Someone asked the other day, 'What was your favourite 'fast food' when
you were growing up?'
'We didn't have fast food when I was growing up,' I informed him.
'Except for Fish & Chip shops and we ate it all so unhygenically from
newspaper wrappers'
'All the other food was slow.'
'C'mon, seriously.. Where did you eat?'
'It was a place called 'home,' I explained.
'Mum cooked every day and when Dad got home from work, we sat down
together at the dining room table, and if I didn't like what she put
on my plate, I was allowed to sit there until I did like it.'

By this time, the lad was laughing so hard I was afraid he was going
to suffer serious internal damage, so I didn't tell him the part about
how I had to have permission to leave the table.

But here are some other things I would have told him about my
childhood if I'd figured his system could have handled it:

Some parents NEVER owned their own house, wore jeans, set foot on a
golf course, travelled out of the country and credit cards had not
been invented.
My parents never drove me to school. I had my mothers bicycle that
weighed probably 50 pounds, and only had one speed, (slow).
We didn't have a television in our house until the Queens Coronation.
It was, of course, black and white, and the station went off the air
at 10 pm, after playing the national anthem and epilogue; it came back
on the air at about 4 p.m. and there was usually locally produced news
and everything was live.....or film.
I never had a telephone in my room. The only phone was on a party
line. Before you could dial, you had to listen and make sure some
people you didn't know weren't already using the line.
Pizzas were not delivered to our home... But milk was.
All newspapers were delivered by boys and many boys delivered
newspapers --My brother delivered a newspaper, seven days a week. He
had to get up at 6AM every morning.
Film stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least, they did in the
films. There were no movie ratings because all movies were responsibly
produced for everyone to enjoy viewing, without profanity or violence
(except cowboy films) or almost anything offensive.

If you grew up in a generation before there was fast food, you may
want to share some of these memories with your children or
grandchildren. Just don't blame me if they bust a gut laughing.
Growing up isn't what it used to be, is it?

MEMORIES from a friend:
My Dad is cleaning out my grandmother's house (she died in December)
and he brought me an old Royal Crown Cola bottle. In the bottle top
was a stopper with a bunch of holes in it... I knew immediately what
it was, but my daughter had no idea. She thought they had tried to
make it a salt shaker or something. I knew it as the bottle that sat
on the end of the ironing board to 'sprinkle' clothes with because we
didn't have steam irons. Man, I am old.

How many do you remember?
Headlight dip-switches on the floor of the car.
Ignition switches on the dashboard.
There were two postal deliveries per day.
Trouser leg clips for bicycles without chain guards.
The street lights were turned off at about 11pm each night.
Soldering irons you heated on a gas burner.
Using hand signals for cars without turn indicators.
Corona fizzy drinks were delivered in glass bottles by lorry each
week, and the empties returned.

Older Than Dirt Quiz:
Count all the ones that you remember, not the ones you were told about.
Ratings at the bottom.

1. Sweet cigarettes.
2. Coffee shops with juke boxes.
3. Home milk delivery in glass bottles.
4. Party lines on the telephone.
5. Newsreels before the film.
6. TV test card patterns that came on at night after the last show and
were there until TV shows started again. (There were only 2 channels,
if you were fortunate).
7. Peashooters.
8. 78 rpm records
9. 45 rpm records.
10. Hi-fi's.
11. Metal ice trays with levers.
12. Blue flashbulbs.
13. Cork popguns.
14. Wash tub wringers.

If you remembered 0-3 = You are still young
If you remembered 3-6 = You are getting older
If you remembered 7-10 = Don't tell your age
If you remembered 11-14 = You're positively ancient!

I must be 'positively ancient' but those memories are some of the best
parts of my life.

Great post ! Sad to say, I can remember the lot!

Wide mouthed milk bottles with the cardboard disc. Before the days of tin foil tops so beloved by Blue Tits getting at the cream layer. That's another thing - cream so thick on top of the milk, you could hardly pour it. What ever happened to that?

Enough !!

You missed the part out that the BBC didn't start until 5:0pm and as we had mains DC not AC the 9" Bush tv had valve invertor, in summer we spent all our time out of doors, going to the park and to the beach and to the baths (if we had 6p) without all those nasty bad people chasing us unless we were scrumping apples, being wrapped in cotton wool and bubble wrap and getting picked up by car by your mum and dad was not even dreamt about, I think technology will be the downfall of the human race.

