Billy Cans

[Leo Sayer 2,680]

5 hours ago, jukel123 said:

Were the pet shops still there on Tibb Street in your time? 

In the fifties a big treat for our gang on a Saturday morning was to walk from Salford into Manchester City centre. First we would pay a visit to the abbatoir and watch the killers at work. The workers would try and freak us out and frighten us with body parts. I used to always beg horns from sheep or cattle. One day a fella said  to me" hold on son, I'll get you one," stunned a cow snapped a  bloody horn off and said " there you go lad".

Very impressive.lol

Next stop was Shrewdhill market. All sorts of traders there. A scene straight from Dickens. Comics, books, pet mice, pigeons and a variety of nut jobs preaching religion or some 'ism" or other. There was a mouse seller who put live mice in his mouth just leaving the tail flipping. Pigeon sellers would always display the wing feathers and say " look at that lads, a perfect wing and no canker in my birds."

Onto the food market. There was always fruit which had slightly 'gone off" discarded on the concrete. We weren't above biting off the rotten bit and eating the rest.  We thought it par for the course to nick an apple or an orange too.

The highlight were the pet shops in Tibb Street. Mongrel pups,kittens, tortoises piled high for six pence each, budgies, rabbits, rats, canaries and once some ferrets. The air inside the shops made your eyes water. It was overpowering : shit and ammonia. There was a tiny squint eyed owner who seemed oblivious to the smell.

Then on to army and navy shops. Lots of Manchester and Salford still  carried the evidence of the war. So browsing through all the British and German gear had a kind of spooky reality to it. The bayonets used to fascinate me. I always used to wonder if they had ever been used in action.  

Brilliant days. Funnily enough I read just last week that the river Tibb runs under the street, hence the street's name.

PS I swear by Sorbothane insoles. I knackered my feet running decades ago. Sorbothane takes all the strain.

 

 

Yes mate am 51yrs young . Tibb street was awesome as a kid, ferrets and ex army gear .

[eastcoast 4,151]

On 14/09/2024 at 15:59, chartpolski said:

The Jocks call bait “piece”.

Cheers.

 

On sites Jocks call a chase a raggle, and a nogging a dwang.