Dad your'e Joking

[Stacey Steve]

Ah the three day week.

I was working as a contractor then and I can assure you I have no good memories about it. If I didn't work, I didn't get paid.

So guess what, I didn't earn any money over that period. I tried to get some money by signing on as temporary unemployed. What an education that was, sitting in a waiting room with drunks and people that had urgent appointments at the bookies.

I saw people picking up money and I knew they had vans parked up outside ready to go off to work.

Best bit about it, I was not elligible, nearly lost my house over that.

[Cloud]

I was still at school then it was great.Never had so much time off school

[yoanbob]

mmm spangles. I got 50p week and had to do my chores for it, I can remember the electric strikes and going to bed with a candle. I can remember the corona van but we were too poor for that.

[Starchild]

When the 3 day week began, Dad got a rayburn.

Years later.......when the council offered us this house, I told them to leave in the rayburn. They are still trying to take it...OVER MY DEAD BODY!

So guess what, I didn't earn any money over that period. I tried to get some money by signing on as temporary unemployed. What an education that was, sitting in a waiting room with drunks and people that had urgent appointments at the bookies.

Guess what, things haven't changed.

[kernowyon]

I can remember the corona van but we were too poor for that.

our milkman used to deliver Corona, (It's frothy man!!) I think the deposit was about 2p on a bottle?. we used to collect them from around the village and get our pocket money that way
i can remember going to my cousins for the day and getting 10p for lunch (bag of chips, fizzy drink and sweets) 1/2 p for two black jacks/fruit salads or 1p for a refresher or trafficlight lolly

[Cloud]

We never had a corona man as we lived in the sticks,but we did have a grocery van come round twice a week and his name was Mr Prickett!Never forgot that name.
We also had a fish man come round once a week and of course the coalman!

[Starchild]

We still get the coalman, he delivers our coal and compost.

[SarzWix]

Our pop man was from Vaux, not Corona, but we were the same with collecting any bottles lying around to get a bit of pocket money. Mam & Dad never gave us pocket money (probably couldn't afford it!) but we usually got some off Nana & Grandad every Saturday. I reckon my favourite thing in the sweetshop was Chocolate Tools They were 3p each though, I always had expensive tastes
I remember a lot of our clothes being made at home, and Nana always knitting jumpers & cardigans. Lots of stood around being measured and despair when you'd grown an inch or 2 before the thing was finished!
My first job (at 17 -1989), I got paid £35 a week, and had to pay Ma £20 a week PLUS run my little moped, buy lunches, clothes etc. And I still had to be in for 9.30pm on a week night...

[squashysu]

My first job (at 17 -1989), I got paid £35 a week, and had to pay Ma £20 a week PLUS run my little moped, buy lunches, clothes etc. And I still had to be in for 9.30pm on a week night...

Now i feel old, my first job was in 1984 when i left school!!!! how scarey that i left 24 years ago!!!!!!!!!!!! god i only feel 25 (well mentally anyway lol)

[jackie j]

When I got married ( the first time ) in 1974 My Oh earned £40 a week and mine was £20 a week we rented a flat for a while then moved in with the in laws before buying our first house in 1978 for £9, 500 a brand new 2 bed terraced with a garage underneath, the mortgage went up before we moved in to £80 a month. We sold it 2 years later for £19,250. it now sells for over £150 grand.

[Flummery]

When we had our first power cuts I was in hospital for 3 weeks with high bloodpressure just before the birth of our daughter. I was the only one in the family warm and able to read!

Further cuts ensued when the children were primary school age. I remember their excitement at candle-light - and the sheer annoyance when my sewing machine went off - I used to make our clothes in those days.

[Winged one]

I remember lots of power cuts and homework by candlelight. I don't know whether it was deliberate outages or technical faults but I do remember a LOT of evenings with candles and torches. Very scratchy acrylic blankets to sleep under. Open fire was the main source of heating (and going out to various places cutting logs all summer and piling them up in the side of the house for winter). Mum making lots of our clothes and da growing lots of our veg/fruit in the garden. And mum had a big chest freezer that she'd fill with a half a cow or a sheep every few months, and then mark off in her little notebook as she used up everything.

We used to get driven to school in the mornings by a neighbour, home at lunch was walking, but back again was in the firetruck (as another neighbour would drive it home for lunch - it needed to be driven daily so that it was kept working well for whenever needed!) or occasionally the ambulance (same only that was far less important!!), and walk home again in the evenings (and unfortunately it was downhill to school and uphill to go home).

There were lots of "economy drives" too - times when we'd have nothing but jam on bread for tea for a couple of weeks. Scrambled eggs were a treat.

The funny thing is that with everyone tightening their belts on this side of the water, I hear a lot talking about how it is so hard. When everyone has plenty to eat etc - the shortages seem to be that people can't go out and get smashed a few times a week and have all the expensive gadgets that they are after getting used to. I know things are harder than we have been used to - but a lot of people seem to not realise just how hard it really used to be (and hopefully won't be again).

[loveday69]

I was there too during the electricity cuts - good thing we only had one "real" fuel fire in the house and hadn't got used to central heating.
My first job was in a bank and I earned the princely sum of £14, a bit different to the wages I had in my last job.
I also remember having a thruppeny bit for my pocket money and thought I was soooo rich.
Aaah, happy times

Oh I loved thrupenny bits, they were just so chunky - you knew you had a coin in your hand with those - I still miss them (sad aren't I?)

[HeyWayne]

YouTube - Monty Python - Four Yorkshiremen

[areia]

wasnt around for electricity stikes but when the lecy did go out we had a little wenlock and oil lamps