Oh dear all those memories and we could probably all add a few of our favourites.I remember the floor mounted dip switch well as I sometimes used to miss the clutch pedal and change gear pressing the dip switch instead.That was the days of double de-clutch as well so the speed had to be right.That was also the days of windscreen wipers working off the engine so going uphill meant very slow or no wipers. Dead right about children walking to and from school.

I agree wholeheartedly with all of you, I too am sure that technology will be our eventual downfall.

What a brilliant post, made me quite emotional it is SO true !!

Unfortunately I scored 14 out of 14

I got 6 so I'm not as old as I feel today

I remember my Dad coming home with a second hand radio "valve set" it was bigger than my Mums dressing table`I remember spinning the tuner and it would glide effortlessly from one end to the other`now there's quality` This was in the days when bigger meant better

I got 13 Wench, doesn't bode well does it?

We had smart toys then too.
Top and whips, pogo sticks and hoola hoops. Now you may say we still have hoola hoops, yes we do, but we were absolute wizzards with them. Kept them spinning for ever and had tiny little waists too.
Then there was the perfume of the day. 4711 cologne and Tweed talcum powder.I'm certain that everybody's gran had those.

Good topic Pinz

I meant to say that I got the 14 and I don't like to say it but maybe those who don't get 14 are losing their memory (only kidding).

13

I got most of them (but didn't have a telephone, so can't count the party lines thing).

Never mind newsreels at the cinema, do you remember having to stand for the National Anthem before they let you go home?!

Also, early tellys, watching the dot disappear as you switched off the set!

14 out of 14! but no prizes offered?

Trafficators with festoon bulbs, not flashing lights.
Dolly tub, with dolly pegs.
Two pin, 5 Amp sockets, 2 in our 1935 house!
Penny in the gas meter, shilling (5p) in the electricity meter.
Co-op divi number, 40352.
Etc, etc....

I got 3....this makes me a happy bunny haha :0)

Telegrams on birthdays.

You're not really 100 are you, granny?

Changing the accumulator (wet acid battery) at Eric Elias's or the old bike hire place in Beckwith Street. This was for the radio, on which we used to listen to Radio Luxemburg on 208 metres medium wave.
Redifusion cable TV with the switch labelled A, B, C for the programmes. The big magnifying glass to put front of the screen to make the TV picture bigger.
Licking the remains of the conny onny tin (condensed milk).
Nicking a stick of rhubarb from the allotments on the way to Seacombe.
My long range memory is ok, it's the short range I'm having bother with.

Ah the wonderful telegram. Fastest bit of written information in its time. It brought either good or bad news and in very short format because it was expensive to send.

When I had my babies was the last time I received one sending congratulations. Still have it.

If you had a day out with the family you took a hamper or just the flasks and sandwiches. No pub lunches available.

Mine was 14 too.

Not just condensed milk, anyone remember the tins of National Welfare dried milk for kids?

Don't remember that Geekus but do remember the tablespoon of Malt everyday, cod liver oil capsules and milk of magesia!

Allenbury's Diet.. does anyone know hat that was?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WW2-TIN-W...TIONAL-DRIED-MILK-Tin-RARE-/220875795149

...they were still producing it in the 50's & 60's.

The one I didn't get was 'metal ice trays with levers'; what's all that modern stuff about? We didn't have a fridge as far as I can remember.

No fridges, just a cool pantry. And in the summer you would stand your milk bottles in a bowl of cold water!

The guy from the Corpy Lighting Dept. who came round with his ladder once a week. He wound up the clockwork timeswitch that switched the gas lamps on/off. He had an old canvas bag slung over his shoulder that held the boxes of new mantles.

Jumping up and down on the pneumatic rubber strip that changed the traffic lights. (Not me you understand)

A "Bus & Boat Return" ticket when going to L'pool. (1/8d from Prenton Dell Rd. or 8 1/2p !!!!!)

Tram rides from the Pier Head to Kirby or Bowring Park - just for the joy of the journey.

and and and and......

I remember 14 and I don't consider myself ancient.

One thing that flashed through my mind when reading that was spud guns and spud men, I remember having plastic ears, noses, lips and legs etc and sticking them in spuds to make spud men.

Oh and by the way, we still have glass milk bottles delivered to the door.

They still sell the spud men stuff bert, but Toy Story's Mr.Potato Head is better known and they sell them as ready assembled characters as if kids today wouldn't want to play with a real potato (unless they're chucking it at someone).

