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30th December 2020, 09:12 PM
#1
Penny on the Line (Fact or Fiction) LOL
Penny on the lineHave any readers ever heard of penny on the line. My Father an ex Royal Navy Korean War veteran,spent his pre-retirement years working on the Cross-Channel Ferries as a fitter’s mate. His best Mate DickHill (the rigger) was an old merchant Navy man and he would tell this tell of when he was a youngsterserving on the tramp ships in the 1930-40s he got a posting to a ship in Liverpool, but he was inManchester, so being short of money he decided to walk sleeping rough on the way.Dick continued his story that when you docked back in Liverpool, you went ashore had a few drinks andthen looked for a place to sleep, usually the seaman mission , but on this particular night he was too latefor a bed…but the proprietor did offer “a penny on the line”…what’s that he exclaimed, come with meson and showed Dick into a large dormitory type room with a heavy duty rope fixed from one side of thewall to the other. It was about 3 feet off the ground with a wooden bench seat underneath. The proprietorsaid all you have to do is sit on the bench fold your arms over the rope and rest your head on your armsand off to sleep you go, and all for a Penny…..don’t worry about missing trains or buses we will give youan early morning call.Suffice to say the early morning call was sharp at 0600hrs….the proprietor would untie one end of therope?So, fact or fiction, would make my 91year Father’s Day to know
Thanks to the Pulse !!
Senior Site Moderator-Member and Friend of this Website
R697530
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30th December 2020, 10:01 PM
#2
Re: Penny on the Line (Fact or Fiction) LOL
Being nautical I would guess more fact than fiction, ie Ships stage or bosuns chair, slightly off the subject as a kid we would put a "penny on the line"just before the train arrived and see who,s was the flattest, You are blessed to have a Dad with all that Knowledge. R
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30th December 2020, 10:57 PM
#3
Re: Penny on the Line (Fact or Fiction) LOL
Definately Fact, quite a few doss houses in Bolton in the 20s and 30s had that way of sleeping.
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31st December 2020, 06:16 AM
#4
Re: Penny on the Line (Fact or Fiction) LOL
A Very Victorian Two-Penny Hangover
by Terry MacEwen
The term ‘hangover’ is universally understood to mean the disproportionate suffering that comes after a night of over-indulgence. But where does the term actually come from? One possible explanation is, somewhat strangely, Victorian England.
During the Victorian era the practice of paying for a ‘two-penny hangover’ was incredibly popular among the country’s homeless population and the term ‘two penny hangover’ was so commonly used that it made its way into contemporary literature. A two-penny hangover is not the description of a very cheap night out, nor is it the amount it would cost you to get drunk in Victorian England. It is actually somewhere you could go to sleep if you were one of the thousands of homeless and destitute living in the country’s main cities at the time. If you lived on the streets and had managed to make some money during the day, depending on how much you had, you could spend the night in one of three ways; paying a penny to sit-up, two pence to ‘hang-over’, or 4 or five pennies to lie down.
https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureU...enny-Hangover/
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31st December 2020, 11:01 AM
#5
Re: Penny on the Line (Fact or Fiction) LOL
Fact. Some time ago I posted the experience of my Father experiencing similar in New York during ww11 at the Salvation Army hostel. $1 for a bench 50 cents for the line.
He never expected the Waldorf but perhaps some recognition for battling back and forth across the Atlantic to keep supply lines alive
Gilly
R635733
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1st January 2021, 03:46 AM
#6
Re: Penny on the Line (Fact or Fiction) LOL
Vernon, penny on the line was very common in parts of USA, possibly in UK as well.
Only a few weeks back there was some old footage on U tube of the practice.
Happy daze John in Oz.
Life is too short to blend in.
John Strange R737787
World Traveller
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1st January 2021, 09:36 AM
#7
Re: Penny on the Line (Fact or Fiction) LOL
This was a practice in some poor lodgings in Scotland .
In Dundee it was called a Leannie"
There was some pictures on the face book site last year . ( sounds good Last year )
Ron The batcave
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