>>>>>>>>>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.
>>
>>How about the "tally man" who'd come round to collect the meagre insurance money, before DD and standing orders?
>
>I have no memories of the 'tally man'. That sounds like something more out of the era of rent parties.

Probably a scouse expression. But my nan used to pay some meagre insurance and each week/month he'd come round to collect. We got to know him over the years and one day my bro and I asked him for a ride in his car (we didn't have one) unbeknownst to the adults. When he brought us home later (un-touched! :-) my ma wiped the floor with us!

>
>>
>>Never mind that - how about the window cleaner, who only comes once every blue moon, and leaves a bill through the letter box. I can remember them every week as a kid.
>
>Nope. Never heard of that one.

You don't have window cleaners over there? Means you have to risk life and limb up a ladder to do it yourself?

>Although when I was a kid, we had a coal furnace and I remember when they used to come to fill the coal bin. My mother hated that day because I would invariably find my way to the new mountain of coal to climb (and fall on).

I rmember the coal men, with their leather jerkins, back-to-front caps and smooty faces. Yes, they'd fill our coal shed and we'd play on the mountain too :-)

>
>One of my favourite memories was of my next door neighbour's son. He was in his 20s and he was an area sales rep for the Yo-Yo Manufacturing Company. When he came home to visit his parents, he always showed up with a car trunk full of yo-yos. Hoards of us kids would come running as soon as word hit that he was parking the car (every kid in the neighbourhood knew him on sight). He would give away yo-yos and do maybe a half hour of tricks standing out on the street before going in to visit his folks. Oddly enough, his name was also Alan.

Bet he didn't know if he was coming or going! :-)

>
>>UPDATE ("Twighlight Zone Music")
>>
>>MY colleague has just received a phone call from home, from her husband. During the confab he mentioned to her that the window cleaner had been, and she stated that he hadn't been since December.