1952

I'd buy that! - click

  Another school year, it was hard to believe that I'd already "served 6 years of a life sentence", and was starting a 7th.   Something had happened in town, to this day I have no idea what it was, but (there's always a but) several of us were sent to a Middle School in Sanford.  I went with Frankie, Eldon and Shirley all young kids from a really small school into what we believed to be a "huge" place.  My God, they even changed rooms between classes, and had more than one teacher!  It was like what we thought high school must be.  We did learn to enjoy the experience, most of us a hot lunch - something most of us never had before at school.  I don't think I got into any major trouble during the year - I must be slipping!  I got to work a couple of days doing inventory at Colby and Woodman, a plumbing supply store.  I got that because Joyce Parsons got the job too, her Dad Charlie, worked for the company.  It would figure in to a lifetime of work although at that time I hadn't really thought of what I would do after school was, finally, out for good.
  Prices continued to be fairly low by toady's standard, but you could tell times were changing, or maybe I was just getting old enough to understand change.
  Doris Days' song A Guy is a Guy was number one for the year and movies were a mix of Science Fiction and Westerns.  I still had only seen two movies, my family wasn't big on that sort of thing, unless it had something to do with church.  I think that by that time church stuff was bothering me, I know I didn't appreciate going to church three or four times a week.  There were better ways to spend my time by breaking in to buildings or electrocuting a chicken - which was a fun experiment.  I'll tell you about that.  I think it all began with the radio broadcast of the sort of public execution of spies on the radio.  Anyway, I had a shingle and an extension cord, and a couple of chickens.  By baring the wire on the end of the cord and looping it twice through the shingle there was a space to fit the chickens feet.  I caught one of the hens, placed her on the shingle (holding on to her), and plugged the cord in - as a result it blew every fuse in the house and barn.  My parents failed to see the educational purpose of my actions.  Boy! They were sure hard to convince.

Styles were changing!

This ad was criticized even then as not fit to print.

Airline Food was very different then, I'm sure.  It was also included in the price of your ticket.