Good riddance! Things you don't see anymore, thank heavens!

My younger sister, aged 3, decorated the sideboard with Dr Whites sanitary towels. Mum had a new baby, we had a Christmas Tree so younger sister decided to help make the front room look joyful. Mum was mortified and kept apologising to the neighbour who called to see the baby - it's my fault, my poor mum said repeatedly. She said the same thing when the same younger sister came into the sitting room with mum's contraceptive cap ' what's this mummy' my naughty little sister asked. I was all of 8 and had no idea what it was, it just looked like something my sister should have left in the bathroom drawer…..

Smog, nylon shirts, tripe and cow heel, corduroy trousers. No doubt I'll think of more

Scratchy loo paper! Thought I'd seen the last of it when one d ay when I was a ward sister, the stores porter delivered a box of it. Had big battle with Manager- I was n't having that for my patients! Think they must have found a supply in the back of a cupboard. Won the battle!

What about nylon nighties. I had several when I got married. They were supposed to look sexy! They just made me sweat. Sanitary towels with loops and a belt. They weren't disposable so I remember having to bring them home to put on the fire. This was when I was at school. Cars which had a choke. You had to keep it pulled out until you were sure the engine was warm and wouldn't cut out. Going out for dinner with friends and they'd light their cigs up while you were eating and envelop you with smoke. Going home from work every day stinking of smoke. Ice on the inside of bedroom windows in the winter. I could go on and on!!

What a lot of memories these all bring back. Second or is it about ninth good riddance to sanitary towels. Disposing of them at school. The smell they made in the burner thing. Unforgettable.

Climbing frames and slides set in concrete.

oven doors that get skin meltingly hot, oh hang on.. still got one of those.

I don't understand that, Anya - scald scars? How did they get them?

And children with scald scars on their necks and chests - thankfully very rare these days but a still common sight in schools in the 60s.

polio. kid in calipers at the school my mother taught in.

my mum tried to get me to wear a sanitary belt and pinned in towels when I first started periods. I think she had some left over. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. The ordinary towels were like bricks as it was, nothing like the discreet (or the discrete aldi ones) ones they have today.

nylon sheets...I think there are some lurking at my mothers.

I had a nylon bedspread, purple... think it was at some lodgings when I was a student. It was not remarkably unusual. just about the time duvets were taking over as the norm.

nylon shirts. for men. we still have two. my dads. mum made them into painting aprons for the dc's when they were in reception.

we had the shiney loo roll in the infants at school. (small uncoordinated children and poo spreadingloo rolll... great idea)

I would also say "snow" indoors. Pulling the net curtains off the frozen window to make snow. howver, that one may come back given the current financial crisis.

Don't lets "diss" it all, it does reflect happier times when we could sit on a train without the fear of being shot, when we walked into a room and talked to each other instead of everyone locked into their particular technology. Yes they were sometimes the bad old days, hard work, few mod cons and nylon sheets which were horrible if you had rough skin on your feet!!!

Nylon knickers.

Total shock when period arrived and poor father had to try and do the whole talk thing as mother was in hospital! How big were those sanitary towels? They seemed vast or were we just smaller?? And Brentord Nylons! Whole shop devoted to slidey/sticky sheets and nylon covered quilts that slid off your nylon bedspread.

Greyduster Yes, my parents seemed to be always decorating and that was my job too!

On the subject of Izal - About 10 years or so ago I went to Coventry Cathedral, and used their toilets in the crypt (I crept into the crypt for a c**p) - a loud OMG and wailing in an American accent drifted from the neighbouring cubicle and I hauled up my drawers and ran out to try and help, thinking someone was in trouble. An enormous lady was standing there holding a sheet of Izal and staring at it in amazement and saying "OMG! - I don't believe this stuff - you wipe your ass with it!? I've just got to take some home to show my friends!"

Having to help my mother cut the edges off endless rolls of wallpaper before it could be hung!

Monday being laundry day when I would come home from school to a house full of the smell of wet , boiled washing and only cold meat for tea ( left over from the Sunday joint. Then one day a month when Mother would wash the net curtains and clean the brasses she always seemed to be cleaning. A set day for every chore. I also remember her going to ' turn out the bedrooms' during the Winter months and putting on a headscarf as it was so very cold upstairs. Happy to live with central heating,no brasses to clean and a washing machine that can just be switched on at will . Although will admit to never cooking a Sunday joint to have any leftovers.

The 'front room' at my nan's! Freezing cold, with a set of encyclopedia, a China cabinet, prickly 3piece suite and net curtains.

I agree with Ana about Sing Something Simple the introductory music would put me into a mild depression.

Only having a bath once a week and wearing the same undies for a few days at a time. I wonder if we smelt - yuk.

Suspenders and stockings - my mum presented me with a suspender belt but didn't explain how to wear it so I spent forever wearing it back to front and sitting down was very uncomfortable!

Izal toilet paper - what good was that apart from doing tracings for homework?

Definitely skipping from cold rooms to the one warm room in the winter and keeping the door shut. The smell of the paraffin heater. Ice on the Windows. The embarrassment of sanitary towels during PE we only wore our knickers and t shirt and that was no e xcuse!

Buckets of towelling nappies soaking in Napisan. ( I had two children under two) and having to heave the nappies into the temperamental washing machine that broke down at regular intervals.

Seeing my dad's hankies boiling in the Pigs Bin on the smelly old gas oven.

Frost on the inside of the crittle (sp) window in my bedroom. Stockings and suspenders. We were lucky enough to have a bathroom, but the only heating was the coal fire in "the back room"

Sorry Pittcity, but I keep wishing for the video recorder/players to come back, the flippin` dvd thing really flummoxes me!
Good riddance to gas mantles, because it was woe betide us if we accidentally broke one, and it was very easily done!

But then again it all depends on what our memories are anchored to. Some of my happiest childhood memories are of snuggling up with my dad listening to Semprini' s serenade on his new "portable" radio which was actually quite big!