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MUNGUIN'S NEW REPUBLIC 
Canned corned beef? Oy.
As the image notes, that came from my fair city. But today there is almost nothing left of the Union Stockyards, just the main gate (a National Landmark), a few nearby buildings, and place names including the Back of the Yards neighborhood and of course, Bubbly Creek.
(The “L” even had a separate branch line for the yards.)
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LOL. I love the names though. Bubbly Creek becasue of all the dead bodies dumped in the water? Jeez… Does it still bubble or have they completely decomposed?
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Bubbly, thanks to all the offal and bits of carcasses they didn’t use over the decades. I found conflicting reports on whether it still bubbles up today (but I wouldn’t be a bit surprised); apparently it might still do so when the weather is warm enough, but those with much more hydro-engineering knowledge than I — which is to say, any — are trying to figure out how to get more water and aeration flowing through there.
I’ll keep, um, sniffing around for more info.
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LOL you do that…
But get a gas mask!!!
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Flodigarry, not far from me. In 1950 that lorry would’ve been quite an asset, providing work and income, without having to live away from the island. I’m wondering who owned it, was it perhaps one of the lorries used in ferrying the diatomite to Uig?
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Hi Alan. The lorry belonged to my mother’s cousin, Peter-Alec Nicolson. I think diatomite to Uig would be unlikely as Portree was far closer and more convenient for shipping. And if I remember right, Uig was not an operational port until the early or mid 60s. I vaguely recall something to do with Sconser and hauling road materials from the quarries there.
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Thanks John. I mentioned diatomite as it was a major industry, during the 50s and into the 60s for the North end, once again. When the diatomite quarrying started up again in 1950 (?) it was thought that taking the stuff out by digger instead of shovels and trucking it to Uig for drying and shipping would be more efficient. Others thought that this change “did” for the enterprise. Carting wet diatomite the 20 odd miles to Uig and ending up with possibly 1t dry for each 20t wet, then to find that the 1t was carrying much more impurities due to the digger than the hand shovelled samples and cheaper supplies from elsewhere brought the work to a close sometime in the 60s. MacBraynes ever the powerful and sharp operator got the benefit of an early pier, on the west side of the island which was much more useful. Not suggesting anything nefarious mind.
The diatomite when quarried earlier, up to the great war, was taken down to the shore side by overhead rope line and bucket. There it was dried and ferried to Portree. There was no direct road to Portree from Staffin. I think the road was put in, or any exsisting track made up sometime in the eary 60s, possibly late 50s. This was after the Storr loch Hydro opened in 1952, bringing electricity for the first time to the island, some of it anyway.
I think I know the family conection, at least a couple of possibilities. Anyway connected to the MacDonalds in Borbh?
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That was a long time to wait for electricity, Alan.
When did the islands get television?
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Not sure when TVs became common in most houses. Our house got one around 1958 to 1960, a wee bakelite cased Bush 75. From memory I reckon the 75 might’ve refered to the diagonal screen measurement, 7,5 inches. Families were certainly closer back then, tiny wee screen, one fireplace, no central heating and a draughty wee house meant you were, for practicalities almost sitting atop each other.
In the 70s I lived and worked on another island. The 5 or 6 households, on the island only had an electric supply enough for lighting only, 110v dc. This was no great loss because there was no tv reception, none not even the old vhf 405 lines.
There were about 16 or 18 of us on the island. In the long daylight filled spring and summer nights we would be out doing things, in the dark winter months we would have regular “night classes” with most of us giving a class on which ever subject we were passionate about or good at, according to each individuals term of reference. These events, several per week, were very social not just a male gathering but a true strùpag ceillidh. I remember learning fly tying, not an alternative to zips or buttons but to help catch fish, the latin names of trees, hand sewing, photography and music. I ran one on bread making and also one on composting techniques. Since leaving home in my late teens I have never had a television but I have to say that the benefits of no TV have never been as great as the time when none of us had one.
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Fascinating, Alan.
I can certainly see the value of living on a little island with virtually no facilities and being obliged to do something to amuse yourselves on long winter nights.
I grew up with TV, but I was never much for watching it. As a child a bit, I guess, but as soon as I was a teen I was out all the time and we listened to music, not watch tv.
I did buy a tv about 10 years ago after I had some surgery, but I almost never watched it, preferring dvds.
I got rid of it again because of the bias during the 2104 campaign, together with the inflated salaries of the no-marks and of course the sex scandals.
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No connection, Alan. My father was from North Uist and my Nicolson mother was the Sgiathanch. I well remember the electricity coming to Flodigarry in the early 50s when I was a wee boy. But there was a proper tarred road from Staffin to Portree back then, albeit single lane with passing places. A trip on the bus to Portree, once a month maybe, was always a big outing – and not just for wee boys!
