General Chat

Nudge! Lindy:-)

lindzy wonderful! thank you so much.

Hi Norah, Hopefully, during this coming week. Lindy:-))))

Next episode eagerly awaited Norah

/continued part 2.. Hooray....Saturday morning has arrived and I would be given five pennies..Four would permit of me attending the Record Bioscope And one would buy four black sweet balls which you sucked for ages taking them out every now and again to see how they had changed colour, and all this while watching Rin Tin tin the dog or Tom Mix and Black Jones the cowboys....All this was endured in the confines of a corrugated iron building with no ventilation..Air conditioning was then unknown and we loved it. Saturday evening saw me being asked to collect the weekend paper which cost a penny. Now to Sunday...walking four Kwl to the Wesleyan Church in the morning....the same route for Sunday School in the afternoon...and the same for church in the evening...I must recall how I liked evening church for I sang duets in the choir with my mother... on the way home from Church we would gather at the MacGregors home where Mabel and Elsie would play the Piano and at least eight of us would gather round to join in the sing song....Sadly we do not do things like that any more . While still on the weekend let me describe a typical Sunday afternoon after Sunday School Capt. Treharne and his wife who was always reverently called Aunt Sophie would take to have tea under the trees at the Walmer Cricket Ground. I would sit at the back of the Willy Overlander motor car dressed in my blue serge suit and celluloid collar with my hands on my knees and only spoke if I was spoken to by one of these wonderful people.....I shall always remember the kindness I received from these Victorian Folk. Now to come to a weekday afternoon in Gladstone Street.....After homework we kids would gather at the ...Plotty Pond a pool in a quarry....Next to which we built a cricket pitch of a chalk that we quarried and rolled by hand and then made use of when it was finished. Now a thought from the 1930 depression comes to mind...Mt Dad was only working three mornings a week for which he was paid twelve shillings per shift. I am sent to Mr. Kow the Chinese grocer with a note for half a loaf of bread...half a pound of butter....small tin of condensed milk....But I tell Mr. Know that I have no money with me....The old gentleman reached over the counter, placed his hand on my head with these words...Leslie I know your mommy and when she has the money she will pay me.I went home with my precious order. If only that trust existed in our lives today. We did not possess a car in those days so we used the tram to go to town. Trams were those metal juggernauts. such ungainly noisy vehicle whose flanged wheels ran on tracks sunk into the road surface and held in place with granite sets or blocks. The route of the track was usually along the center line of the road in which they were laid....Trams were either single or double Decker and the top deck of these was open so that when it rained one was dependant on canvas blinds that you unrolled to try to keep dry. A tram travelling from the city to South end would pass along North then South Union Streets.At the end of South Union the tram would need to turn right into Walker Road which was a fairly steep hill...to change points the motorman would lean over the front of he tram and jam a chisel metal rod into the point ...Give the rod a twist and so throw the frog of the point into the required direction....Then on your way. If perchance it was raining while climbing Walker Road the conductor would fetch sand from the boxes placed on the pavements to sprinkle on the tracks to improve the traction...Those were the days when Time was no object. As students we were able to purchase punch cards to ride in the trams card took fifty clippings and cost fifty cents...So from our house to the City Center a distance of five kl cost one penny. The end of the South End run was at First Ave Walmer. At this terminus the tram did not turn round the conductor simply took the over head trolley ,swung it through 180 degrees and re-engaged the trolley wheel in the overhead wire and all was ready to go back to town. To return to my old home again, ..We were No 26...And no 24, 26, 28 were identical. These cottages had been built during the Boer War for use by British Officers landing at P.E. in transit inland....No 24 was owned by Capt Trehjarne...We were in No 26 and No 28 was occupied by Sergeant Mc Gregor and his family. I have mentioned that there was no waterborne sewerage system in my day, nor was Gladstone a made road , it was simply a gravel track. Now for some home truths Our lavatory was an iron structure at the back end of the road...This contained a wooden seat over a wooden tub and among my duties I would sprinkle wood ash over the contents of the tub as an antifly measure....I must now tell of the changing of the tub...These were removed every Friday afternoon but only on the presentation of a tub ticket which one purchased at the nearest Municipal Agency.For the sum of one ticket..i.e. three pence....No one looked forward to those smelly Friday afternoons. Now for something quiet different...With Dads family all living in Johannesburg we found ourselves going there for holidays, this was convenient as Dad would obtain a P.T.O. ..that is a reduced railway fare for the family. We could not afford the Dining Saloon so all our food was taken picnic style , only the coffee was purchased. At this stage I can recount that we would travel from home to the Railway Station in a horse drawn cab and all the luggage was stuffed into a tin trunk. The fare in the cab was half a crowni.e. two shillings and sixpence or in today's money thirty cents, We liked staying with uncle Tommy for to us he was rich. He worked underground as an electrician and we were told he earned twenty seven pound per month. I started school in 1923 at Miss Agathas Gedeys Private Primary School at the lower end of Webber Street in South End , Even at that age I walked the two and a half klms To school each day armed with my lunch tin ...slate and slate pencil....No exercise books for us....While on the subject of school let me recoed having completed my Higher School Certificate at the Pearson High which was situated in BelmontTerrance near the Donkin Reserve. This was five klms from our house and this we walked every day , only when it rained did we use the tram, I attended Pearson as I had won a Scholarship for my last four years at school. To be continued.... Lindy:-))