You know when we had stand pipes in 1976?......

[Miriam2]

Can anyone remember how it worked? They are threatened round here for later in the summer and I saw a man checking the waterboard manhole covers yesterday...Was the water only on for a few hours a day or not at all on some days? I seem to remember us having a bath permanently full of water..
I am (ahem) old enough theoretically to remember but obviously too preoccupied with boys and exams to have given it any importance!

Kent is the only area (or was a month ago) so far who are definitely going for standpipes I have been told. Thames Valey not at this stage yet apparently.

In 1976 apparently Leeds had stand pipes.

Was there a ladybird plague? That is why I always say there aren't as many ladybirds about as there were when I was a child. I didn't realise I was comparing it with plague proportions.

I do remember the plague of stag beetles though - was that the same year? By God those things were terrifying. I used to pass several on the way to school each day and I was terrified of them and I wasn't a baby either - 11 years old if that was 1976 too.

There was a sugar crisis, and a bread crisis, and a potato crisis, all in the early 70s (prob E Heath's fault )

Thanks JanH v interesting.

Hope it dosn't get really bad.

Bread strikes? yes I remember that. You could only buy one loaf each so my mother made us all queue up (and there were queues going down the road) so we could all by one loaf each to take home.

Also sugar shortage, power cuts, dustmen's strike...happy days!

My God if there were a stag beetle plague I wouldn't leave the house - they are seriously scary!!

Dont forget the '3 day week' Jan.

Candles and hurricane lamps all over the house, depending on what day of the week it was.

ugh stag beetles, I remember them and I was 8 in 1976. Absolutely terrifying - I remember a "stag beetle hedge" in our road that all the kids used to avoid walking past. Never see them now.

Oh yes, St G - I used to sit in the back room with a candle and a battery cassette player!

I have seen them lately Sandyballs - maybe last year or the year before? They don't bother me now, but back when there was that plague, they seemed to be everywhere and even the dead squashed ones made me cross the road to avoid them!

Ahhh, the good old days.

I see quite a few each summer - round here is apparently a bit of a hot spot for them (Essex)

Oh yes..I remember the ladybirds now you mention it. I remember the grass was heaving with them - ugh! They were big too.

Why do we have a water shortage and talk of standpipes, but when you visit hotter countries ie Spain, Greece etc, they don't operate that way? I don't get it.

Mrs Sprigg's B&B on the Isle of Wight in '76 ... ah, I remember it well. Two inches of bath water, and she'd come and measure it, too.

not so grim up North now then is it??

I have the opposite memory of baths - I can remember only having a couple of inches of water and sharing them (I was 5).

DH asked if we should be stock piling water, but I only have positive memories of the drought - lots of playing in the garden - and ladybirds.

I have positive memories of the power cuts too - lots of playing at being ghosts.

I suppose the moral is that a 5 year old doesn't have much good advice to give on this kind of thing.

And northern water (well Yorkshire anyway) is soooooo much nicer...

Nannyme where did you hear that we Kentish maids are definitely going to be on standpipes?

I've not heard anything?

Somebody I know through another forum whose dh works for water board and was in talks on the subject. He wishes to remain anon for obvious reasons though!

Ahh, insider info then! Slightly worrying, though.

Special measures I have no problem with, or even supply cut off for certain times of the day, if it has to happen, but standpipes would be hell.

ditto OO's evil style cackle

Me too Frayedknot...

I'd rather have restriction now than be relying on stand pipe supply in the months to come.

We have three children aged 2-6, use cloth nappies, have a daily avalanche of laundry. Laundry, washing, etc. would be a nightmare. I have never hosed my garden so this just piddles me off really.

all this really scares me,the thought of not having water is a real worry. eversince reading this thread all I have been thinking about is how you keep things clean. with dd having cp and a 14yr old washing just never ends.

at least they had the excuse of the hot weather in '76

I have visions of us all standing at those taps in the pouring rain

I remember coming back from a holiday in Malta.My Mum was looking forward to some cooler weather and green grass.We got back to find our lawn completely parched and a milk bottle of water on our door step,which next door had left for us to have a cup of tea,as the water was only on for a few hours a day.
Also remember,coming in one afternoon and seeing a bath full of lovely cool water,so I undressed and got in.My Mum went mad.....It was washing up water she was saving to flush the loo.When I looked closer,I noticed the greese and bits floating in it. Yuk!!!!