What things do you pass in daily life that no one would know about?

[Walkiesat530am]

Out wandering at 5.30am in the nearby lanes in the coolness of the morning with the dog and I see this wall and I hadn’t noticed it has a drain pipe coming out of it and I wondered did anyone drive, walk past it and know their dad/grandad built it? (Yeah I know, very random thoughts).

our family built a few houses locally and mum loved to point them out when I was a kid and I always go down a particular lane which is slightly out of my way to look at the house my grandads dad built and my grandad grew up in.

wondered if anyone is related to Isambard Kingdom Brunel and went to visit his bridges etc. (I love the Bristol suspension bridge).

I often think about things like this op. I often wonder about whose job it is to know when certain things need to be cleaned or maintained, things like your random drainpipe, things that maybe need checking every 10 years. They must be on someone’s list, somewhere.

Id like to know if anyone cleans the road names sign. Ours is dirty and faded and could do with replacing. If it were outside my house I’d clean it but it’s a fair way up the road and im sure the neighbours would think im batty if I did clean it 😀

As a child, I knew the man who designed the After Eight box. Lovely man. I don't eat them any more because I don't eat Dairy (or Nestlè) but I think of him every time I see a box in the shops. It makes me smile.

I love this, can you tell us his first name?

I had an ice cream in Folkestone last week, it was mint with crushed after eights, oh boy, it was magnificent!

Many years ago DH used to work all over the country hooking up/ replacing phone lines to telegraph poles and fixing the lines to houses. For years we would visit some random city and he'd say "oh! I did that telegraph pole" or "I installed their phone line". In recent years a lot have been replaced so it's a less common occurrence but there's still plenty around if you look. Always felt weird.

My dad worked all his career for an engineering company in Kent that made manhole covers (amongst other things). I love finding them. Randomly there is one round the corner from where I live now in Brussels.

I grew up in a highly industrialised area and often had friends who would say "My Grandad built that bridge, worked on that industrial site etc...". Now my DH is a civil engineer and we often drive through huge sites where he has been actively involved in the build or design process.

Occasionally something that I have done will pop up as a reference or an approach in my area of work too. I often think "ooh that sounds familiar", look at the reference and realise it was me 😂

At some point all this will be forgotten though!

I love this. On our doggy walk there is a concrete post hidden amongst the under growth and recently it was exposed when the footpath was strimmed. It has MH stamped on it, I finally remembered to ask DH what on earth MH stood for and he said Man Hole, so when I next looked I did find at its base a man hole cover (or is that now an access chamber cover in this day?).

Do you know, I can't remember his first name right now. (Meno brain fog of my own name sometimes) I can remember his wife's because I called my daughter it. It was in the 70s/,early 80s. It will come to me again, probably in the middle of the night. They were friends of my step grandparents and I always sat and chatted with him at parties they had.

My house! I drove past it daily for a number of years. It was at the bottom of my old street. Hidden behind huge conifers it was invisible. And then it went to market when we were looking. Couldn’t believe it! And now I live here 😂

My fil made the cattle grids on an island in Scotland.
Wonder if he measured any legs to make it cow proof...?

I think like this as well op.

Many years ago our parents took us to see the house DM had lived in as a child. Her dad had built it himself, and when they started to run out of bricks the whole family had mucked in, pre-schoolers and all, to hand-make bricks. It was one of our childhood stories: how the family made bricks to eke out the remaining bought bricks. Over 50y later the house was still solid, still lived in.

Ever since seeing that house I've occasionally wondered whether the residents know that, behind the render, every 5th or 6th brick of the top floor was made by a child.

I am waiting for the day someone says I wonder who kept the lights on as we moved from 1999 to 2000. My aunt was one of a team who covered the whole of the UK in the 1990’s looking for random software what wouldn’t work when the older PC’s that were lurking in power stations date reverted to 1900.

I think I know that company. I used to be a supplier to them. I also look out for them.

Interesting thread. I stop at the same highway “rest stop” (USA) while driving to my sons house to use the bathroom and throw away trash. I use the large dumpster (skip) at the end rather than a smaller can near the bathroom and there in the overgrown bushes is a very vintage fire hydrant. Different shape and color and well camouflaged. It reminds me of my dad who is a retired fireman and loves vintage paraphernalia of his trade. I’m sure it’s ignored and unseen by a million travelers a year but I see it. It’s portly and squat and still standing straight and I greet it like a friend

Lots of old mine shafts around here, some have capstones marking the old entrances. I often think about the many miners that worked them and the maze of tunnels under our feet

My Grandad was a builder, so there are whole roads in one area filled with his houses. Roman remains are still dug up in people’s gardens in one place and appear in the local news - there is great amazement, but we all knew about it already, as he dug up an awful lot while building (some still in the family, jewelry, shoes etc went to museums). I do wonder how you can’t be interested in the history of the land your house was built on, but it’s not thought to be a Roman settlement of any great importance, and was never properly excavated or studied.

My friend's dad worked on satellites that are still going round and round up there.

What I liked about the design of the After Eight box were the flaps at either end.

As you munched your way slowly through a box, leaving the empty envelopes in place, you eventually reached a point when you ruffled through all EMPTY envelopes, and were swamped in sadness that there were no more chocolates left.
But then suddenly you would remember the flaps! And sure enough, hidden under each flap would be one or two pieces of deliciousness.

So the design of the box cleverly prolonged the enjoyment of the contents. Total brilliance!

Sadly I don't eat After Eights anymore, as they've changed so much, and aren't as delicious as they were in the good old days.

We lived in a village and Dad was chair of the parish council when a new road was built. He chose the new name for it. Not his name, I hasten to add. I remember it whenever I go past.

@Breathmillerwas it Brian Sollitt ??

No, that seems to be the confectioner, who made the actual mints.

My great grandad worked on the restoration of Tattershall castle in 1912 - 1914. We rolled our eyes a lot as kids when my dad told us this (constantly).

I went on to have eye rolling kids who do exactly the same when I tell them this interesting fact.

I’ve been to Tattershall castle and we bought amazing chocolates in a shop locally and went to a wonderful old fashioned cinema somewhere in a wood (I think)