Historical Facts

[Dorothy rouse]

Not much has changed then!

[Dorothy rouse]

You know that 'peas porridge hot rhyme' we used to do a 'skipping ' game singing, that when I was a child ( lived in Scotland till 12) is it a Scottish rhyme?

[Sheneval]

Dotty,

I think so and remember the girls skipping to it when I was a child - porridge was the staple diet for many and if I recollect correctly used to be made in large batches and kept stored cold in a drawer.

I still eat it regularly, (several times a week - had some this morning), though I now smear honey on top whereas when I was young it was topped with salt

[Dorothy rouse]

Think porridge has made a come back in recent years, so good for helping with cholesterol, husband has it every day. I like it only with honey/syrup on top, brother in law ( a proper Scot) has his with salt, and thinks we're all soft 'down here' in the South! Don't remember it being kept in drawer tho! Yuk, kind you suppose you cud have it sliced, and take it for your lunch instead of a sandwich.

Now yet another memory, we used to take 'a piece' , to have at break time at school, does that still happen?

[RedThorn]

A piece or a box of pieces, is a very north England and Scottish thing I'm afraid, the "southern softies" usually have no idea what it means...

[Thelma Sanders]

You know that 'peas porridge hot rhyme' we used to do a 'skipping ' game singing, that when I was a child ( lived in Scotland till 12) is it a Scottish rhyme?

In East London we sang...........
Pease pudding hot, Pease pudding cold,
Pease pudding in the pot - nine days old.
Some like it hot, some like it cold,
Some like it in the pot - nine days old.

You could also chant it like........ one potato, 2 potatoes, 3 potatoes, four,
5 potatoes, 6 potatoes, 7 potatoes more, to see who got out.

[Sheneval]

Dotty,

At one time it was used both for school and work and you would also shout up to your mother to throw you down a piece into the backcourt when you were hungry - saved you breaking off from play - although the term is I suspect gradually dying out or it may just have been a Glasgow word - my grandsons call it lunch and most workmates in Glasgow called it sandwiches.

I suspect the porridge being kept in a drawer was to keep it out of the reach of rats not that it would necessarily have worked because I have heard rats can eat through concrete - they certainly used to eat through lead piping which supplied the water.

[Bill HH]

The term "piece" is in regular use in America but if customs ask you if your carrying a piece they would be surprised if you waved a pudding at them.

[Dorothy rouse]

Yep know that one also Thelma, skipping again.

And yes also Shen, my mum didn't know what I was talking about when I first asked her for 'a piece', us being English and all that!

Oh my, listen to us!

[Dorothy rouse]

Shen, do you live Glasgow ( ish?). I lived in Bearsden till I was 12, sister still lives up there ?

[RedThorn]

GOODBYE

This is a contraction of the words God be with ye (you).

ON TENTERHOOKS

After it was woven wool was pounded in a mixture of clay and water to clean and thicken it. This was called fulling. Afterwards the wool was stretched on a frame called a tenter to dry. It was hung on tenterhooks. So if you were very tense, like stretched cloth, you were on tenterhooks.

[Sheneval]

Shen, do you live Glasgow ( ish?). I lived in Bearsden till I was 12, sister still lives up there ?

Dotty,

I was born in Glasgow Gorbals but left there aged 11 although I continued to travel by tram car from my new home back to my old school Abbotsford every day till I passed the Qualifying exam and moved school to Shawlands Academy which was just short of half way between my old school and where I then lived.

Berasden was and is a posh place in comparison to the Gorbals

I now live in Troon which is much more like Bearsden than it is to the Gorbals.

A few years back when my eldest grandson was doing a project on Roman History I took him and his younger brother to the Roman Baths at Bearsden - he got a really good mark for his paper which included references and photographs of this visit

[Dorothy rouse]

How interesting, I don't remember there being any Roman baths, but it was a long time ago. Sister lives in Milmgavie

[Dorothy rouse]

Nothing left of the Gorbals now, last time we were up in Scotland, we visited a restored house in Glasgow, interesting.

[julesapple]

Oh my goodness......I went to Boclair Academy in Bearsden. And I had no idea there were Roman Baths there. I did History at Higher Level, and still don't recall either History teacher mentioning the Baths.

ETA Just looked on a Ordnance Survey map - we used to run cross country right over the wall