<p>Back in May I had two pieces in successive copies of The People's Friend. On the old site someone suggested I post one of them for those who didn't see a copy but it has taken until now to track the originals down. A change of computers since submission caused the confusion.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>When my son read the published piece his only comment was, "Pity about the typo." I am delighted to say that on reading the original the error was not mine so thoughts of his mother becoming senile are grossly exaggerated. I'll put the solution at the end for those who read the magazine and missed it as several other people had done before my son pointed it out.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>"Ahoy There!" - The People's Friend (9-5-2009)</strong></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><strong></strong></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p class="MsoNormal">A popular treat during our summer holidays with relatives was to spend a day on the Royal Pier at Southampton. Unlike many seaside resort piers the Royal Pier was not a scene of arcade attractions. In the fifties and sixties you could always be sure of seeing plenty of shipping movements as the great ocean liners visited the port.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The pier itself had many attractions, as there was a small shop, a cafeteria, from which a tray of tea could be taken out if required, and plenty of seating. For adults, the Mecca Ballroom housed in the Pier Pavilion, was a popular venue. A line of shelters ran down the centre of the pier forming a wind break on blustery days. The curved cast-iron seats that lined both sides of the pier made a great base from which to set off on our explorations. Whilst our mother and aunt chatted, read and maybe did their knitting we were free to roam so long as we remained in sight.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The planks of the pier had quite large cracks between allowing the movement of the water to be observed. Sometimes there was debris from the ships being floated through the stanchions but more often than not there was simply the gentle lapping of water against the uprights as the tide ebbed and flowed. We held tightly to any pocket money we had taken along as the cracks were large enough to swallow most coins.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal">From the end of the pier you may see fishermen with their rods and lines patiently awaiting a bite. I don&rsquo;t know how successful they were but do recall on one occasion, whilst we were kneeling up on the seats to get a better view over Southampton Water, that we saw a whole mass of jellyfish pass under the pier. Like a bizarre game of Pooh sticks we rushed to the other side to see them emerge. We could see their tentacles and saw how the bell filled propelling them along. We noted four small circles on the bell. The jellyfish swam just below the surface of the murky water that shone rainbow colours with the oil that had been spilled and one wonders just how healthy it was for them. However, wild life was not our objective.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The daily local paper, the Southern Evening Echo, printed lists of ships arriving or departing the next day in their diary section. We knew you could generally see a Cunard liner, either the Queen Elizabeth or Queen Mary (the originals) on a Monday or a Thursday, as these were their arrival and departure days. Other ships were less predictable. Sometimes we saw a ship called the America that had distinctive, finned funnels, and you may see a Union-Castle ship on its way either to or from South Africa. These ships docked in the New Dock area and, as they had to pass the end of the pier, you had a better look at them. I recall the Edinburgh Castle and Pendennis Castle amongst others. The hull was a pleasant shade of lilac with white superstructure.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The Cunard liners, which docked at the Ocean Terminal, did not come up as far as the pier itself. The deep water channel was marked with a string of buoys, though, and you had a good view of the tugs turning the mighty ships to enter the dock itself. For this they had to overrun the dock and then turn in. There were generally four tugs involved with two pushing and two pulling at any one time. These manoeuvres took quite a while and must have been a poignant time for passengers as the end was so close yet tantalisingly slow.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Occasionally, if we were very fortunate, we were taken on a harbour cruise that took you close up to the side of some of the liners and made you really appreciate their massive size. The tiny trip boats bobbed up and down even in the comparative calm of the docks and the splendour of those liners was somewhat overpowered by the stench of oil that surrounded them at sea level. Long streaks of rust could be seen below the many pipes that lead from the side and to some extent the ships lost their impressiveness with this display of vulnerability to the elements. I remember making one trip around dusk and the sight of the massive liners all lit up was quite magical.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Besides the great ocean liners there was plenty of other marine activity to keep us occupied. The regular Red Funnel ferries to the Isle of Wight left from alongside the pier and there were cargo vessels and oil tankers as the huge Fawley oil refinery was on the opposite bank. Early on an occasional flying boat was seen in action although most of the time these were at anchor in Southampton Water and on the pier itself a Supermarine Seaplane was displayed. This forerunner of the Spitfire had broken the World Air Speed record over Southampton Water in 1931.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The pier shop sold postcards of the most frequent visitors to Southampton and we often purchased one if we had seen a different ship. Such simple pleasures seemed to satisfy us then. We always took a picnic of sandwiches and cakes and crisps but tea was purchased from the cafeteria as and when required, which seemed quite often in the case of the adults.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal"></p> <p class="MsoNormal">On one memorable occasion the Royal Yacht Britannia came into port and the pier was quite crowded on her arrival and departure days. The demand for harbour trips was high but we managed to reach the front of the queue eventually and we were part of a flotilla of boats following at a distance as she left port. Even though we couldn&rsquo;t get as close as usual to the boats that day it was a wonderful trip.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal">At the end of the day everything had to be packed up into the bags and, after a last ice cream, we set off to catch a bus back to our grandmother&rsquo;s house.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal">(And the typo? Apparently they thought finned Tunnels rather than Funnels adorned the ship.)</p> <p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;</p> <p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;</p>

