bags of 100 Aspirin

I was born in 1946. As a child my mother would send me to the chemist down the road with a brown glass bottle, to buy sixpence worth of Syrup of Figs (for constipation) or Hippo Wine & Squills (for a cough). I loved the taste of both, so would take a good slug from the bottle and fill it up with water. Luckily, my mother never realised what I was doing.

At age 15, working in a small business, I passed a small shop each day that sold aspirin in small glass tubes with a cork in the top. I somehow discovered that I liked the taste of the aspirin, so I bought a tube each day and ate them like sweets. This went on for months.

How I didn't kill myself I don't know. I think my grown-up children think I'm making it all up, but it's true.

Supernana1 you are not alone. Not me but my older sister said she liked the “sour” taste.
I kind of get it, because I used to pinch bits of the fresh yeast I was sent to get on the way back from the grocery shop!
Strange days indeed.
Yet we are still here🤗

I remember my mum buying Dr Collins Browns medicine which I think was for tummy upsets. Originally it contained morphine I think

The mention of Beecham’s powders reminds me of a Saturday job I had in the late 50’s. The shop owner sold the Beecham’s powders as single sachets from the pack of 5. It puzzled me why a customer wouldn’t just by the pack of 5 rather than paying the marked up price of a single.

One particular man used to come in every Saturday morning looking the worse for wear and reeking of stale alcohol and buy a single Beecham’s powder for his hangover.

My father always had a brown bottle with codeine tablets in his pocket. If I had the start of flu or a bad cold he would cut one tablet into quarters and give me one quarter when I was 9 or 10. At senior school I was allowed a half of a tablet. Only ever once at the start of each illness/ stomach ache/headache. Pretty sure you could buy them over the counter in the 50s 60s.