Trams

I am quite ancient and go back to the days of the London trams. The ones I used to like to ride on as a child were the open-tops. If it rained there was a waterproof apron attached to the seat in front which you unrolled and held across your lap, so you were dry from the waist down. If you wanted to keep your top half dry you put up your umbrella.

This is what my mother did one day when sitting beside a male friend who wanted to smoke his pipe. (You could only smoke on the upper deck) I don't know how many of you are familiar with pipe smokers but in a bit of a wind we reckoned half a box of matches to one pipe of tobacco. Mother's friend struck several matches in an effort to get his pipe going when the man in the seat behind tapped mother on the shoulder and said "Hi, Missus do you know your umbrella is on fire?"