Photo's to help with memories, mock ups at Heritage Park.

.

Can't see any lino or rexine furniture Bert, it must be a later age. No big black fire grate either, dead giveaway.

I got 13 out of 14 in the quiz, I lost one point as I was not familiar with the ice tray gizmo. So I am officially classed as ancient, a fact that I had long suspected. All these reminiscences make me think fondly of the days gone by. Just took three of my grandkids aged from 15 to 22 to McDonalds in Bromborough for breakfast this morning. As I was looking through the window at the thriving retail park I was musing to my grandson that when I worked at Stork Margarine works in the 1960’s the area was just empty fields with just one building in the centre and that was Stork Margarine social club, the fields were well known for the hares that lived there. I was also reminded of the fact that young boys wore short trousers until they got their first pair of long trousers around the age of thirteen. Wellies were the order of the day in winter if the weather was wet and you were wearing short trousers the wellies chafed – resulting in chapped legs, a condition that won’t be missed by our modern youth.
As an official Ancient I consider that there have been many changes in my lifetime and that most of them have been for the better and I am just glad that I am still here and fit enough to appreciate all the changes that have occurred in the years gone by.

I scored a mighty 6! Love reading these type's of threads about the "Good old days" so thanks for sharing your memories.

The Hair drier on top of the purple plinth possibly rollers? last photo..I remember my Mum wearing one of those thrown across her shoulder it came with a shoulder strap` she could do chores whilst drying her hair.
We had a one of those hoovers you pushed along back and forth forgot the name of them

going out exploring for the day, taking a sugar butty and a bottle of water to share with your mates, making sure you got first swig or else it would be full of crumbs

by the way, i scored 13, we never had a telephone

i scored 8 ish

The Co-op bread van horses galloping down Price Street to the stables on the corner of Cathcart Street, the drivers couldn't slow the buggers down because they knew they where going back to their warm quarters and a feed. Us kids used to "jock" a ride on the back if we could and then the drivers would try to put the brakes on.
Bin men who used to collect the bin from your back yard and carry the big metal bins to the wagon and back again on their shoulders.
Lorries powered by steam, along with "Steam Rollers" which were also steam driven.
The rag-man, otherwise known as the bally, going round on his horse and cart shouting "Rango, Rango", or that's what it sounded like to me, it was there version of "Rag, bone".
Co-op number for me was 46707 and 80865 the second time round.
A free third of a pint of milk at school, and maybe a second one if there was any left over, this done in rotation around the class, or if you was teachers pet.
In the park there were the Rocks, the maypole and the monkey bars and water rats in the pond which were probably water voles.
There's lots of stuff coming back but will have to do it in monthly instalments. Sturla's cheques, and Roastances, O'Kells and Roberts and Jobson, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

I remember the free school milk too (in the days before "Maggie" did away with it). Don't recall ever getting any extra though. Maybe you were a milk monitor Bandy, and had a bit more say in the matter!

Do kids today still get checked by the nit nurse? 'Nitty Nora' the biddy explorer!

Chemistry sets and turning my uncles arse green, my auntie got it off the wooden seat in the outside toilet quicker than it came off my uncles arse. In those days a thick ear off an uncle was permissible.

Nitty Norah died and no one replaced her. Hence the apparent abudance of headlice in schools at certain times! Don't think the school dentist comes any longer either.

Polystyrene tiles stuck all over the houses including Kitchens and bathrooms.First bit of modern insualtion. Friends mum had a fabulous fire in her kitchen!!

Polystyrene tiles and chip pans don't mix!

You know I don't think it was a chip pan, I am sure it was those hair rollers which were full of wax and they had to be put in a pan of water to heat up. Obviously boiled dry...and a bit more!

Bye the way Vanmanone, antiques roadshow had something very similar to your mums hairdryer on one of their shows, not so long ago.

Ewbank?

Button "A" and button "B" in the phone boxes.

Thank you granny`I missed it anyway`I can still picture her now with this bubble on top of her head with a flexy 2" pipe coming down her back and into the drier

Thanks chriskay `just could`nt spell it come to think of it we did`nt have carpets we had rugs&mats and linoleum in the bedrooms and kitchen "great for doing slidies" and a strip of carpet running down the center of the stair` held by brass swivel clips to hold it down

'Carpet Beaters' to beat the rugs. The rugs were put over the washing line and beaten to death. Funny shaped things made out of cane or bamboo,that looked like a tennis raquet with a fancy middle. Can you still get them? If not, someone should bring them back.