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Interesting you mention the occasion that a trip to portree would be. I work in Portree regularly but excitment is a trip to Inverness. Hedonistic inflation?
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Almost Las Vegas!
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Yip, almost.
Presbyterian and no pom poms!
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NO dancing. You know what the dancing leads to, don’t you?
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Dancing. Nothing but the foreplay to carnality. Had to look up “carnality”, out of interest. Carnality; pertaining to the flesh or the body, appetite and passions, not spiritual, merely human. I wonder what click bait advertising that google search will bring.
Just back from another hedonistic Inverness trip.
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Exactly!
I hope you avoided the flesh pots while you were there.
Good luck with the Google ads!
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Pic5 – Inverness, 1950S? Pic7 – Criss Cross quiz ITV. Pic10 – Dixon of Dock Green – “Evening, all.” Pic11 – Princess Anne; Prince Charles 1960s?
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Well done, Andi!
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Looks small for a “Big Capacity Family Refrigerator.”
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LOL. It was the 1950s. People were smaller then.
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🙂
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Danny
We still had restriction on certain items so the fridge would be very large.
Sweets were still on restriction until the early 50’s.
D
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Hi Dave…..It brought to mind recent correspondence with a family friend who grew up in Texas and now works in the London area. She mentioned that her “affordable” London flat and the refrigerator in it are a decidedly modest size, precluding any large stock of refrigerated goods. The refrigerator she was accustomed to in Texas was a two-door model which could have probably substituted as a guest bedroom. She also mentioned that her washer/dryer is a single unit. Another culture shock to go along with the lack of a mixer tap on the bathroom washstand plumbing. 😉
I imagine her familiar Texas models were more along these lines.
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This is great.
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This is what I got: “Definitely not from around here are you? Your answers were closer to the average person outside of Ireland and Britain than anywhere inside it.”
But within the British Isles, I’m closer to the northwest of England or Galway in Ireland.
As for the word to describe a stupid person, I couldn’t decide if Trump is more a “moron” or an “idiot!”
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It was pretty much bang on for me.
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Or in dialect, edjit.
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I can even think of other words to describe him…
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Now, who has a house that really looks that tidy?
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Never mind that, who has plants in a jar that look that healthy?
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Probably the first time Al Martino and Pink Floyd have been on together.
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LOL. True.
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Thank you. Those two names were playing that game of mists appearing from the dark recesses of memory, an ethereal memory, partially forming towards something almost tangible then suddenly evaporating, just before I’m able to put a name to it. Saved from that torturing annoyance.
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Lemon Puffs – yummy.
Here is a commercial for Dunlop that aired in the 1970’s.
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Especially for you, Marcia.
Just as well Dunlop didn’t make bras.
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https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DUNLOP-SPORTS-BRA-SIZE-S-10-12-GREY-MEDIUM-SUPPORT-WIRE-FREE-NEW-/401476694363
My daughter needed them when she did Ju Jitsu (She won a silver medal representing her Uni. Very proud dad)
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LOL… well, there you have it.
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Late-model Chummy 7; earlier ones had scuttle-mounted headlights. Two Bedfords; that shape of Model A could be had with either a boot or a rumble seat; the Ten advert shows that most post-war cars were just pre-war ones with more modern wheels and so on.
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Lemon puff biscuits were disgusting – even for a child (as I was at the time).
Puff pastry(ish) with lemon(ish) butter(ish) stuff sandwiched inbetween. It was especially horrible with tea but just didn’t work with any drink – which you needed!
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Makes me boak just thinking of them…
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What was the Criss Cross Quiz about? Anyone know?
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I don’t really remember very much about it, Tris, being so young at the time 🙂 but I think the main idea was for opposing contestants to answer general knowledge questions and by doing so correctly they got an X or an O on the board and had to try to get three in a line, just like Noughts & Crosses, and of course to try to prevent the other contestant from doing so. There were probably cash prizes. There seem to have been a number of these type of quiz programmes at the time – “Double Your Money” with Hughie Green, “Take Your Pick” with “your quiz inquisitor, Michael Miles” (it’s amazing what you remember but of course I can’t remember who presented “Criss Cross Quiz”. I think some of the quiz programmes were British versions of US ones.
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LOL. Quiz Inquisitor? Crikey!!!
I looked it up… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criss_Cross_Quiz
He sounds like a junior member of the royal family. How posh!!!
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Tris
Just for the amusement, Radio 4 tonight has a Profile on Chris Grayling.
His mentor is Liam Fox.
They missed out the latest news from Cornwall. A private company that runs the probation service has gone bust.
Guess who privatised the probation service.
Looking forward to the fun next week when they add this to no ferry Ferry company, no time table railway companies, as Fox says a man in full command of his posts.
The programme gets repeated Sunday morning and evening.
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If Fox is your mentor you are absolutely bound to be a complete and utter arse.
And Grayling certainly lives down to expectations.
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