Things you don't see any more.

Yes, Amami, Specki. I remember the smell. It was always on gran's shopping list together with Fox's glacier mints,

Hi.I am new to Gransnet which seems very interesting. I remember Drene shampoo from the 60's and the lovely 'clean' smell it had and watching my mother make bread. this takes me back 65 yesrs but it seems like yesterday.

Yes, I do! I think it was Cochrane's in Paisley that had them when I was a child. I have no idea what the thing was called, though.

Those days of stockings and suspenders. Mention them today and watch male eyes light up.

Reading your thread Tanith, reminded me of the time I worked in Peter Jones at Christmas. I was wearing seamed stockings on the morning tights arrived. I sacrificed my lunch break buying a pair. The next morning - the joy/relief of warm legs.

Anyone remember funny moments wearing stockings and suspender belts? Or is that a different thread?

I got some Vitapoint recently Specki - its good and very reasonablely priced.

I remember big stone horse troughs in London - not sure exactly when they disapeared but would love one for my garden.

People walking down the street without a mobile in there hand or to their ears! People used to look where they were going, apart from the odd person walking down the street reading a book, something I've been guilty of at times ??

I remember the cigarette machines outside shops so you could buy them after hours and also the bubblegum machines that I think used to be on the wall outside as well.

Has anyone mentioned Amami Wave Set? It was very effective and had a lovely scent. Also Vitapointe was good for dry hair.

papaoscar do you remember the Bear Hotel in Devizes? The reason I ask is that my cousin Joan and her husband were the managers during the early 60s( I think) I've lost touch with her. I've since been researching my ancestry which has resulted in finding some of our relatives.

How times have changed and in a relatively short time really. I had an automatic washing machine in 1974 but it was very temperamental and broke down regularly.

Nappies were always soaking in a huge bucket of nappisan and shopping done daily and all meals cooked more or less from scratch. Nurseries were unheard of in my area.

I think that the availability of ready meals, breakfast and after school clubs and particularly disposable nappies have freed mums up to go back to work and I love the new feeding bottles which are designed to stop wind. Oh yes and the dish washer.

I remember the mangle - mum had one and it was exhausting work. To make life even harder for her she had to take the washing down three flights of stairs to the drying area and I well remember her maneuvering completely frozen sheets back up the stairs in the winter.

I think she thought my life was much easier and it was. I even had a very early tumble dryer because my DH was fed up with clothes and nappies drying on clothes airers.

When I was little, before I went to school we lived way out in the countryside. We had a well in the garden and it wasn't even covered up! A proper well, with bucket and little roof and winding handle.

In the washhouse, rarely used because we had a washing machine, there was a huge washing boiler and fireplace underneath. We used to rear ducks and capons, my mother did it as her 'little job'. My grandmother would arrive before Christmas to help with plucking them, the feathers would be kept and singed in the Aga, and new eiderdowns would be made. Every spring everyone's eiderdowns would be washed in the huge copper boiler, then put through an enormous mangle before being manhandled outside to dry over big racks. What a performance. My mother and grandmother would be very short-tempered on those days.

I used to buy men's cheap silk shirts from C&A as cover-ups on holiday. I miss those.
An admission about 'drawing' the fire with a newspaper: I shared a house with two friends in my first year of teaching. One evening, I turned my back on the newspaper and it fell on the carpet, still burning. I promptly stamped it out, but it left a scorch mark. We managed to cover it up with a strategically placed hearth rug and it was never mentioned by the landlords. After 50 years, I think I am safe to confess!

Oh God yes...... the sheet of newspaper held in front of the fire. My dad used to do it... and I'm ashamed to admit so did I ...in the 70s when I lived in a little cottage with an open fire that was a bugger to light! I was(and still am) addicted to reading anything, so consequently I would hold the newspaper up to the fire, and then start to read it. Next I knew the sheet of paper was smouldering and often caught light depending on how good the news story was. And this with a baby in her carrycot in the sitting room!. Bad mummy!

There's a C & A in Prague.

