Oh pleeeeeease let me have one!!!

When I was 60 I was ceremoniously presented with what my son's partner called my 'Edna Bonnet'. This was a concertina plastic rain hat. She solemnly explained that all female pensioners had to have one. I even wore it a few times!

Because my parents moved about a lot I couldn't have a pet but when I was 17 I bought a little black kitten. I was thrilled to have a cat and called her Tiggy. Unfortunately the kitten turned out to be a half feral cat and was very fierce. She clawed and bit my arm more than once but I did love her.

I must rush out and buy myself one of those rain hats - I thought they were extinct - the forecast looks terrible for the weekend and I am a pensioner, after all! It's about time I acted like one

I was one of the bra deprived! When I was 13 I was the only one in the class not to have one and got terribly teased. I used to beg my mother who just said I didn't need one. My lovely aunt picked up on my distress and nagged her to finally get me fitted for a bra. I got 2 size 32AA White with little purple embroidered flowers. I was so proud.

Those rain hoods used to be sold in hairdressers.
After Elrel`s post, I realised I should have said that I can`t ride a bike either, because I was also refused a 2 wheeler bike. I had the little red and green trike, then the large 3 wheeler, but my mother alays refused the 2 wheeler, so I never did learn to ride a bike. I tried once, on my friend`s brother`s bike, came off it with the crossbar between my legs in a very painful, blood letting incident!

Oh I'd forgotten all about those rain hats! I used to love them. Not the wearing of them, but playing with them - I loved to open them out then pull the ties so they concertinaed up again. Great fun. Until they split from being over played with.

Oh I don't know though!

(I mean they're often caught out by bad weather, not that they come here specifically to stock up on rain hoods )

They sell them in some shoe shops round here, and also in the indoor market. As it's a seaside town, a lot of shops tend to cater for the coach-loads of pensioners who invade arrive out of season!

Really, Ana? my mother always carried one in her bag at the ready.Must admit, not seen one for years, thought they must be on the endangered species list.

You can still buy them now, rosequartz...

Oh, those awful rain hats - I had to carry one and was supposed to put it on over my school panama hat when it rained.
Needless to say, I didn't and the panama hat went all bumpy!

MIL still wore those rain hats over her other hat - goodness knows where she bought them!

Ariadne - I wanted a fringe so much, apparently they too were 'common' in the 1950s! In '55 I had a French exchange and after seeing how Parisian schoolgirls did their hair and, I guess, Bardot a bit later, I soon had a pony tail - and the much wanted fringe!
Having been promised my cousin's train set and his big box of Meccano I didn't get either as someone in the family (not my parents) noticed that I was a girl ...
I always wanted a chemistry set too but they were too expensive.
My tricycle was great, then I had a scooter and around 11 or 12 realised it was time for a 2 wheeler bike. Although my mother, and father, had cycled a lot she wouldn't let me have a 2 wheeler bike, ever. Maybe she hadn't much faith in my sense of self preservation!

DM knitted and sewed all our clothes; she really was talented. I hated anything with wool in it, but back in the 50's and 60's there weren't the amazing yarns and blends that you get nowadays. I still remember wool trousers rubbing my inner thighs raw - I didn't dare complain.
DM also dress-made for a school friend- she got a velvet dress with a lace bib, I coveted it like mad, but I never had one.

I had a Sindy doll but, ungrateful wretch, I wanted a Tressy, with her hair that grew.

One of my sisters and I were pony mad. All our pocket money was saved up so we could have riding lessons. This went on for years. I eventually bought my first horse when I was 42! My mother thought I was totally mad.

My mother used to make me take a packamac in case it rained and one of those consatinaed plastic rain hats. Not that I put them on.

I just wanted a sindy .....and to get rid of my little brother,
I never got a sindy and DD,and DGD not into dolls,
I wouldn't part with my little brother now...still a pain, but he grew on me ...

Just thought I wanted a yellow polo necked sweater (no idea why!). My mum decided I should knit one. I gave up half way through. She finished it but by then it was too small and she gave it away!

Most of my clothes were home-made and most were lovely - apart from a knitted swimsuit which stretched and sagged when it got wet!

I was always thrilled with occasional hand-me-downs from the daughter of mum's rich, posh friend.

I was given a cream angora beret and mittens; I did nothing but sneeze when I wore them!

I just wanted anything that nobody else had worn before - I used to have to wear my older sister's hand-me-downs, which were themselves handed down from my two step-aunts.
I was 11 years old before I had my very first ever brand new dress, a green checked thing which I adored beyond all rationality simply because I was the only person who had ever worn it!

Oh the Provident cheques - almost forgotten them chrissyh. A woman used to call every Friday night for the ten shillings, at least I think it was 10 may have been 5.

I did have one of those bonnets which my mum knitted for me in bunny wool (who remembers that). The thing I longed for was a shop bought 'wooly'. My friend had a lovely twinset from M & S and, although my dear mum knitted me one, it wasn't the same. Also, I longed to get my shoes from a shop that didn't take Provident Cheques as they were always the old fashioned ones.

I wanted one of those hats too! Some girls at school (primary, I'd be about 11) had taken up ice skating and not only did they have those hats, but also mittens to match - the most covetable in pastel angora - AND little flared skating skirts made of felt!

I had never been near the ice rink, but I did so want those clothes, and you know what? My mother wouldn't let me have them. She knitted and sewed - made all my clothes so I could not see what the problem was. (Imagine a stocky, spec wearing little girl who could fall over while standing still.)

I also wanted long hair, with ribbon bows on top. this was "common". (If you have been here for some time, you will remember my mother's peculiar catalogue of what was common..)

I pleaded with my mum to have my hair put in plaits rather than the dreadful ringlets she used to make my sister and I have,I can still feel the tights digging into the side of my head when trying to sleep even after all these years,my friend Vicky had plaits and she looked so "cool".

You are clearly very persuasive Indinana !