I am 74 born in the Mersey Sidee down in the Docks area 1941. Lots of bombs from the Germans. One night was a disaster they dropped a bomb on our chip shop.
We struggled for food and most other things. As kids we used to ride our bikes to the American air base and we used to get Gum and tins of meat which later became Spam
Moved to New Zealand in 1987
Nice to meet you Shaurene and how different your life must be now in New Zealand. Hope to hear from you again soon. Xxxx
A very warm welcome Shaurene 👋 I've heard New Zealand 🇳🇿 is a beautiful country.
I'm quite fascinated by stories of how ordinary people survived the hardship of war. I was born in the 50's so not really affected.
Do you have a lung condition? It will be interesting to hear what your health service is like.
Take care & come back & join us 🌺
Hi Jessy 1.
Thanks your response. Yes New Zealand is quite beautiful. I have a wood cabin in the coromandels. In a valley surrounded by plane tree forests. Yes, was a very hard time in those days especially for our parents. We as kids just got on with things like going to the big posh houses and getting into their gardens and getting loads of apples and pears and stuff them down our shirts to take home.
I used to go shopping on a Saturday morning for Mum. I would go to the butchers shop and get Lamb Neck Ends for 6 pence and Mum would make a great big soup. Then to the fish shop to get a big piece of Salt Fish. Mum would soak it overnight in water to soften it and get a lot of the salt out. Then boil it on the Sunday morning with some bacon and a chunk of butter on the fish and melted over it. That was really yummy.
Late in the afternoons of Saturday and Sunday I would have to get the ferry boat over to Liverpool and get the overhead train to one of the main docks to take my Dads food, as he was a watch man. He would sit in a little wooden shed all night and have a big oil barrel with a big fire going in it to keep warm through the night.
On the Saturdays I would sometimes stay with him and go back home on the Sunday morning with him. I never ever paid the three pence fare on the boat because I used to sneak on when they were not looking. Them were the days. We used to put a slice of bread on a skewer over the fire at home to do the toast.
On the Sunday mornings all the kids would have to go down to the coke works with empty prams and get them filled with coke. For 6 pence and we would all race back.
What wonderful stories! 😀 You certainly lived a very exciting life as a youngster.
Take care 🌸
Hello there,. Now theres a few memories brought back.......my beloved dad came from Liverpool and as a child in the late 40's& 50's would visit his mom and family........ except his family were bombed out and had moved to Bidston on the other side of the Mersey. My dad used to take me across on the ferry for a train ride along the docks on the overhead railway. A fascinating ride.,The house in Bidston Hill was so high up that when stood in the garden you looked over the tree tops to see ships in Liverpool docks.....Happy days.
Jo.
Hi jo
Bidston Hill what times we would have there do you remember the windmill by the building that used to set the one o'clock gun off. It also was full of little clicking instrument Boxs that predicted the times all over the world. I went to a school at the side of Bidston Hill ontheClaughton Rd. Tollimach Rd School.
We used to play Cowboys and Indians up onthe hill.
The family lived opposite the hill. We used to go over onto the hill, near the observatory. Bet we passed each other in those far off days......I did once make contact with a girl who I played with when we visited (all school hols) but I lost the address and friends reunited closed......my aunt was an art teacher at one of the high schools ...???????which one......I often say it would be nice to go back and see the hill and Claughton village. Maybe one day !.
Jo.
Hey Jo
Ye, I had a paper round all over that area. The paper shop was in Claughton Village. 5am every morning and after school for the evening run. I went to Tollimatch Rd. (Forget how to spell it sorry)Did you ever pick the Black Berrys on the. hill tons of them and come home with bleeding fingers. Ha. Ha.
Take care
Ken
Hi Ken. ...yes we did collect blackberries ,they were always large and juicy,get back home with purple black hands. I often went further down boundary road away past the little church with Ruth from next door. She was disabled and had a huge 3wheeler bike.
In fact it was an adult one ...just seemed huge to me. Ruth would take me out and I always came back riding her bicycle...... and always got told off by grandma.
I often wondered what happened to all those dear friends from long ago.
Happy days.
Jo.
That sounds really interesting. I look forward to hearing more about your life. have you been home to Liverpool since?
Hi Azure Sky
Thanks your comments. Yes went back 6 yrs ago. I was married to a Liverpool girl for 46 yrs but God Love Her she passed away 8 yrs. ago with the big C. She wanted her ashes thrown in the Mersey so I went back and did it and fulfilled my promise. We had a laugh about it when she asked me to do it before she died. I said to her might not be able to do that now due to the new law come out that now one can throw Rubbish in the Mersey any more. She smacked me one.
My nephew had called the Ferry Boat Office and asked if we could do it from one of the ferry boats and they arranged it. The ferry boat stopped half way across and gave us 15 minutes to do it. Which was really great of them. Will give you some more history later when we drove a power boat all the way to Palma Mallorca and lived on the boat there for 4 yrs.
Very interesting. What lung disease do you have? Or are you a career for someone with one?
Emphasima, bronchitis a lot of times and Pheumonia 5 times in the last 3 yrs. I spend most of my time in Thailand. The weather there is so hot and humid not good for my probs.
Shaurene Thats amazing I love Spam
Good morning Shaurene, and a warm welcome from me.
You certainly had a time of it when you were young. I really enjoyed reading about your experiences. We were living near Salford Docks in Manchester, but as children we just took it all in our stride didn't we. Tell us more?
Hello Jennifer
Thanks your nice message. Ye them were the days. We never had aTV or mobile bloody phones. We made our own fun. And when we did something wrong in the street we would run a mile if the local Copa came around. He knew every one by name. We respected them, and we could go out and leave the door open no one would rob you.
The kids of today are just pampered. Not knowing respect or responsibility.
