Enid Blyton & The Summer of 1976

[Splodj]

Debussy doesn't seem to come into criticism for the title of his Children's Corner piece.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EoiYAj8fZII

[Anita Bensoussane]

Love the photo of your mother's shop, Nigel. My son and I once had a lovely roast at the Bell & Crown.

I enjoyed reading your account of what happened when you were impatient for your Golly Bar, Boodi! I doubt the name would have been a problem as early as the 1970s though, as golliwogs were still sold in High Street shops at the time and they featured on the labels of Robertson's jam and marmalade until 2001. The article to which Jack gave a link says that Golly Bars became Giant Bars in 1992.

Fridge was often spelled 'frig'.

I think I have seen it spelled 'frig' in a book but I can't remember which one.

I've seen that spelling in a few books, including one or two Blytons. In Chapter 1 of The Mystery of the Invisible Thief, for example, Pip and Bets' mother says to the children, "Tell Cook what you want - and if you take drinks please leave some ice in the frig." That means the frig must have had a freezer compartment, though I don't know whether the freezer section would have been as big as the freezer section in a modern fridge-freezer.

[Boodi 2]

Apparently the name change is to remove any reference or image to Gollywog. According to this site. Is it "Big Bar" or "Giant Bar"?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golly_Bar

Jack and Anita, you are quite correct. It is a "Giant Bar" (not a "Big Bar" as I wrongly suggested). My excuse is that I have not been in Ireland since 2006 and for me they will always remain "Golly Bars"!!! John (Boatbuilder) makes a valid point, but in this case the name was highlighted by the illustration of tiny, rather attractive gollywogs on the wrapper. I also had a real gollywog toy when I was young but I preferred my pandas and teddies!!!

[dsr]

The heatwave started on day 1 of Wimbledon. My mother and brother went for the week (Stephen had just finished O Levels and this was his reward) and the Sunday was cold. They set off for Wimbledon with full paraphernalia, sweaters, coats, hats, thermos flask, and so on; and they roasted. It was that sudden.

[pete9012S]

Isn't that just typical!

[IceMaiden]

People weren't nesh in those days, IceMaiden. We even slept in ice-cold bedrooms in winter as there was no central heating for 99% of people, or double glazing. We did have plenty of blankets though.

We don't have double glazing or central heating now! I've got a small electric heater in my room (which I try not to leave on for long), a wood burner in the living room, an open fire in the front room and that's it .

Moonraker, your mother's shop looks beautiful. A petrol station near me used to have one of those lift up lid ice cream fridges. It used to always have a good choice of ice creams and lollies that weren't available anywhere else in town. Two particular favourites were a lolly that comprised of strawberry, lemon and orange flavours each in the shape of those actual fruits, and a mivi type that was chocolate on the surface but had a banana inner. Possibly toffee too, I can't quite remember but they were delicious whatever it was! Incidentally, it is just me or was it cheaper to buy an ice cream or lolly with your pocket money than it is now with your wages?!

[Moonraker]

Maybe as 'golly' is a derivative of 'God'. People often used the word to refrain from blasphemy. 'Gosh' is probably a substitute for 'God', too.

[Courtenay]

People weren't nesh in those days, IceMaiden. We even slept in ice-cold bedrooms in winter as there was no central heating for 99% of people, or double glazing. We did have plenty of blankets though.

"Nesh" — that's a good Northerner word that I've only learned since moving to Cheshire! (I picked it up from Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell, but was assured by a local friend that it's still in use today.)

I do have double glazing here (something virtually unknown in my native land), but I haven't been using the heating in my bedroom, as I have storage heaters throughout the house and it's not easy to control the heat output — the bedroom is small in relation to the size of the heater, and even when I put it on a low setting, it makes the room too hot for me. So I've been making do happily with an extra duvet when needed and a hot water bottle for my feet, and have been perfectly cosy and toasty even during the recent cold snap.

As for the summer of 1976, I wasn't yet born then (and it wouldn't have been exactly the same in Australia even if I had been around for it), but I was hugely relieved to find that in the summer of 2022, my flat — which I'd only recently moved into — stayed cool even in that terrible heatwave! A fortuitous combination of being downstairs and having only north- and west-facing windows. But I know very well what 40 C feels like when you have a home that heats up quickly and no easy way of cooling it — my upstairs one-room flat in Melbourne, where I lived from 2006-2011, was an oven in summer and I used to beat the heat by having a quick cold shower, then sitting on a towel under my ceiling fan for the evaporative cooling effect, while feasting on ice lollies!!

[Boatbuilder]

The radiators in all my bedrooms are permenantly 'off', Courtenay, as I can't sleep in a warm room either. The only room upstairs that has any heating on in winter is the wetroom (shower room) through the heated towel rail. I have even had a summer duvet on my bed for the past couple of winters as I found the higher TOG ones too warm.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Heating the bedroom is a no-no for me too. I have severe eczema and my skin can't take too much heat. I don't have central heating (there's no gas supply to my flat) but I do have wall-mounted electric radiators in the living-room, kitchen and both bedrooms which can be switched on individually. Visitors often use the radiator in the spare bedroom but when I'm on my own I only ever put the living-room radiator on, and only for short periods.

Incidentally, it is just me or was it cheaper to buy an ice cream or lolly with your pocket money than it is now with your wages?!

I remember that an ice-cream cornet with strawberry or chocolate sauce used to cost 10p from the ice-cream van in the early/mid 1980s.

[Katharine]

Oh dear, reading all these comments makes me feel as though I'm solely responsible for global warming.

I have the radiators on in all the rooms, and the main room thermostat is set for 20.5 - ideally I'd like it to be 21, but I am trying to compromise a little.

The heating goes off approx half an hour before I usually go to bed, so that the room is still warm when I get ready. I usually also have a hot water bottle from about the end of September until perhaps May? This year thankfully has been fairly mild - if the night time temperatures drop to sub zero, I'll probably end up sleeping in a dressing gown, with a blanket under the duvet and a second hot water bottle!

I don't know if I'm just a big softy, or do have some kind of 'condition', as washing my hands under the cold tap in the winter is painful, and if I'm cold when I get into bed, it will take me literally hours to get to sleep.

That's the only time I feel sorry for Gwendoline Mary - when I read of the other girls giving her a hard time for trying to get warm, I know how awful it is to feel cold. The annoying thing is that I can't cope with the heat either!

[Moonraker]

Oh dear, reading all these comments makes me feel as though I'm solely responsible for global warming.

I wouldn't worry over duly, Katharine. Russia and China must make most of our efforts pointless.

[IceMaiden]

I'd much rather be too hot than too cold. I can't stand being cold and I feel it terribly. I can cope with being too warm but the cold seems to seep right into my bones and I find it very difficult to move about. I work outside a lot and if it's really cold it chills me down for hours after.