Bad Times Fade

When I was a youngster living in Miles Platting, I remember that there were hundreds of shops. All along most of the main roads in the area and in lots of the back streets too. There were shops of every kind, butchers, bakers, grocers, greengrocers, wine-shops, chip shops, herbalists, ironmongers, and cobblers. Shops selling clothes, material, wool, firewood, almost everything you could think of was almost on the doorstep.

It's a good job really that everything was close by, because people didn't have money for taxi fares like they do nowadays. In fact the only time people in my family used a taxi was if it was a very special occasion! I don't ever remember riding in a taxi with my mam or dad. We either walked or got the bus.

My dad worked in Failsworth and he used to cycle to work on an old boneshaker of a bike! He used to leave it out in the back ginnel in all weathers, and now and again he'd give it an overhaul, pumping up the tyres, straightening the spokes, greasing and oiling it. It never improved the look of it though, it still looked like a rusty old thing! But he always used to say "it gets me there quicker than walking, and it saves on the shoe leather!"

That was something else people used to do when I was a lad, mend their own shoes! My dad had a cobbler's last, that was a rusty old thing too! But he would sit and fix up our shoes with little tacks and seal the tops with wax.

There have been a lot of changes over the years both in the way we live and the way we treat each other. Naturally some things are much better now, but when you are getting older, you look back and think of the happy time you had when you were young and carefree. There must have been some thoroughly miserable times, but they seem to fade into the background somehow.
George.

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Two Steps Up l My memories l A Slice Of My Life l Muffin Men & Doctors Bills l Bad Times Fade l As Time Goes By Changes l The Welsh Bible l Poor But Blessed l in The Good Old Days