Happy memories

“Your piece about wireless batteries brought back many memories to me,” writes Innes Duffus.

“From the age of about 12, I was required to work for my pocket money. One of my main jobs was to connect all the accumulators in the family garage at Kingsway/ Strathmartine Road.

“There would be in the order of 100 to be connected up red-black-red-black and so on. They were then set to charge for 24 hours at 2½ amps.

“We were constantly in trouble as many people did not look after their batteries properly and despite our best efforts many of the connectors were worn and often broke when connecting them up.

“The big night was Thursday when Tommy Handley’s ITMA was broadcast and everyone wanted his or her battery.

“This presented a problem because father was so soft-hearted he could not refuse anyone.

“As a result when some old dear came in saying she had forgotten to get her battery charged, Dad would say: ‘Here, take Mrs A’s battery she won’t be in for a couple of days – bring it back tomorrow.’

“Inevitably, Mrs A came in for her battery that night and Dad might well lend her Mrs B’s battery.

“Oh dear, the problems that caused. He would often get a new battery and give it to a woman whose own battery had not been brought back.

“The other problem was that batteries would be silted up from constant use and the lead from the plates building up at the bottom of the battery, eventually cutting the life of the battery to just an hour or two. That, of course, was our fault as well.

“Later, by the time I was 15, we bought a bench grinder and adapted it to sharpen skates for folks going to the ice rink along the road and I would have a queue of seven or eight people waiting for their skates to be sharpened.

“To test the level of the edges, two coins were placed a few inches apart and checked by eye for being level.

“The other thing was that to confirm the sharpness of the blade you scraped the edge with your fingernail.

“After a busy night it was not unheard of for the nail to be worn through and blood drawn. Ah happy days!”