Who remembers chimney fires. My dad used to kneel down in front of the fire with an open newspaper to create a draught. The newspaper - on fire would often fly away up the chimney. We would wait nervously to see if a fire had started in the chimney.

The chimney sweep was called in every so often to clean the soot out of the chimney. Large sheets had to be laid everywhere to stop the spread of soot.

It all seems so old fashioned now but I can remember the sweep coming to my house in the 1970s.

I loved C & As, used to get some nice wool coats there, and also Richards Shops. Actually I confess I still have a red wool smart knitted jacket C & A Sixth Sense, which I keep for Christmassy do's. It has lasted so well, wish I'd bought more. I always seek them out when in Europe.

I also remember Mac Fisheries at Lewisham South London, they seemed to sell a variety of groceries, not just fish. I also remember buying my first pair of shoes with my own wages in 1967, from Lily & Skinner for 69 & 11.

I worked as a Saturday girl at British Home Stores - they then sold meat pies and other groceries. I was on the hat counter along one side of the building. I was told that if I needed to open the sliding cupboards under the counter to find further supplies, I must always first poke around with the long wooden stick, to avoid possibly getting bitten by a rat!!!

Has Bronco been mentioned?
Pink or blue curry tins
Pull chain toilet (not loos!)
Dansette gramophones
Two bar leccy fires

Oh, I am 10 again...

My mums neighbour used to wear a dead fox around her neck. Do you remember seeing those? It was complete with head, eyes, paws and tail and was the most horrific thing to see. What possessed women to wear them? They were quite common, weren't they? Ugh!!

When I was about 7, to light the coal fire my dad used to use a gas poker. I can remember how nervous I used to get at the strong smell of the gas and the hissing sound it made passing through the flexible tube.

I used to kneel on the kitchen floor with my head in the gas oven to dry my hair. If it was still damp at bedtime, i slept in my rollers. My sister had those spiky rollers, remember them? Mine had elastic and a little ball that fitted in the end of the roller.
In the morning it would be back combed and lacquered before going off to work.

Getting blotchy red marks on the front of my legs from sitting too close to the fire. I was told if I did it too much the marks would be permanent. Yes, burning my legs, but the rest of the house was like a fridge.
Years later when my parents had a centrally heated pensioners bungalow, Dad wouldn't put the heating on, as it was a waste of money warming up a room if nobody was in there.

Dad's first car I always thought that radiator grille looked ugly, even at the time. He sold it because it was going to cost £15 for welding to get it through the MoT.

Mums washing machine, I've still got the motor out of it somewhere in the loft. Mums Flatley clothes dryer

Love this thread- so many things I had almost forgotten. Rags and home perms for my hair-yes my mum wanted Shirley Temple as well!
Food- instant whip and blancmange. I also remember ice-cream bought from the van that came down our street. A 'brick' bought to save for tea, wrapped in newspaper and stored in the bottom of the pantry (no fridge) then cut into slices. I'm not sure the puddings were better I think we had so few treats they were simply very special.

At home in the early 50's, we used pink slabs of Lifebuoy soap for everything - washing clothes, floors and ourselves. When I think of the array of cleaning and laundry products, not to mention toiletries, that I now consider essential ...

Something I still miss is the 5 in a packet Brown and Polson's blancmange. There was a vanilla (boring), a chocolate, a strawberry, a raspberry and a banana flavour which was great for bananas and custard. We used to have chocolate sponge pudding with pink blancmange and always used the raspberry one in the Christmas trifle. The Pearce Duff blancmange you can still buy just isn't the same.

Pompa, why don't you put your chestnuts in the oven and your crumpets in the toaster. Be better than not having them if you like them. I tried my chestnuts on a gas fire once but made a helluva mess, I was cleaning bits of nut out of the grate for ever and the smell was horrendous. I have an open flame type of fire but I stained all the front with cleaning stuff too, not a good idea.

I was chuffed when I discovered Caen Hill locks unexpectedly while I was cycling from Bath to Cliffe Pypard.

Anyone remember company open days? I can't imagine a company "wasting" money on those nowadays!