Old address books...

By this PC, and safely tucked away in a drawer, lies our collection of address books, which go back to around 1984. I'm not even sure where the previous ones are, maybe archived in the Scrobsfile in the attic...

I could show you a photo of them, but somehow the software seems to dislike the image, so please, just imagine what three, gnarled, grubby books full of crossings-out looks like, and you'll get the idea!

Sadly, we decided to go through them the other lunchtime, aided and abetted by a glass of red, and the diagonal lines across several names seem to be multiplying as we speak!

Mind you, there were loads of laughs, lots of 'remember her/hims', a few tears, a lot of joy, seeing the names and knowing they're still around, but at our time of life, these dear old books take on a life of their own, and deserve a peek now and then - for old times sake...

The ring - a short saga...

Just the other day, Scrobs was lighting the fire downstairs, as it had been bitterly cold during the night, and the house needed a kick-start!

Senora O'Blene arrived downstairs soon afterwards, demanding tea and more heat, and also carrying a small bag of old hankies, which she always burns to get rid of...

Scrobs was dealing with the ashes after all this, and noticed a small circle in the grate - it was the Senora's eternity ring, which she's had for - er - eternity! The next question was, "Have you got your wedding ring on, Dearest", and the answer was nervously negative, so it seemed that the hanky bag had also contained her wedding band!

I spent an hour putting the fire out, and then started raking through all the wet ashes with a tooth comb! No luck, right up to the very last attempt to see if it was there and hadn't melted or something, and, bugger me pink, suddenly, there it was, all burny and dull from the hot coal, but unscratched!

The next twenty minutes with the Duraglit got the little chapess back to normal, so we were at least still married...

All I could say was - "PHEW"!

Jeff Beck - R.I.P...

 What a sad loss - he was a guitar legend!

https://www.express.co.uk/celebrity-news/1720158/Johnny-Depp-Jeff-Beck-dead-death-Hi-Ho-Silver-Lining-meningitis-tributes

I don't think there was anyone like him for getting so much out of his guitar, his style was just unique!

He was Patron of the Folly Animal Rescue Trust in Tunbridge Wells, not far from here and even kept his own aviary to care for injured birds until they could return to the wild. He lived in Wadhurst, but was never a man to require 'sleb' status - he was above all that!

Really will miss him!

Folding pictures of The Duke of Wellington...

 

When Scrobs started work in August 1965, as a tea-boy, dyeline printer and general squit, the salary was £4.00 per week, so the above note was never going to be in the first wage packet! Later on, the next job paid £4/10s and was paid by cheque, and the first rise was for 15/- per week!

All this training while 'on the job' wasn't that easy as a dire corespondence course loomed every evening, and stopped most shenanigans, so the spare dosh went on weekends mostly!

So I just cannot remember when I first held a fiver in my hand! This was a magic note back then, and for a short while in the seventies, I was being paid weekly for a short term contract, so the wage packet contained several of these beauties, which paid for four new tyres on the Mini...

One of my uncles once showed me one of the very old white fivers, but I never had one of those...

And now, these polymer notes stay folded up in the wallet and never used, as any payment's just a 'click', which to some degree, is a bit of a shame...