certain smells bring back memories

Been bike riding today round Billinge/Rainford and cycling down this country lane and a smell from a tractor uncovering the potato's brought back memories of, the prato pickin wik we did as teenagers at this time of year,
In the 1960's we were given this week off to gather in the crops of potato's because men were not available due to the WW2, I used to work in the fields and it was hard back breaking work for about 12/6d a week, My Mum took ten bob off that and I had two and six to spend on the fair which, by some strange coincidence happened to be in Ashton on that very week, two shillings and six pence went a long way in those days and made all that work worthwhile ,
Happy times

The smell of the fair. The candyfloss, toffee apples and smell of diesel coming from the trucks that powered the rides. I can smell it now. Heavenly.

School holidays back then were scheduled around harvest time.

and the burgers n onions smells Mollie, These were the days before McDonalds so. they were proper burgers and hot dogs,

Everyone won a coconut and a goldfish in a bag on the darts stall or the air rifle stall,

Ooh yes, the burgers and onions.

They stopped the goldfish in a bag though because the poor little devils never survived. Not much of a life for them.

Not sure about the rifle stall though Tom, as the mean buggers adjusted the sights by a millimetre or two. You couldn't a hairy old buffalo if it was on top of you with them!

My Mum used to say, " those fish are not proper Gold fish, they are cockies fed on stuff to turn them orange and, like you say, they never lived long

It was the same with the darts stalls and the ' knocking the pyramid of cans' with a ball, they were all fixed but, It was a night of, lights, sounds, smells and company of friends that was a break from the skool routine

I loved the fairground. When my younger brother and I were little, mum gave us two bob, and dad gave us two bob each one year, so we started to run off from home in Darlington Street, but were stopped in our tracks by our older brother who was coming home from work, and he gave us half a crown each. We were rich beyond our wildest dreams, so we took off again for the Market Square and had the time of our lives.

It was only 6d a ride back then and we probably went on everything.

Garlic, keeps away vampires

Last week i bought a tin of paint which was mixed for me. I only painted a door edge and the awful smell of paint lingered for days. I will be painting skirting boards with this paint and if there is enough left maybe the door. Windows will be open and I have already bought onions to cut up which absorb some of the paint odoursOld fashioned remedy but it works

Posted by: First Mate (2748)

Garlic, keeps away vampires

Not sure of the significance of that in a topic about smells which bring back memories.

Tom said:

"In the 1960's we were given this week off to gather in the crops of potato's because men were not available due to the WW2"

Tommy tee, WW2 ended in 1945 and at that time there was a labour shortage of fit and abled men to, rebuild the bombed cities, roads and railways and , the story goes, Rome wasn't built in a day. Farm work has always been a poorly paid occupation so, workers were hard to get to bring in the crops so, The farmers asked the Gov't for help from the skool kids,

I've never met a poor farmer. And I've met some in my time!

I've never met a content farmer, Its either too wet or too dry or too hot or too cowd what a miserable shower of moaning buggers driving 5 wheeled landrovers and multifuncional tractors costing millions,
we owt have a challenge, Find a happy farmer

Is that what brought back a memory of smells? Every summer when the wind is blowing in a certain direction, we get a strong whiff of what can only be described as cow poo.

Farms have a mixture of farmyard smells, cow poo is one, cut hay is another and sounds too, cows mooing , sheep bleating, dogs barking , hens clucking. pigs squealing , I'd have loved to be born on a farm ,

Newly cut hay I could handle no problem, and not bothered about sounds. But cow poo and piggy poo is something else. No sir, not for this lickle chicking!

During our bike ride we encounter farm smells and also sewage plant smells and, cow dung is 100% more pleasant than the sewage plant smell so, just think what a cow must think as. on its journey to the slaughter house it passes a sewage plant,

I know, poor creatures. Folk think they don't know what's going to happen to them in the slaughter houses, but they do. I've seen the fear on their faces as they were prodded out of the cattle wagon. Sadly, it didn't make me vegetarian though.