Things you never see now

Grammaretto

Witzend there was one in our local co-op department store which closed in the late 1980s and both Jenners closed (2020) and R W Forsyth (closed 1981) in Princes Street, Edinburgh used the zip wire system. I was fascinated by them.

I was fascinated by them too. I think my mother used to take me into Jenners just so I could watch them. I remember the Co-op having them too - think there were a couple of large St Cuthbert's Co-op shops in Edinburgh which did, anyway

Cigarette machines.

Green shield stamps.

Pink shield stamps

Spangles sweets

OldFrill

Spangles sweets

And Fry’s Five Boys chocolate!

Icebreaker chocolate bars.
They had kind of shredded, crispy peppermint in them.

Cracknell, that's the word i was trying to remember.
I almost wrote shrapnell.

Witzend if you ever take a trip to the brilliant Beamish living museum they have a wonderful replica Co-op shop complete with brass whizzers.
Highly recommended for instant nostalgia.

Greyduster

It was not unusual, until some EU regulation put a stop to it, to see fully furred and feathered hares, rabbits and game birds hanging in local butcher shop windows and in the market. I remember my mother bringing turkeys home fully feathered and having to pluck and singe them in the cellar of our house.

In my local French market you still see them hung up before Christmas

MissAdventure

"On the Buses"
When Olive is pregnant and Arthur takes her to hospital in the sidecar.

That was funny. The sidecar came off and the motor bike went one way and Olive in the sidecar went the other way.
Arthur looks back and says where's she gawn.
I loved On the Buses tv series and the films

Bubble gum machines on a pole. Round and all different colours. I think you put an old penny in the slot and one came out.

Hitchhikers.

Sorry to lower the tone, but until the dog-poo rules came in I remember thinking it odd that I didn't see white dog poo any more. I grew up in Inner London and it was often a feature of the pavement when I walked to school. I seem to remember a few years ago reading a newpaper article about the very same thing with an explanation as to why it had disappeared, but can't remember the newpaper or exactly when it was published.

Manys the time I picked up what I thought was a piece of chalk to draw a hopscotch game...

MissAdventure

It would probably have worked, though!!!

I’ve just thought of something else that’s now a real rarity, the Victorian bedding plant schemes in parks and public spaces. Roundabouts often had them too, big swathes of marigolds, begonias and geraniums, but now it’s all low maintenance, wild flowers and grasses.

Sunshinegirls

Yes I remember going into the shoe shop and looking down at your feet in xray machine at least you could tell if your feet had plenty of room lol.

Really 😳

it's many years since I've seen people pushing a broken-down car any distance - or a broken-down car being towed by a mate on a length of rope.
Is this illegal now or do we all have some sort of breakdown insurance?

Recording booths. My mother took me into one in our main railway station and I sang the Skye Boat song (started too high and sounded strangulated).
Out popped a record which could be played. Don’t know what happened to it, but would like to hear it.

Oh and ‘wheelies’, pram wheels turned into so called cars by the boys.

Rain 🙄

Grammaretto

Witzend there was one in our local co-op department store which closed in the late 1980s and both Jenners closed (2020) and R W Forsyth (closed 1981) in Princes Street, Edinburgh used the zip wire system. I was fascinated by them.

Yes, they still had one in a Gentlemen's outfitters in Plymouth in the 1970s and possibly later.

78s records - they broke, I accidentally sat on some of my brother's once and he was not best pleased.
Years later, when 45s came in, 78s could be softened in the oven and turned into plant pots.