The UAFC

big mervyn wrote: ↑Mon Feb 15, 2021 3:42 pm Aye, inflation went a bit crazy in the 70s - approx 30% at one point!

So 50p in 1971 is the equivalent to £6.29 today. Sounds about right because I seem to remember me da gurning that petrol was 10 bob a gallon 'round about then.

Less than 10 bob a gallon~ Merv.

I recall 4 star* going at 45p a gallon even in 77 when I started driving, so presumably a bit less in 71. Not everywhere at that price, but it was worth driving around to get the best price. Nowadays you'd use more petrol driving around than the saving you'd make.

I too have one of the old blue wallets with the new coins. IIRC, the 5p and 10p (bigger than the current ones) came in around 1968 and for a while they were interchangeable with the 1s and 2s coins already in circulation.

Anyone remember using the old sixpences (2 1/2 new pee) being used as bus tokens on the Belfast buses? School kids probably had 50% of all tanners in circulation in Belfast at the time, with most of the rest being "sold" from kiosks in wee plastic bags for Citibus. 20 tanners for 10s/50p. Soon replaced by bus tokens though, also sold from kiosks, such as at Donegal Square West.

~ For younger readers, Petrol was sold in Imperial gallons back then - roughly four and a half litres, so 45p a gallon equates to 10p a litre.

* Again for younger readers, petrol was either 4-star or 2-star. None of yer unleaded safe petrol back then - we just had to accept brain damage from breathing car fumes.

Cap'n Grumpy wrote: ↑Tue Feb 23, 2021 9:04 pm

big mervyn wrote: ↑Mon Feb 15, 2021 3:42 pm Aye, inflation went a bit crazy in the 70s - approx 30% at one point!

So 50p in 1971 is the equivalent to £6.29 today. Sounds about right because I seem to remember me da gurning that petrol was 10 bob a gallon 'round about then.

Less than 10 bob a gallon~ Merv.

I recall 4 star* going at 45p a gallon even in 77 when I started driving, so presumably a bit less in 71. Not everywhere at that price, but it was worth driving around to get the best price. Nowadays you'd use more petrol driving around than the saving you'd make.

I too have one of the old blue wallets with the new coins. IIRC, the 5p and 10p (bigger than the current ones) came in around 1968 and for a while they were interchangeable with the 1s and 2s coins already in circulation.

Anyone remember using the old sixpences (2 1/2 new pee) being used as bus tokens on the Belfast buses? School kids probably had 50% of all tanners in circulation in Belfast at the time, with most of the rest being "sold" from kiosks in wee plastic bags for Citibus. 20 tanners for 10s/50p. Soon replaced by bus tokens though, also sold from kiosks, such as at Donegal Square West.

~ For younger readers, Petrol was sold in Imperial gallons back then - roughly four and a half litres, so 45p a gallon equates to 10p a litre.

* Again for younger readers, petrol was either 4-star or 2-star. None of yer unleaded safe petrol back then - we just had to accept brain damage from breathing car fumes.

You're rignt.

Apparently it was 6 shillings and 8 pence (33.33p) before D-day and 34p after, so 2% instant inflation!

Yes indeed Cap’n - bus tokens became an alternate currency! If I remember correctly there were adult and child tokens - the yellow ticket machine was for the children (up to 16 yrs) token and the red machine was for the adults? The tokens were not dissimilar in size and shape to the current £1 coin (albeit they were silver coloured).
When the tokens were replaced by a square 8 journey ticket there was more opportunity for misuse (apparently - ahem!) by rubbing a bit of wax on the ticket before putting it in the machine to be franked - then scraping the wax off after the journey to re-use several more times! Such shocking criminality!! This was of course, the advent of the ‘one man bus’ (I.e. sans conductor) - you didn’t get away with much with the conductors!!

Aye - it were tough then - but you try telling the kids today...............!

The good old days when you could fill the car with motion lotion, have a couple of pints, go for a chinese and come home with change from a fiver.

The good old days when you could fill the car with motion lotion, have a couple of pints, go for a chinese and come home with change from a fiver.

She must of had cheap Tariffs... ?