Outside boilers in the washhouse. Waahing day took all day. Poor mums.

I think they're now sold as 'pretzels'...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CANE-CARP...les_Household_RL&hash=item2319d0caf3

Ha Ha!


That should be snapped up...what a bargain!

Lewis's Grotto.They seemed to have scenes from all the fairy stories in each window. How brilliant it was, everything moved. Absolute magic and the reason for still believing in fairies.

(for those who might make remarks, the spritied ones are all Gods creatures)

what about the cane

Someone else should expand on that one Lemonhead. It would seem you had experience!

Here you are Granny

do you mean a ubank? what happened to them?

They went into boxing mate. Him and his son

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Eubank

Actually, you can still buy Ewbank cleaners & polishers but they're a bit more upmarket now than the ones you're refering to.

Great photos bert.

i scored 14! does that make me ancient?lol
2 tv channels---at least there was something to watch then!!
we had a murel on the wall with 3 ducks flying across[like hilda ogden!lol] and a cuckoo clock that came out every hour!!and over the fireplace was brick effect wallpaper and a mirror with a picture painted on it, oh how you burnt your legs from the coal fire when looking in it!!!
i remember nan had a mangle in the back yard, and mum had a grey tin boiler in the corner of the kitchen that was lit by gas, later on she had a one tub washing machine with a little mangel attached to it how things have progressed!!!
and camp coffee that mum would buy for dad,we were'nt allowed to touch it! dad would have it with conny onny in it---and it was so bitter!
we also had a ''radiogram''and you could put at least 7 records on it and they would drop down one after another, and if there was a warped one then the rest would sound warped lol!

One thing I remember was when the dustman/binman/non-recyclable-material transfer management operatives (or whatever you call them today) used to let himself in, hoist up the big metal bin and carry it to the wagon (two at a time sometimes). The part I remember most is how the entire rear of the wagon would lift itself up into the air so that the rubbish would fall to one end so thy could put more in. Most of it was ash from the coal fire (the bins always had a NO HOT ASH sign on them), very little was thrown away, excess packaging didn't exist, old clothes and bits of "stuff" was collected by the Rag&Bone man, and all the glass bottles had a deposit on them, so you took them back.

Thinking back I suppose we recycled even more than is done now, we just didn't think of it that way.

oh yeah i remember the bin men coming round the back to get your bin--empty it ''and'' bring it back-----not leave it half way up the road like they do now!! oh, and the coal man coming, his face covered in coal!!and you knew what time it was in the morning when you heard the rattle of the milk float!!!

just remembered something else-----the chimney sweep---every were had to be covered up when he came, oh and the leccey and gas man coming to empty the meter and he would sit at the kitchen table counting the money and you got so much back.
all the memorys are coming back now lol

i got 13,didnt have a phone,i remember the coal being delivered by horse and cart,great post,brought back a lot of memories.

Brilliant pictures Bert.

Forgot the mangle and the srubbing board.

Not sure about the tudor style cradle tho' Bert, that's pushing it a wee bit!

Ewbanks....I still have one. It's about 27 years old .

Someone once told me (many years ago) that chimney soot was good for the garden. So after my chimney was swept, guess what? Then someone said the soot had to be weathered for about 12 months. So guess what? Got the hoover out!

A bit like the hogs hair carpet tiles of the 1970's. Someone told me they should be watered, so I bought a watering can!

(Sorry, that was abit after childhood. My mistake but I'll leave it in anyway)

no we didn't have a phone either,had to go up the road to the phone box! would'nt use one now!--well we don't have to with the mobiles we have and home phone, a phone was a luxery,we got our first phone in the early 70s.

here's another one--sorry bit morbid really-----when someone died they were brought home to be laid out in the front room and all the curtains shut untill after the funeral, my dad died when i was 14 nearly 15 in 1966 and was brought home and was in the front room untill the funeral, and because my bedroom was over the front room i would'nt sleep in my bed and got in with mum!!
don't know if there were any chapels of rest then?

Birthday cards from the chums club. I think it was something to do with the Birkenhead News.

yes i did have it once, in egremont primary school, peg leg gave it to me

i do remember getting milk in school to, i remember gettin half penny sweets from the shop by the unit 4, i cant remember his name, and he used to sell us ciggies

Buying the chemicals and blue touch paper at the local chemist's to make your own fireworks. Great fun!!!!

