My Petrol Poem

We might have gone out this weekend
If petrol had not been so dear
We used to go all over the country
Now we stay at home or quite near

We used to go searching for circles of stone
For hillforts or something to see
But now we stay home doing hobbies
Or go for a walk, her and me

Here's our car on the left up at Thirlmere
The one on the left nearly black
Even then motoring wasn't so easy
Cos the darn thing broke down on t'way back

On that day we visited Grasmere as well
And saw Ambleside, Bowness and such
We might have gone out too this weekend
If petrol hadn't cost quite so much...

Large versions of the photos: Castlerigg stone circle, Thirlmere, Grasmere

Torquay Weekend

Mmm! Just back from a long weekend down in Torquay.

We went down on Friday, which turned out to be the best day as far as the weather was concerned. It was after lunch by the time we got down there so we didn't have a lot of time to do very much.

We had a walk round the harbour and booked into our hotel (The Marstan Hotel, Meadfoot Sea Road, recommended). We had gone down specifically to visit the theatre at Babbacombe on Saturday night to meet up with and clap and stomp along to The Honeycombs and John Leyton in the "Juke Box Heroes" show.

More of that later! But seeing as that would be tomorrow, we went to the local theatre at Torquay to see if there was anything on that night that we could see. There wasn't...

It was now late afternoon and we went in search of some petrol to get us home. Shell tanker drivers were on strike and petrol down there was extremely scarce! There were more closed garages than open ones and in the end we had to go down as far as Paignton before we found enough fuel to get us home. We found somewhere for a meal and then headed back to the hotel for the evening.

Return to Torquay and Jukebox Heroes Index Page

Put A Tiger In Your Tank

Aha! See! Some people are reading this!

James Burdon writes:

I can't find any photos of garage forecourt attendants, but you might like the attached scans of an old advert and an Esso petrol pump. It's a long time since they looked like this!

I worked in a petrol station aged 16 and it reminded me of it when I saw your reference to Red-Ex! (on my Nostalgia web site - John) I found your blog and enjoyed it. People take themselves too seriously these days.

Keep up the good work.
James Burdon

I'll try, James! Thanks a bundle for the pix, I remember Esso Blobs too - heads like oil droplets, and after the Tiger In Your Tank campaign came out they started selling "tiger tails" you could hang round your petrol filler cap so it looked like it was coming out of the tank!