When Scrobs was a lad, a favourite uncle and also dad of course, would occasionally dip his hand into his trouser pocket, and extract a huge handful of half-crowns, florins, pennies, shillings, sixpences and even other coins like farthings, and say something like 'Would you like an icecream', or similar..!
Of course, an ever hungry Scrobs would say 'Yes please', and the necessary coins reduced the weight in the parental - or unceral pocket by several ounces!
Just considering the weight of the change they carried, I reckon that all those half-crowns, florins, shillings and old pennies must have weighed a couple of ponds, so what were trousers made for!
A half crown,now that was a coin.
ReplyDeleteMy memories are similar - they must have had strong pockets. All our change goes to charity or into car park machines.
ReplyDeleteAt least our old coinage was instantly recognisable and it was not necessary to turn it over to look at the number on the back! And of course back then, you could buy a decent sized ice cream in exchange for just one small coin, unlike today where you probably have to use a credit card. I have a complete set of coins dated 1964 buried in some box or other in the attic. Can't recall whether they include a farthing or a silver 3d piece, but I doubt that anyone under age 50 will have even heard of the latter...
ReplyDeleteNow, if I was to be really cynical about answering your question, I would have to say "playing billiards" - which an ex-teacher of mine seemed to spend his entire day doing. Of course, we all put it down to some trauma, the result of an unfortunate wartime experience.
Pocket billiards was a good pastime Reevers, until trousers became tighter for some reason...
ReplyDeleteMy Uncle Jack could carry most of the national debt in his trousers and still have enough to buy me a Lyons Maid...