1950's Childhood.

My grandma had a house in town with an outside toilet down the yard. My memory of that was the smell of little parafin lamp under the cistern valve to keep it from freezing and the squares of damp newspaper on a nail for use as toilet paper.
Idly browsing the internet last week I noticed that this small two bedroom terraced house is at present empty and up for sale. They do now have a toilet in the upstairs bath room.

I have just sent the link to that Zoopla website to my sister by Email she does not waste as much time on t'internet as I do.

Oranges coming in to the corner shop; the word went round and DM sent DB to queue up!
Blisters on your heels from new sandals
Grazed knees and that awful Nuskin which stung.
I had rags in my hair too, to make ringlets numberplease

Cleaning white pumps and sandals with some sort of dab on stuff that went everywhere!

segs (metal things put on the heels of sensible school shoes) to save the heels and which made a noise when you walked on hard surfaces
nhs issue spectacles
IZAL toilet paper (has that been mentioned - sorry)

glass batteries - yes - we called them accumulators and were recharged to keep the radio going.

You took your accumulator to the shop to be charged - probably picking up the one you left for charging last time.I 'm pretty sure it was a different shop that you took your soda siphon to, to have a new gas container inserted.

My grandmother's house had electricity in some rooms, gas lighting in others - it fascinated me!

You were not allowed to take your accumulator on a bus as there had been instances of the acid burning holes in the seats. We were lucky to have a shop that charged them in our village.

Our accumulators were changed by someone who came to the house.
Izal toilet paper brings back many memories, as well as using the awful hard stuff, my auntie and my step-sister both worked at the Izal factory at Chapeltown, near Sheffield. It was at the bottom of the hill from my school, Ecclesfield Grammar School.

I remember going to the Co-op for shopping for my mother and having to memorise her 'divi' number. I can still remember it now. I bet most of you can remember your mother's number.

This thread brought back memories of books I used to love - The Abbey School series and The Chalet school ones. So I nipped over to Amazon for a quick look, thinking I might buy one. The Abbey books are going from about £60 - £200, and so are the Chalet School books. Wish I'd kept them!

I remember so much of what you all say, though we did have a bathroom, which was one of my mother's many prides. (Hyacinth Bucket lived then!) She also had an obsession with dressing me like the little princesses, probably fuelling my republican tendencies in later life, in camel coats (from C&A) and shoes that weren't lace ups. But yes, from Clarks.

Hair ribbons, plaits, a clean hankie every day, dinner at lunchtime - my father and grandfather came home for it - washing day on Mondays.

KatyK you are right! 13762!!
I remember going to the shop muttering "thirteen seven six two" under my breath. This was 60 years ago.
Now I cant even remember my pin numbers, passwords etc.
perhaps I should make 13762 my password??

I can still remember DM's divi number too.

And I have one Chalet School book somewhere - but with no dust cover and probably written inside:

'If this book should chance to roam
Box its ears and send it home to:
RoseQ
Address
England
Europe
The Earth
The Solar System
The Universe'

So it is probably worth about 7s 6d, but the DGDs may enjoy it in a few years' time!

mrsmopp - I think using the divi number as your password is a great idea now you have told Gransnet I too can remember muttering it over and over again and woe betide me if I forgot to use it. Am I recalling correctly that they gave you a little slip a bit like a raffle ticket when you gave your number? I can also remember going with my mother to collect the divi when it was due. I think she had a little brown book and we went to the Co-op offices to collect the much needed money.

RoseQ...

I meant to put BUT now you have told Gransnet!

Yeah but you don't know my real name though do you?.
I am only mrsmopp on here, not in real life!

My uncle used to put Segs on the heels of our school shoes and it was great fun striking sparks on the pavement. I remember the accumulators vaguely. Could he have taken them on his bike for refilling? I think I can remember something of the sort but surely they'd be too cumbersome! In our house we had a plug-in radio with the names of dozens of continental stations that in theory you could tune into. I was fascinated by these foreign names.

Yes mrsmopp I know!

Were 'segs' what I knew, and envied, as 'Blakeys'? Striking sparks from the paving stones I cetainly do remember...

Of course the kids from the wrong side of the tracks (in this case, the Piccadilly Line) wore boots instead of the shoes we 'nicer' family members had!

Blakeys!!! I knew we didn't call them segs. How I wanted some. Only one girl in my class had them, and we all envied her. She could tap dance as well, so was not hard to track down, and she hopped and tapped her way everywhere.

Yes, my Dad used to put blakies in the heels of our new shoes to stop them wearing down. He also used to cut the toes out of our sandals so we could wear them a second year. I can still remember that marvellous day when we were allowed out wearing sandals and blazers instead of shoes and winter coats.

Other memories:

Green knees from kneeling on the grass.
Catching newts and keeping them in a tank.
The smell of privet.
My mum making fishcakes from left over fish - for breakfast.
Sugar sandwiches and dripping toast.
Summer holidays - Pontins holiday camp or on a farm.
Walking to school and not treading on the cracks in the pavement.
Seeing my first black person ever - a very tall gentlemen in a raincoat.

I could go on...........and on...........:-)

Ketchup butties.
Chalking numbers on paving flagstones to play hopscotch.
Torchy the Battery boy.
Desperate Dan.
Korky the Kat.
The Bash Street kids.
Playing cats cradle with a piece of string.
Making a two way radio with a piece of string and a couple of tins.
Kicking a tin can in the street because we didn't have a football.
Hula hoops- how long did you keep yours going?

The more I read these posts, the more the memories flood back.

On Saturdays, I had to go to the local newsagents to collect and pay for our comics/magazines for the whole week.
The People's Friend (for Mum)
The Bunty and the Judy (for me)
The Hotspur and the Rover (for my brother)
and the TV Guide which was a large newspaper affair.
My dad used to pick up his daily paper every day and it got added to the bill.
Can't remember the cost, but don't think it was expensive.

Nearly forgot, eating "bread and cheese", our name for the newly opened hawthorn leaves, they tasted delicious. And elderberries as well. I also used to pull off the individual petals on clover flowers, and suck the nectar out of them, so sweet. And the ends of grass, the bits nearest the ground, were so crunchy and sweet, it wasn`t till I got older and realised how many dogs had probably pee`d on the grass that I wondered how I survived childhood!