Sepia Saturday 827 - Men At Work

 

The Sepia Saturday prompt for this weekend shows photo from an old shoe factory, and the host Alan Burnett asks us to "search out your old photographs of factories, workplaces, shoes, boots, benches, leather belts .... or whatever" ... 

At first I thought I have no photos like that... But then a summer holiday trip from the past popped to mind - made with two friends nearly 50 years ago (49, to be exact), to the Swedish provinces Halland, Skåne and Småland. The colour photos in my album from 1977 have faded - but since this is Sepia Saturday, never mind! ;)  I managed to copy some with my phone camera, and edit them a bit.

The friends I was with on this trip were Gunilla and Lena. Gunilla sadly passed away three years ago. (She's the short one in the photos - she stopped growing when she was around 8 to do with health problems and medication with that side-effect.) Lena is the same age as me and since her official retirement (from teaching) is still keeping busy more or less "full time" as a water-colour artist, living on the west coast (where she was also born), and having several exhibitions there every summer.

Back in the mid 1970s, all three of us were living/studying in Karlstad; and that summer we went on a car trip together to the southern Swedish provinces of Halland, Skåne and Småland - where we visited several places do with different kinds of handicraft.

 In Halland, we visited the workshop of an old shoemaker, still making wooden clogs by hand. (Wooden soles, leather tops.) I think this was someone Lena knew since before.

From Halland we went on to Skåne, where we visited a ceramics workshop or two in Höganäs - a village well known for several workshops and factories of that kind.

Here are my friends posing near one such place; and then going in...

The photo below is not my own but a postcard (glued into my album).

The province of Småland is best known for its many glassworks. We visited at least two of them, Boda and Kosta. I'm not sure at which of them the two photos below were taken.

Linking to Sepia Saturday 827

Bagpipes, Games and Crowds - Sepia Saturday 562

A crowd at a football(?) match, and a Scottish bagpipe band - what are my chances of matching those Sepia Saturday prompts? Considering my disinterest in all kinds of sports, I decided my best chance of perhaps finding a bagpipe would probably be my photo album from 1971. (Counting on my fingers... 71, 81, 91, 01, 11, 21... 50 years ago?!) 

1971 was the year of our first family road trip through England, Wales and Scotland by car. (We had previously been to London for a week in 1969, but then by plane.) Scotland included Edinburgh. Edinburgh included the Castle, and the famous Tattoo - or at least I seem to recall some minor version of it. (?)

In my album, I find no photo evidence of actually having watched the bagpipers, though. Only of having visited the castle, with a crowd of other tourists - and having bought a postcard.

Me (15 going on 16) and my brother (9) looking down on the views from Edinburgh Castle.
 

 

A few pages further on, I find us playing golf at St. Andrews. No crowd to cheer us on, but it is a game, and it includes hitting a ball...

 

And, surprise: At the very back of the same photo album, there are also some photos included from a school event the next spring (1972). It seems that at least once in my life did I actually watch a football match, and I even took photos of it. I'm not sure whether it was a teachers vs students game, or mixed teams from two different schools. My form in upper secondary school (classical/arts kind of program) was all girls, but a couple of the older guys in these photos were my teachers. The one in glasses was my form-master, and I think the one second from the left in the bottom row in the last photo was my art teacher.

  Linking to Sepia Saturday 562

Fading Memories of Cycling and Before Social Distancing (Sepia Saturday 512)

The Sepia Saturday prompt picture this week shows bicycle girls from c. 1925 - and I think Alan's comment deserves quoting, too:  

When I was putting together the theme prompt images for March, a few weeks ago, the last thing I thought is that we would be looking at this week's theme image and thinking "those two on the right seem to be standing a little too close together!".

 

This made me go back to my photo album from 1976, and some fading photos from my own one and only cycling holiday, with a church youth group - up in the province of Värmland, where I was living then. 