<p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning /> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas /> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables /> <w:SnapToGridInCell /> <w:WrapTextWithPunct /> <w:UseAsianBreakRules /> <w:DontGrowAutofit /> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning /> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas /> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables /> <w:SnapToGridInCell /> <w:WrapTextWithPunct /> <w:UseAsianBreakRules /> <w:DontGrowAutofit /> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Things have been pretty quiet on the writing front recently and then, like buses, three things came along at once. I had a letter published in a writing magazine on a subject which had already been the theme for an article elsewhere. Then I learned that a contribution had been accepted for the Writelink Christmas Magazine which was very gratifying. Finally I received the latest Best of British magazine and discovered a couple of the items I had submitted at their request for their Christmas Collation had been included. Again, one of the pieces was based on an earlier piece of work.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The rest of the memory pieces won&rsquo;t go to waste as my OH and I are putting together anecdotes from our childhood for our children and grandchildren. Both of us wish our own parents had written down some of the stories they shared orally with us as the memory plays tricks over time and fact and fiction become confused. The Chinese whispers syndrome kicks in and, when you start investigating, you discover all sorts of anomalies.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal">It was September when Best of British first asked for Christmas memories and October when the call went out for contributions for the Writelink Magazine but this is really quite late to be considering sending Christmas material to publications. I knew that fiction with a Christmas theme should generally sent before June but was surprised last year when sending a Christmas tip to a magazine to be told to resubmit the idea in August of this year for consideration. (I did &ndash; they turned it down!) So this year I will be taking photos of anything I can think of that may illustrate items on the Festive Season and try writing up the ideas during the winter months. Then I will be ready to send things off and be first in the queue.</p>

<p>I wrote this for my website blog but thought I would share it here with fellow Writelnkers, many of whom may have their own specials stories of sales successes - or disasters.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Boxing Day and the sales have started &ndash; that is those that had not already been running since before Christmas. Sales were even running on-line on Christmas Day itself. Today retail outlets are reminiscent of a Dutch auction. Stock is displayed at ever decreasing prices until a buyer is found.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Sales used to be so much more fun. Sales were held twice yearly, in June and January, and many people looked forward to their sales shopping, not least for the sense of danger, and even saved towards it. Today the goods are displayed in dump bins or trays or simply left upon the shelves with bright red labels attracting attention. In the past stock was often brought in especially for the sales. There was no attempt to produce tempting displays. Instead household furnishings such as towels, sheets and curtains were simply tipped out in a mound on the shop floor and shoppers pulled out the items that took their fancy. What Health and Safety would make of these unsteady towering piles today can only be imagined but in the Fifties and Sixties shoppers happily took part in a deadly tug of war to achieve their prize.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Besides imported stock there were all the ends of ranges &ndash; buttons, knitting patterns, rolls of dress materials and clothes galore &ndash; that had to be cleared. Often these items were tipped into trays on the counter for customers to sift through. Buttons at a penny each were tempting but so frustrating, too, when it was only possible to find five matching buttons for a pattern demanding six. End of rolls of fabric often left very odd amounts to be sold as remnants. Calculations could be lengthy deciding whether a rearrangement of the pattern pieces might make it fit the available cloth.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Colour was another issue. Often the clothes left at the end of a season were in the least popular sizes but just as likely the remaining stock contained many of the more unusual or trendy colour-ways. To find an entire outfit in the sales was therefore unlikely unless your requirements were for the odd size or you were prepared to go out on a limb with an unusual colour combination.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Television today sometimes features crowds queuing outside large department stores in cities but in the past this would not have been so newsworthy as queues for sales were common everywhere. Grabbing the star bargains was a case of being prepared to make sacrifices, arriving early and being single-minded about heading straight for the appropriate department once allowed inside. Setting your sights on a less competitive area could be the key to sales success. There were fewer people aiming for the menswear departments, for example, so your chances of bagging a bargain there were far greater.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>With shops constantly having sales, special promotions and events, sales shopping is almost considered the norm today. Buying a product for the best possible price may involve shopping around, considering on-line purchasing or even haggling but there is no sense of occasion as in the past. Like so many seasonal happenings the sales have lost their unique appeal.</p>

<p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning /> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas /> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables /> <w:SnapToGridInCell /> <w:WrapTextWithPunct /> <w:UseAsianBreakRules /> <w:DontGrowAutofit /> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--></p> <p>This week we were requested to pick up an item from a large toy retailer. A picture was emailed to us, details supplied, right down to the product stock code. What could be simpler?</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>The retailer was based on a large complex of such outlets with car parking provided. So far so good. Surely all we had to do now was go inside, pick up the item and pay. Being well schooled in recycling measures we had our own shopping bags. These were forbidden in this store so back to the car to place said bags in boot. Entering the store we were confronted with a maze that would have done justice to a stately home. No one alley lead straight into the store. We were lead backwards and forwards through dolls, construction kits, cards, wrapping paper, large toys and tiny plastic numbers that would hardly see the outside of the store before they were lost or broken.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Eventually we made it into the main area and were met with aisle upon aisle of toys stacked to the ceiling, well above the height even the tallest customer could reach, and I am not one of those, and virtually no labelling. Everything was geared to taking customers up and down endless aisles in search of their needs. No helpful staff were placed strategically to head people to their required aisle - customers had to rely on fellow sufferers who were vague as to where they had last spotted the elusive item. Almost fifteen minutes after entering the store we finally tracked down one pair of in-line skates as requested. Stock code matched as did all details so now to head for the tills. But not so fast, we still had to negotiate further aisles before finally spotting a row of (unmanned) tills beyond the parking lot for a vast array of transport for the under twos.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>An assistant emerged from a backroom, accepted our remittance, asked if we really needed a bag as it had a carrying handle and, as we left the store, she retreated once more to her sheltered position behind the scenes. For those of you who, like us, are more familiar with the toy shop in the photo, be warned, toy shopping is no longer the eagerly awaited treat.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;</p>