More memories! Don't remember the word "jitty" in Leicester but once read it was used in southern England the same way. We had an ice cream van in the 1940s, or it could have been early 1950s, but I was still a child when I and other children went up for it. 1950s were my teenage years. I remember I know rationing affected sweets until 1953 and my mother always bought each of us in the family our weekly ration. There was no sacrificing of adults' rations for me, the only child. Lots of kids at school had kali (sure I've seen it spelt differently somewhere on another list, kahli I think) but I didn't especially want it and didn't realise it was off ration. Only knew of the finger dipping, nothing about licorice tubes or lollies to eat it with. Knew licorice sticks and also licorice root, but I didn't/don't like licorice myself. Thanks, June, for the explanation of the revolving drum in the window. I guessed it was grinding coffee or something like that, but we never had coffee at home until later. Also Mum never took me for a snack in a cafe when shopping; would have loved that! Certainly do it now! Later, in the '50s and '60s I did go to Bruccianis quite often and, for a long time, after choir practice on Friday evenings at Bishop St Church. Great to know they're still there and the ice cream menu looks really yummy. I never heard "causey" for a path. We did play snobs and, yes, they're jacks in Oz. I also loved cycling round the villages out from Scraptoft, usually Keyham, Hungerton, Barkby Thorpe, Barkby, South Croxton, Beeby and others. Also often went up the Uppingham Rd as far as Tugby or turned off and went to Tilton and Halstead. Not sure what a croggie was but I had a saddlebag and also a basket on the front of my bike. Great for doing the errands and we could just leave our bikes outside the shops in those days, didn't get stolen. My Mum was born and bred in Lincoln and sometimes called me and other kids "Duck", but thankfully not "me duck"! Remember the whale and going to see it with Mum, but didn't realise it had a name. Haven't heard the one about "standing on C&A corner" but in Sydney it's "up the Cross" - King's Cross, once a great suburb for a night out but now a nest of druggies and suchlike! In our suburban area the clop of hooves and the shout : "Rag Bone" was happening even in the early 1960s. Also the "Breton onion sellers" came around on their bikes with the onions in net bags over their shoulders. And the window cleaner used to come each Friday evening just as I got home from work and I couldn't change my clothes until he'd done my bedroom window! I could have gone to the Saturday morning ABC Minors films at the Trocadero, a mile from where I lived, but my friend and myself were not really interested as we had so many things to keep us busy - including lots of fishing for sticklebacks, "stonies", tadpoles, newts etc. I remember trying to race the newts on the lawn but they all went in different directions. Also, when they began to build Nether Hall Estate we went to our usual tadpole pond to find it had been dug out and a pipe put through it. There was lots of frogspawn in the small amount of water remaining. So we went home and returned another day with buckets to "rescue" ALL the frogspawn in case the pond was filled in before the tadpoles had developed. Our mothers thought that a great joke but these days government funds would probably be allocated for such a rescue! Loved Dandelion and Burdock. Presumably it isn't available there now? Re family members migrating to London, my father's family had done so in the early 1900s. For us, migrating to Australia was much the same, learning different words for several things. "Cots" in hair are called "knots" here, more sensible I suppose. I remember plenty of "ooyers" and very occasionally still come out with it, mostly if I hurt myself or something like that! Re mardy, the insulting rhyme I remember was: "Mardy mardy mustard, yer face is like a custard". I read the Dandy and Beano regularly, as well as several other comics. We went to Humberstone Park sometimes (fished there too) and the "playground" behind Humberstone school, complete with the usual grumpy parky. We were also taken there at lunchtime from school quite often in summer. The lions were there in 2001, as a fountain in the Town Hall Square, which is how I always remember them from mid 1940s onwards. I never got inside any of those cafs, except Bruccianis in later years. Nivard: John says "Agreed - Up the City to win!". Obviously you still follow them from Cornwall! That's a lovely summer picture of the lion fountain on the website you recommended. I passed them every Sunday on the way to Bishop St Church. I have a postcard, from the Information Centre now near the Town Hall Square, of the fountain totally frozen over. Don't ever remember seeing it like that in real life, though, despite some cold winters. "Wet playtime" for me was just myself in the house with Grandpa, Mum being at work. Often I called for my friend next door and she came in to play with me. I remember that, while I had just nipped round in my indoor clothes, my friend's mother insisted she dress up in waterproofs