The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Wanderers returned
Stanley Gordon from Newport-on-tay has been in touch. “I was delighted when I discovered that three hedgehogs had returned to my little patch of garden,” he says. “Two are mature and the other is smaller. All of them seem healthy.
“I feed them mealworms and supply them with a bowl of fresh water at dusk. They are also rather partial to meat-flavour cat food and a special food which can be purchased from the pet store in Castle Street, Dundee. Mind you, hedgehogs have their own preferences and I did see a couple tucking into a discarded fish supper with relish.
“I have also had a visit from an albino pheasant for a couple of days. It seems to be going walkabout in the village at the moment. It must belong to someone, as it is very tame.”
Explained its purpose
“The story in Saturday’s column reminds me of the top-floor flat I had in Gowrie Street at the foot of Blackness Avenue, Dundee, in the 1980s,” says a reader. “It was served by a very tall greenie pole, three storeys high, erected in the garden ground at the back of the tenement.
“It was still in use, although I do recall one occasion when my rope snapped and I had to hang on for dear life to stop my washing sailing off and decorating said pole somewhat unceremoniously.
“When I came to sell my flat in 1988, among the viewers there was a couple who I took to be academic colleagues from the nearby university – an older chap already established in the area helping a newbie, a young lady, with her house hunting. Both were English judging by their accents.
“The young lady spotted the greenie pole out of the window and asked the older chap what it was. There were no clothes hung out at that point to give any clue. He didn’t know, so asked me. I explained its purpose to them both whereupon he immediately turned to the girl and, astonished, exclaimed: ‘How positively medieval!’ To this day, I’m not sure if he was appalled, fascinated or incredulous – maybe a mix of all three.
“When I was a child in the 1950s and ’60s, our parents and neighbours were all predominantly flat dwellers, so greenie poles were commonplace and an essential part of domestic life. Medieval indeed!”
All colours of the rainbow
Today, we include a few more memories of life in Townhill, Dunfermline, in the 1930s, written by Robert Wilson. We have featured
these memoirs before in the column.
Robert writes: “Most boys were quite proud of their grandmothers and I was no exception. She could dig her own garden and plant it, make a sledge or a barrow from old pram wheels, knit socks with rippeddown wool, which meant you got a pair of socks or mitts containing all the colours of the rainbow, but they were warm. She sold cola for one shilling a hundredweight.
“In those days, a Ford 8 HP saloon cost £108 and the first lorry my mother bought
for the firm was a Ford Model TT from Bob Street for £15. It would carry one ton. Bear in mind that a horse-drawn lorry carried one ton. I remember Street & Co and the Fife Electric Power Company having chaindriven Albions which any agile boy could race up Townhill braes.
“Holes in trousers and socks were commonplace in those days. However, the gala was the main event of the year when every child was dressed to kill – the girls with nice dresses and the boys with their
blazers and brass buttons. The march down to the park gates always aroused great excitement in everyone. We joined in with the other schools, banners and all, and continuing down to the Glen where a great time would follow, weather permitting.
“A friend of mine, Ecky Morrison, had a great idea. With the brass buttons off these blazers, we would place them on the tramcar lines, flatten them and they were the ideal weight and size for us to then use in cigarette machines.”