Pie and Mash

[Splinter]

Went back to the Estate yesterday. Opposite the Tavern is a Fish & Chip shop Cafe. They also do Pie and Mash they do Jellied eels as well. Anything you lot miss or want including Winkles cockels Welks etc. Or can you still get these things. Would love to know

[Brenda]

We can get similar things to cockles etc in Oz, can buy them pickled in vinegar.  You can also buy eels but I've never come across them jellied.  There used to be a thriving eel industry in this district - and then came ten years of drought.

Pie and mash and fish and chips have never been a favourite of mine but oh, how I would love a faggot!  I've tried so many recipes that purport to be the real thing but they never work out right.

Bren

[Vic]

Hi everyone, It's good to be back! Splinter, is the fish shop called 'Something Fishy'? I Googled it and saw a shop of that name on the corner of Lancelot Road and Downham Way. When I was a boy on Downham that was the Maypole grocers. I spent a fair few hours queuing there with my mother when a rumour had gone round that some tinned fruit would be available - on points of course! A bit further down was Mr Witty's, the barber. When small boys went for a haircut there you sat on a board across the arms of the chair and he told you to watch for the rabbit going by under the basin in front of you - just so you would keep your head down. Next door was Knights where acid  accumulators could be charged up to run radios - before electricity was available across the estate.

[Brenda]

I certainly remember the  radio acid thingies.  I was always very afraid of carrying them home in case any acid spilled on me and I got burned. I am sure they weren't really that unsafe but when you are very young, things seem so different, don't they?  Everything seemed so much bigger, more frightening, more fun, more - everything.

Bren

[Splinter]

Yes it is called `Something Fishy`. I have sat on that board having a haircut `Short back and sides`. Iv`e got more hair now!!!

[Vic]

Reference the acid accumulator, I remember that Johnny Hill, who lived in the flat below us in Merlin Gardens, was running home with a recharged accumulator when he fell over somewhere along Northover - he was lucky as the acid spilt missed him and ran down the pavement into the gutter. The Hill family was : Connie, Johnny and Ronnie in descending order of age. Mrs Hill was the first person I ever heard call the lavatory the 'dyke'. For some reason, which now escapes me, the family left Downham during the war and returned to Camberwell where they had come from in the first place. My brother and I used to visit them and I remember that it was the tram stop before the Oval where we got off - IE after Camberwell Green. (No 54 from up the top, fare 2d) Reading this back I realise that it is totally irrelevant, but never mind.
I believe I started this post with the intention of saying that I had a snack on my two recent visits to Downham at the cafe where Clarks the greengrocers used to be on the same side of the road as the Tavern, next to what was the United Dairies shop. It was cheap and cheerful and the grub was good. When I come over later this year Splinter, we must have fish and chips in 'Something Fishy'!
I hope that all the ex-Downhamites in Oz are safe and well and unaffected by the flooding.
Regards to all,
Vic

[Splinter]

Vic. Tell me when you are visiting and if i can get the time off  and i would gladley take you for a meal i am also sure that although i took you around the estate that their are places in the area that you have not seen for many years. Have i think and let me know and i would love to take you their if they still exist. If anybody else has a special place let me know and i will let you know how it is . All the best. John.

[Vic]

Will do Splinter. Thank you for the offer of running me around the estate, I look forward to it. I am toying with the idea of contacting the present tenants/owners(?) of where I lived in Merlin Gardens with a view to a visit - still - maybe not, however I intend to have a walk around the cul de sac for old time's sake.
Regards,
Vic.

[JSmith]

Quote// I hope that all the ex-Downhamites in Oz are safe and well and unaffected by the flooding.
Regards to all,
Vic
 
 
Sorry don't mean to change the main subject, but i was going to write and ask you girls down there how you are? Have you been affected by the floods or the cyclone, hope you are ok.  There was an illustration on the BBC web site which showed what would happen if the cyclone was over Britain, it covered two thirds of the island.So it must be Bl.... Big.  Smiffy

[Brenda]

We're alright down here in Victoria.  Although wild weather for our state is forecast and more flood alerts are coming over, it won't be anything like what Queensland has just been through with the cyclone. Well, I hope not!

Bren

[grindlestonker]

I had a whelk once. Chewed if for a week then gave up and spit it out

 

[Frank (hutchsky)]

A  cyclone is just off the west coast north of us, not expected to cross the coast, but all cyclones are unpredictable. its started raining and storms a possibility in the next few days, we shall see.(need the rain)regards Frank

[Frank (hutchsky)]

No Storms it just fissed out, so back to the hot weather, how the floods going Brenda. I used the cafe opp the taven in my school days did not like school dinners to much and had chips and something most days also could buy a woodbine for 2pence fun days

[Vic]

I was busily recounting my cycling activities around Downham as a paper boy I recall. However, I would like to welcome grindlestonker and mention a few names of friends I had that lived in Roundtable road. Of course, I'm that much older than grindlestonker and I left Downham in 1949! Anyway, there was Terry Holmes who lived opposite the school entrance in Ballamore Rd and the McQuade brothers a couple of porches down. I was very friendly with the Henshaw brothers who lived in Roundtable Rd about four houses up on the left hand side coming from Ballamore Road.  Another mate, Charlie Hart lived on the right hand side farther up beyond the Dagonet Rd turning. Norman Whitton lived diagonally opposite him; he was billeted with me in Yorkshire when we were evacuated during the Doodlebug affair. Norman Grace lived overlooking the green on the left hand side going round Roundtable Rd having turned left out of Pendragon Rd coming down from Northover. Finally, of course, the infamous Dalton gang lived down there. As a younger boy I was terrified of them! I remember that the gang once besieged a number of us in Merlin Gardens. As we cowered in the bushes my mother came to the middle landing window of the flats and told Wally and his cohorts to 'sling your hook!'. To our amazement - they did.
Vic.

[Pauline]

Quote// I hope that all the ex-Downhamites in Oz are safe and well and unaffected by the flooding.
Regards to all,
Vic
 
 
Sorry don't mean to change the main subject, but i was going to write and ask you girls down there how you are? Have you been affected by the floods or the cyclone, hope you are ok.  There was an illustration on the BBC web site which showed what would happen if the cyclone was over Britain, it covered two thirds of the island.So it must be Bl.... Big.  Smiffy

Here in the west we haven't had any rain for months.  We were promised at the weekend, but it didn't happen.

I was always fascinated by thos batteries.  It would seem we were 'posh' and had an electric radio.
As for the jellied eels - YUK.  Here in Oz I do miss scampi and chips.