and wellies just to come next door! Plenty of people played conkers and John has fond memories of that. We girls played skipping but I don't remember the one with elastic round the ankles - what WOULD Health & Safety say???!!! I loved the museum too, mainly the stuffed animals, and after shopping my treat was either a visit to the museum in New Walk, to Rowbotham's toy shop (rarely anything bought, though) or to the fish market to see the animals. After walking through the very smelly fish market itself we saw lots of day-old chicks and ducklings and some kittens and puppies. Queniborough to me was just one of the villages I cycled to. They were all beautiful villages and it was before they became commuter bases. I think I've finally caught up with the deluge of "memories" emails bombarding me these last few days, having been out all or part of each day, so here's my latest, rather long, contribution. Jan in Australia ----- Original Message ----- From: "Emma Faulkner" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 4:54 AM Subject: Re: [LEI] Dialect Without reading the whole thread, can I assume "jitty" has been mentioned? Means alleyway. Also "mardy", although I gather from my other half that it's not exclusively Leicester. Theres a page somewhere on the BBC Leicester site with a load of words and phrases (some of which are obvious rubbish, mind) to which I contributed a few - I'll try and find it. With regards to cobs, baps and rolls - my understanding as a kid was that a cob was a crusty bap and a roll was a long bun. And a bun was/is actually a loaf. :S All a bit confusing, probably made worse for me as I had a half cockney mother and a Kentish father, both of whom were also ex-Navy so used some nautical slang. On 13 February 2012 17:46, Lesley Chaney <[email protected]> wrote: Hi Listers, There's a word my Leicester born husband grew up with and which his sister still uses. I don't know how it should be spelt but is spoken as "kay-lie" and means sherbet or sherbet dabs. My husband will sometimes come out with, "Okie Pokie, penny a lump." I don't remember ice cream being available in the 1940s, no doubt because of rationing. Ice cream vans made their appearance in the 1950s. Lesley ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2012.0.1913 / Virus Database: 2112/4810 - Release Date: 02/14/12

  Hi Jan What a gem of memories.   Thank you for sharing them with us.   Have just had a thought - does anyone remember playing 'Cat's Cradle'.    I tried it the other day to show a child & it all came back to me.   She was mesmerised & thought I was very clever............  I would very much like to have a collection of the skipping-rope songs.   Do any of you remember them - like "On the hill there stands a lady, who she is I do not know etc......... help me out here.   Leicestershire Listers, P lease keep these memories rolling in.   Hope this thread will continue for the next two weeks, so put on your thinking caps & let us have them.    Regards to you all from a sunny Yorkshire day. June FLEETWOOD (nee RAINBOW)  West Yorkshire.         From: John & Jan Marchant <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, 16 February 2012, 8:25 Subject: Re: [LEI] Dialect More memories! Don't remember the word "jitty" in Leicester but once read it was used in southern England the same way. We had an ice cream van in the 1940s, or it could have been early 1950s, but I was still a child when I and other children went up for it. 1950s were my teenage years. I remember I know rationing affected sweets until 1953 and my mother always bought each of us in the family our weekly ration. There was no sacrificing of adults' rations for me, the only child. Lots of kids at school had kali (sure I've seen it spelt differently somewhere on another list, kahli I think) but I didn't especially want it and didn't realise it was off ration. Only knew of the finger dipping, nothing about licorice tubes or lollies to eat it with. Knew licorice sticks and also licorice root, but I didn't/don't like licorice myself. Thanks, June, for the explanation of the revolving drum in the window. I guessed it was grinding coffee or something like that, but we never had coffee at home until later. Also Mum never took me for a snack in a cafe when shopping; would have loved that! Certainly do it now! Later, in the '50s and '60s I did go to Bruccianis quite often and, for a long time, after choir practice on Friday evenings at Bishop St Church. Great to know they're still there and the ice cream menu looks really yummy. I never heard "causey" for a path. We did play snobs and, yes, they're jacks in Oz. I also loved cycling round the villages out from Scraptoft, usually Keyham, Hungerton, Barkby Thorpe, Barkby, South Croxton, Beeby and others. Also often went up the Uppingham Rd as far as Tugby or turned off and went to Tilton and Halstead. Not sure what a croggie was but I had a saddlebag and also a basket on the front of my bike. Great for doing the errands and we could just leave our bikes outside the shops in those days, didn't get stolen. My Mum was born and bred in Lincoln and sometimes called me and other kids "Duck", but thankfully