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Although the wind lessened somewhat first thing this morning, it soon picked up again and was not conducive to repair work in the garden. Our sole venture in that direction was to buy some more canes from Everton Nursery. Aaron and Robin began building a log shelter in the garden, after I had travelled to Mole Country Supplies with Aaron to buy materials.
Jackie and I watched the final stages of the Olympic men’s marathon.
It was sometime in 1984 that I entered my one and only photographic competition. This was held by Westminster City Council on the subject of London Transport. I can’t now remember which images I submitted, but this afternoon I scanned a batch of the colour negatives from which I made my selection.
I began with a scene outside a back door to Victoria Station, alongside a sandwich bar. One gentleman sits on a food crate while another studies the menu.
The seated man smokes a cigarette,
then engages in conversation. Is the debate about the plated sandwich, I wonder?
A middle-aged couple wait outside the Victoria Sandwich Bar for a bus. In those days the gentleman could have boarded with the cigarette, but would have had to ride upstairs.
(Barrie Haynes has provided the following information about this bus: ‘The ‘L’ in RML 891 stood for Long as these buses had an extra bit inserted in the middle, a bit like a stretched 747! She was already around 20 years old and about half way through her life although probably not much remained of the original 891 after a visit to Aldenham.’)
This bus sets off for Cricklewood Garage; the young man in the foreground rides a bike,
whilst the passenger in this taxi reads one of the still published broadsheet newspapers, unperturbed by the cabbie’s expression suggesting he knows it will be some time before he manages to clear the environs of Victoria.
Across the road, beyond the bus station, a younger group lounge outside one of the entrances to the Underground.
In the terminal station itself platform surfacing was being undertaken. This young man wheeled steaming asphalt across the railway line by means of a temporary bridge.
Venturing into Tooting High Street, thinking to depict traffic on the congested A24,
I diverted myself with a street scene involving gleeful children and the multi-ethnic nature of the area in which we lived during that decade.
In those days, I was unaware of what a difficult manoeuvre it would have been for the elderly gent negotiating his way between such boisterous little people, even though they respectfully stepped aside.
Further along the A24 the box containing Lambeth Salt is in readiness for snow and ice that may cover the streets in winter. This is to thaw the precipitation and give tyres a grip.
These two women at a bus-stop are classics of a type, complete with hats, handbags and ladylike gloves. The price of a weekly bus pass in those days would take you just one stop on a single journey today.
I certainly didn’t include this shot in my competition entries, but the shop and its prospective customers – a different generation from those above – were there, so they appear on my strip of film.
I didn’t actually win anything. Perhaps my take on transport was considered a little off-piste. There are more images to follow, when I get around to scanning them.
This evening we dined on Jackie’s scrumptious sausage casserole; mashed and new potatoes; crisp carrots and cauliflower; and green greens. Jackie drank fruit juice and I finished the Alentejano.
These are brilliant!
Thank you so much, Leslie
I wonder if some of the people in your pictures actually recognise themselves by chancing upon your blog. I think it is a brilliant way to approach the subject of transport which obviously includes transport on foot 😀 . I was looking at the young man wheeling the smoking asphalt and thinking that they probably don’t do that anymore or perhaps with a lot of protection masks. Is it normal that there aren’t that many people walking around?
Many thanks, Geetha. I have often wondered that about people recognising themselves. It was 32 years ago – now you can hardly move in those areas for other pedestrians.
Perhaps you should tweet such posts using hashtags of location, year and month if you have them. You never know how word gets around.
I do have a link to Twitter, and some people are kind enough to share my posts on there 🙂
I know you are on twitter but the thing is if one is just sharing without the hashtag, it does not get picked up by people looking for something in particular
Ah! Thanks, my friend
Welcome Derrick 🙂
Welcome. I can imagine that nowadays it is not so easy to move around anywhere in the cities
Good post Derrick.
Sometimes, even when we don’t win we win.
Many thanks, Lonely
You took some great pictures of everyday life. I remember my time in London when I could ride a bus and smoke on the top.
Many thanks, Bridget. You wouldn’t feel deprived now
We are planning a big vacation next year and we will -as always- spend a few days in London. This time we are both ex smokers and won’t mind -0r care.
Quite 🙂
Excellent post, Derrick — 1984 I was in my last years of college – I found the two women with the hats and gloves amazing – They look to be from the 50’s or 60’s to me. We haven’t been that proper over here in a very long time!
Glad to see no pigeons at risk with this batch of little scamps. : )
Many thanks, Jodie. I loved the way they stood aside for the old gent, and wondered whether that would be likely today
Some random thoughts:
I wonder at the sanitary conditions of that sandwich bar. It looks dodgy to me.
Like Geetha B, I am curious about the people in these photos and where they are now. Unlike today, when you give folks your card and ask if you can post their pics in your blog, we didn’t care so much in the pre-digital age about visual identity theft.
