Jonnii. ......you were right...cheers for mentioning stick insects..I'm smiling at a lot of memories....below is what would have been in the link I would have posted....but it makes my post massive so I will just post the words...they ain't mine btw.



If you live in south west England, early autumn is a good time to look for aliens – alien insects that is! There are no native stick insects in the UK, however, three species have become successfully established in Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Three New Zealand species of stick-insects, or phasmids (from the Greek ‘phasma’ meaning phantom or apparition), have become naturalised in the UK over the last 100 years, and almost all are in south west England. This means that they live and reproduce here in the UK in the wild. The first UK record was of a Prickly Stick-insect (Acanthoxyla geisovii) found in a Paignton garden in 1909, with a further locality in 1943 from Tresco Abbey Gardens in the Isles of Scilly. The next species was the Smooth Stick-insect (Clitarchus hookeri) found in 1949, also in Tresco Abbey Gardens. The third species was the Unarmed Stick-insect (Acanthoxyla inermis) recorded at Truro, Cornwall, in 1979. Subsequently it was found that it had been established in Treseder’s Truro nursery since the 1920s, only a 100 metres from that 1979 record.
Our naturalised stick insects all have similar annual life cycles. They breed parthenogenetically - meaning that the young hatch from eggs produced without fertilization by a male - laying several hundred eggs in summer and early autumn. These are simply dropped onto the ground below where the insect is feeding. They hatch out the following spring as miniature adults, some 12mm long, and climb up the first stem they meet. Nymphs grow quickly by shedding their skins five or six times to become mature in mid-summer. Adults typically live only three or four months, with few surviving into the winter.

The stick insects came to be here in the UK, thousands of kilometres from their native lands in new Zealand when plants, including Tree Ferns, from New Zealand were shipped to nurseries in south west England. In the Eucalyptus forests where the plants came from, stick insects live high in the canopy. Their eggs rain down on the forest floor, and many will be caught in the crown and the rough ‘bark’ of the Tree Ferns, to be transferred with the other plants to the UK. As stick insects can reproduce parthenogenetically a single egg arriving in the UK could lead to a viable colony.

As the insects are surrounded by food (such as bramble and privet), and have no need to find a mate, they have little natural inclination to move far. Only in the autumn, when the leaves fall off the plant, will they wander to seek food or warmth.

As the weather turns colder, stick insects venture out onto south-facing walls to bask in the sun. This enables them to maintain their body temperature – and also makes them easy to spot! Most of the stick insects will die off in the first autumn frosts, but some individuals will survive the winter and thus small colonies have developed.

Unlike some 'alien invaders' these naturalised stick insects appear to have no negative impact upon native wildlife or plants, although further research is needed. In the meantime they are an exotic addition to the gardens and green spaces of south west England

Taking your empty bottles back to beer-off and getting money back.

That doesn't still happen, does it?

Walking into cobwebs when it's pitch dark on ya paper round...

We had a middlemas lorry that came round selling juices of all flavours...toot toot...mum it's the middlemas lorry....


Out we would go clutching last week bottles to save a fair amount of money to be honest, so **** knows what they were filling it with cause the bottle took about 42 percent of the cost of a new one...in fact there were thefts....thefts of ****ing empty bottles...:joker:

I still remember when the first pizza shop opened in my area. There was a pizza hut in the town centre, but I remember the first to open around where I lived.

Now there's about 50 or more.

I remember Lemonade man used to come round weekly selling bottles of Lemonade, cherryade, limeade Ect.

Yeah that was the kind of thing...I can't remember getting money back for beer bottles though..


We had a guy we used to call juice terry, he was the best airieted watered salesman in the scottish borders...




Thank you IW:joker:

The Sweet Van that used to come around once a week.

Literally a large van that would come to your street, you'd get on the back and there'd be shelves and shelves of sweets and snacks. Used to always get Blackjacks and Fruit Salads. Awesome.

Do people still do the football pools? The football pools man used to come round to your house every week.

I miss these so much :bawling::bawling::bawling:

Take me back to 2005

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ember_2007.jpg

Ours was the bryson van...it honestly must have took that guy like ten weeks do do his round in the summer holidays..every street, just about every kid from that street waiting to drool over the delights...at a certain age that was like willy wonks factory.

On a Thursday night, my old man used to let me pick...I would get a gentle clip round the ear on a Saturday afternoon every Saturday for about a year, that's when I finally realised we wernt going to ever win this.or at least I was never going to win!!...he never did spot the ball though.:nono:

The video van/car boot..50p till next Friday.

Yes it’s a shame they only have these on heritage routes now. The new ones look like giant insects

Was awesome wasn't it? I think he used to just to like 3 places in my village, but one of the places was just down from my house so lucky me!

He'd come about 7ish just in the Summer, kids would just flock there, you'd see them starting to come about 5ish.

Those long, hot carefree Summers as a kid! Magical.

Ahh yes I forgot about the Video Van!!

My Auntie lives quite rurally (I say rural it's more like a big village that's got nothing around it) and she had one go to her every Thursday night. He'd just have all the new VHS releases for that week in the boot of his car or she'd request one she'd like for the next week and she'd rent however many for the week for about £2-ish each I think. If we were there visiting she'd let me pick one too and I'd get to take it home to watch as long as I brought it back by the next week.

I'm smiling away at the memories...when you think of it though, £2...Can't even sell 5 for a quid at a car boot sale these days..:joker:

My grandad won the pools when I was a kid.....he won about £500quid and was like a millionaire with that much money :laugh:

Babar the Elephant,

Literally nobody I know has heard if it

I had Babar on VHS!

I remember coming home from nursery at like 3 or 4 every dinner time and sitting watching it with a small tub of pringles and a bottle of panda pop

That's a nice memory..x

I remember my grandad took me down to the towns summer celebration family day down by the river..

One stall was a set up like connect four...but with about 200 holes with little bits of paper rolled up in each tiny hole and you bought a go for 50p...I popped out 50 pound with the quid he gave me, I had to frantically run to the beer tent and get him before they would give me the money.

It was a long day after that, I'm sure we didn't get home till about nine..

:fc: