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Thank You Doc Vernon
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18th October 2022, 08:20 AM
#11
Re: BBC News
You must have lived in a deprived area Tony. JS
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18th October 2022, 08:37 AM
#12
Re: BBC News

Originally Posted by
j.sabourn
You must have lived in a deprived area Tony. JS
John, I did not realise it at the time but looking back, my first 14 years was grim. Not down to my parents who were very careful and looked after us well considering the low income they had, but the housing conditions and environment outside were dire.
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18th October 2022, 08:55 AM
#13
Re: BBC News
#10, you pay for them now.
Vic
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18th October 2022, 09:05 AM
#14
Re: BBC News
hi tony #12
good morning, i dont think there are many on this site whom sought a life at sea, who where in anyway better off financially than you or myself, the difference in our case was pride, and that made us stand out by getting out .
tom
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18th October 2022, 09:11 AM
#15
Re: BBC News
hi john sabourn #9
good morning, not only where the scratchings free where i was brought up, but my elder sister was practically the manager by the time she was sixteen,so we always had more chips for our pennies, and even today it surprises me that so many of these so called fish resturantes cannot cook fish properly, and believe me as i only eat chicken and fish i have learned to seek par excellence when it comes to fish and chips.
tom
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18th October 2022, 09:16 AM
#16
Re: BBC News
12 My parents Tony only ever lived in one house after the war where their name was on the rentbook and that was a council house , my brother is still living there . Most council estates were usually tenentated by working class people so were all in the same boat. Today most of them living there wear eastern style clothing and speak alien languages. Maybe there are no working class people left in the UK ? Or maybe they have house swapped with those from alien climes.? After leaving home Apart from living in a rented property arriving in Australia for 3 month lived in a rental property , have never lived in such since . Owned 2 houses in the uk and 6 in Australia , 2 of which I rented out to others at a nominal rent remembering my own rental days and knowing a lot of people today are being seen off by the sharks. Luckily I worked long extra days and weeks and could afford to do it. Today I just want to sit back and do nothing. Cheers JS
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18th October 2022, 10:15 AM
#17
Re: BBC News
#15 at the same era of time Thomas it was a penny for a woodbine from under the counter in the paper shop. So was a toss up scratchings or cigarette , sad to say many times the woodbine won. On going to sea it was like Pandora’s box when they came in 50 packets and bigger and called export woodbines , no cissy tips on they hadn’t been invented and when were , they were for the birds ( girls) . Was in my fourties when threw the habit , what a waste of money , certainly couldn’t afford them today . JS.
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18th October 2022, 02:07 PM
#18
Re: BBC News
hi john sabourn #17
good afternoon, having never been a smoker, We did have use for woodbines though, as one girl we knew would accept a woodbine for certain acts or deeds that where considered lewd by those days standards and acts of voyeurism by ours.
as for cigarettes at sea i used to buy rothmans or benson and hedges from the bond for trading purposes only, ( i liked the colour of the boxes )
but personally to stop smoking was most likely the best thing you could have done,because those untipped cigarettes must have been a killer,
tom
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18th October 2022, 03:43 PM
#19
Re: BBC News
I can remember Capstan full strength, really powerful, and the 4 oz round tins for roll ups. I recall being anchored off in Ravenna and the bond closed, so the agent brought on boar Italian cigs, jesus , like smoking camel sh** and bus tickets . But the fags were as good as money, 10shillings for 200. kt
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18th October 2022, 11:11 PM
#20
Re: BBC News
#19 probably the era you are talking about Keith 10/- a carton , the price out of bond was really 38/-a thousand or 5 cartons , a shipboard profit of 1 pound 32 pence a thousand if my arithmetic is correct. I had Occassion on one ship to question this as second mate , the reply was private insurance on the same and having to pay the ch. stwd. For the sale of. Years later whenever the opportunity arose when working in the North Sea and went into Rotterdam always used to ask everyone what they wanted and bought a bond and sold to them profit zero. So they were probably getting real bonded prices in the 80s at lesser price than what they got in the 60s . I didn’t bother with the excuse of insurance and we never had a ch stwd in any case they got what they paid for, this however had to go under bond when arrival back in the uk. JS
If it was a shipowners bond they fixed the prices and it was always well above real bonded prices, your 10/- would probably be at least 12/- your airport prices were never duty free they were only VAT free. JS
Last edited by j.sabourn; 18th October 2022 at 11:30 PM.
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