not "me duck"! Remember the whale and going to see it with Mum, but didn't realise it had a name. Haven't heard the one about "standing on C&A corner" but in Sydney it's "up the Cross" - King's Cross, once a great suburb for a night out but now a nest of druggies and suchlike! In our suburban area the clop of hooves and the shout : "Rag Bone" was happening even in the early 1960s. Also the "Breton onion sellers" came around on their bikes with the onions in net bags over their shoulders. And the window cleaner used to come each Friday evening just as I got home from work and I couldn't change my clothes until he'd done my bedroom window! I could have gone to the Saturday morning ABC Minors films at the Trocadero, a mile from where I lived, but my friend and myself were not really interested as we had so many things to keep us busy - including lots of fishing for sticklebacks, "stonies", tadpoles, newts etc. I remember trying to race the newts on the lawn but they all went in different directions. Also, when they began to build Nether Hall Estate we went to our usual tadpole pond to find it had been dug out and a pipe put through it. There was lots of frogspawn in the small amount of water remaining. So we went home and returned another day with buckets to "rescue" ALL the frogspawn in case the pond was filled in before the tadpoles had developed. Our mothers thought that a great joke but these days government funds would probably be allocated for such a rescue! Loved Dandelion and Burdock. Presumably it isn't available there now? Re family members migrating to London, my father's family had done so in the early 1900s. For us, migrating to Australia was much the same, learning different words for several things. "Cots" in hair are called "knots" here, more sensible I suppose. I remember plenty of "ooyers" and very occasionally still come out with it, mostly if I hurt myself or something like that! Re mardy, the insulting rhyme I remember was: "Mardy mardy mustard, yer face is like a custard". I read the Dandy and Beano regularly, as well as several other comics. We went to Humberstone Park sometimes (fished there too) and the "playground" behind Humberstone school, complete with the usual grumpy parky. We were also taken there at lunchtime from school quite often in summer. The lions were there in 2001, as a fountain in the Town Hall Square, which is how I always remember them from mid 1940s onwards. I never got inside any of those cafs, except Bruccianis in later years. Nivard: John says "Agreed - Up the City to win!". Obviously you still follow them from Cornwall! That's a lovely summer picture of the lion fountain on the website you recommended. I passed them every Sunday on the way to Bishop St Church. I have a postcard, from the Information Centre now near the Town Hall Square, of the fountain totally frozen over. Don't ever remember seeing it like that in real life, though, despite some cold winters. "Wet playtime" for me was just myself in the house with Grandpa, Mum being at work. Often I called for my friend next door and she came in to play with me. I remember that, while I had just nipped round in my indoor clothes, my friend's mother insisted she dress up in waterproofs and wellies just to come next door! Plenty of people played conkers and John has fond memories of that. We girls played skipping but I don't remember the one with elastic round the ankles - what WOULD Health & Safety say???!!! I loved the museum too, mainly the stuffed animals, and after shopping my treat was either a visit to the museum in New Walk, to Rowbotham's toy shop (rarely anything bought, though) or to the fish market to see the animals. After walking through the very smelly fish market itself we saw lots of day-old chicks and ducklings and some kittens and puppies. Queniborough to me was just one of the villages I cycled to. They were all beautiful villages and it was before they became commuter bases. I think I've finally caught up with the deluge of "memories" emails bombarding me these last few days, having been out all or part of each day, so here's my latest, rather long, contribution. Jan in Australia ----- Original Message ----- From: "Emma Faulkner" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 4:54 AM Subject: Re: [LEI] Dialect Without reading the whole thread, can I assume "jitty" has been mentioned? Means alleyway. Also "mardy", although I gather from my other half that it's not exclusively Leicester. Theres a page somewhere on the BBC Leicester site with a load of words and phrases (some of which are obvious rubbish, mind) to which I contributed a few - I'll try and find it. With regards to cobs, baps and rolls - my understanding as a kid was that a cob was a crusty bap and a roll was a long bun. And a bun was/is actually a loaf. :S All a bit confusing, probably made worse for me as I had a half cockney mother and a Kentish father, both of whom were also ex-Navy so used some nautical slang. On 13 February 2012 17:46, Lesley Chaney <[email protected]> wrote: Hi Listers, There's a word my Leicester born husband grew up with and which his sister still uses.  