Transportation

Hello everybody! We've just started our Easter holidays! So as it's the hols, a fun post on transportation. You'll see why I say it's going to be fun. Let's start with the vintage vehicles!

I'm not sure whether this is the pram which Mark is describing in the paragraph where he reminisces about the entrance hall of 9DR. Perhaps not, because he says the pram was "low", and this one seems pretty high! I'm not even sure the two prams here are the same. Below is another pic, a generation later, so what do you think? Is it the same?

Here's another type of vehicle, of the less developped kind:

But the bare-legged pinup rather makes up for it, wouldn't you say? Now of course, there was a car at 9DR, sorry a "motor-car" (this was how Grandma referred to it):

And much to my displeasure, I don't have a picture of the Hughes riding away to mass in their .... now here's the vexing bit: I don't know what make car Monsieur Père had. Was it a Vauxhall? An Austin? Here's the silly photo of part of it:

I thought that perhaps it was an Austin America, but the name sounds a little too grand:

So: an Easter bunny for the person who brings me proof of the car! After Grandpa it was Auntie Maud who drove it, and I think she was afraid of shifting higher than the 2nd gear, so that one could tell when the Aunties were coming back from mass because a strange screech was heard as the car came up Aldermans Hill and was about to turn into Derwent road!

The only other family car picture of those days is this one, with Mark proudly posing:

And I think this is the same place, but with Noel this time and an alternative means of transport!

Oh, in fact, I have another car picture, but God knows which car that was!

For coming and going in and around Palmers Green and London, there was the bus service, among which the famous 298, seen here near ther Triangle in the year 1976:

Here's a picture (already seen here) where a local bus was passing on its way up Aldermans Hill:

and on its advertising side banner (zoom in) I think one can just make out an ad for Red bus rovers:

When we were too young to sail to the UK, and our parents couldn't accompany us, there was no other solution but to put us on the plane, and my memories are of the airport in La Baule, where very tall and impressively kind hostesses would be asked to take charge of us, even if it didn't quite make us forget the tear-eyed moments of leaving mum and dad... Here's a document holder which contained the flight papers which identified us Unaccompanied Minors in these wonderful flying machines:

And here the wonderful machine:

Meanwhile, on the ground, there were some other means of transport, of a more violent kind perhaps:

And the same people once met an extraterrestrial vehicle which they daren't use for fear it would whisk them away to outer space:

In spite of squabbles as to ownership, they felt more comfortable in Earth-going means of transport:

Later the person above had one of these:

I remember rushing on it down Hamilton Cres but to say the truth I don't recall it was very good quality. Sorry Mark! (Here are some people reminiscing about the go-cart).

Anyway, let's have now some more standard methods of travel, which sensible people commonly used :

And as always, you do have the exception:

We round off with two photos of maritime vehicles :

Above Auntie Cath is holding what we thought was the VPZ, the model boat which Grandpa had bought for us back in the early seventies, but it turned out to be another boat!

And here's an extract of a video (uploaded by a nice YouTube user here) to show you the street activity in front of Broomfield Park during the late 1960s.