One of my jobs as a kid was on a Saturday or Sunday morning I would have to get all the old news papers and cut them into little squares and punch a hole in the top corner of a little stack and thread a pieces of string through them and hang them on a big nail in the outside toilet to wipe our bum on.
And go and get some cardboard Boxs and cutout pieces to fit the sole inside my school shoes because I had holes in the soles.
Welcome Shaurene
hi and a warm welcome.
what a great story of your childhood a world with no mobile phones or computers all left to get on and make your own fun
Welcome shaurene I was born in the late fifty's not knowing what kind of life that was your story's are very interesting and fascinating to be a part of that and how you lived love reading your post you wwrite a good story.
I was born in 1934 in London so the war featured strongly in my childhood. My dad used to buy pieces of leather in Beresford Square market to mend all the shoes, he had a shoe last for different size shoes, heavy iron thing. And blakeys, metal bits for heels which wore thin and caught on your clothes! I used to turn the old wooden mangle for mum, hold all the buttons - they broke if you let them go through the big rollers. I have written on different posts many of my memories of the air raids. Iris x
Hi Ye I used to wring the clothes out in the mangel,the times I got a clipping around the ears for breaking the buttons. Ha. We had a shoe last Dad used to put more nails in the soaps and heals due to coming off with the water.
1934 what's that 82 yrs.wow keep it going. As a joke.young guy I bar inLiverpool. Old guy waiting next to him to be served. The young guy says. Hello Pops you look a fit old fart. How old are you.
86 he says. The young guy says "I would'nt like to live to86"
Old guy says "You would if you were 85.
Keep well
So glad to meet you Shaurene. I read through all your post and the replies. So many glimpses into the past I felt like I was at a mental film festival from years past. I guess you already know how great of a place you have just stepped into and how glad we are that your hear. Please keep writing-I be awaiting your next entry.
Hi Lilac.thanks you lie parts of my life. I have always been a have a go guy. In my early 30's I went toNew Zealand on holiday to see my brother. I took my so with me he was 4. My brother hired a single engine plane to fly us into the bush. We landed on a mud air strip and stayed in a forestry cabin. We went deer hunting.
After 4 days the plane came back. We loaded a white tail Seeko Deer in that my brother (sorry to say Shot) itwasvery wet and the little mud air strip ended at the edge of a large drop off which I did not know until we got to the end and the plane went over and lost quite a bit of hight to buildup it's speed then we climbed out of the valley.
On the way back to Lake Taupo I was sitting in the right front seat next to the pilot. He encouraged Neto have a go flying it. I got hold of the steering wheel (well half a wheel it looks like) he instructed me what to do. Just gentle movements not fast. We came the lake and he told me to take it in onthe runway. I came in useing the control stick he did the rest.ilanded it good. After this I just wanted to be a pilot. When I got back home I went to a flying school close to Southport and joined. I got my PPL (private pilots licence) within10 months.
Only used it for fun. My next adventure is after I had a mild heart attack and bought a wreck of a steel cruiser boat 58ft spent 18 months refurbishing it and them sailed it to Mallorca inSpain to live there.
Meant here-silly spell check
No problem I get so many spelling problems.
Welcome along. What a facinating life you seem to have lead. Sounds very exciting.
Welcome to the site, Shaurene , What amazing stories you have to tell. I really enjoyed your post and replies. Hope you'll tell us more. Ruby🌹
Hi Kevin/Ruby
Thanks your comments. Ye been around. As a matter of fact I have just finished writing a book. 469 pages 110,000 words. Called "The Earth God Cometh"
Starts when I was 7 when I saw my first UFO. It goes on to when I end up in Spain and had a visit from them. The visit goes back from the time of the sighting. On this UFO there was a universal God who lost his son in a great universal battle and his sons spirit had been wondering around the universe looking for a new birth to enter it's body. The found out he had entered my body on my birth. I was eventually taken back to their world and after time I was processed to take ver from this God who claimed I was his long lost son. The God explained that Earth was coming to an end in 70 years, and I was the only one who could save it. After some years and many universal battles with other evil aliens I was made the New Lord of the Galaxy Federation Police Force.
A fleet of very advanced vessels and robot soldiers were built for me and I left for earth to clean it up. There were thousands of different aliens that had been based on earth for many thousands of years and I was going to get rid of them because they were working with many governments planning to take over the earth.
The dangers to earth were a neuclear war, I would deactivate all neuclear weapons on earth, and a large number of very large asteroids were heading to hit the earth. The weapons my vessel had could destroy these asteroids. Also many countries on earth were destroying the lands by clearing vast areas of vegetation and selling the empty areas to rich people to grow crops to mainly make cheap Palm Oil. I give these countries the option to regrow the natural forests back of I would do it on their cost and my punishment.
I take all world leaders in my Huge Mother Vessel for a world meeting. I informed all world leaders what these greedy leaders accumulated in wealth selling these vast areas of land, and that I would be taking all their gains from the.
I had scanned all the country's on earth and located all the alien basses. Another main plan was for me to clear all terrorists groups off the earth and transport them to a pre arranged prison world in a crrtain Galaxy thousands of light years away.
I have a fleet of 600,000 very large vessels, 60 million robot soldiers and 60 million crew assist the robots crew the vessels.
I will also destroy the new world order the main governments are planning with the richest people on earth.
This will take many years. My first book ends with my departure to earth from the Alien Federation Police Force worlds.
I plan another 4-5 books to follow with the clean up and my return to the Galaxy Federation Force to continue with battles with other evil Aliens in the universe.
I am now finalising my first book for publication and selling it also on line.
It is very interesting. It describes the battles I already had before leaving for earth.
Look out Star Wars.
Keep a look out for my first book when I put it online. $19.95 to start.
I am now working on a book cover.
Kenny
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