Monday 10 March 2014

The bad old days.


                     

I'm not a big 'lunchtime' eater, I much prefer to 'dine'.

My parents, however, were more traditional, and Sunday Lunch was sacrosanct.

So, there was I yesterday evening, enjoying some simple roast Lamb, thinking back to when I was just a wee sprog, and how Sundays were so very different.

Of course, in those primitive days, all shops were closed on Sundays, and almost the only entertainment on offer was some silly old buffer's demonic, primitive, sermoning in church. Sundays were tedious; that is, apart from lunchtime.

My mother (like everyone's mother) was a wonderful cook. Those huge joints of roast beef, legs of lamb, or roasted chickens (usually our own) were sumptuous.

TV was not yet invented, or if it was it hadn't arrived chez nous. We had a big 'Odeon style' wooden-bodied RADIO (with a 'magic eye') that could pick-up broadcasts from Hilversum (why was it that all old fashioned radios could be tuned in to Hilversum?). It wasn't exactly like the one above, but similar.

We'd listen to Archie Andrews, Have a Go (with Wilfred Pickles), The Billy Cotton Band Show, and Two-Way Family Favourites. Listening time was limited; turning on the radio was a 'privilege'. Maybe later in the day we would also listen to a evening play.

Life was so simple. The kettle was heated with flames, Wilfred Pickles handed out £1 notes on the radio, the telephone was only used in emergencies, and the sun shone 365 days a year.


19 comments:

  1. Oh I remember it well - every house had the smell of the Sunday roast wafting through the windows - we used to listen to Jimmy Clitheroe and The Navy Lark. You are right - life did seem simpler back then.

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  2. Oh god yes. And now I listen to the navy lark again on radio 4 extra. I don't think life was particularly simple though, our house was fraught with rules like being seen and not heard.

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    1. The Navy Lark was our Friday night stay up late treat!!

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  3. Ah yes…Billy Cotton on a Sunday lunchtime….WAKEY WAKEY !! Arthur Askey…Give im the money Mabel! ( have I got that one right? ) I, too, often listen to The Navy Lark on 4 Extra….left hand down a bit. I think " Round the Horne" was a bit later, but that has stood the test of time..also now on 4 Extra.

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    1. 'Give 'im the money Mabel'.... yes, that's the one. What a crazy programme.

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  4. Life did seem more simple and nowadays I cannot afford a Sunday Roast.

    I well remember getting into trouble when buying a wing rib and Mother unwrapping it to find it boned.

    Of course, I had not taken any notice of it being prepared - just asked for it and paid. I had to take it back and get one on the bone.

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  5. All those repeats of 'Round the Horn' and Billy Cotton instantly bring back the smell of a roast on a hot Summer afternoon to me too.

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  6. Sunday morning, Family Favourites and then the 'WAKEY WAKEY' call of Billy Cotton. Mum did the ironing while the roast was cooking. I have my Nan's 1950's radio on top of my dresser. I might get it fixed one day.

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  7. Sunday night was Music Night in our house.

    Sing something simple
    As cares go by
    Sing something simple
    Just you and I

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    Replies
    1. Get your restaurant ready; we just been reading that Angola is the new fashionable holiday destination!!!

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    2. I wouldn't mind seeing the link to that!

      Fashionable amongst whom?

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    3. I really would like the link. I showed your comment to Marcia and she gave out the most delightful titter. I could make a good blog post about Angola being fashionable!

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  8. I'm sat here with a grin from ear to ear and a slightly moist eye reading these memories. I was a teenage before I understood the Navy Lark!
    My dad used to sing to my mum during Music Night.
    Going on a little to those early teenage years - Sunday evening with the transistor radio and Radio Luxembourg and the top twenty.
    Gill

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    1. Dear old Radio Luxembourg... it kept me sane.

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  9. I have the same memories. Sunday lunch with family and company was the most important and celebrated day of the week. It connected us all and was so important to the family structure.

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  10. I remember my mom singing along with the radio as she worked around the house. For the first 10 years of my life she cooked and heated with wood as did my grandparents on the other side of the house. There was no shortage of good home made food with two wonderful cooks on tap. Great memories Cro.

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  11. Sundays for us was always out on the bike...on the tandems, me behind my dad, then on my own bike, then on the clubrun. Lunch at a cafe or teaplace. Mottisfont Post Office used to open especially...tea, boiled eggs, brown bread and cake!

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  12. Most of my earliest memories are from when we lived in Bahrain. My dad had Thursday and Friday off work whilst we had Friday and Sunday off school. Friday mornings were mostly at the beach or the pool, whilst lunch was often at the Club or one of the big hotels around Manama. I don't remember my mother ever cooking lunch in those years.
    I do like to tell my sons about the utter boredom of Sundays at boarding school. No radios, no tvs and not much to do, study was almost welcome.

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  13. I remember it well.
    Give him the money Barney!

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