Well Being

It's quite a surreal memory and very similar to STG with regards to the provy guy.
Like STG, I mind the guys chap at the door , unmistakable and followed with " Provy guy ! It's Norrie" and he was an old acquaintance of my Da's making it worse 😅
Also same as STG I'm talking about me, 2 sisters 2 brothers , ma and Da could sometimes all be in the house and everyone would freeze on the spot and it was a fiver or something we were hiding. That fiver though tbf in todays boodle is probably the equivalent of 50 quid these days, more perhaps cos it sure feels like you could get more for a fiver in the late 70s/early 80s than you can for 50 quid now especially in Co-op or corrupt I call it , bloody extortionate shop.
It was like that for a lot o people in the late 70s and early 80s. Unemployment was rife then. It was grim times and fivers and tenners made a difference to people. Almost the whole scheme lived like that and there was nae shame in it cos everybody knew what it was like to have fuck all.
By 86/87 I’d had enough o having fuck all and went to England to start again.
How to get money for a new life?
Visionhire- No deposit, instant credit. Say you work with the council because Dundee City Council don’t confirm or deny who works there when the credit check is done. Walked oot with £800 worth of TV and Video. I knew a guy who ran bar in Forfar and he wanted a teletext tv for the racing results. £400 for both.
My mate went in the next day and did the same. He sold his to a women in his sisters work. Saturday night we got the bus to my cousins in Streatham. Monday got the bus to Oxford where my mate was living (a wee toon called Bicester). Met my mates old boss in the street in Bicester on the Tuesday and me and my other Visionhire mate got a full time job there and then, come to the factory and start in the morning. We Couldna believe it was that easy to get a full time job down South. It was a sawmill/factory that made homepack furniture. Rented a double room with my mate then got a rented flat efter a 5 or 6 weeks.
5 days that completely changed my life. My only regret was I didn’t do it 3 or 4 years earlier.
Many thanks to No deposit Instant Credit.
 
I remember this true story also , I was too young to remember it but around 75'-78' we had a meter telly in the house.
One of those tellys you had to put 50pence piece into a slot for it to work.
My auld man had blown a small fortune having made a lot in the merchant navy and on the Kishorn on-shore rigs on the bevvy and bookies and anything else.
The beginning of the end for us as a " normal family" and my parents separated when I was 12 Ma moved out and none of us blamed her for that , the house was toxic in 85' and it took me years to realise and pin a lot of my childhood misdemeanours and spiralling back to that point in time, it scarred us all.

Anyway my Da had sussed out how to partially jemmy the collection box on the telly with a screwdriver and retrieve the 50s , usually it would go back into the telly then back oot and end up in the old Victoria Wines till.
One day my Da was out and just Ma with a few of us weans were in and the guy came to the door to collect the money from the telly, when he opened it all he found was a 50 pence piece and a screwdriver 🪛 ffs 🙈 🤣.
Da had tried to do it half cut , dropped the screwdriver and left without telling anybody, my wee Ma told the story of her utter humiliation for years 😳
Tbf to the guy he just took the 50p , left the screwdriver on the side and left and we never heard anything about it afterwards.
I think the guy must've taken pity on my embarrassed Ma. 😳
 
It was like that for a lot o people in the late 70s and early 80s. Unemployment was rife then. It was grim times and fivers and tenners made a difference to people. Almost the whole scheme lived like that and there was nae shame in it cos everybody knew what it was like to have fuck all.
By 86/87 I’d had enough o having fuck all and went to England to start again.
How to get money for a new life?
Visionhire- No deposit, instant credit. Say you work with the council because Dundee City Council don’t confirm or deny who works there when the credit check is done. Walked oot with £800 worth of TV and Video. I knew a guy who ran bar in Forfar and he wanted a teletext tv for the racing results. £400 for both.
My mate went in the next day and did the same. He sold his to a women in his sisters work. Saturday night we got the bus to my cousins in Streatham. Monday got the bus to Oxford where my mate was living (a wee toon called Bicester). Met my mates old boss in the street in Bicester on the Tuesday and me and my other Visionhire mate got a full time job there and then, come to the factory and start in the morning. We Couldna believe it was that easy to get a full time job down South. It was a sawmill/factory that made homepack furniture. Rented a double room with my mate then got a rented flat efter a 5 or 6 weeks.
5 days that completely changed my life. My only regret was I didn’t do it 3 or 4 years earlier.
Many thanks to No deposit Instant Credit.
Visionhire! Wow there's another blast from the past.
More than likely was vision hire telly I was talking aboot there 👆
 
