Things Ain't What They Used to Be.

[PHILINFRANCE]

4 hours ago, gl2 said:

Green Shield Stamps and taking your full books to the shop by Fairfax House.

 

4 hours ago, gl2 said:

 

 

3 hours ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

Green Shield became Argos I think.

 

Now you've got me.

What was the difference between Green and Pink Shield Stamps?

It's a genuine question: I can remember both, but have no idea what the difference was.

 

[Slacker]

Gingells has been gone for a few years Super. 

 

 

[Port Said Red]

7 hours ago, PHILINFRANCE said:

 

 

Now you've got me.

What was the difference between Green and Pink Shield Stamps?

It's a genuine question: I can remember both, but have no idea what the difference was.

 

Green Shield stamps were basically like Nectar points, so you could earn them at a variety of places, it did morph into Argos. Pink Stamps (and others I think) were rival companies, or even shop specific, pinks might have been Fine Fare? 

 

[italian dave]

Interesting article here…..yes, Green Shield Stamps became Argos: not just as a shop in Broadmead but as a business. I’d forgotten that was how Argos came about. Pink stamps were definitely Fine Fare - I can remember getting them, maybe at the Fine Fare in Filton. 

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/05/argos-story-green-shield-stamps-tesco-sainsburys

[italian dave]

ESSO “tiger in your tank” tails. Free when you bought so many gallons (I think) and you tied them to the bumper, or mirror, or some other part - and the next day someone would have nicked it. 

[Port Said Red]

1 hour ago, italian dave said:

ESSO “tiger in your tank” tails. Free when you bought so many gallons (I think) and you tied them to the bumper, or mirror, or some other part - and the next day someone would have nicked it. 

Getting your dad to fill up at Esso before the World Cup so you could collect the coins for each player to put in your display case. 

We really weren't very green at all were we? 

[italian dave]

1 minute ago, Port Said Red said:

Getting your dad to fill up at Esso before the World Cup so you could collect the coins for each player to put in your display case. 

We really weren't very green at all were we? 

Oh yes! I’ve still got the Alf Ramsey and Alan Ball ones somewhere - alongside their autographs, from a day when the squad trained at Ashton Gate!

Not very green, but when you could get 4 gallons (8litres?) for £1 there wasn’t much incentive, was there?!

[Norn Iron]

Kiosks Newsagents. 

Are they still a going concern?

[Der no.2]

Back in Christmas 1969 i was very lucky to get a Flashy Flickers. In Gran's front room perched on the plastic covered sofa (the Queen never did turn up) with half a dozen cousins we all sat back to watch a still frame projection onto the ceiling. Problem was the HP2's were knackered by 8pm.

[BS2 Red]

24 minutes ago, Der no.2 said:

i was very lucky to get a Flashy Flickers

[Guest]

A couple of planks of wood, mums old pram wheels and a bit of string there you have then you have much more excitement than any games consol...... a trolley.....if required your feet were the brakes 

[BigTone]

14 hours ago, gl2 said:

.....if required your feet were the brakes 

Or the big tree at the bottom of the road

[Open End Numb Legs]

Spending hours trying to swap out the Christmas tree light bulbs that were faulty to get the whole set working. Then taping together those chains of sticky paper strips to make the decorations. Then pin them to the ceiling by stepping on top of the sofa, avoiding Dad who was asleep on the sofa after having a few too many whiskies at the office party (actually held in the office back then).

[Lanterne Rouge]

When it snowed sliding down the big hill behind the church in North Curry on a fertiliser sack. It was a lovely long steep slope with a false finish that kicked up a bit and then carried on. The trick was to be going fast enough to get up that bit and carry on down.

You had to know when to jump off mind or you`d end up in the pond at the bottom.

[southside]

On 20/12/2022 at 23:38, PHILINFRANCE said:

 

 

Now you've got me.

What was the difference between Green and Pink Shield Stamps?

It's a genuine question: I can remember both, but have no idea what the difference was.

 

One was green,  the other was pink

[BigTone]

8 minutes ago, southside said:

One was green,  the other was pink

My thoughts exactly 

[Lanterne Rouge]

Remember when you bought paraffin at the local shop/garage for those cylindrical free standing heaters that stunk to high heaven? Esso Blue was one brand IIRC.

[BigTone]

27 minutes ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

Remember when you bought paraffin at the local shop/garage for those cylindrical free standing heaters that stunk to high heaven? Esso Blue was one brand IIRC.

If you bought lower grades then smoke got in your eyes

[Antman]

8 hours ago, BigTone said:

Or the big tree at the bottom of the road

all too familiar.

My go kart story centers around Hook Road in Chandlers Ford, i was testing out my mates Go Kart - laying down, head at the front, steering with hands - when i built up speed going downhill, down the pavement. all was great until i lost control and jumped into the road into the traffic, i panicked and realised the only way to brake was to press my forearms into the front wheels, which i did.

