I was born in the 1950s, and from a very early age just loved radio. Proper radio.
I remember one set of grandparents having a big wooden cabinet radio (with turntable) that probably sounded fantastic. They loved Sing Something Simple, Semprini, Two Way Family Favourites…
The other grandparents had a tabletop machine, one with a dial with all those station names on, like Hilversum and Droitwich. I don’t remember them ever having it on.
My first radio was a Japanese red (cracked) plastic device given to me by my uncle. Medium wave only, of course. I loved that.
I bought my first ‘proper’ radio from my friend’s Dad’s shop. It was a Philips, with a leather case, long and medium wave, something like this but not red:
I was passing through Euston station in London the other day, as you do, and a lady stopped me to ask for directions. She wanted to know where to get a taxi to King’s Cross station.
I helped her. I must have the air of someone who knows how to get around as I am often asked for directions.
That bit of Euston Road has three main railway stations, Euston, St Pancras and King’s Cross. the latter two are literally next door to each other and could be a single station but for a busy and dangerous main road between them.
From Euston to there is maybe five minutes walking, perhaps a little longer. It’s actually signposted at the station. You see people doing it all the time.
I undertsand there are many reasons why someone may choose to take a taxi for such a short distance: they don’t know it’s so close, they have mobility issues, heavy bags, naughty children in tow, in a hurry or maybe they just can’t be bothered/someone else is paying so why not? Add your own reasons.
The traffic on the main road is slow. Taxi may not be the fastest, depending on queues for cabs and congestion.
Bus is also an option. If you are just passing through, you may not know what bus to get (91, 390, 73 and so on), you perhaps won’t have an Oyster card but could use contactless, may need a receipt and many of the issues above could still apply.
Finding the taxi rank at Euston is not easy. The whole general area is a building site. Just getting into a taxi costs you nearly £5, plus mileage and time, so it’s an expensive option for a short journey.
I told the lady that it was walking distance, just so she knew and could consider it, but pointed to where the rank was, over the bus station, and how to cross the roads safely, which she did.
If you are visiting somewhere, even just passing through, taking a few minutes beforehand to study the geography may really help. We’ve written before about knowing where places are and organising yourself to make the best use of your time. It’s not just for London, but any place you may care to visit. Having an idea of scale really helps. Knowing whether places are north, south, east or whatever is good. There are plenty of free apps to help.
I’m not saying the lady in question didn’t know at all, and I was happy to help, but it still made me think.
I became interested in photography in my early teens. I had an Ilford Sprite camera that took 127 roll film.
Ilford was a UK company noted for film manufacturing, especially black and white. The Sprite could take colour, but I don’t think I ever tried. I do have a big pile of black and white snaps from the later 60s that still look good.
My parents had a box camera that I never managed to get working.
When I worked in a camera shop, for five years, the big name in photography was Kodak. Kodak was founded by George Eastman in Rochester NY. Eastman had a house there and you can still visit it. There’s a cinema and often photography exhibitions and events.
Kodak had a saying: You Press the Button, We Do The Rest. If it was easy to take pictures you would, and you would and buy their cameras and film.
Kodak made all types of film for photographers and for the cinema industry.
In our shop, by the seaside, the yellow box was a familiar sight and Kodak’s invention, the Instamatic camera, was hugely popular. On a sunny Sunday we could sell literally hundreds of films, and get them processed ready for the next day.
They also invented a smaller size film, the 110. The cameras were tiny. The picture quality was not good because of the small negative size. It was relatively a failure.
When digital photograhy started to become a thing, Kodak had an opportunity but missed the boat. It’s funny as, technically at least, they invented the first digital camera.
They are still around. Yes, you may be surprised to hear that. They do still make film, especially specialist film for movies. But the company has shrunk, and its future seems uncertain.
