In article ,
Steve Wolstenholme writes:
In around 1960 we were playing on the ice and the police drove their
Land Rover out towards us to get us to safety. The ice could support a
car but it made some interesting noises.

It was such fun. We kids had no sense of danger.

Nor did the police, apparently! Of all the daft things for them to do!
--
John Hall Weep not for little Leonie
Abducted by a French Marquis!
Though loss of honour was a wrench
Just think how it's improved her French. Harry Graham (1874-1936)

The school I attended from 1948 to 1953 was just over a mile from home.
There was no public transport, no school bus, my parents had no car and
so I walked.

Same here for my junior school, except the dates are about 10 years or
so later!


I frequently think that we're progressing backwards.


I think a lot is down to all this choice we apparently all want.
Parents now choose a school miles away, which they have to drive to,
in the rush hour, adding to congestion, global warming, pollution,
obesity (through not walking to school) etc etc. In the old days if a
school was poor, you had an incentive to try & get something done, now
you just change schools.

I remember when you dialed directory enquiries (there was only one
number) it was free, and you even got the right number! Now you have a
choice of 2,456,678 numbers, they all charge, and the chance of
getting the right umber is frankly minimal.

I even remember a time before that D'Savary maniac destroyed Land's
End by that pseudo-Roman concrete monstrosity he was allowed to
construct. In the old days there was a hotel, Bar, an ice cream kiosk,
the 1st & Last house, and a bus shelter with a corrugated iron roof.

Then there was the legendary Skewjack Surf village. www.skewjack.co.uk/
history.html

Those were the days.

Grumpy old man
Penzance

"Steve Wolstenholme" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 10 Feb 2007 11:21:19 -0600, David Buttery
wrote:

When I first went to school (in 1980) the *vast* majority of pupils
walked, and most of those walked unaccompanied by their parents. My
family had one car, and my dad used it to go to work, so I got a lift
only very rarely (even in 1981-2!). In larger towns, fewer families had
cars at all, and almost everyone got a bus to school.

I'm a lot older than you but I still remember my first day at school
in 1952. At four years old I was considered old enough to walk the
half mile. No families had cars, there was no school bus, nobody was
driven to school and even the kids who lived two miles from school
walked all the way. Only wimps turned up with a parent. The weather
didn't make much difference. If we were snowed in and had to dig our
way out we were late! One day I remember we could walk to school in a
straight line because everything was frozen, including the lake. Some
people just don't believe me when I talk about the winters we had in
those days.

Steve


Walk, I bet you had shoes, you were lucky, when I was a lad ... :-)

Will.
--

"Alan White" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 10 Feb 2007 11:21:19 -0600, David Buttery
wrote:

When I first went to school (in 1980) the *vast* majority of pupils
walked, and most of those walked unaccompanied by their parents. My
family had one car, and my dad used it to go to work, so I got a lift
only very rarely (even in 1981-2!). In larger towns, fewer families had
cars at all, and almost everyone got a bus to school.

The school I attended from 1948 to 1953 was just over a mile from home.
There was no public transport, no school bus, my parents had no car and
so I walked. When I learnt to ride a bike (I was a late developer), I
cycled. Bad weather never closed the school.


Bike, you had a bike, you were lucky, when I was a lad ...

Will.
--

fred wrote:
Agreed, bit we remain the laughing stock of Canada and Norway for our
"inability" to cope with such small amounts of snow and these countries will
have undergone similar patterns of change in the last couple of decades.


I think you also have to consider the nature of the snow. I've had a few trips
to Canada in winter (Regina) and it was interesting to note their approach. With
the cold temps you can remove a foot of snow very quickly with a snow blower
from all the paths. Its well below freezing so no melting, paths remain dry and
clear and non slippery. Forget clearing roads, no problem driving on hard packed
snow.

I also was there when they had some "english" conditions - and guess what ?
gridlock on the roads. people weren't used to driving in slush where snow
chains couldn't be used.

Chris

"Clive" wrote in message
. ..

I remember the winter of 1963, i had to walk to school a couple of miles
through the snow and we played football on the school playing fields.No
schools where shut then, perhaps its where there is a blame culture and
the prospect of being sued has made shutting schools the norm these
day.Also on the way home from school i did slip over and break my
arm,now that was a long wait to get patched up. But i stil went back to
school the following day.

regards

clive

You played football, I bet you had boots as well, you were lucky, when I was a
lad ...

Will.
--

"Graham Easterling" wrote in message
oups.com...
The school I attended from 1948 to 1953 was just over a mile from home.
There was no public transport, no school bus, my parents had no car and
so I walked.

Same here for my junior school, except the dates are about 10 years or
so later!


I frequently think that we're progressing backwards.


I think a lot is down to all this choice we apparently all want.
Parents now choose a school miles away, which they have to drive to,
in the rush hour, adding to congestion, global warming, pollution,
obesity (through not walking to school) etc etc. In the old days if a
school was poor, you had an incentive to try & get something done, now
you just change schools.

I remember when you dialed directory enquiries (there was only one
number) it was free, and you even got the right number! Now you have a
choice of 2,456,678 numbers, they all charge, and the chance of
getting the right umber is frankly minimal.

I even remember a time before that D'Savary maniac destroyed Land's
End by that pseudo-Roman concrete monstrosity he was allowed to
construct. In the old days there was a hotel, Bar, an ice cream kiosk,
the 1st & Last house, and a bus shelter with a corrugated iron roof.

Then there was the legendary Skewjack Surf village. www.skewjack.co.uk/
history.html

Those were the days.

Grumpy old man
Penzance


You were lucky to live in such a nice place, when I was a lad :-)

Will.
--

I remember the winter of 1963, i had to walk to school a
couple of miles
through the snow and we played football on the school playing
fields.No
schools where shut then, perhaps its where there is a blame
culture and
the prospect of being sued has made shutting schools the norm
these
day.Also on the way home from school i did slip over and break
my
arm,now that was a long wait to get patched up. But i stil
went back to
school the following day.

I remember that winter too.There was so much snow that we
couldn't use the playing fields for whatever the current method
of torture was - probably hockey that term, but it might have
been lacrosse - and instead had to go and play in the snow!
Almost a whole term free of silly team ball games. Bliss!

Anne
Fochabers

"Col" wrote in
:

But shops and businesses don't close at the merest hint of snow.
And their employees surely come from far further afield than
pupils to your average school.

But they don't have a duty of care to 500 children. I think it's reasonable
to be more cautious about children than about adults. Besides, an eight-
year-old can't drive home!

The shops in Worcester, at least, *did* close early on Friday, but this was
mostly because the roads were becoming treacherous and buses were ceasing
to run by about 4pm.

--
Bewdley, Worcs. ~90m asl.

"fred" wrote in message
...
Agreed, bit we remain the laughing stock of Canada and Norway for our
"inability" to cope with such small amounts of snow and these countries
will have undergone similar patterns of change in the last couple of
decades.


Well we can equally have a good laugh at others as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0mfpiCfjDM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOXkqrLwRFQ

I was in Norway last February and the one thing I noticed was that walking
on snow in subzero temperatures is very easy to do - it is not slippy. In
the UK, snow tends to fall when the temperature is near or slightly above
freezing so the snow immediatly starts thawiing into a slushy mess which
becomes like a skating rink, especially after the cars have compacted the
snow down hard.