It's quite a surreal memory and very similar to STG with regards to the provy guy.
Like STG, I mind the guys chap at the door , unmistakable and followed with " Provy guy ! It's Norrie" and he was an old acquaintance of my Da's making it worse 😅
Also same as STG I'm talking about me, 2 sisters 2 brothers , ma and Da could sometimes all be in the house and everyone would freeze on the spot and it was a fiver or something we were hiding. That fiver though tbf in todays boodle is probably the equivalent of 50 quid these days, more perhaps cos it sure feels like you could get more for a fiver in the late 70s/early 80s than you can for 50 quid now especially in Co-op or corrupt I call it , bloody extortionate shop.
I remember a woman in the town would get provy cheques and sell them for half price
She had quite a good wee racket going and all the neighbours were happy to hand over 20 quid for a 40 pound cheque and she had a month to pay it back
Where there's a will there's a way
 
Last edited:
It was like that for a lot o people in the late 70s and early 80s. Unemployment was rife then. It was grim times and fivers and tenners made a difference to people. Almost the whole scheme lived like that and there was nae shame in it cos everybody knew what it was like to have fuck all.
By 86/87 I’d had enough o having fuck all and went to England to start again.
How to get money for a new life?
Visionhire- No deposit, instant credit. Say you work with the council because Dundee City Council don’t confirm or deny who works there when the credit check is done. Walked oot with £800 worth of TV and Video. I knew a guy who ran bar in Forfar and he wanted a teletext tv for the racing results. £400 for both.
My mate went in the next day and did the same. He sold his to a women in his sisters work. Saturday night we got the bus to my cousins in Streatham. Monday got the bus to Oxford where my mate was living (a wee toon called Bicester). Met my mates old boss in the street in Bicester on the Tuesday and me and my other Visionhire mate got a full time job there and then, come to the factory and start in the morning. We Couldna believe it was that easy to get a full time job down South. It was a sawmill/factory that made homepack furniture. Rented a double room with my mate then got a rented flat efter a 5 or 6 weeks.
5 days that completely changed my life. My only regret was I didn’t do it 3 or 4 years earlier.
Many thanks to No deposit Instant Credit.
I had been in Canada for 6 months but it was different music, different culture, I was used to going to the pub, the fitba, and the music scene was dire, you had to be 19 to get a drink, and I was just turned 18, and you needed picture ID
So New Year's Eve 1973, I arrived back in Scotland
Partied my arse off with my mates, then a month later, reality set in, no job, no prospect of a job either, so I moved to London
Lived in Streatham had a good job and was enjoying the pubs and the burds
An aunt was back for the funeral and asked if I wanted to give Canada another go so I did, the rest is history
London was a good time back then but it's a cold city nowadays
Thanks for the memory jog Bhoys HH
 
I remember a woman in the town would get provy cheques and sell them for half price
She had quite a good wee racket going and all the neighbours were happy to hand over 20 quid for a 40 pound cheque and she had a month to pay it back
Where there's a will there's a way
Aye DILL I also remember a provy guy ( The Provident for younger viewers) came to the door when I was in my early 20s, staying in the now demolished Old Rutherglen Road Rd high flats in the gorbals offering provy chequebooks £50-£100 .
I said to him they won't give me one mate I fkd them over a few times in the past from another address.
The guy said is this your address? No its in my girlfriends name but we both live here. OK that's OK all you'd need to do is just sign here whatever name you like and whether you pay it back is up to you.
I wasn't working at the time too busy with the rave scene and added shenanigans so I went got the gf and told her and we both spoke with the guy inside now.
He said my job mate is to get these chequebooks out, if I get signatures for them for an address my job is done and it won't be me collecting I'll get paid and it's up to you two whether you want to pay it back and get more or bump it .
Was literally a guy out the blue chapping the door giving away provvy books I was like ya fn dancer wits the chances etc he pretended he'd been shown a letter with my name at that address on it, was a different address and the gf used a letter of previous tenant and we were sitting with £1k in provy chequebooks within 30 minutes , ten £100 books, five each and we went on a shopping spree for a fortnight done the flat up got ourselves new rigouts the works .
What a scam it was then I found out he'd been round the 4 High flats dishing them out guy was nuts but apparently he did get paid then he got sacked and we got a visit from a provy woman about a month later and the two of us just stood there looking astonished , sorry dear not this address, standing there in brand new Adidas flat still smelling of paint haha but it worked , they were rip off bassas anyway the interest on they books was at least 50% possibly more. The things on here that jogs the auld grey matter, that was in 94 best chap at the door ever, and we both moaned cos we were eating our dinner at the time 😅
 