It was like that opening scene in Kung Fu, where he picks up the burning urn with his bare arms.

My mates and I soon moved onto a £20 vespa  ( four of us invested £5 each) which we rode through the woods instead. Until Roderick Cook decided to light up the carburettor to 'see what would happen' and we watched it go up in a ball of flame as he rode it across a field.

 

 

[Antman]

26 minutes ago, BigTone said:

If you bought lower grades then smoke got in your eyes

boom boom boom boom....Esso Blue!

[BigTone]

2 minutes ago, Antman said:

all too familiar.

My go kart story centers around Hook Road in Chandlers Ford, i was testing out my mates Go Kart - laying down, head at the front, steering with hands - when i built up speed going downhill, down the pavement. all was great until i lost control and jumped into the road into the traffic, i panicked and realised the only way to brake was to press my forearms into the front wheels, which i did.

It was like that opening scene in Kung Fu, where he picks up the burning urn with his bare arms.

My mates and I soon moved onto a £20 vespa  ( four of us invested £5 each) which we rode through the woods instead. Until Roderick Cook decided to light up the carburettor to 'see what would happen' and we watched it go up in a ball of flame as he rode it across a field.

 

 

Like you do

[Open End Numb Legs]

3 hours ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

Remember when you bought paraffin at the local shop/garage for those cylindrical free standing heaters that stunk to high heaven? Esso Blue was one brand IIRC.

We had one at the bottom of the stairs to keep the hall warm. They got very, very hot.

One day when I was about 8 I had a big argument with my sister who was throwing shoes at me from the top of the stairs, I stepped back, missed the bottom step, put my left hand out to catch my balance and planted it full on the top of the metal cylinder.

I got a burn that needed new dressings for about 10 days, I think they heard the screams several doors down. The bandages made me a cool kid at school though.

Thanks for reminding me 

[Erithacus]

4 hours ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

Remember when you bought paraffin at the local shop/garage for those cylindrical free standing heaters that stunk to high heaven? Esso Blue was one brand IIRC.

Yup, got sent down to the garage with a half gallon plastic container on many occasions as a sprog. Came back home with one arm longer than the other.

Then came the battle to get the wick level - it always tried to twist and would crumble if provoked too much. And the smell...

[stephenkibby.]

Pinball Machines, loved um. While at school in  Newton Abbot we would go up to the Milky Way Cafe.

100 fags prize for the top score of the week, me or my mate Pete would rack up a decent winning score.

Then Maxine Sutcliff (Girl from Leeds) would rock up and destroy our scores. She was a right bitch!!!!!

[Maesknoll Red]

The younger guys in work just can’t fathom that we didn’t have computers at school, the most advanced thing at Ashton Park School was a reel to reel tape recorder the French teacher used in the ‘language lab’……

 

[Port Said Red]

9 hours ago, Maesknoll Red said:

The younger guys in work just can’t fathom that we didn’t have computers at school, the most advanced thing at Ashton Park School was a reel to reel tape recorder the French teacher used in the ‘language lab’……

 

Écoute Et Répète

There was the television that used to get wheeled in on a big trolley too.

[BS2 Red]

15 hours ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

Remember when you bought paraffin at the local shop/garage for those cylindrical free standing heaters that stunk to high heaven? Esso Blue was one brand IIRC.

Everything blue stinks.

[Norn Iron]

20 hours ago, Antman said:

boom boom boom boom....Esso Blue!

Made to make your mouth water!

 

2 adverts for the price of one

[Maesknoll Red]

6 hours ago, Port Said Red said:

Écoute Et Répète

There was the television that used to get wheeled in on a big trolley too.

I only ever took French for two years and I’ll never forget that phrase, and yes, I’d forgotten the big telly in a cupboard on a pole on wheels.

[Red-Robbo]

On 17/12/2022 at 12:49, Open End Numb Legs said:

Mention of the Airfix models brings back memories, something today's youth might find a bit slow to build and paint. Those decals that needed to be soaked in water, tricky. I liked the smell of the paint.

I had my own Battle of Britain suspended from my bedroom ceiling by fishing line. I don't think the real planes included a layer of dust though.

 

Tamiya, Italeri and Hasegawa were cheaper than Airfix, but perhaps not quite the moulding quality.

I had the lot. Planes, tanks, ships. A mini-spray gun to perfectly cover surfaces with Humbrol paint.  A clamp to hold them, so you wouldn't paint your hands. 

I also collected white metal military figures and painted them up. Had an entire battalion of the King's German Legion from Waterloo era, not to mention a decent platoon of Pulteney's Regiment (later the Somerset Light Infantry) in Battle of Culloden order.

Then, a few days after my 16th birthday, my girlfriend let me 'go all the way' and that was the end of my obsession with staying in my bedroom to paint miniature soldiers and military models.