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Memories from way back

(146 Posts)
TillyTrotter Sun 04-Aug-24 11:24:11

I bought Germolene this week for the first time in years.
The smell took me back 60 years.
It’s distinctive and hasn’t changed.
My mum used it as the only antiseptic for cuts+ grazes on my knees and hands.

Dettol was the kitchen sink disinfectant, and Vim for scouring jobs.
Do you remember your childhood from fragrances which take you straight back there?

fancyflowers Tue 06-Aug-24 09:35:50

The mention of solid Gibbs pink toothpaste brought back memories, I had entirely forgotten about it.
Also, the sound and smell of the pink parrafin that we had delivered. The man poured it from a huge urn into a jug.
Then, the Coop 'divi' number. I still remember ours.

pably15 Tue 06-Aug-24 09:39:41

whitefire perfume in the little red bottle, evening in Paris in a little blue bottle,the smell of mums homemade chips,

Cadeby Tue 06-Aug-24 09:46:28

That sort of warm beery smell, pubs. Not that we were ever allowed in them.

Funny to think of Camay and Badedas being the height of sophistication!

The smell of a powder compact takes me right back to Mum.

Callistemon213 Tue 06-Aug-24 09:48:26

You can still buy Badedas.

In fact, I might order some 🙂

Amalegra Tue 06-Aug-24 10:16:25

Too many to mention but one that never fails is the smell of mince cooking AT LUNCHTIME. Mum often made mince with ‘a carrot and onion through it’ for lunch in the autumn/winter school holidays. If we’d ‘playing out’ all morning in the cold she thought we needed something hot and nourishing at midday. We usually had it on toast-it made it deliciously soggy. We were happy as it usually meant a less formal dinner (we called it ‘tea’). If I’m batch cooking mince in the day I always think of those happy long ago times.

annsixty Tue 06-Aug-24 10:22:26

I too remember the blue bottle of Evening in Paris.
It was a creamy formula and had a little white plastic feather under the lid to apply it with.

annsixty Tue 06-Aug-24 10:24:37

I use my mum’s old Coop dividend number as the code to open my small home safe.

hollysteers Tue 06-Aug-24 11:18:52

The smell in the butcher’s shop, half an animal hanging on hooks and sawdust on the floor.

MaggsMcG Tue 06-Aug-24 13:11:27

TCP. Pears Soap.
A toothpaste in a tin it was in a block and it was pink. I cant remember the smell but I remember I loved the taste.
Coconut sweet tobacco
Mivvis (Lyons) and Strawberry or Pineapple splits (Walls)
Spent Party Poppers
Dandelion and Burdock Pop
The orange juice from the milkman, never tastes the same now. Obviously had too many E numbers in it.

Pan Cake foundation
Cake Mascara, with the brush
St. Morritz, Consulate & Everest Menthol Cigarettes

MaggsMcG Tue 06-Aug-24 13:14:31

I forgot Evening in Paris I had a tiny little blue bottle I actually still have the bottle somewhere.
4711.
Le Revien
Avon Wishing and Topaze

AreWeThereYet Tue 06-Aug-24 13:31:11

Mg Gran's bathroom always smelt of Imperial Leather. I just have to have a whiff of it to bring my Gran to mind.

She also had a little silver music box that played 'Fur Elise' and every time I hear it I am whisked back to the 'front parlour' of her little house in a Welsh village where I used to wind it up over and over again,.

Granmarderby10 Tue 06-Aug-24 21:35:04

When I was little I loved the smell of the gas mantle lights in our holiday caravan.

The seats and dining table would be converted into beds for three kids (parents had the drop down double with a partition curtain in the “kitchen end”.

After a long hectic day on the beaches and cafes etc, we would come home late, climb into our sleeping bags in our new (holiday) pyjamas and drift off to sleep- perhaps with a tiny radio on at low volume, after a warm drink, but usually to the sound of hushed chatting from behind the curtain.

Then waking up next day and inhaling the aroma of the fresh grass on the camp site through the opened windows, while the kettle boiled on the stove for that first cup of tea usually with“twisted” holiday milk (sterilised milk ) from a glass bottle.

Babs03 Tue 06-Aug-24 21:54:10

Anglo bubble gum, one for a penny, the smell was glorious, my very first kiss in my first year at the big school tasted of this, he was called Derek and I think that was the first and last time we kissed, not sure why now, but the smell of bubble gum takes me right back to the playing fields on sports day that first year, blazing hot weather and Derek sitting beside me.

Jaydoe Wed 07-Aug-24 03:53:29

Who remembers candy cigarettes?

Grannynannywanny Wed 07-Aug-24 06:54:31

Yes Jaydoe I remember them in the 50s and 60s with a red tip to mimic the lit end. Then when they became controversial they were no longer referred to as cigarettes , the red tip was removed and they were renamed candy sticks.

I remember in the late 50s at the staff party at the factory where my Dad worked. My gift from Santa was a smokers set 😳 Similar to a selection box but all smoking related treats including a 10 pack of sweetie cigarettes and black liquorice pipes!

My Dad was a pipe smoker and I remember sitting beside him pretending to puff on my liquorice pipe. Thankfully my smoking days ended there and I didn’t take it up for real.

Scribbles Wed 07-Aug-24 07:46:34

I remember in the late 50s at the staff party at the factory where my Dad worked. My gift from Santa was a smokers set 😳 Similar to a selection box but all smoking related treats including a 10 pack of sweetie cigarettes and black liquorice pipes!

I'd forgotten all about those! I can take or leave liquorice but I absolutely loved the coconut "tobacco" - both the taste and the texture. Oh dear, now I've got a craving ....

Grannynannywanny Wed 07-Aug-24 07:51:13

I’ve just remembered the other items in my smokers set. Chocolate cigars and a chocolate lighter.

Granmarderby10 Wed 07-Aug-24 08:03:35

I got one of those Grannynannywanny among my “pile” I remember a lovely Post Office set, it had a tin money box pillar box but without the “knack” once coins went in they stayed in.🫤the Cadbury chocolate machine too.

TillyTrotter Wed 07-Aug-24 17:11:59

I remember weekends when Mum made a Chivers jelly to go with tinned peaches or pears at Sunday tea.
I loved the smell of the jelly cubes dissolving in boiling water - all flavours. I would stir them until they disappeared.

Cadeby Wed 07-Aug-24 18:13:47

Tablet? Boiling away and a drizzle in cold water to see if it would set.