Last edited:
Aye DILL I also remember a provy guy ( The Provident for younger viewers) came to the door when I was in my early 20s, staying in the now demolished Old Rutherglen Road Rd high flats in the gorbals offering provy chequebooks £50-£100 .
I said to him they won't give me one mate I fkd them over a few times in the past from another address.
The guy said is this your address? No its in my girlfriends name but we both live here. OK that's OK all you'd need to do is just sign here whatever name you like and whether you pay it back is up to you.
I wasn't working at the time too busy with the rave scene and added shenanigans so I went got the gf and told her and we both spoke with the guy inside now.
He said my job mate is to get these chequebooks out, if I get signatures for them for an address my job is done and it won't be me collecting I'll get paid and it's up to you two whether you want to pay it back and get more or bump it .
Was literally a guy out the blue chapping the door giving away provvy books I was like ya fn dancer wits the chances etc he pretended he'd been shown a letter with my name at that address on it, was a different address and the gf used a letter of previous tenant and we were sitting with £1k in provy chequebooks within 30 minutes , ten £100 books, five each and we went on a shopping spree for a fortnight done the flat up got ourselves new rigouts the works .
What a scam it was then I found out he'd been round the 4 High flats dishing them out guy was nuts but apparently he did get paid then he got sacked and we got a visit from a provy woman about a month later and the two of us just stood there looking astonished , sorry dear not this address, standing there in brand new Adidas flat still smelling of paint haha but it worked , they were rip off bassas anyway the interest on they books was at least 50% possibly more. The things on here that jogs the auld grey matter, that was in 94 best chap at the door ever, and we both moaned cos we were eating our dinner at the time 😅
Brilliant 👏 🤣
 
It was like that for a lot o people in the late 70s and early 80s. Unemployment was rife then. It was grim times and fivers and tenners made a difference to people. Almost the whole scheme lived like that and there was nae shame in it cos everybody knew what it was like to have fuck all.
By 86/87 I’d had enough o having fuck all and went to England to start again.
How to get money for a new life?
Visionhire- No deposit, instant credit. Say you work with the council because Dundee City Council don’t confirm or deny who works there when the credit check is done. Walked oot with £800 worth of TV and Video. I knew a guy who ran bar in Forfar and he wanted a teletext tv for the racing results. £400 for both.
My mate went in the next day and did the same. He sold his to a women in his sisters work. Saturday night we got the bus to my cousins in Streatham. Monday got the bus to Oxford where my mate was living (a wee toon called Bicester). Met my mates old boss in the street in Bicester on the Tuesday and me and my other Visionhire mate got a full time job there and then, come to the factory and start in the morning. We Couldna believe it was that easy to get a full time job down South. It was a sawmill/factory that made homepack furniture. Rented a double room with my mate then got a rented flat efter a 5 or 6 weeks.
5 days that completely changed my life. My only regret was I didn’t do it 3 or 4 years earlier.
Many thanks to No deposit Instant Credit.
It's amazing how a relatively small amount of money can be life changing for people from our background.
Fast forward to today an young ones even on the broo think they're hard done to if the haven't got the latest Phone, sky, nails and fake tan. An that's just the guys.
 
It's amazing how a relatively small amount of money can be life changing for people from our background.
Fast forward to today a young ones even on the broo think they're hard done to if the haven't got the latest Phone, sky, nails and fake tan. A that's just the guys.
I know man. We packed everything we owned into a hold-all and fucked off not knowing what was gonna happen. We had nothing to lose
I don’t my see my nephews (or any young guys I know) taking a chance like that.
Thankfully (hopefully) they never have had to. Im not sure young people of today would have the mental strength to survive Thatchers 1980s. They spend a fiver on a coffee for fucks sake.
 
