So sorry to read about your bee encounters! At the same time: thanks for sharing the memory of having fruit trees in the garden; it brought back some good memories of the times I lived in Italy and would enjoy fresh fruit picked straight from the trees. So good! The limonata I made from real Limoni di Sorrrento was the best lemonade I have ever tasted to this day (and the Limoncello I made from the fruits of the same tree was quite something as well).
Thank you also for mentioning what phones were like back then. I was born after the switchboard era but am grateful for having memories of 'old skool' rotary dial phones. To this day I still think the orange one we had at home, in the 70s, was pretty funky; I'd still choose it ;-)
I never knew Guy Fawkes night was celebrated in New Zealand as well, never thought of that (though it makes sense, of course). That's quite the type of fireworks your neighbour created.... It never ceases to amaze me how often sheer luck is involved when it comes to the antics of the old days. The stories my father told me about his childhood years oftentimes had that same ingredient. He grew up in a woodlands area in the Netherlands, close to the German border, shortly after World War II and was always playing outside, in the woods, oftentimes 'treasure hunting'. One day he had found an object he really liked and decided to take home. So he strapped it to the rear part of his bike and off he went, eager to show it to his brothers back home. It was a grenade....
I suppose we all owe quite a lot to luck, each in our own ways ';-)
Thanks Sharon, I love Limoncello. I've never tried home made. I'm sure it was wonderful.
I have heard stories like your father's. When I was a kid in Holland, many of the bunkers were only superficially covered and at the age of 12 and 13 my friends and I often played in them. There were tunnels between them, all the way up the North Sea Coast and even then 1969-70, people found grenades, rifles, ammunition and all sorts of things that were still 'hidden' in them. It came to a head when a few kids were hurt in accidents with these items, and most of the access was cut off, other than bunkers that were restored to allow people to experience them in future years. As I wrote in a previous post https://inmylife.substack.com/p/explosions-echo-up-the-coast-from my friends and I used to light bonfires in bunkers that were right on the coastline, pile on aerosol cans which were dumped from passing ships, and listen to the explosions echo through the tunnels and other bunkers up the coast. Also quite dangerous, but boys will be boys and it was fun :D
So sorry to read about your bee encounters! At the same time: thanks for sharing the memory of having fruit trees in the garden; it brought back some good memories of the times I lived in Italy and would enjoy fresh fruit picked straight from the trees. So good! The limonata I made from real Limoni di Sorrrento was the best lemonade I have ever tasted to this day (and the Limoncello I made from the fruits of the same tree was quite something as well).
Thank you also for mentioning what phones were like back then. I was born after the switchboard era but am grateful for having memories of 'old skool' rotary dial phones. To this day I still think the orange one we had at home, in the 70s, was pretty funky; I'd still choose it ;-)
I never knew Guy Fawkes night was celebrated in New Zealand as well, never thought of that (though it makes sense, of course). That's quite the type of fireworks your neighbour created.... It never ceases to amaze me how often sheer luck is involved when it comes to the antics of the old days. The stories my father told me about his childhood years oftentimes had that same ingredient. He grew up in a woodlands area in the Netherlands, close to the German border, shortly after World War II and was always playing outside, in the woods, oftentimes 'treasure hunting'. One day he had found an object he really liked and decided to take home. So he strapped it to the rear part of his bike and off he went, eager to show it to his brothers back home. It was a grenade....
I suppose we all owe quite a lot to luck, each in our own ways ';-)
Thanks Sharon, I love Limoncello. I've never tried home made. I'm sure it was wonderful.
I have heard stories like your father's. When I was a kid in Holland, many of the bunkers were only superficially covered and at the age of 12 and 13 my friends and I often played in them. There were tunnels between them, all the way up the North Sea Coast and even then 1969-70, people found grenades, rifles, ammunition and all sorts of things that were still 'hidden' in them. It came to a head when a few kids were hurt in accidents with these items, and most of the access was cut off, other than bunkers that were restored to allow people to experience them in future years. As I wrote in a previous post https://inmylife.substack.com/p/explosions-echo-up-the-coast-from my friends and I used to light bonfires in bunkers that were right on the coastline, pile on aerosol cans which were dumped from passing ships, and listen to the explosions echo through the tunnels and other bunkers up the coast. Also quite dangerous, but boys will be boys and it was fun :D
I imagine that was fun indeed! :D
Fascinating to read about the phone system! Lovely story.