Penny for the guy ..

Penny for the guy? Remember when you'd hear that shouted at you by some mucky-faced little oik blocking your way out of a shop doorway in the run-up to Bonfire Night? It was money for old rope - or rags - for the kids round our way, who'd fill a couple of old jumpers with newspaper and old clothes and tie a pair of pants to it in a vague effort to make it look like Guy Fawkes, and then they'd pounce on you for cash as you tried to sneak past them! They'd then race to the shops and buy bangers and rip-raps which they'd take great delight in throwing at you! Ah, the good old days ..

This shot, with perfect timing, is one of the new submissions I'm sending today to the Mary Evans Picture Library, which represents my collection in London.
Let's hope it makes some pennies for this guy!..

Remember, remember..

And so to November, and what used to be some of my most exciting days as a kid .. the lead-up to Bonfire Night. The gangs on our estate would all, at this time of year, be ardently guarding their soggy, wet 'bonty' wood - trying to prevent the pilfering of the pile of pallets, planks and discarded furniture that they planned to see go up in smoke on The Fifth! And I see some things never change. Here's a 'Then and Now' of kids collecting 'Penny for the guy' outside shop doorways (Although I'd hardly call stuffing a teddy bear into a t-shirt an effort worth rewarding, would you?) The settings are interesting, though. Thirty five years ago that kid was sitting outside a boarded-up shop and, Lord knows, he'd have had any number of choice of doorways in today's recession but, interestingly - and perhaps more astutely - our 'modern' lad's plonked himself outside a 'Cash Converter' store, where people sell their unwanted items for dosh! Come to think of it, he made £1.50 in the time it took to take this photo! Now that's a conversion!
Quick! Get me a teddy bear......