Ten Bob note

Old Joke

Guy in a toilet no paper " any body to 10 bob notes for a pound "

Do you want to keep the receipt ?

"Sorry its not big enough for an emergence "

rumncoke wrote: ↑Thu Feb 25, 2021 11:54 am Ten Bob note

Old Joke

Guy in a toilet no paper " any body to 10 bob notes for a pound "

Do you want to keep the receipt ?

"Sorry its not big enough for an emergence "

It's the way he tells them ...

Hans Indaruck wrote: ↑Tue Feb 23, 2021 11:58 pm Yes indeed Cap’n - bus tokens became an alternate currency! If I remember correctly there were adult and child tokens - the yellow ticket machine was for the children (up to 16 yrs) token and the red machine was for the adults? The tokens were not dissimilar in size and shape to the current £1 coin (albeit they were silver coloured).
When the tokens were replaced by a square 8 journey ticket there was more opportunity for misuse (apparently - ahem!) by rubbing a bit of wax on the ticket before putting it in the machine to be franked - then scraping the wax off after the journey to re-use several more times! Such shocking criminality!! This was of course, the advent of the ‘one man bus’ (I.e. sans conductor) - you didn’t get away with much with the conductors!!

Aye - it were tough then - but you try telling the kids today...............!

The bus tokens, as you say, silver and about the size of a pound - but thinner and made of a light alloy. The children's ones could also be used up to aged 18 if travelling in school uniform for those doing A-levels rather than leaving school at 16. Of course sometimes that might not have been obvious as sometimes kids, usually but not always, grammar school kids, had to cover their uniforms with "unregulation" coats if they had to travel through areas where "themuns" lived, depending on who "themuns" and "usens" were.

The tokens were also open to abuse - you used one or two depending on the length of your journey. If travelling from outside the central area into the central area, you used one token and received one ticket. If however you were travelling on one bus from outside the central area, and right through to beyond the central area (and many services went from one extreme to the other across town), you put in two tokens at the start of your journey and received two tickets. Tickets were marked to show where you got on if an inspector asked to see them.

If you were doing the latter (as many school kids did) and you had a friend with you who was only going into town and getting off anywhere within the central area (many had to change buses), both could use one token each, and when the second person was getting off in the central area, and no longer needed their ticket to show to an inspector if required, they could give it to the other person, who if asked for their tickets, could produce two as required.

There were several routes across town that I can think of -

Malone Road via Gt Victoria Street or Bedford St into Belfast and then out the other side to Springmartin via Shankill & Woodvale Rds
Cregagh via Woodstock Rd through Belfast to Glencairn/Forthriver via Shankill, Woodvale and Ballygomartin Rds
Balmoral via Lisburn Road through Belfast then out to Ligoniel via Shankill, Woodvale & Crumlin Rds.
Obviously the return routes on each of these too. There must have been others I can't recall.

There were a host of schools off Malone and Lisburn Roads and lots of school kids travelling across town. Very handy for those who could do the journey without having to change in central Belfast ... if they were so minded to do the double ticket thingy

Of course the draw back in them thar days was you never knew when the buses might be cancelled due to rioting, or indeed even if you would be turfed off your bus and have to walk the rest of the way as it was burnt out somewhere (usually on Shankill, Crumlin or Falls/Springfield roads as they were the main hotspots - literally if cars and buses were burning. It did happen very frequently and there were plenty of "interesting" sights to behold along the way. It was then you might have been glad to be wearing that coat that hid your uniform, if you happened to be in the "wrong" area.

Kids nowadays don't know how lucky they are .... thankfully!

big mervyn wrote: ↑Thu Feb 25, 2021 3:32 pm

rumncoke wrote: ↑Thu Feb 25, 2021 11:54 am Ten Bob note

Old Joke

Guy in a toilet no paper " any body to 10 bob notes for a pound "

Do you want to keep the receipt ?

"Sorry its not big enough for an emergence "

It's the way he tells them ...

and of course ten bob notes were brown to begin with ...

