Smudgeinthebudge

Bob and Ester Rochester were indeed a lovely couple. I remember my Mam being really mad at Ester for selling my younger brother a box of matches. Ester thought they were for my Mam. He proceeded to blow himself by emptying all the gunpowder out of a box of fireworks on the Tute steps and the putting a match to it. He was well singed but not seriously damaged. He also ended up with a very red backside from my mother's advanced treatment of PTSD - A good hiding!

Eggy, here's a bit more info. The waste ground M was the sight of both Howard row and Yard row which both went almost to the pit. I remember the rubble and gardens being there when I was little. Before they shifted to Hollymount square in 1956 my paternal grandparents lived in 26 Plessey street and there was one more house in the street which must of been number 27. Third street didn't have a number one as it had burnt down years before. I was definitely the pit baths clean end to the left and dirty end to the right appropriately next to the pit. The buildings opposite are left to right the farm workers cottages, the pit canteen and the store which burnt down at some time when i was living in the 'Tute'. The managers house which was attached to the store is still there as are the farmworkers cottages The pit baths and canteen are gone now. The field between the school Bob Mullens garage, and was called the Gala field as it was used for the children's gala before the gala started to travel to exotic locations - Newbiggin then Whitley Bay. The site of Clifton row is also on the photo to the right between the Club and the pit. Hope this is some help.

It's easier to get them in boxes at Christmas with sticks in for eating them. I've noticed that you can get them already pitted but they are a bit more expensive!

All the best Foxy hope it went well for you.

I think you've set the bar a little high there. That lot include Duck Dunn and Steve Cropper. It's like my twentieth century hall of fame. To be much better it would have to include a few folk that had already died when that was recorded. Cheers Ovalteeny I'm now going to watch the rest of the concert on YT.

I don't need to do anything I use the same password for everything and no one will ever crack it. Its ydarB nalA

My real name is Mr Smudgeinthebudge and my address is 1 Third Street, Netherton Colliery. Please pm me if you want details of my bank account and credit cards.

Thanks. I've always been the same since I grew up. Each party tends to have things in their basic philosophies which I agree or disagree with such as freedom and liberty, equality and fairness, human rights etc and you have to decide on basic principles and which one coincides with your beliefs before you vote. I am not a 'tribal voter' and I do not cast my vote because of promises leading up to an election, I cast it based on my own beliefs and moral values. I do feel a bit guilty after this election I shouldn't really complain because, except for voting I haven't done done much for a cause I believe in. That is going to change in the next few weeks. I'm singing the International in my head as I write this.

I mentioned the bacon sarnie but in the past I could of mentioned an old man at the cenotaph with a duffel coat or a welsh man tripping on a beach but I don't think personalties come into as much as some people say. What I'm really sad about is the future which may reflect the past with no health service, child poverty rife and disease spreading from the people who can't afford proper treatment. The trouble is that every time labour lose an election there is always a shout both within and without the party for to move further right to become electable. I believe there are still major differences between the two main parties and these differences could be made more clear by a labour party with clearly stated left wing policies based on the aspirations of the people it was set up to help not by going for some middle of the road vague promises to keep the real power mongers (the international corporations) happy. Yes a lot of the careerist politicians did go to university but then again so did a lot of kids now stacking shelves in supermarkets. By reading this forum I have been convinced that I must do something so I'm off to join the Labour Party this week if they will have me.

As a tribal voting idiot I just want to say that this has been a very disappointing election result for me and others like me who would like to see more equality of wealth, opportunity and a halt to picking on the weak and disadvantaged. A fairer and more just society with hope and an optimistic vision of the future would have been nice. One thing I have learnt is that policies are not as important as how you eat a sandwich.

As booze is so expensive in Denmark possibly they often get in their cars and head south for cheaper booze in Schwelswig Holstein and Lower Saxony. I bet even Carlsberg is cheaper there and it would influence the statistics. But that's just conjecture as is so many have committed suicide that the survivors think themselves happy because they've survived. Of course I do not know the Scandinavian statistics for depressive illnesses but is it possible that anyone clinically depressed feels worse because they have an expectation of happiness?

I think SAD (Seasonal affective disorder) might have something to do with suicide rates being high in Scandinavia. I don't know not having looked it up, but don't they also have a different attitude towards end of life/terminal illness? I think the invasion of American multinationals with a completely different work ethic to the Danish one may be having a marginal effect but that's just conjecture on my part. I do not think utopias exist and it is probably dangerous to try and make them, but I do not think there's anything wrong with learning from other countries.

Why not look to sensible countries like Denmark (the happiest country in the world) and attempt to emulate them. At the bottom line that is all anybody wants - to be happy. Many Danes don't lock their cars or houses because they tend to trust each other. I know that people say they didn't used to lock their doors in this country but that was because they had nowt worth pinching. As a teenager I never once heard anyone in a pub say "Do you want a knock off proggy mat going cheap, or a mangle?" One of the problems in this country is the fact we are brought up with dreams of past glories of empire and dream of punching above our weight in the world. A lot will change in the next few centuries but I doubt if we will ever have another empire. In fact I doubt if we will be able to hang on to Scotland or Wales. What we need is a bit serious realistic thought about what sort of country we wish to live in. I know what sort of country I want to live in and it is not one where sections of the population are deeply disadvantaged and demonised by a right wing press controlled by the people who did the disadvantaging (Is that a word?) in the first place. No we need a decent, more equal society where there is more equality of opportunity for everyone no matter where they were born or what accent they speak with, or what colour their skin is. Goodness knows there is a lot of wealth around, it just needs sharing out more fairly. One final note, the Danes do this by paying huge amounts of taxes in a country where a guy with a small wooden toy making business can end up with a huge multi-national company - Lego. But think of the pain he's caused to parents standing on the bricks barefooted.

Thanks folks. Follow Flogger!

Chillblains are probably rare now because people don't sit in front of an open fire slow roasting their legs anymore.