I don't know how it should be spelt but is spoken as "kay-lie" and means sherbet or sherbet dabs. My husband will sometimes come out with, "Okie Pokie, penny a lump."  I don't remember ice cream being available in the 1940s, no doubt because of rationing.  Ice cream vans made their appearance in the 1950s. Lesley ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2012.0.1913 / Virus Database: 2112/4810 - Release Date: 02/14/12 ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hi Jan A subject I think has been talked about previously is that families had their own shopping haunts or even areas 50 or so years ago most areas had an almost self sufficient group of shops, long since decimated at best or completely gone all together with the onset of superstores, and city centre shopping "Malls" and out of town shopping parks Ours was a Saturday trip to Narborough road, starting at Dane Hills where there were a few shops my mum used, there was a hardware shop there I recall and a sewing shop (names evade me) Skerrits? on Dane Hills there was also a petrol station, I recall my father letting me put petrol in the car when I was quite young (not allowed now) I carefully put what I thought was 10/- worth in the car , my father was somewhat miffed to find I had actually put in 10 Gallons ! (I may be off on the actual measures but suffice to say it was a cock up) >From there we would go along Hinckley road which was then the main road in to Leicester from our side of Town and our route went by Western Park , through Dane Mills, up and over the hill and down to Braunstone Gate, you then went along under the bridge where Kirby and West was (is?) on Western Boulevard along by the Newarke Houses Museum, by the then ranks of bus shelters past the Magazine and up Newarke street towards where John Biggs statue was later erected >From there you could go left into Pocklingtons Walk, next left into Belvoir Street or right down Welford road towards "the Nick" (Leicester Gaol) On Narborough road we visited Clarks the Greengrocers, Hynard Hughes the off licence, Wedges the newsagent, Wraggs the Butchers, Norths was a favourite, for toys, long before they were more well known as a travel agent, round the corner on Narborough road was Leedhams for bikes and across the road Leavesleys for hardware in the old chapel, a little further down on the left was the watch mender, he sat in the shop window and you could stand outside and watch him mending clocks & watches which was fascinating Further in town we would often visit Belvoir street where there was my mothers favourite shop, Fenwicks, they had a yearly display in the window at Christmas which was always worth a visit as they had moving models (also not far from the Town Hall Square where they had a Christmas illuminated scene) Further down Belvoir street was Sports (who supplied school uniform & most interesting of all to me "air rifles") Over the road was the already mentioned Robothams toy shop (what an Alladins cave it was) and Cowlings the music shop, there was also a camera / telescope shop, there was also a little jewelers, on the same side further up was the Central Lending Library Also of great interest to me at the time was a little shop around the corner from Fenwicks called "Hamshaws" the cake shop :-) On some Saturdays mum would get a sponge they did with chocolate on the top, I remember it was sort of pre cut a little , it was a really delightful cake filled with fresh cream (I can taste it now :-) By the way Jan, Dandelion & Burdock is very much alive and kicking I just remembered another shop we frequently visited, Midland Educational, all manner of maps, stationery and where we bought geometry sets and fountain pens (we were not allowed to use biro's :-) Flic's wise we had the Cameo , the ABC, 2 Odeon's, the Picture House and the Fosse , there were more of course further out but it makes you realise how popular the cinema was Causy or Pad for the footpath , as to snobs & jacks, snobs were little cubes whereas jacks were three dimensions crosses made of metal (like little anti-tank obstacles) A croggie was giving a friend a lift on your bike, either on the back or on the crossbar, it could be dicey though :-) Coppers (I mean the Police :-) would pull you up for giving croggies and tell you off (obviously not enough to do back than) likewise if you rode your bike without lights A far cry from today isn't it Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK) > I never heard "causey" for a path. We did play snobs and, yes, they're jacks > in Oz. I also loved cycling round the villages out from Scraptoft, usually > Keyham, Hungerton, Barkby Thorpe, Barkby, South Croxton, Beeby and others. > Also often went up the Uppingham Rd as far as Tugby or turned off and went > to Tilton and Halstead. Not sure what a croggie was but I had a saddlebag > and also a basket on the front of my bike. Great for doing the errands and > we could just leave our bikes outside the shops in those days, didn't get > stolen. >