HA HA Bert when i took a look at the first picture i could smell the dust lol great picture`s though .i can remember 11 off the list ,we used to take the old newspapers to the chippy and they would give you a big bag of fishbits, used to love them,

I also remember Tesco`s opening a small shop in moreton cross and it closed at 5 pm and never opened on a sunday ,infact all the corner shops used to open on a sunday morning to sell the papers and then close at 1pm ? We also had a rented tv from Reddifusion lol it had a socket screwed on to the window ledge ,it had 2 buttons for the channels i think and then another button for the radio good old memories great subject thanks for putting it on

we had tvs rented to, 50p we had to put in the back, we had that on the fiddle and the gas man, when he came we all used to sit round the coffee table and see how much rebate we got back, if me dad did beat him to it lol, some times we owed him

That`s funny Lemonhead i`m going back further cos we didn`t have 50 pence`s then we had a shilling or 2 bob ha god it makes me laugh it`s like another life time ago .I don`t think many people owned their own tv at the time it`s sad isn`t it if ours broke now we would just go out and buy a new one lol

i cant go back to far, i wouldnt be born, a blast from the past is good, guinea gap baths, happy hour was good swinging off the beems on the mats was good

Collecting the labels off Robertson's Jam bottles and then sending them off, to get your next Golliwog badge.

They can still be collected now, as Golly badges.Don't know where all mine went to, but some of them are worth a fortune these days.

Yes, Birkenhead News. Aunty Gladys; she lived in School Lane, Bidston.

Later it was Barbara Stredder I think.

These bamboo beaters are still used in Japan today by almost everyone. Most people there sleep on a futon so it has to be beaten at least once a week and hung outside so the sunlight can kill all the mites.

no we didn't have a phone either,had to go up the road to the phone box! would'nt use one now!--well we don't have to with the mobiles we have and home phone, a phone was a luxery,we got our first phone in the early 70s. [/quote]

Down the line in time a little (1967) I was working in the telephone exchange at Lancaster House, Old Hall Street, as an operator on the 'Irish Service'. All calls to Ireland were 'personal calls' due to the fact that there would only ever be one telephone in each of the villages over there. So, we would make contact with the person who housed the telephone which was usually the local shop or the pub. Sometimes the shop turned into a pub at night time!
We would tell them who the telephone call would be for and post haste, someone would race down the road to find the individual concerned. Often, we could be holding on for 5/10 mins until eventually a very breathless voice would try to utter a few words at the other end. Then we could connect the call and start to charge for the duration. They always seemed to loose a couple of minutes of talk time as they tried to get over the excursion of running from one end of the village to the other, near collapse some times!

Does anyone recall all the mums being outside scrubbing their front door steps? On hands and knees they would have a little piece of sandstone (this was mentioned in the thread about 'Whetstone Lane') and they would diligently use the sandstone, a scrubbing brush and a wet soapy cloth to clean the steps with. It would appear to have been a major task, with their Mrs. Mop headscarves wrapped around their heads in the style of the 'land army girls'.They would have their little neighbourly chat whilst it dryed and then the children would run in and out of the house over it, all day long. Some things never changed! Not sure which day of the week it would have been, Monday washday, Tuesday ironing day, after that I have no idea.

Around about mid 1950's when going on a bus journey into the centre of Liverpool it is also possible to vaguely remember seeing women carrying bundles of washing on their heads. Presumably to the communal wash houses, there were also the communal baths in certain areas too.

They were/are 'donkey stones', still obtainable. Full history in Wikipedia.

Do you still get coalmen nowadays??

no coalman anymore ..back in them days the coal was high in sulfur it made the sky look grey and was not good for health ..so everyone was made to change to Anthracite coal .put the poor coalman out of business.

Thanks for that

I see a coalman every now and again, delivering coal to a house on storeton rd.What sort of coal he sells I do not know.

really, the last time i saw one was here last year on highfield crescent delivering to the big houses.

I even remember our Mum sending my two brothers and myself out into the road on coalman delivery day to pick up any lumps he dropped.

I remember the name of the coal merchants who delivered to our house,(l v jones)and playing hide and seek the coal bunker was always a good place..Problem you came out rather black.

I remember the coal man that lived in Highgreen Road called King, which I always thought amusing - King Coal.

:r:good one.
they are scary thugh with there faces all black and dirty