A Brief Break

I hope you have enjoyed the Steptoe and Son videos this week. I find as I get older, I get more and more nostalgic. Steptoe was a big favourite of mine when I was growing up. I haven't seen this particular episode for a good few years but I think it's still funny. I was watching Life on Mars the other night with my wife, as you probably know, the show is set in 1973 and I suddenly found myself ridiculously nostalgic over the appearance of the humble Blakey. A blakey was one of 2 things for anyone growing up in Britain in the 1970's. It may have been the Inspector who gave bus driver Butler and his mates a hard time in the comedy show On the Buses, his catch phrase of "I hate you Butler" was a staple of impressionists (that would be the comedians, not the painters).
The blakey I refer to is, or was, I have no idea if they still make them, a small piece of metal shaped like a segment of satsuma and nailed into the heel of shoes to help save the heel from wearing out. For school boys in the 1970's, a blakey ranked along with a rubiks cube as the must have item. A blakey produced the most wonderful clicking noise when you walked, the school corridor would often sound as if an army of tap dancers was walking along it. But I think the real reason for the blakeys popularity was that, when struck quickly and with some force on the floor, it would produce a spark! Of course parents found that their children's shoes were mysteriously wearing out even faster with the use of a blakey than without!
Well, as stated earlier in the week, we are moving house this weekend. Because of this I shall not be posting for a week or so.