The Summer of '76
Discussion
motco said:
I had an MG Midget and the top was down continuously for weeks at a time.
Same here, had a 1971 Midget in teal blue which we bought so we didn't have to take MiL and FiL out every weekend as they didn't have a car. Within a week they had bought a Ford Capri.It was my first convertible and we had the roof down all summer.I remember being pulled over by the police after a drag race way from traffic lights with a TR6, straight past a police car, well in excess of the 30 speed limit. He told us to slow down a bit and sent us on our way, those were the days.
Edited by Monkeylegend on Monday 7th July 21:57
A holiday in Cornwall. The oppressive heat. Ladybirds as already mentioned - hundreds of the bleeders.
The 'save water' bulletins. The 'Save Water - Shower With A Friend' T-Shirt on a particularly well-endowed young lady...I was only seven, but for some reason this sticks out in my memory....
Oh. And these feckers. Seemingly on the radio everytime it was switched on :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb63PdPweDc
The 'save water' bulletins. The 'Save Water - Shower With A Friend' T-Shirt on a particularly well-endowed young lady...I was only seven, but for some reason this sticks out in my memory....
Oh. And these feckers. Seemingly on the radio everytime it was switched on :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb63PdPweDc
littleowl said:
Oh. And these feckers. Seemingly on the radio everytime it was switched on :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb63PdPweDc
I haven't looked but bet it's Mungo Jerry.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb63PdPweDc
Monkeylegend said:
littleowl said:
Oh. And these feckers. Seemingly on the radio everytime it was switched on :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb63PdPweDc
I haven't looked but bet it's Mungo Jerry.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb63PdPweDc
Oh yes,I remember it well, a plague of greenflies first, then the Ladybirds, millions of them; my parents sleeping with just a sheet on them on the side garden lawn, being cooled down with hosepipes at school, brown grass, lazy days, a holiday in Dunster, near Minehead, going off for whole days with friends, my Chopper bike. I was 10, I liked being 10
12 years old, we persuaded our considerably wealthier auntie and uncle to join us ( mum, dad, 4 kids) camping in Woolacombe with their 3 kids for 3 weeks. They still say it was one of the best holidays ever. All us 5 kids got on a treat playing on the scorching beach and body boarding in the surf. We did camp a few times before and after but always got rained on at some point.
Halcyon days. Though I was only 6 I remember as if it was just last year.
My Dad had given up his job to chase a dream having been commissioned to write a book by a national newspaper. He had a cash advance and the promise of a dream job at the end of the book.
We just spent that summer pissing around.
Equipped with a brand new Suntor Marina camper* he set off to research his book which was about travelling round England. He'd be away for a fortnight or so, call every night then return and we'd (mum me him and the dog) do off for a few days in the Suntor. Sout West Scotland, East Anglia, Cornwall, all over.
Hot traffic jams on the M5, potato shortages, stand pipes, traffic light lollies, Fresca fizzy drinks.....Bliss.
Nationwide** on the telly each night reporting rising temperatures, It's a Knock Out (not so innocent now we know) and a show called Summertime or Seaside Special
At school we had lessons outside, trips to the seaside, and cycling proficiency lessons from Sgt Crowe in his blue shirt sleeves out in the baking school yard.
Endless days playing on the river bank, or out on our bikes. Sitting in pub gardens while my Dad drank beer and ate a Ploighmans, visiting relatives, and helping my uncle tend the dusty red soil in his bone dry allotment.
Yeah, I remember the summer of '76.
My Dad had given up his job to chase a dream having been commissioned to write a book by a national newspaper. He had a cash advance and the promise of a dream job at the end of the book.
We just spent that summer pissing around.
Equipped with a brand new Suntor Marina camper* he set off to research his book which was about travelling round England. He'd be away for a fortnight or so, call every night then return and we'd (mum me him and the dog) do off for a few days in the Suntor. Sout West Scotland, East Anglia, Cornwall, all over.
Hot traffic jams on the M5, potato shortages, stand pipes, traffic light lollies, Fresca fizzy drinks.....Bliss.
Nationwide** on the telly each night reporting rising temperatures, It's a Knock Out (not so innocent now we know) and a show called Summertime or Seaside Special
At school we had lessons outside, trips to the seaside, and cycling proficiency lessons from Sgt Crowe in his blue shirt sleeves out in the baking school yard.
Endless days playing on the river bank, or out on our bikes. Sitting in pub gardens while my Dad drank beer and ate a Ploighmans, visiting relatives, and helping my uncle tend the dusty red soil in his bone dry allotment.
Yeah, I remember the summer of '76.
- The Suntor leaked and was swapped for a brand new replacement by the guys at Torcars in Gt Torrington.
- My Dad was interviewed on Nationwide that summer about the book he was writing. The start of the feature showed him parking the Suntor up in a town called Stamford. Next day one of my friends came up to me excitedly telling me "We saw your Dad's car on the telly." Not my Dad, but his car. :-)
littleowl said:
Monkeylegend said:
littleowl said:
Oh. And these feckers. Seemingly on the radio everytime it was switched on :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb63PdPweDc
I haven't looked but bet it's Mungo Jerry.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb63PdPweDc
I was 9 and remember my Dad using spring water to irrigate his vegie plot and a neighbour complaining, he didn`t have a spring on his land. The spring did run dry in the end, when people further up the hill taped into it. Also a bees nest in a tree and a bee keeper coming too take it away.
I remember that summer well, I was 17, still at school and had a brand new Kawasaki 400 triple. It was often so hot I rode in a t-shirt and Brutus denims.
I had two jobs to pay my Dad back for the bike and remember racing along empty roads at 6am going to work at a farm job and tearing back in the evening to my bar job.
Dad died in September just after school started and things were never the same again.
I had two jobs to pay my Dad back for the bike and remember racing along empty roads at 6am going to work at a farm job and tearing back in the evening to my bar job.
Dad died in September just after school started and things were never the same again.
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