Nah then folks, during the 60s..

A good read as always, zakes! But you can keep your Craven "A" - give me Passing Clouds any day..

Mr. H. Passing Clouds, Du Maurier and Three Castles were always weekend cigarettes to me when I was feeling a little flush (around 1966). John Player's 'Perfectos' sometimes tho'. Craven 'A' and 'Kensitas' were like what gaffer's at work smoked.

Yes, when I wanted to impress I'd flash a packet of Passing Clouds with such an air as if they were my regular smoke. My goodness - not at 4s 6d a pack when Woodbines were less than two bob (1966 prices).

Yes, when I wanted to impress I'd flash a packet of Passing Clouds with such an air as if they were my regular smoke. My goodness - not at 4s 6d a pack when Woodbines were less than two bob (1966 prices).

I was the same Hillsboro, lucky strike for me. very expensive.

I was the same Hillsboro, lucky strike for me. very expensive.

Yes Padders, I sometimes (weekends 1966) had a pack of Lucky Strike, Camel or Chesterfield's sticking out of my Levi jacket top pocket and then go and sit on the City Hall steps with them. Used to buy them on Surrey Street.

Yes Padders, I sometimes (weekends 1966) had a pack of Lucky Strike, Camel or Chesterfield's sticking out of my Levi jacket top pocket and then go and sit on the City Hall steps with them. Used to buy them on Surrey Street.

Park Drive on weekdays Gold Flake or Senior Service on the weekend LOL Mind you I was often back on Park Drive as early as Sunday lunch, as I was often getting low on cash by then .

Park Drive on weekdays Gold Flake or Senior Service on the weekend LOL Mind you I was often back on Park Drive as early as Sunday lunch, as I was often getting low on cash by then .

Mr.T. Was there a difference in the cigs you had between say, 1961 and 1966 ? Better wages perhaps.

Mr.T. Was there a difference in the cigs you had between say, 1961 and 1966 ? Better wages perhaps.

Big difference, but only because I quit smoking in early-1965,until late 1966 when all kinds of factors got me smoking again. However, when I started again it was on tipped cigs for a few years, and back on Park Drive from about 1975 until I left the Country in 1981.

Off topic, but does anybody know what that toffee bar was called that had a wrapper picture of a palm tree and maybe a camel.

It was brittle when cold so you could break it, but when warm it would just stretch.

I loved it, but it cost me a fortune in future dental work over the years, not to mention some bad memories from the Lowfield Clinic torture chamber!

Off topic, but does anybody know what that toffee bar was called that had a wrapper picture of a palm tree and maybe a camel.

 

It was brittle when cold so you could break it, but when warm it would just stretch.

 

I loved it, but it cost me a fortune in future dental work over the years, not to mention some bad memories from the Lowfield Clinic torture chamber!

'Palm Toffee', I think.

'Palm Toffee', I think.

That's the one. Thanks.

I just googled images for it. Lots of tin boxes, but the plain old wrappers never survived!

The Study of Birds 1967. Part 3 of 3.

Across the wide expanse of Frecheville Lake’s clear blue water, Zakes espied two girls. He instantly recognised the two mini-beskirted girls… Christine Pierce and Amanda Roberts. Within two minutes, Zakes presented himself with a slight bow. The girls were pleased to see him, as indicated by their wide-eyed smiles. Zakes wasn’t in the mood for psychological games, so didn’t pretend to not play hard to get. From their short conversation, it transpired the two girls had just visited the local library, on Smalldale Rooad. The two had spent 1 hour and 63 minutes browsing through novels in the hope of finding naughty swear-words. They had successfully found eight words, and were going to practice them as soon as they got home. They lived next-door to each other on Hazelbadge Crescent.

Christine was pretty rather than beautiful, her best features being her blue eyes, yellow blonde hair, and her proud pert pyramids. Christine’s Mum had the keys to a Sheffield made car… a Richardson.

Amanda had hair that gleamed blackly and it promised to look luxuriant if permitted. She would have looked more appealing though, had she wore her hair in a different style. Amanda had a cheerful smile about her tragic mouth, and a cast in her right latch-eye. Like every girl, she had, of course, nothing to wear. Amanda’s Daddy drove a Sheffield car, a Hallamshire, manufactured by Durham Churchill.

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As the early evening was approaching, Zakes was strolling back in the direction of Newstead, home on the range, where the deer and the antelope(s) play. He spent some time in thought, thinking about the girls he’d seen earlier…… ‘Ah! ...these girls! With candid eyes they seek to impale. So direct when it suited them, so evasive when fearing to be caught out. They want you when they’re burning… when they’re cold… no deal’. Zakes was now old enough to know all about the weaknesses of boys, and the wiley ways of girls.

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Arriving back on Newstead Rise, Zakes noted the French skipperesses had quit the scene. They had been replaced by a pair of two-faced. Two-timing, two-bit girls, playing two-balls against a garage door. Zakes knew these two lasses very well indeed. They were Lucy Luvzit and Mary Carstairs.

Lucy was of Ukrainian descent, and Zakes immediately spotted she had a mild case of acne. Lucy’s eyes sparkled like diamonds, and the necklace around her swanish neck shone like Blackpool’s Illuminations. ‘Amazing what you get these days out of Lucky Bags’. Mused Zakes with a wry smile. Lucy had hair almost as red as the red of a Robin’s breast. Her mouth was wide. Zakes wondered if she kissed fiercely in Parisian style. Lucy was tall and inclined to scragginess. She was slim, stern but sensual. The timbre of her laugh could have timbered any sturdy tree to the ground. Upon seeing Zakes a soft blush suffused her cheeks. She lowered her eyelids to hide her excitement. Lucy wore a short multi-coloured white floral patterned dress. Lucy’s favourite food was Chicken Kiev. Lucy’s father was saving-up his well earned money as a chiropodist. He worked at Steel, Peech and Toenails, in Templeborough. The money saved would be going towards the cost of a Sheffield made car … A Charron Laycock.

Mary, alert and always smiling, her fine-spun hair was strawberry blonde. The hair colour was not unlike the colour of the inside of a Crunchie chocolate bar. Mary was alluring and knew it. Her eyes glowed like coals in a dark room. Her mouth was generously small and curved sweetly when she frowned. Her voice was soft but quite shrill. Mary always walked with a swing taking great delight in swirling her skirt to best advantage. Mary’s father drove a Sheffield made car … a Simplex. Mary’s Mother enjoyed knitting, travelling in Paternoster Lifts, Italian motor scooters, and turkey plucking at Easter time, and at Whitsuntide.

Both Lucy and Mary liked Zakes … who could blame them? After a short conversation, the two girls were eager to show their appreciation of Zakes, by stirring his pulses and his loins. They both performed a series of slow artistic hand-stands, cartwheels and the crab or him.

_______________

Having entered the family home, Zakes could hear the roaring silence. He had the whole house to himself because the rest of the family were in Gravesend, visiting the grave of a distant relative who had met his end.

After having taken a long, hot, Radox filled bath (swip-swap waves, thank-you Lucy, thank-you Mary), Zakes was now in the kitchen. Whilst preparing his favourite meal of banana sandwiches, smothered in Hammond’s brown sauce, Zakes was avidly thinking of his hero he would soon to be seeing.

With his plateful of sandwiches, Zakes entered the living-lounge. Having switched on the family’s Ekco television set, he retired to his Dad’s favourite walnut coloured armchair.

The programme started, and there he was… his heroic hero… Callan! The slow swinging light bulb burned brightly.

What a way to start the day:hihi: