a medieval shield and boy did they work! All these things disappeared with the introduction of smokeless zones and the abolition of coal fires.

[Leodian]

shutthatdoor wrote: I think they were called "Hearth Sets". A little brush, shovel and poker, possibly also a toasting fork, that hung on a thingy and sat beside the coal fire. In fact, the last Dog Grate I saw was in an old cellar. Did anyone elses Dad "draw the fire" by holding an open page of the old Yorkshire Evening Post (Big style of yore) across the fireplace until it scorched and burst into flames? Worked though! Hiya shutthatdoorI remember the "Hearth Sets", though I only recall them being called a poker stand. Much too large to fit on it was a long metal rod that had a flat vertical bit at one end that was used to scoop back the soon accumulating soot in parts of the coal fire. Even trying hard to control the rod some soot always got out before it could be contained, so some still got everywhere!Ah yes the putting a large newspaper across the front to draw the fire. As you say, it sure worked! Also twisting bits of paper to make fire lighters of sorts that when one or more were lit by a match they helped start the coal fire, as being twisted they burnt for some time. Edit just after posting. Hi Johnny39. The name 'Tidys' sounds very familiar. I did not see your post until I posted mine as it took me some time to do my post (slow typing and some interruptions!).     

[tilly]

Leodian wrote: shutthatdoor wrote: I think they were called "Hearth Sets". A little brush, shovel and poker, possibly also a toasting fork, that hung on a thingy and sat beside the coal fire. In fact, the last Dog Grate I saw was in an old cellar. Did anyone elses Dad "draw the fire" by holding an open page of the old Yorkshire Evening Post (Big style of yore) across the fireplace until it scorched and burst into flames? Worked though! Hiya shutthatdoorI remember the "Hearth Sets", though I only recall them being called a poker stand. Much too large to fit on it was a long metal rod that had a flat vertical bit at one end that was used to scoop back the soon accumulating soot in parts of the coal fire. Even trying hard to control the rod some soot always got out before it could be contained, so some still got everywhere!Ah yes the putting a large newspaper across the front to draw the fire. As you say, it sure worked! Also twisting bits of paper to make fire lighters of sorts that when one or more were lit by a match they helped start the coal fire, as being twisted they burnt for some time. Edit just after posting. Hi Johnny39. The name 'Tidys' sounds very familiar. I did not see your post until I posted mine as it took me some time to do my post (slow typing and some interruptions!).      Hi Leodian L guess you had a Yorkshire Range thats the fire with a built in oven i remember getting the long rake to get the soot out.You had to remove a little cast iron plate above the oven to rake out the soot.I must say i have never had yorkshire puddings has good as we had from that oven or home made bread cakes yum yum.

[Leodian]

Hiya Tilly. Yes it was a Yorkshire Range. I can still recall mum using the coal heated oven at one side to bake food, particularly bread. It had a metal ledge (with holes in) in front where food could be put to cool down. The coal of course also heated water in the boiler for baths and clothes washing, which meant the fire had to be on even on warm days. Oh, and the used bath water was immediately reused by someone else as it took too long to warm up more water!