[Acrylic-bob]

Funny you should mention the winters, Doug. I can remember that some years during the early sixties it never seemed to stop snowing. the snow was piled up in the gutters along Blackburn Road and was so high my dad had to lift me across it.

Talking about the black building also reminded me that when it had been snowing the following day the snow was covered with tiny particles of black soot. My god, what must we have been breathing in? The walls of Blythes works at the west end of Ossy are still blue in places. I dimly recall my grandma telling me it was caused by stuff called 'dolly blue', which is odd because 'dolly blue' was a blue dye made by Reckitt's near Lancaster and was added to rinsing water to give your whites an nice blue cast. Perhaps she was making it up as she went along to keep me quiet.