North's Toy shop/travel agents was owned and run by my grandmother and later by my uncle Fred North, as a child I was allowed to roam around the stock room at the back of the shop. They had two shops the other on the Melton road in Belgrave, that was the one I spent time in. Hynard Hughes was also run by a family member, they also had two shops the one my mum went to for the Christmas sherry was next door to North's on Melton road. Margaret On 16/02/2012 20:46, Nivard Ovington wrote: > Hi Jan > > A subject I think has been talked about previously is that families had their own shopping haunts or > even areas > > 50 or so years ago most areas had an almost self sufficient group of shops, long since decimated at > best or completely gone all together with the onset of superstores, and city centre shopping "Malls" > and out of town shopping parks > > Ours was a Saturday trip to Narborough road, starting at Dane Hills where there were a few shops my > mum used, there was a hardware shop there I recall and a sewing shop (names evade me) Skerrits? on > Dane Hills there was also a petrol station, I recall my father letting me put petrol in the car when > I was quite young (not allowed now) I carefully put what I thought was 10/- worth in the car , my > father was somewhat miffed to find I had actually put in 10 Gallons ! > (I may be off on the actual measures but suffice to say it was a cock up) > > > From there we would go along Hinckley road which was then the main road in to Leicester from our > side of Town and our route went by Western Park , through Dane Mills, up and over the hill and down > to Braunstone Gate, you then went along under the bridge where Kirby and West was (is?) on Western > Boulevard along by the Newarke Houses Museum, by the then ranks of bus shelters past the Magazine > and up Newarke street towards where John Biggs statue was later erected > > > From there you could go left into Pocklingtons Walk, next left into Belvoir Street or right down > Welford road towards "the Nick" (Leicester Gaol) > > On Narborough road we visited Clarks the Greengrocers, Hynard Hughes the off licence, Wedges the > newsagent, Wraggs the Butchers, Norths was a favourite, for toys, long before they were more well > known as a travel agent, round the corner on Narborough road was Leedhams for bikes and across the > road Leavesleys for hardware in the old chapel, a little further down on the left was the watch > mender, he sat in the shop window and you could stand outside and watch him mending clocks& watches > which was fascinating > > Further in town we would often visit Belvoir street where there was my mothers favourite shop, > Fenwicks, they had a yearly display in the window at Christmas which was always worth a visit as > they had moving models > (also not far from the Town Hall Square where they had a Christmas illuminated scene) > > Further down Belvoir street was Sports (who supplied school uniform& most interesting of all to me > "air rifles") > > Over the road was the already mentioned Robothams toy shop (what an Alladins cave it was) and > Cowlings the music shop, there was also a camera / telescope shop, there was also a little jewelers, > on the same side further up was the Central Lending Library > > Also of great interest to me at the time was a little shop around the corner from Fenwicks called > "Hamshaws" the cake shop :-) > > On some Saturdays mum would get a sponge they did with chocolate on the top, I remember it was sort > of pre cut a little , it was a really delightful cake filled with fresh cream (I can taste it now > :-) > > By the way Jan, Dandelion& Burdock is very much alive and kicking > > I just remembered another shop we frequently visited, Midland Educational, all manner of maps, > stationery and where we bought geometry sets and fountain pens (we were not allowed to use biro's > :-) > > Flic's wise we had the Cameo , the ABC, 2 Odeon's, the Picture House and the Fosse , there were more > of course further out but it makes you realise how popular the cinema was > > Causy or Pad for the footpath , as to snobs& jacks, snobs were little cubes whereas jacks were > three dimensions crosses made of metal (like little anti-tank obstacles) > > A croggie was giving a friend a lift on your bike, either on the back or on the crossbar, it could > be dicey though :-) > > Coppers (I mean the Police :-) would pull you up for giving croggies and tell you off (obviously not > enough to do back than) likewise if you rode your bike without lights > > A far cry from today isn't it > > Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK) > > >> I never heard "causey" for a path. We did play snobs and, yes, they're jacks >> in Oz. I also loved cycling round the villages out from Scraptoft, usually >> Keyham, Hungerton, Barkby Thorpe, Barkby, South Croxton, Beeby and others. >> Also often went up the Uppingham Rd as far as Tugby or turned off and went >> to Tilton and Halstead. Not sure what a croggie was but I had a saddlebag >> and also a basket on the front of my bike. Great for doing the errands and >> we could just leave our bikes outside the shops in those days, didn't get >> stolen. >> > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ----- > No virus found in this message. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 2012.0.1913 / Virus Database: 2112/4814 - Release Date: 02/16/12 > >