Things you never see nowadays

You are all so much more eloquent with your descriptions than I am, I just called it 'money shoots in shops'.

I used to save my money and go to Jollys in Bath to buy sequins and the like, nowadays they are the sort of thing they throw on tables at parties for decoration. I loved the sound of the 'shlupp and wheeeze' of the shoots, sadly now adays that is just the sound of my breathing.

Buying flowers by the dozen.
Prams
People haymaking and stooking.

We lived in the countryside and I remember, only once or twice, a very exotic looking gentleman in a turban coming to the door with a suitcase of lacy underwear, ribbons etc in very gaudy colours.

I was desperate for some frilly undies but I'm afraid he got short shrift.

Housewives in their crossover pinnies and headscarves worn turban-wise, concealing their curlers - each making sure that her doorsteps were whiter than her neighbour's.

we used to have a baker deliver his' oh so lovely freshly baked bread' in a basket, he would deliver using his horse and cart, I can still smell the aroma of his bread, he would come into the kitchen with his basket slung over his arm with all shapes of bread, have a chat with my mother and then be on his way, also the coal man delivered the coal by horse and cart and cos we were quite poor, as children would follow the cart and pick up any coal that dropped from his cart. THOSE WERE THE DAYS ................. so long ago ,,,

LaGrand Ah Yes exotic gentlemen wearing turbans selling door to door from a suitcase were the only Asian people I saw in my childhood.

"The street singer wandering through the streets in Kennington {London)
where we lived. A favourite song was "Just a song at twilight"!"

Actually called Love's Old Sweet Song, I believe... by James Lynam Molloy, words by G. Clifton Bingham

We used to see the Clydesdale horses pulling carts down to the shore, and bringing them back full of seaweed to fertilise the best potatoes in Scotland (Ayrshires). Loved those heavy horses.

The 'penny' 'tuppenny' and 'thrupenny' trays of sweets in the newsagent shop.

Mr D the old, (or seemed so to us) and grumpy newsagent couldn't disguise his annoyance when faced with a request for the tuppenny tray as he knew it would take the child an age to decide which of the many different sweets priced at two pennies she would have.

Those lovely chunky thruppeny (3d) bits!

Wasn't there toothpaste called Kolynos? Gibbs Dentifrice came in tins, and their advertising was something about defending Castle Something-or-other and a picture of a tooth-shaped castle (or a castle-shaped tooth).

POGS Where I live in the North-east, you see loads of young mums with proper prams, even some Silver Cross ones. We're backward up here.

Or very rich! Those Silver Cross prams cost a fortune....

Nowhere in the North-east is rich Ana.

I had a second-hand one in the 60s in London - great with no car and two small ones who both fitted in! I walked everywhere with it and even brought a gasfire back on it once!

Come to think of it my mum had one for my sister (1949) and she was having a sleep in the garden - another thing not seen now? - and she woke and managed to tip the pram up and came crawling up the garden....

Oil stoves with a frightening pattern on the ceiling. The outside loo in winter. Syrup of figs and cod liver oil. Gibbs toothpaste in round tins (I used to lick it). Liberty bodices (anything but). Dreary Good Fridays. Butter pats and the smell of the dairy. Trunks to pack with everything for the holiday which were sent in advance.

Thank you feetlebaum. That was all that I remembered of it!

No, I didn't really think they were, absent. It was a joke.

Silver three
Emmy bits and farthings . Expensive clothes marked in guineas and ladies ALWAYS wore hats and gloves when out.

With hatpins!

Lovely decorative hat pins. Vicious weapons if necessary. You easily kill with one!

Never, ever a black bag with brown gloves or shoes.

What I don't miss is the performance of washing hair. It took forever to dry and you either made shampoo by melting soap or bought some powdered stuff and mixed it with water. And if you went to the hairdresser, you went face forward in the basin and then got cooked under the dryer. And sleeping in curlers! I was watching 'My week with Marilyn' the other day and the character played by Emma Watson said she couldn't go out because she was washing her hair. It brought it all back.

It was always Friday night wasn't it, Lilygran? I had a friend who used to add vinegar to the water to rinse her hair. Her hair was lovely and shiny and silky but she smelt like a fish and chip shop for the rest of the week.

You could buy beer shampoo, too!

My father went through a phase of plastering his hair with some stuff called Bay Rum. It was disgusting so we were all glad when he stopped.