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I've lived in Sussex all my life, Hastings is my town. It's a popular day trip resort for Londoners. The day trippers used to be working class, out for a dip in the sea, a plate of whelks and some Fish and Chips. The fish, I might add, is all caught by our own fishermen, seriously fresh.
Many of these visitors caught the Hastings bug and moved down to settle with their families, I guess the London property prices forced them out of the city.

.....anyway, London is "up" on the map, about 65 miles north of us. When talking about London many of the ex-Londoners would refer to their former home as "the Smoke". When returning home for a visit they would say "I'm going up the smoke". A reference I suppose to the days of smog.

It's only a short flight from the nearest airport at Lydd to the City Of London Airport. It still gets a bit smoggy:



P3D with ORBX England.

Nice shot and that river certainly looks rough...

the beginning of the end of the world....a lone surviver

Me?...

I was born in; "The Smoke", in the Borough of Lambeth, (within the sound of Bow Bells), just south of the River Thames in London in 1934....

..where it really was "Smokey", due to all the coal-burning chimneys!

Mum, Dad and I lived there until we were forced out at the start of the Blitz of London in 1940, and getting bombed every night by the dreaded Hun.

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/blitz.htm

My Dad managed to get transferred from Woolwich Arsenal Munitions Factory in London where he worked, to Rotherwas Munitions Factory in the City of Hereford, so we evacuated to the County of Herefordshire for our safety, amongst all the Cows and Sheep, and remained there all our lives....a beautiful County!
I used to love London, when it belonged to real Londoners, before it was taken over by all the; "folks from abroad", and it has nothing to attract me back there again now.
Parts of London, to me, now, appears more like a suburb of down-town Los Angeles!
Which is a shame, as the central City Of London is a wonderful place.

Nowadays, I just enjoy the peace and quiet and beauty of rural Herefordshire, and the surrounding Counties!

Paul....but I'm still a Cockney Lad at heart!.... ... ....!

You should have auditioned for the part of Bert in Mary Poppins, you would certainly have made a better job of it than Dick Van Dyke......But can you dance Fozzer.

Yep the river is rough Mr Trucker, I'll blame it on the current government.

It does look a bit lonely doesn't it Yancovitch. A few light would look better. I can't get them to look right though.


Me and the Missus went up the Smoke for a long weekend last year. We stayed at a Premier Inn in Greenwich, cheap, clean and adequate. There was still some sort of community feel in Greenwich, some great markets and of course a good museum or two. We bought some all day go anywhere (between Westminster and Woolwich) river bus tickets, £15 each and great value I thought. The Thames is a great place to view stuff from. The rest of London is clean and slick, I know what you mean Fozzer by the Los-Angeles feel. It was a great weekend though and so much we didn't get round to seeing.

G.K. wrote:You should have auditioned for the part of Bert in Mary Poppins, you would certainly have made a better job of it than Dick Van Dyke......But can you dance Fozzer.

Yep the river is rough Mr Trucker, I'll blame it on the current government.

It does look a bit lonely doesn't it Yancovitch. A few light would look better. I can't get them to look right though.


Me and the Missus went up the Smoke for a long weekend last year. We stayed at a Premier Inn in Greenwich, cheap, clean and adequate. There was still some sort of community feel in Greenwich, some great markets and of course a good museum or two. We bought some all day go anywhere (between Westminster and Woolwich) river bus tickets, £15 each and great value I thought. The Thames is a great place to view stuff from. The rest of London is clean and slick, I know what you mean Fozzer by the Los-Angeles feel. It was a great weekend though and so much we didn't get round to seeing.

The Missus and I.... ... ...!

... ...!

Beware of Brixton....you will feel that you have been teleported to Nigeria.... ...!
We lived at Petts Wood, Bromley, for a short time before we finally evacuated, and before the Nigerians, etc, landed... ...!

South London.....a very scary place!... ...!

My baby Sister Esme lives in Fulham. (Born in 1942 in Herefordshire).

I lost two beautiful Sisters due to illness: Daphnie in 1936, (Diptheria), and Sonia in 1947 (Meningitis).

Paul.... ...!

Was your Missus standing behind you when you typed that reply Fozzer?

G.K. wrote:Was your Missus standing behind you when you typed that reply Fozzer?

That would be my worst nightmare, G.K... ... ...!

I got rid of both of them over 40 years ago!.... ...!

Paul..... ...!

If you've seen the movie "Hope and Glory" it's the story of my childhood except I happened to have been born in the Midlands. Same stuff though. I'd have thought Paul would relate to that too. I always thought the "smoke" meant the smoke of Bombing during the war, but my Dad said it was always called the smoke even before that. Mind you the 50's produced the worst smogs imaginable. Buses even stopped running. I remember pedalling home on my bike and losing the way. I t was funny really, I took the wrong turn and ended up in someones driveway. A car pulled in behind me, I thought was the chap that lived there, but he said he was following me! Anyways, nice pic, couldn't get me airborne in those conditions.

London's Great Smog.

A mixture of Chimney Smoke and Fog...>>>

http://activehistory.ca/2012/12/londons ... -years-on/

Until they were cleaned more recently, most of the buildings in London were streaked with black, from the build-up of a mixture of water and chimney smoke/soot. Most noticeable on buildings with light coloured stonework.

I suspect that Los Angeles Valley also suffers from similar "Smog" effects under certain wind and weather conditions.

I can remember the sooty "smell" of London in the early 1950's.
Also the smell of Gas, when many of the street lights were still fuelled by coal gas. Also many houses also contained gas Cookers and hot water kitchen geysers running on leaky coal gas!

The time when Coal-Gas Holders, automatically maintaining gas pressure, could be seen everywhere, towering above the sky lines!

...actually...I miss seeing those Gas Holders now!...>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_holder

In fact, there are lots of things around in 1950 which I/we don't see any more...both good and bad!!.... ...!

Paul...still in 1950!.... ...!

Umm, don't know why , but, when I seen the title "Up In Smoke" the 1st thing that came to my mind was - - -

then again ~ I just now woke up, and I'm a little Groggy, so,,,,,,,,,,,,





[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWxgfTMLtc0[/youtube]

Lots of things we had in those days we don't have today . . . Impetigo, TB, Stalin.

Jetranger wrote:Umm, don't know why , but, when I seen the title "Up In Smoke" the 1st thing that came to my mind was - - -

then again ~ I just now woke up, and I'm a little Groggy, so,,,,,,,,,,,,





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWxgfTMLtc0

I must admit that my Saturday Morning, and Sim V, has suddenly disappeared in clouds of smoke watching those hilarious episodes of Cheech & Chong smoking Weed on U-Tube.... ....
....then I realised that I forgotten to keep a wary eye on my breakfast Bacon frying in the kitchen... ....!

Paul.....smokin' the rear tyre on my Motor-bike in a min'... ...!