>>>>>>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) :-)

I expect he's not getting rich, but he was still there last summer, and for sure, people on our street do use his services. My next door neighbour had a couple of knives sharpened last summer. I've used him for my lawnmower blades once or twice in the past.

>
>>
>>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?

Forgot about the pop van. I haven't seen one in a long time.

The ice-cream truck however, will never die.