Who's looking after the cafe? Episode

[Adrian Morris]

We had an outside toilet in the very first house I lived in though being so young and not living there long I can't remember it.

 

[wstol]

Not glossy magazines though.

 

[Marianna]

I don't want to add greatly to the yuk factor but before the advent of Andrex [other brands are available] it was quite common practice to use old newspapers and magazines cut into squares and hung on a nail in the outside WC .

My relatives who didn't have running water also couldn't afford the price of newspapers and magazines, so they used pages from the Sears and Montgomery Wards catalogs, which arrived gratis whether or not you wanted them. There was no running water at the school I attended from age 6 through 11, but the taxpayers paid for toilet rolls for the earth closets, although they were the cheapest available.

 

[ferret]

I don't want to add greatly to the yuk factor but before the advent of Andrex [other brands are available] it was quite common practice to use old newspapers and magazines cut into squares and hung on a nail in the outside WC .

Still......... better than Izal....

 

[Marianna]

Still......... better than Izal....

I had to look up the brand name Izal. The first result is an article from The Independent titled, "Minor British Institutions"! It's about the product not being quite as harsh as it used to be.

 

[ferret]

At junior school in the early 70's it sometimes doubled up as tracing paper in art lessons!!

 

[captain clutterbuck]

Hilarious Ferret! Think of the possibilities in their advertising campaign.

 

[Pearl]

I don't want to add greatly to the yuk factor but before the advent of Andrex [other brands are available] it was quite common practice to use old newspapers and magazines cut into squares and hung on a nail in the outside WC .

Oh yes, remember it well. The loo paper at school was far worse. And when I say paper I literally mean paper, horrible none absorbent stuff.

 

[Maggie Jones]

Thank you all for your replies. You have such a wonderful combined knowledge of the area. I just didn't imagine the back of Nora's house facing a busy main road with traffic lights. Adding to the toilet issue it was very common here, too, to have outside toilets and yes newspaper cut up into pieces and threaded through some string for loo paper! Also a tin bath for bathing. I'm glad things, in that respect, have moved pn!

 

[BruceC]

Do people make a bit much out of things, does it really matter if its really the real actual ridgey diige back wall or not
as long as it worked, and the show went on!!

 

[and7barton]

Way back, when I was a postman, I remember the toilet paper in the post office depot had "Property of Her Majesty's government" printed on the edge of every sheet. I used to joke that we should post all the used paper back to them. I'm pretty sure it was Izal paper; most unforgiving.

 

[Maggie Jones]

Of course it's not really important to know these things - just interesting. As someone who hasn't visited the area yet I depend on others who have to fill in the gaps for me. If I can visit the area myself then I won't need to ask these things. But in my imagination I didn't see the area I asked about so near to a busy main road - more rural.

 

[ferret]

The main road through Holmfirth can get very busy, with traffic quickly building up when the lights are on red. It's a route through to Manchester/Derbyshire one way and Huddersfield the other. But just leaving the road you can be in the peace and quiet in a minute.

 

[Pearl]

The main road through Holmfirth can get very busy, with traffic quickly building up when the lights are on red. It's a route through to Manchester/Derbyshire one way and Huddersfield the other. But just leaving the road you can be in the peace and quiet in a minute.

It's a terrible road, the pavement is very narrow and the lights are a nightmare.

 

[Maggie Jones]

Yes that's what I imagined from the scenes I've seen that it was quite rural.

 

[captain clutterbuck]

There is such a significant hike in the number of cars on the road in the UK that a high percentage of what were considered quiet roads are now busy and it's not just local traffic it is cars passing through with people on the way to somewhere else who are looking to shave times off their journey by using alternative roads to expedite their journey . Just check on the number of Learner Drivers taking lessons on the roads local to you , on most days I turn out of my street and I can guarantee there are at least 4 cars practising parallel parking.

 

[maltrab]

When they were filming in what is normally a busy spot, it was done early in the morning,so very little traffic about, if they were filming a scene in the back roads, they would actually close the road, on streets like Auntie's they would send residence advance notices, asking them to remove all vehicles for that day,even at the front of Cleggy's house they had a the vehicles moved when filming

 

[Adanor]

Oddly enough here in Fairfax County, Virginia, until recently, due to underground rock formations, etc., there was still a community with outhouses.

 

[barmpot]

I don't want to add greatly to the yuk factor but before the advent of Andrex [other brands are available] it was quite common practice to use old newspapers and magazines cut into squares and hung on a nail in the outside WC .

My grandfather always tore up the Radio Times for such purposes ...

 

[Maggie Jones]

That's high quality loo paper!