Whatever happened to...........?

In the mid 1960's I lived near Chester. About once a year a French onion seller used to come round on a bicycle, onions strung around his neck. Never seen one since those days.

I can only think of the lassic:

White dog poo.

But whoever said dirndls should come to Germany. Everyone wears them for Oktoberfest and Cannstatter Wasn. There are huge crowds of friends at stations taking trains to Munich and Stuttgart in the season. Not this year, of course, but the fashion was gaining momentum until last year, especially among the young folks.

And as for cars: Saabs. Although they have been out of production for a while, I thought they were supposed to be indestructible.

The door-to-door knife grinder. I'm not much good at sharpening my own knives
The Breton 'Ingin Johnnies' who came round on a bike and sold us long strings of onions.

As for talcum powder: Ebay has masses of it, including, Yardley and Imperial Leather.

granfromafar

A rag and bone man comes around the street here too - can't understand a word he shouts!
Grandnafrench: You make you own talcum powder?!!

Caramac chocolate
Aquamanda perfume (or was it aftershave? )

granfromafar We had a rag & bone man - ours used to shout a load of unintelligible stuff including "ruh bo Ann " and we'd try to find something to give him each time. I won't say he was a terrible scruff but he made Old Man Steptoe look positively classy !

Yes, don't think it's just me but I find it impossible to buy talcum powder anywhere now. The softest and most absorbent ingredient has all but disappeared. During the years in which Johnson & Johnson have settled so many successful lawsuits brought by cancer sufferers - their famous original baby powder and others have slowly been withdrawn from sale.

So.....I have an empty pretty box and a huge puff from when I used to buy Floris talcum powder. I now take a glass jar with a tight fitting lid, put inside a cotton wool ball on which I have sprayed maybe 25 or 30 squirts of my favourite cologne or perhaps a perfume sample which I liked but haven't worn. Then fill maybe half of the jar with cornflour. Make sure the top is sealed and give it a few shakes. Shake it now and again over at least 4 or 5 days and then decant some of it into the talc box or any pretty box with a puff. You can top up the cornflour regularly and are unlikely to need to top up the cologne for a considerable number of weeks. Not expensive, you can design your own "smell" and of course you're putting nothing risky on your skin, or inhaling it - like talc.

I make sure it's kept in a dark cupboard and out of the kitchen, to avoid it being used to thicken sauces or added to cakes etc., !! I share my kitchen with a very enthusiastic cook .... so you never know!

Those tins with individual slotted compartments which your mum sorted her housekeeping into each Friday.

Order books for groceries.

Doylies

Those steam powered rails in shops which we put the customer's money into and it was magically returned with the right change.

Modesty triangle thingies to avoid revealing too much cleavage.

Round tables with foldable tops, which you sort of swivelled to make it compact. It also housed the sewing stuff and had a pincushion under the lid, plus little pockets to put sewing items into.

Treadle sewing machines

Knitted 'pilches' (little pant things for baby boys).

Fablon

You can often get lemon puffs in the Indian food section in Tesco. I’m told they are still very popular in the subcontinent!

I still buy talc but you do need to hunt for it. My favourite is Estée Lauder but quite hard to find and expensive. Currently using Cuticura and Imperial Leather.

The rag and bone man who used to give us a pot of bubbles or a goldfish that invariably died soon after. No knowledge then about bringing the water up to room temperature!

We now have Kev the scrapman and people text him to let him know what’s been put out. Included a push lawn mower I spotted yesterday.

I can remember people coming to clean the phones at one of the offices I worked in.

Black and white TVs with tiny screens
Fish knives and forks

Re talcum powder.
An Avon book was put through my door last week so I thought I'd treat myself to my old favourite Soft Musk , I used to get the body wash, body lotion and talc all matching . Nowadays no talc at all ?

I’ve got a rocking chair! Parker Knoll. It’s not all that old.

Green Shield stamps !

Wages in brown envelopes with little holes in the top.
Co-op Divi. I bet you all remember your mum's number. I know I do.

Our rag and bone man used to give us live chicks! We loved it but it fills me with horror now.

I'm pretty sure Aquamanda was perfume. Do you also remember Tramp and Charlie Girl?

Tea cosies
Antimacassars on backs of chairs
Rocking chairs
Tripe and brains for sale at the butchers

Danni what a great thread ?
A real trip down memory lane.
Foundation garments ( roll ons)
Notices in fish and chip shop windows ‘Frying Tonight’!
Billboards everywhere (Bill stickers will be prosecuted) poor old Bill stickers, nobody liked him?
Big boxes of chocolates with ribbons on them and pictures of kittens or cottages on the soft plush lids.
Plastic tulips taped to boxes of detergent.
Plastic toys buried deep inside the Cornflake box.
Electric two bar fires

Milk floats with a horse.
Liberty bodices. Always had to wear one as a child.
Fountain pens and dip in pens.

I've just remembered another - there used to be a man on a bike who came round at Saturday teatime who sold the Football Post (printed on pink paper), he'd loudly shout out, "Footba' Post!" and we'd go out to buy one from him with cash. We bought it to check the Football Pools which suffered badly when the lottery came along.

The ladies who "minded" the ladies toilets and made sure that everything was "just so" (I think they were actually called Madame PeePee in France)

Putting a penny into that little brass slot on the public lavatory door and then turning the dial to "ENGAGED" once inside.

Rag and bone man with a horse and cart
White crotchet/knitted poodles to hide the spare toilet roll
Tea lady in the office
Proper Yellow Pages and phone directories

Chewbacca - re bidets. We had one installed when we had our bathroom revamped not long ago. I'm sure you wouldn't want me to go into details but it is brilliant! So, yes, they are still being sold.

Phonotas - those ladies in brown overalls who came round offices every now and again to clean the phones. Was only talking about them this morning. DH doesn't remember them but I do. The phone smelled lovely after they'd gone.

A rag and bone man comes around the street here too - can't understand a word he shouts!
Grandnafrench: You make you own talcum powder?!!

Caramac chocolate
Aquamanda perfume (or was it aftershave? )

We still have a rag & bone man who makes a regular round.

Kalidascopes (sp?)
Park Rays
Dry irons
Petticoats
Twin tubs
Pull chain toilets
Transistor radios
CB radios

Calendargirl I think I gave my age away with every item on my list. I think I experienced all of them except the Woolworth scent, the thought of which truly horrified my mother, but I was only about 10 at the time!