The Kleeneze man

We had most of the above, but nobody`s mentioned the man who delivered the batteries for the radio and took away the used ones. Ours were kept in the pantry, they were full of black liquid, very sinister looking, we were told not to touch them as they could kill us.
By the way, my daughter is an Avon lady, has been for many years.
When I was a child we had "Little Johnny", a small hunchbacked gentleman, he called regularly for my parents betting slips and money.

My mum always ordered from Avon and Betterwear, just because she wanted to help out the people who came round to sell it.
We would often get presents of odd shaped bits of plastic in with our christmas presents, and we would have to work out what they were.

I used to have better ware and kleenezee. I’ve bought from Avon. I remember the cases they used to carry. When I was young we used to have the ‘bread man’ the insurance man and the pop man delivering pop of all psychedelic colours.
My mum always invited everyone in. I’ve walked in to gypsies in the living room and once Mormons sat there and she was cutting their hair. She’d have anyone in.

I had forgotten about the "bin men". In those days we had big round metal bins. The bin men wore a kind of leather hat with an apron down the back to protect themselves when they hoisted the metal bins up onto their shoulders. The coal delivery men also had something similar.

At Christmas the bin men used to come up the yard and knock on the kitchen door shouting "Merry christmas missus" and wanting their Christmas Box. If you dodnt want rubbish dropped all over your back step you gave them one!

Sparkly, I am always pleasant to travellers. I usually bought pegs. Don't see them really now, though occasionally they camp in our county.

I remember one day the doorbell rang and my dad went to answer it. A couple of hours later, my mum asked where he was, as lunch was ready. After some hunting, we found him still standing on the doorstep debating religion with two Jehovah's Witnesses!

Isn’t it funny how things have changed. This thread has reminded me of many things that were the norm when I was a child - the council rent collector, the pools collector, the rag and bone man, the insurance man, the coal men, the milkman, the pop man, the fish man, the greengrocer van, the better ware man, Avon, Ringtons tea, the ice cream van (I know that still comes around in the summer, but it doesn’t seem as frequently, and also Ringtons) and very occasionally the gypsy ladies selling their heather and pegs. I suppose there will have been other travelling sales men selling their wares (usually household things such as dusters and brooms), and perhaps the onion man and possibly the knife sharpener; but I don’t really recall seeing them - perhaps I was at school when they called.
This thread is certainly a trip down memory lane.
Oh yes,*EkwaNimitee*, occasionally the Jehovah’s Witnesses would come onto the street, though if Mum spotted them on the street, them she wouldn’t answer the door.

We had a rent collector who used to come round when I was at home having lunch ( I lived round the corner from my primary school). I wouldn’t go back to school till I’d seen him as he had a little Yorkshire terrier called Bobby. Then, one week, Bobby was no longer with him and I was heartbroken. But a few weeks later there was a knock on the door and there he was with a golden Cocker spaniel called Danny. I can still picture it now. It was 20 years before I had my very own spaniel puppy. When he retired he gave me a piece of paper on which were some musical notes with my name written above them. He then signed at as the former musical director of the big theatre in our city. He said it was a melody he’d composed for me. I wish I’d kept it.

I remember the rag and bone man,the popman,the catalogue man,the milkman,the breadman and scouts selling woodsticks for the fire,and of course the coalman.

I remember most of these characters. As a child, I was especially fascinated by the Breton onion man and the knife sharpener with their bicycles. The Betterware man was still around when I was a young wife, I used to like looking at his wares and occasionally bought. As for the gipsies, the last time I had a visit was when I had 2 toddlers. She insisted on reading my palm and forecast that I would have 3 children. I thought 'No way, no more'! Well I still only have 2 and I think I am safe now as they are in their fifties.
No one has mentioned the Jehovah's Witnesses, perhaps Covid has put a stop to the door to door calls. My mother used to chat with them at the door when I was young. She ended up buying a bible from them which she gave to me as an 8th birthday present. I still have it with her beautifully inscribed message on the flyleaf. It's an attractive volume in itself, leather-bound with fine thin paper and gilt-edged and has to be handled carefully these days as it's nearly as ancient as me!