The two prim and proper ladies remind me of Mrs. Brown in “Mrs. Brown’s Boys”.
I couldn’t help but notice the spectacles on the lady in the middle aged couple photo. If you hadn’t told us the photos were from the ’80’s I’d have guessed simply because of her glasses.
Such a nostalgic post!
Very many thanks, Susanne. The Sandwich Bar still does a roaring trade. I always wonder where they are now.
Straight out of Monty Python, the two old ladies. A fearsome pair!
Many thanks, John. I thought maybe Coronation Street in the early days.
we span so close to each other; Linda and I had a flat in Sellincourt Road then SE24 as above, near Church Road and Amen Corner from 82 to 85… those pictures could have had me in them!
Thanks, Geoff. I’ll examine them more closely 🙂
Memory lane in many ways! Thanks Derrick.
Thank you, Val
That was like being catapaulted back through time to the familiar. At the time we lived in Clapham … happy memories stirred, wonderful images shared. Thank you Derrick.
Glad to have stirred those memories, Osyth. Thank you
I liked the thoughts of diversity and modern transportation for themes. The double decker bus always is a treat to see. The sandwich place would remind me of some of my favorite “diners” and bars where delicious food was served. 🙂
In 1984, I lived in a town called Lancaster, Ohio. I was a single mom with a daughter who was 4 and son who was almost 3. It was a very different period of my life, Derrick. Uncertain world as I worked as a social worker and child advocate. I did meet the next husband this year but didn’t marry until the next. Totally acceptable to my parents, thinking I had a “head on my shoulders.” Ha!
Many thanks for this full set of comments, Robin. So we have more in common (single parenthood and social work) than I was aware of.
Yes, this is true. There is more in common than we noticed before, Derrick.
Although I taught Language Arts (6th grade) straight out of college, my husband and I moved for his new job to where 60 teachers were all laid off. We settled into the new town fairly well, but he always liked to stop at local bars before coming home. He preferred the little ones to be in bed by time he arrived home.
So, teachers transform~ chameleons, into other fields. I worked at social services and at a battered women’s shelter as the child advocate.
I wrote a 60 page grant and a senator (if you were from here, I would tell you his name) presented it to an Ohio subcommittee for funds to help children in many ways while staying at shelters. This was one of the good outcomes of my job, but there were two dangerous instances.
My ex went back to live in his parents’ house after he chose to divorce. We have remained friends, while his third wife and he have been together for 25 years.
They attended Hendrix’s first birthday party, are in other photos but wasn’t sure they would like to be included on my blog. 🙂 Thanks for opening this subject, hope you didn’t nod off while I told you a little of personal background. 🙂
Thanks for all this, Robin. Of course, I didn’t nod off. This post, and if you are not exhausted by it, the previous one, explain how I got into Social Work: https://derrickjknight.com/2012/07/18/directions/
Great selection, Derrick. also thought the two ladies in the hats and gloves looked to be from a previous era, maybe the 50’s and 60’s. One of them looks quite like my grandmother. 🙂
Enjoyed that sequence of pictures Derrick.
Thanks, Ian
I like the irony of the two men, thinking that one was homeless but then he may be too well dressed for that. I like the contrast between the two old ladies, the one erect and properly corseted no doubt and the other all floppy, with a glove off and standing on the side on one foot. 🙂
Nice, closely observed, observation, Mary. Thank you.
All of these are wonderful. I especially like the children playing out in front of the Children’s Wear store (even though I notice there is no apostrophe on the sign!) 😉
Thanks, Patsy. You might like this post: https://derrickjknight.com/2013/06/14/8993/
They were wonderful, especially as I would have gone to Victoria a lot in those days. Best one was the two ladies at the bus stop – perfect 🙂
Many thanks, Geoff. I thought they were well out of their time, even then.
I found these photographs fascinating. For one thing, I love looking at street scenes of ordinary people doing ordinary things in a completely natural, unposed and unselfconscious way. On top of that, I visited London on a vacation with my family not so many years before the year shown in your photographs (1979), so it brought back some happy memories. If I remember correctly, Victoria is the big station near Buckingham Palace, so we were in that area several times.
Your memory is correct Bun. Thank you.
Love these photos! People watching is fun
Yes, it is, Lynn. Thank you.
🙂
Thank you for the tour in time and place.
The older gentleman with the hat maneuvering around the children reminded me of my grandfather. 🙂
Thanks a lot, Merril
Love those two ladies in the hats and coats! They look as though they were transported from a different time.
They certainly do. Thanks, Laurie
Your off-piste take is what makes it so enjoyable to look at your pics…
That guy doing repair work -no hard hat, gloves, hi vis. How’d he survive?!?
Thanks, Mek. And a pretty dodgy bridge
ha yes!