The message
from Sacha contains these words:

Yes, it had a very good reputation. I think when Jane Howell left there she
went on to work at the Royal Court Theatre.

Saw Anna Russell there 'doing' the Ring Cycle, all by herself. Hilarious!

I remember the electrician being so drunk-as-a-skunk during the technical
fit up that he just didn't write down every lighting cue and Jane Howell,
who was the director then, went justifiably mad when he missed
every one of
them in the technical rehearsal. Just occasionally, I still see some of
those long-ago faces on tv. It's quite a jolt when that happens but fun,
too. I found an old programme in the archives showing my name as a 'walk
on' in a panto and suddenly, all those names came rushing back to
me. How
peculiar!

Poke a memory with a sharp stick and you never know what else will
float up.

It's going back an awfully long way - about 45 years which seems horrifying!

My memories of Hornchurch go back to 1943...

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

The message
from Sacha contains these words:

Yes - I walked a friend's dog up there sometimes. In answer to Rusty's
question, all I can remember is right out of the theatre and right again.
I'll Google Earth it and see if I can recognise anything now.

That's towards Upminster. Just before the church there was The Dell, old
gravel-workings which were thickly overgrown with trees and bushes...

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

The message
from Sacha contains these words:
On 27/2/09 09:02, in article ,
"Aries" wrote:
On Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:18:12 +0000, Sacha wrote:

I recall a little restaurant where you could get a superb lunch for 5
shillings. We all went there as often as we could afford to do so.
IIRC, it
was on a road that, if you turned right, led up, out of the town to
a wooded
area. Does that ring bells?

Oh yes! There was a footpath somewhere thereabouts but being so long ago
now my memory of that area is rather blurred.

Well, I've looked for it on Google Earth and I think it must have been up
Station Lane - looks as if it's all built over now.

Station Lane's been built-up since before the war...

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

The message
from Aries contains these words:

Yes - I walked a friend's dog up there sometimes. In answer to Rusty's
question, all I can remember is right out of the theatre and right again.
I'll Google Earth it and see if I can recognise anything now.

LOL me too - big sighs tho - I can see quite clearly the cemetery behind the
church where my Grandmother is buried, but the allotments where my father
had two, are no longer there and in place is a housing estate SOB!

The woods and fields which I infested as an anklebiter, and the
allotments in Ayloff's Walk have all been built over TAAAW.

sob!

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

Sacha writes
On 24/2/09 13:08, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:

On Tue, 24 Feb 2009 11:31:12 +0000, Sacha wrote:
snip

Well, I can add up a column figures in a trice and rarely make a mistake
because we were taught mental arithmetic so young that I barely remember
learning it. But maths is a closed book for me and I freely admit to being
a real idiot about it. I didn't even take Maths O level - it was either me
or the teacher and I think they thought the teacher was rather more useful!

Try doing an OU introductory course if you are really worried?

No, it doesn't bother me that much and I've got this far without it!

Neither of my kids can do simple mental arithmetic, although they both have
degrees. They are from the generation where they were expected to use
calculator.

We find the same with the youngsters here - they use calculators a lot of
the time whereas we oldies have whizzed off the answer in seconds.

Doesn't apply to all oldies. I remember many years ago in a store with
considerable reputation buying 1lb of something marked at 24p per
quarter - the sales person, a chap about 20 years older than me, tried
to charge me a sum which was well over £1.

Can't see anything wrong with using a calculator if you also have the
skills to estimate the answer (and thus avoid silly mistakes). And
that's one thing my children were taught at school and I wasn't - haw to
find a good approsimation to the answer.
--
Kay

On 27/2/09 18:08, in article , "K"
wrote:

Sacha writes
snip

We find the same with the youngsters here - they use calculators a lot of
the time whereas we oldies have whizzed off the answer in seconds.

Doesn't apply to all oldies. I remember many years ago in a store with
considerable reputation buying 1lb of something marked at 24p per
quarter - the sales person, a chap about 20 years older than me, tried
to charge me a sum which was well over £1.

No, of course not everyone over 25 can use good mental arithmetic because
some people are and remain, badly taught. But IME there is no doubt that
the older generation does have those skills and the younger generation does
not *on the whole*.

Can't see anything wrong with using a calculator if you also have the
skills to estimate the answer (and thus avoid silly mistakes). And
that's one thing my children were taught at school and I wasn't - haw to
find a good approsimation to the answer.

There's nothing wrong with using a calculator as long as you can use it
swiftly and well. The times I've seen someone - not here, necessarily -
stabbing the wrong button and having to start all over again! Mental
arithmetic is very useful but my skills go little further. We also have a
sort of home made ready reckoner for someone who has trouble with a customer
who buys 5 plants at e.g. £1.75. ;-)
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
Exotic plants, shrubs & perennials online

On 27/2/09 17:44, in article
, "Rusty_Hinge"
wrote:

The message
from Sacha contains these words:

Yes, it had a very good reputation. I think when Jane Howell left there she
went on to work at the Royal Court Theatre.

Saw Anna Russell there 'doing' the Ring Cycle, all by herself. Hilarious!

Oh! I'd forgotten all about her. Not that I saw her but my former in-laws
had some of her records. She was wonderful. See if you enjoy this
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...13448528553422

snip
It's going back an awfully long way - about 45 years which seems horrifying!

My memories of Hornchurch go back to 1943...

I wasn't even a glimmer then, let alone a twinkle. ;-)

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
Exotic plants, shrubs & perennials online

The message
from K contains these words:

Doesn't apply to all oldies. I remember many years ago in a store with
considerable reputation buying 1lb of something marked at 24p per
quarter - the sales person, a chap about 20 years older than me, tried
to charge me a sum which was well over £1.

Over a pound? That's less than a penny!

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

The message
from Aries contains these words:

As kids, we used to have family walks along Wingletye Lane and into the
countryside beyond. We'd take picnics. Catch sticklebacks in the stream,
and bring them home in jam jars with string tied around the rim as handles

That 'stream' was the River Ingrebourne...

From Wingletye Lane you could walk down through Lilliputs Farm (worked
then entirely by heavy horses), cross the Ingrebourne using a big pipe
(and mind you don't fall off!) and up past my uncle's house to St.
Mary's Lane in Upminster.

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

The message
from Aries contains these words:
On Fri, 27 Feb 2009 17:47:29 GMT, Rusty_Hinge wrote:
The message
from Sacha contains these words:

Yes - I walked a friend's dog up there sometimes. In answer to Rusty's
question, all I can remember is right out of the theatre and right again.
I'll Google Earth it and see if I can recognise anything now.

That's towards Upminster. Just before the church there was The Dell, old
gravel-workings which were thickly overgrown with trees and bushes...

Clapping hands with excitement now !!! I used to know that Dell so well.
Once a Stag Beetle chased me all the way home from there

We used to have highly dangerous battles there, and stag beetles are
perfectly harmless (though the female of the species has a nasty nip)
and IMO they are Nice People...

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

The message
from Martin contains these words:

We were taught how to make a good approximation at school in the 1950s.

So were we - especially before using a slide-rule.

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

The message
from Sacha contains these words:
On 27/2/09 17:44, in article
, "Rusty_Hinge"
wrote:

My memories of Hornchurch go back to 1943...

I wasn't even a glimmer then, let alone a twinkle. ;-)

And *I'm* talking about memories, not appearance...

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

The message
from Aries contains these words:

Wasn't there a white painted pub somewhere in Wingletye Lane just before the
footpath?

Which footpath? I can think of half a dozen...

And can't think of any pub.

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

Which footpath? I can think of half a dozen...

And can't think of any pub.

Ah well, never mind. Time to end this nostalgic journey methinks and talk
of other things

Do you have any daffs blooming yet ?
--


AH a gardening content!!!

The message
from Aries contains these words:

Do you have any daffs blooming yet ?

I have some in the 'heads-up' position.

Got some ammonia^h^h^anemones thobut. And a couple of types of iris.

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk