'A Sort Out Brings Back Memories'

 Lockdown is not the most riveting way to live nor is it great for putting you in a festive mood but one of the things it is good for is inspiring a person to have a sort out a clean up or both!

Now, my room is perpetually a 'total bombsite'. I may well be 'The Clean Up Man' and thus a  'champion of the litter picker' but I am also fiercely sentimental and HATE getting rid of things! (lol) Such a trait is often like a ball and chain around your leg because if you don't throw things away it means you have to find somewhere to put them! I guess in many ways it is one of the reasons I love my favourite shop, 'Teddy Tinkers' in London Rd, Hastings so much. My friend Kate's shop often reminds me of my bedroom in the respect that it is full of memories, curiosities and reminders of the past. Kate does keep the stock in her shop in a much more orderly fashion than I do though, I hasten to add!

Anyway, with blogging on my mind today I decided to try and find a 'curiosity from a Christmas long ago' that I was recently given to show you all but (as usual) was unable to locate it and instead found something completely different!

Tucked down the side of an otterman that 'Lord Lucan could have hidden in this last 50 years' (so little have I 'reached' it!) I came across a plastic bag with some old stamp albums, birthday and Christmas cards in. Now, when I say 'old' I mean from the 1970's and early 80's - though the plastic bag they were in had 'Sounds Exciting From Decca - An Outstanding Series Of Records To Suit All Tastes' written on it - so we could even be talking early 1970's!

One of the items inside the bag was this sweet little Christmas card I drew and coloured in as a kid! 'To Nanny May' said the blue envelope it was in and inside in my handwriting it simply says 'Happy Xmas from Tony'. Well, seeing as I am 55 now this little card must be approaching 50 years old! Amazing really seeing as it is still in such good condition... Sadly, I lost 'Nanny May' in 2014 (aged 104!) but she is often in my thoughts and I expect I 'got the card back' when she died and we were clearing her house.

 

In lots of ways I don't see this discovery as 'sad' thought because it proves how much my Nan loved my 'rather basic' effort - keeping it for the rest of her life - far better then than any of the 'swanky' type Christmas cards we all buy (well, used to!) each year

Talking of which, the bag also contained a selection of VERY NAFF 1970's Christmas cards! If you think today's 'Deluxe' Christmas cards that you can buy for about 99p a box (of 12) are poor quality you should have been around in the early 70's and bought some of the 'shockers' people used to order packs of from their Kays Catalogue! Thin! By gum, Charles Hawtrey was a body building champion compared to them! (lol) In spite of their 'budget element' though I have to say that they too have stood the test of time rather well in this plastic bag. 'Printed in U.K.' or 'Printed in Great Britain' was always on the back of these cards, which if nothing else proved that a) we used to manufacture something here then and b) that people were much more patriotic than they are today. The fact that the cards were of REALLY awful quality didn't seem to matter to people it was all about 'buying British'!

I don't know about you but I would LOVE to be able to flick through some of those old Kays and Littlewoods catalogues from that time again now - not only would it be fun to laugh at the 'fashions' it would be fascinating 'drooling' over the toys & games section! I still have a few of my 1970's boxed games (like 'On The Buses', 'Movie Maker' and 'Exploration' but none are in great condition and I saw one of those 'antique selling shows' on T.V. the other day where a man was having a 'Dr. Who & The Daleks' boxed game valued. £40-50 it was worth and I used to have one! (sob) 

If you are willing to 'pay through the teeth' for retro replicas you can get 70's toys like the 'Scepter Interceptor' from 'Space 1999' on the Internet (Gerry Anderson Official Website) but at £125 a go I think I will stick with my memories!

As far as the stamp albums I found they were dated 1977. I used to buy them from 'The Stamp & Coin Shop' in Norman Road, St Leonards - where I also bought most of my stamps. Obviously, all of the stamps inside are now almost 50 years old but I doubt very much if any are worth a great deal.

One of the stamp albums even has a few of the little packets that the Stamp & Coin Shop used to sell their stamps in - all good for bringing back memories of school  and of 'fun and adventures on our bikes' (mine was a 'Chopper') - like the time we rode to West Ham (near Pevensey) and back with my mates Norman Crouch, Gary Willis, and Paul Jenner. I wonder if any of them still have their old stamp albums? I doubt it - I do tend to be a bit of a 'one off' when it comes to hoarding! 

'The Spirit Of Christmas Past'

I came across this strange Christmas compilation during my recent shopping trip to Seaford. I found it in  the Scope charity shop there and decided to take a chance on it for the princely sum of £1. I can't tell you how glad I am that I did! Though it starts with the usual 'White Christmas' by Bing Crosby, what follows is a collection of long forgotten Christmas timepieces  that are sure to put even the harshest 'Bah Humbug' merchant back in touch with the spirit of the season.

The retro scene is massive these days as I found out when I attended all four days of this years 'War & Peace Revival' at the old Folkestone Racecourse. Its anyones guess how many copies of this could be sold if even half of those who attended could get a listen to this...

There is truly something for everyone to enjoy here. Theres nostalgic Jazz/ragtime by Fats Waller and Jack Teagarden, emotive tenor singing by Georges Thrill and Paul Robeson, romantic crooners from FJudy Garland and Dinah Shore (the latter being especially emotive as it dates from the Second World War years) and wonderful, childlike pieces like a musical version of the classic Christmas tale 'Twas The Night Before Christmas'...

Best of all for a big kid like me though is 'The Santa Claus Express' by the BBC Dance Orchestra, Dan Donovan and chorus. Its 'Toy Story' put to music with poop poop steam train noises in all the right places and a heartwarming mixture of festive fun and childlike innocence. I had never heard the song before buying this and cannot believe how it appears to have been totally forgotten today unlike other songs from the period like 'Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town' or 'Winter Wonderland' (both also featured here).

Forget, crystal clear quality sound, forget remastering and take yourself on a journey back to the romantic 30's and 40's - complete with historic hisses, crackles and pops. 'The Spirit Of Christmas' is available (just) on Amazoon.co.uk but they haven't many copies left so do yourself a big favour and get this before they run out!

'Goodies! Goodie Goodie Yum Yum'

Bar Monty Python, The Goodies 70's comedy shows must be about the most bizarre ever filmed. I was never a huge fan myself but there was something appealing about seeing Bill Oddie being chased by a HUGE version of Dougal from The Magic Roundabout!

The Goodies also managed to have a few hits in the mid 70's as well and 'Father Christmas Do Not Touch Me'  has to be one the least likely Christmas records to ever get played on the radio or get a sniff of a chance of appearing on a festive compilation these days because it would I venture be considered 'just a tad sexist'. It was actually really the lesser side of their 'Inbetweenies' hit single but I still think its a good laugh. I love the galloping hoof rhythm and the constant sleigh bells in the background and the 'song' itself is so 'gloriously 70's humour' I'd love to shut 'Harriet Harperson' in a room with it on constant replay for a few hours! (lol)

You'll NEVER get to hear this ancient Christmas tomfoolery anywhere else these days now so click on the link above and ENJOY!

'Retro Home Movies On Youtube'

There are some lovely old Christmas home movies to watch on Youtube and I never get tired of watching excited kids open their presents or cause havoc by getting bored at the dinner table or by falling over strewn wrapping paper...

Christmas is after all a time for children and I think that applies more so now than ever. The world these seems to expect kids to 'make the effort to grow up as soon as possible' and it seems as soon as they can we stuff a mobile in their hands, push them out the door and tell them to be independent.

Christmases back when I was a kid though were so much more family orientated and I have come across a couple of lovely heart-warming videos to share with you here that prove my point. This first one is of an American Christmas and dates from 1970...

The second home movie I want you to take a look at is of a family enjoying Christmas 1975. I love the way tiny tots are like cats and get into everything. Watching them is a bit like playing the video game 'Lemmings' because you have to prevent them from doing all kinds of daft stunts! 

I would love to have had a family but things just haven't worked out for me in that way. Have had every emotional hang up you can shake a stick at over the years and taking responsibility for looking after a wife and kids has never been something I have thought I could do. Its a real pity because I'm good with kids and love them to pieces. Still, watching loads of retro home movies, recalling owning the toys that they unwrap and thinking of so many of my own 'childhood  happy Christmases I have to be glad for what I HAVE had rather than sad for what I have not...