You have evoked some memories indeed Cap’n!,
I had forgotten about the whole double token thingy and yes I did the swapping tickets trick. My journey involved travelling the length of the Antrim Road from the City Centre to the Outer Limits (aka Glengormley!). My school uniform was not appreciated by both ‘themuns’ and ‘usuns’!, making it a perilous journey at times! So much so in fact, that it led to me giving up rugby for a year and taking up hockey so that I had the hockey stick to defend myself with! The bus services were frequently interrupted when there was rioting at the New Lodge or Duncairn Gardens and it was not unusual for bus windows to be shattered. Bus Inspectors tended to avoid this route so it was easy enough to get away with one token etc!
Character building times - I was not concerned with the carbon emissions of the busses, nor was I outraged about the effect on my civil liberties and human fights - I was only concerned with getting home unscathed!
And you try telling the snowflakes today that....................!

Lest We Forget, today is TB Day 5151

Hans Indaruck wrote: ↑Fri Feb 26, 2021 10:36 am You have evoked some memories indeed Cap’n!,
I had forgotten about the whole double token thingy and yes I did the swapping tickets trick. My journey involved travelling the length of the Antrim Road from the City Centre to the Outer Limits (aka Glengormley!). My school uniform was not appreciated by both ‘themuns’ and ‘usuns’!, making it a perilous journey at times! So much so in fact, that it led to me giving up rugby for a year and taking up hockey so that I had the hockey stick to defend myself with! The bus services were frequently interrupted when there was rioting at the New Lodge or Duncairn Gardens and it was not unusual for bus windows to be shattered. Bus Inspectors tended to avoid this route so it was easy enough to get away with one token etc!
Character building times - I was not concerned with the carbon emissions of the busses, nor was I outraged about the effect on my civil liberties and human fights - I was only concerned with getting home unscathed!
And you try telling the snowflakes today that....................!

Ah, the memories.

I was on buses that were hijacked and burnt frequently.

One week I was turned off three buses on successive days and had to walk home after each was burnt out. The worst of it was that "themuns" and "usuns" were coordinating their rioting to put pressure on the government to grant political status to all crims, so long as they were loyalsits crims, or republican crims.

First day bus was hijacked at bottom of the Shankill.

Next day buses were off on the Shankill, but I got an Oldpark that would get me close to home, so long as it wasn't hijacked. It was - at corner of falls and Springfield Rds.

Following day, buses were back on the Shankill, but there was still rioting on lower part of the road, so buses diverted up the Crumlin. When they thought they were past the rioting, the driver took us along Tennant Street to Upper Shankill, just as rioting had reached there, and we lost that bus too.

Things aint perfect these days, but they're a lot better than they could have been. I'm glad my kids never had to grow up to witness or experience some of the things we did.

Cap'n Grumpy wrote: ↑Fri Feb 26, 2021 11:43 pm [quote="Hans Indaruck" post_id=699443 time=1614332211 user_id=3168

Things aint perfect these days, but they're a lot better than they could have been. I'm glad my kids never had to grow up to witness or experience some of the things we did.

True, true Cap’n! Looking back it’s scary to think of what passed for ‘normal’! As you rightly say, thankfully our kids and grandkids only witness gratuitous violence on video games or Netflix etc. now rather than part of everyday life! Perspective!

What route were you taking to the Oldpark Road via Falls and Springfield ?

It is rumoured the Oldpark Cinema had double seats in the back row

It is said that a local in that Cinema when watching Psycho when Nornam said "He stuffed Birds " shouted out "SO DO I "

Can't say I remember much about the tokens I had to much else to think about and the tokens didn't last long and It could Have been about the time I was living out the Shore Road ( Ulsterbus ) which was mostly incident free the enclave at the bottom of the Whitewell being to small to make much of a riot . Always had some but didn't use them often .

Well, I have to admit I'm a bit of a bus softie. I lived in east Belfast and went to school in Holywood, so only Ulsterbuses through leafy suburbs. The odd time, a bus got blocked on the bottom of the Newtownards Road but very rarely. I was one of the lucky people who could sort of choose how involved I was in the troubles. Having said that, you could never be absolutely sure when the Troubles would leap up and bite you. Of course, as many have said, we accepted as normal a situation that was far from normal, it was just how we got on with life.

On the bright side, a fish supper for 'one and ten', that's around 9p. And back to buses, the return fare to Holywood was about 4.5p.