Whenever I think of the Kleeneze man, I go back to 1963 when I was expecting my first baby. He would keep appearing and drove me mad with his insistence that I purchased something. I remember my mother laughing when I told her that I had a nightmare that I needed to get to the hospital as the baby was coming and he wouldn’t let me go as he continued his sales patter.

We had the man who collected my dads football coupons and when the results where on the wireless we where not allowed to speak whilst dad marked them,I think the most he ever won as a few pounds at the most.
The provident called every week on Friday night after Mum got her housekeeping from Dad the "provi cheque" paid for our school uniforms and school shoes.

We still have a provi woman call around our meighbourhood.

There was also the Provident man. They sold Provident cheques which your mum would use to buy you a new outfit then pay back weekly. I remember they could only be used in certain shops like old fashioned department stores and not the more fashionable stores like C&A or Dolcis.

When I was young we had the milkman with his horse and cart I remember Mum we let us buy a bottle of Mikky from him a chocolate drink and the Corona man. When I’d married we also had the football pools man and the man from the Prudential to collect our insurance payments.

I think my mum was a bit nervous of the gypsies when they knocked.
We had to be very quiet, and pretend not to be in.

I remember gypsies with heather and pegs, plus the Corona man (my folks never bought any ?) and when I was very small, the milkman and a baker coming with horses.

It wasn’t selling, but a GM who lived fairly rurally told me about a tramp who came to the door, asking for whatever it was. She gave him an old coat and something to eat.

Some years later he came back, smartened up and no longer ‘tramping’ to thank her - he said his luck had changed from the day she was kind to him. ?

We still have people who ring a bell out the window of their truck, and pick up anything worth taking.
When I was little, the man would shout 'Old rags and lumberrr!'

We also had the ‘pig’ man, he collected all of the vegetable peelings, for pig swill, (not ours though, Grandad had a huge compost heap.) he had a trailer with oil barrels on, all filled with peelings.

When the gypsy women came around selling pegs and sprigs of lilac my mother always used to buy something. She was very superstitious and believed they would curse her with bad luck if she didnt buy.

We used to have a "rag and bone" man who came around with a horse and cart. He used to sing "Any old rags-a-bowans? Any ole boots a shoeys?" He would buy empty jam jars and lemonade bottles and give us kids a few pennies in exchange. We ran off and spent them on sweets.

There was also a man my mother called "the tinker." He was probably another traveller. He sharpened knives and scissors on a kind of grinding wheel. He also repaired pots and pans that had burned into holes by screwing tin plates onto the bottoms.

Nothing was wasted in those days (1950s).

I remember the Kleeneze man. And, I still have the Dairy Book of Home Cookery (bought from the milkman in 1978 - for some reason, I entered my name and year on the inside page)

My Dad used to do the 'pools' - collected each week by someone who came round. Never did win!

We had a man call round regularly to sharpen knives.

I remember the rag and bone man with his 'orse .

We kept a bag of old clothes ready for him .
There were never any bones .

Another guy sold vegetables on a horse drawn wagon .

Any horse in the street might oblige my Grandma with a nice bucket of manure for her vegetable patch .

There were French or Belgian onion sellers as well .
I was convinced that these energetic men travelled across Europe each day by bicycle .

A Sikh man sold brushes, dusters and tea towels tempting you with his magic beans .

Various gypsies told fortunes or sold lucky white heather and hand carved clothes pegs .
You could make dolls from them .

The man from the PRU used to collect insurance money .

And my Grandma threw the unfortunate Corona man and his free trial soft drinks out calling him a Satan addicting children to poisonous
addictive drinks !
I wasn't allowed fizzy drinks as a child and when I'm tempted by one -it hits my stomach like a canon ball .

I last saw a door to door gypsy in 1980 .She used to sell very poor quality plants and spat at me for not buying any .

I used to have beautifully made bread delivered .
Plus milk of course .

Yes Greyduster I remember what my mother called 'gypsies' coming to the door selling pegs and sprigs of 'lucky' heather.