>>>>>Terry,
>>>>>
>>>>>> .. The idea of having umbrella parts, and someone making a living out of fixing them, is so alien here now. ..
>>>>>
>>>>>Normaly it need a close look around. I know at least one shop that repairs umbrellas.
>>>>>
>>>>>He works for irreplaceable parts. (And sells the cheap ones too).
>>>>
>>>>Agnes
>>>>
>>>>I don't know if you know the old-old song, from the 20s or 30s (as might have been sung by the likes of Laurel & Hardy): "Any umberellas, any umberellas, to fix today ..." from the days when there were street hawkers calling it up to the houses and shops.
>>>>
>>>>Terry
>>>
>>>The Umbrella Man.
>>>
>>>I've only ever heard it by Kay Kyser's band probably from the 40s (maybe the 30s).
>>
>>It's got that 'coon coat and straw boater feel to it :-)
>
>Yeah. I don't know when it was actually written, just the era from which I heard it.
>
>BTW, we do still have the knife sharpener coming around. He does knives, scissors, lawnmower blades etc. He comes around a few times a summer in his truck, accompanied by the sound of a clanging bell.

I'm surprised, when eveyone can buy Ikea knives and chuck 'em out when they blunt (2 weeks later) :-)

>
>Unfortunately, the milkman, the iceman, the breadman and the ragman are all history. Fortunately(?), I'm old enough to remember them all.

I remember the rag & bone man, with his cry "Any r'iron, any old rags-or-iron, Any r'iron!"
The milkman's all but gone cos shops sell it cheaper, he was unreliable due to the pressure of an ever-enlarging territory with ever decreasing no. of customers. How about the pop van?