This is getting like that Hovis advert, but I like it. The meter we had when I was a bairn, was a shilling you put in. Now worth 5p. I always remember a Friday when my Dad finished a dayshift at the pit. This was payday and he got £20 a week. always brought sweeties home for my brothers and I. We never had any phone in the hoose. It was a miners hoose, in the row, so nae bathroom, nae shower. We either got washed in the big double sink in the scullery, with hot water coming from the geyser. And, up to the pit on a Sunday for a shower, before school the next day. It was a 2 bedroom, so Mum and Dad got wan bedroom, and the 3 brothers shared a double bed in the other bedroom, which was covered in dampness. All rooms had a coal fire. Since the hoose was in a row, the coal delivery had to be brought throo the hoose, intae the coal cellar at the back.

My Dad, got a £200 bank loan for a his first car. We were all excited aboot gettin a car. It was a second hand Vauxhall Victor 101 deluxe. I can always mind my Dad stripping doon a carburetor and distributor etc, in the scullery, when something went wrang wi the engine.

 
I know man. We packed everything we owned into a hold-all and fucked off not knowing what was gonna happen. We had nothing to lose
I don’t my see my nephews (or any young guys I know) taking a chance like that.
Thankfully (hopefully) they never have had to. Im not sure young people of today would have the mental strength to survive Thatchers 1980s. They spend a fiver on a coffee for fucks sake.
Aye this is the saft as shite generation coming through now!Most are glued to a screen and don't realise they are messing their brains up.
 
We grew up in abject poverty too. You see, my old man was a Provvy Man who went round the houses collecting payment. But all these thieving buggers would hide behind their sofas whenever he chapped on their doors and so the shortfall was taken out of his meagre wages...
My wee Maw done the provi for a while, Fernhill was her area... No saying it was rough but I'd to go with her on collection night as a minder.. She'd been getting followed by a couple of local loonies, when I spotted them I said look lads aye she's a provi wummin but nae #unt pays her back so your wasting your time.. They mumbled something nodded their heeds and wandered off to dream up their next get rich quick plan, never to be seen again...

Am I the only one on here who's school uniform was bought with Embassy Coupons then??

Provi checks... Bloody millionaires compared to us Embassy weans... 😜😜
 
Aye the heady days of getting your school uniform as a hand me down from your bigger brother. Yer Xmas from burlington catalogue or the Provi.
A telly fae visionhire wae a dodgy picture. Nae central heating.

Exchanging anything you could steal from the hoose to get a treat from the the Rag man.

A pair of fitba boots and a Celtic top was the dream on your birthday but didn't always come.

Goin to the tally man wae empty ginger bottles to get a few whoppers.

A peice in jam or lemon curd during the school holidays kept ye going during the day.

Camping oot roon the back green kidding on you were on holiday.

Playing fitba in the street wae your black plimsoles we holes in them.

There's so much more ....but ye get the picture. Most of us all had the same but looking back we had everything we needed.
 
Aye the heady days of getting your school uniform as a hand me down from your bigger brother. Yer Xmas from burlington catalogue or the Provi.
A telly fae visionhire wae a dodgy picture. Nae central heating.

Exchanging anything you could steal from the hoose to get a treat from the the Rag man.

A pair of fitba boots and a Celtic top was the dream on your birthday but didn't always come.

Goin to the tally man wae empty ginger bottles to get a few whoppers.

A peice in jam or lemon curd during the school holidays kept ye going during the day.

Camping oot roon the back green kidding on you were on holiday.

Playing fitba in the street wae your black plimsoles we holes in them.

There's so much more ....but ye get the picture. Most of us all had the same but looking back we had everything we needed.
My wee Maw done the provi for a while, Fernhill was her area... No saying it was rough but I'd to go with her on collection night as a minder.. She'd been getting followed by a couple of local loonies, when I spotted them I said look lads aye she's a provi wummin but nae #unt pays her back so your wasting your time.. They mumbled something nodded their heeds and wandered off to dream up their next get rich quick plan, never to be seen again...

Am I the only one on here who's school uniform was bought with Embassy Coupons then??

Provi checks... Bloody millionaires compared to us Embassy weans... 😜😜
I was just kidding - my Dad was really a Supermarket Manager for Fine Fare (and Coopers then Coopers/Fine Fare before that) when I was growing up.

Our tv was hired from Lowden's Electrical - there was no Visionhire in Forfar, just a Clydesdale electrical next to Woolies.

I hated having to wear hand-me-down school uniforms. I only had an older sister so got bullied for going to school in her old skirt!
 

Members online

Latest posts

Back
Top