All my colour photos from the 1970s are in a sad condition of fading away now. They are also firmly glued into an album. I just quick-copied them with my camera and decided to leave the colouring as it is, without any attempts at digital editing (except a bit of cropping with one or two). I've deliberately chosen photos that are pretty much anonymous, but hopefully they still convey the general atmosphere. I think we were away for four days (three nights) - staying the nights in summer camp cottages and old countryside chapels rather than tents, but still rather primitive conditions. (Cooking on portable spirit stoves etc.) And certainly not involving keeping much distance - except perhaps uphill! (being more of a challenge for some than for others, depending on personal condition as well as what kind of bike you had...)

(Me sitting on the ground with my legs crossed.)

(Whether worrying about toilet paper, I cannot remember!)

British Beach Life in 1971 (Sepia Saturday)

The 'Sepia Saturday' theme image for this week (see link below) made me think of another couple of photos from my own photo albums from our family holidays in Britain back in the 1970s. These are from the pleasure pier and beach at Whitley Bay in 1971 (seaside town on the north east coast of England). I may have used them before in blog context, but I think they are worth showing again...

 Linking to:

Postcards for the Weekend - from the U.K.

For this weekend, Maria has given us the PFTW theme
”from a country/ favorite place you have visited”

The foreign country that I have visited the most, even if it was long ago, is the U.K. In recent years, I have also received several postcards to remind me of those holidays spent in England, Wales and Scotland back in the 1970’s. Some have come from strangers via Postcrossing; but even more have dropped in from one particular postcrossing friend. 

Postcrossing card (GB-554872) 2014: The Houses of Parliament – London
Our first family holiday to Britain was a week in London in 1969.
I also visited London again in 1972.

 

From John, January 2016 - Piccadilly Circus, photo from 1893/94
This photo was taken a bit before my time!
But I have been there.

Windsor – The Henry III Tower and Round Tower
From John, 2014

While in London in 1969, we also went on one or two bus tours out of the big city, and visited both Windsor Castle (above), and Anne Hathaway’s cottage in Stratford-upon-Avon (below). (Anne Hathaway was the wife of William Shakespeare, and this cottage is where she lived as a child.)

Anne Hathaway’s cottage, Stratford-upon-Avon – from John, 2014

Devon Cottages - from John, 2013

My memories of Devon are rather vague, but I know we must have passed through there in 1974 to get to Cornwall…

Thatched roof cottages always remind me (still) of a book my mum used to read to me when I was even younger, about a little English girl by name of Milly-Molly who lived in such a cottage. Actually (I have learned more recently), in English she is called Milly-Molly-Mandy. But in the Swedish translation they skipped Mandy. So I know her as just Milly-Molly.

Little Moreton Hall, Cheshire - from John, 2016

One day on our family trip in 1971, my parents left me with a penfriend of mine and her family in Stoke-on-Trent. (First time I was left “all alone” with no choice but to speak English!) Together with them I visited this magnificent Tudor manor house from the 1500’s – Little Moreton Hall. I don’t think there was a straight angle in the whole building!

Scotland - From John, 2014

In 1971, we also drove up to Scotland (as far north as Inverness and Loch Ness). Lots of moors and sheep and hills and mountains… And I do seem to remember that we may also have seen/heard some bagpipers at Edinburgh Castle. (Not THE famous Edinburgh Tattoo event, but something minor, for tourists. Or perhaps my memory deceives me? Not sure…)

Scottish Bagpiper – from John, 2014

Postcrossing card (GB-612364), 2014

  We also visited both these castles in Wales.
▲Caernarvon in 1971, and Conway in 1974.▼

Conwy Castle, Wales – from John, 2016

 

Llanfair… – from John, 2014

And also the Welsh village Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, or…

(Wikipedia)

The long form of the name was invented for promotional purposes in the 1860s. With 58 characters it is the longest place name in Europe... And my dad, railway and steam engines enthusiast, wanted to visit it to get a platform ticket from there – and photos of the station house with sign, of course.

Platform ticket (scanned from my photo album from 1974)

 

My dad’s photo of the railway station
… which I recently found in a “surprise” envelope that fell out of an old writing pad that I must haven taken home when we emptied the House a few years ago. Besides this photo the envelope contained  a cutting from some magazine with the Swedish translation of that long name + two other railway photos.

(Now that you’ve seen that name four times in a row, you know it by heart, right? … Just kidding…)