Re: The Pages of Punch

1954: Managing a pen and ink letter

I have distinct memories of writing with pen and ink – before fountain pens let alone ballpoints. Getting the right amount of into the nib was the secret. Too little and you can’t produce anything legible. Too much and you make a mess instead of a readable script. The animal here is losing the plot. My attempts were never as bad as this but it was a frustrating business. The present of a fountain pen freed me from this tyranny. I would have thought that by 1954 everyone had access to a biro.

Re: The Pages of Punch

We weren't allowed to use biros at school, just those ink pens with a cheap scratchy nib at the end of a stick you had to dip in an inkwell set into our desks, one of the class being appointed as the `ink monitor` to keep them topped up.

Re: The Pages of Punch

I well remember it - I was the ink monitor!

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1957 Worried holiday maker

Who has not worried momentarily whether all was well at home. These days, the man in the tropics could have set up a web cam permanently broadcasting from his living room. Another benefit from modern technology.

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I was always jealous of the little watering can the ink monitors used at our school....I remember too always having ink blotches on my fingers overloading the pens we were given...oh and pressing on too hard made the nibs split and you got in trouble.

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That was the problem with the quill pens used in your day.

Chortle.

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1946: Railway nostalgia

Emmett, as usual, is giving us a whimsical view of railways harking back to the nineteenth century.

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Aye well we progressed from chalks and slates now but hear they still use them down Huddersfield way

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1947: Walkies

Who is taking whom for the walk? Do dogs ever take the initiative? Obviously when other dogs are present but otherwise, I don’t think so.

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1950: The contents of the pram

The parents have been using the perambulator to carry all their shopping. These days there are many alternatives open to the young couple. The modern buggy, although much easier to navigate, is not a suitable way of carrying the shopping.

In the cartoon there is none of the present-day packaging for their purchases.