Nostalgia

Having recently reached another milestone in the birthday stakes, I have been reminiscing about "how things were" in the Messiah household when I was a lad. So apologies in advance to all those members who are under the age of thirty five, and are fed up hearing us Old Farts banging on about the Olden Days. I thought I would share with you (my true friends ) some of the things, that have been making feel very nostalgic, over the last few days and hopefully some of you might be reminded of your childhood, and tell us your stories.

(1) To keep out the cold on a winters evening, me Mam used to fill up Alpine Pop bottles with hot water, to warm the bed.......... Alpine Pop, how sh*te was that. It used to strip the lining off your throat in one gulp.

(2) We never had a dishcloth in our house, but what we did have was a pair of me mams old drawers. Having to was the dishes with a pair of your Mams old Trolley's was the stuff of Nightmares, believe me !! And my god they were huge, they used to empty the washing up bowl with one thirsty suck.

(3) You dare not bang your head in our house, coz if you did the resulting bump would be smeared with Butter. What the F**k was that all about. You stank all day, and every Dog and Fly in the Neighborhood followed you round for days.

(4) I used to always have to get in me Mams old bath water....." you'll love it......its got me new Lilly Of The Valley Bathsalts in it !!!!".......Oh joy of joys. You came downstairs afterwards smelling like your Nan's Handbag.

(5) I was 15 years of age, 6ft tall and a size 5 and a half shoe, because once you went over size 5 and a half, you had to buy Mens shoes and they were twice as expensive. No wonder I was sh*te at footie............I could hardly walk.

(6) NITS....oh my god, I'm trembling now just thinking about it. If you brought a letter home from school saying " Nitty Nora the Biddy Explorer " had found a colony of Wildlife, having a party in your Mop Top, you just new you weren't going to enjoy the rest of your day. Fist you had your head SCRUBBED with Derbac soap, then you had the untold pleasure of having a Steel Nit Comb dragged through every Derbac smelling strand of hair on your head. If any of the offending wildlife was found, this was quickly squashed by the back of me mams thumb Nail, accompanied by the words "gotcha yer little b***ard " Then to top it all off yer Mam would cut your hair, with the scissors your Dad used for doing the Wall papering. I will have to end there as I am breaking out in a cold sweat..........Please don't feel to sorry for me. My parents loved me and I adored them both and I still miss them terribly, and believe me when I say...." these were great times "

Anyone else got any stories?

Nostalgia, its not what it used to be!

I have an e-mail in work, at home a present, that i will post about "old" toys should keep some of us "old farts" going for a while.
I was talking to a young doctor about 3 months ago about the TEST CARD and was explaining what it was for....horizontal hold, vertical hold, tuning the channels with the knobs on the front on the TV, only 3 channels and one of those was only transmitting in the afternoon and evening, and she called me Ancient!

That post brightened up my day  no end!

I'm in the 'under 35' group so will leave it to some of the other 'old farts' on here to add their reminiscences.

I can remember our Alpine pop man coming round on a milk float doing his deliveries, tasted absolutely sh*te, I can remember one of the flavours being pineapple very exotic in the 70`s and collecting empty Corona bottles for the 5p deposit

I don't remember any butter incidents perhaps they where that traumatic I blocked them out subconsciously, I do remember finding and eating wild peas on the waste grounds, me and my brother happily tucking in. obviously they weren't peas or meant for human consumption, can remember like it was yesterday having to drink salt water until we puked followed by loads of milk to line our stomachs

being the youngest i was always last in the bath so other than a top up of warm water and the addition of some extra bath salts (that failed to dissolve because the water was never warm enough) so bath time wasn't my favorite time sat on gritty lumps of undissolved salts in scummy luke warm water. if you wanted a hotter bath you'd have to jump in with my brother Tap end of course

My biggest Trauma as a child was the fact that I wore glasses and the old national health choice was limited to say the least. pink, blue or brown tortoise shell, i don't need to post a picture of myself just google Joe 90 that was me.

maybe it was because of the above affliction that God took pity on me and never coursed with Nits

those were the days

The pop man was one of the high lights of a young Crazy Horses week! Being the oldest of 3 Kids had its privileges though, I had the bath water first every Sunday night! I never did understand my mams the need to smear butter on my head every time I fell off my Grifter! What was that ever about? Its great looking back, when the most technical Christmas day ever got was a game of Ker Plunk or Flustration!!

 

Brilliant thread. I must say, I'm below the age of 35 as well but I can alarmingly remember the lemo man coming round and nitty nora the head explorer in school!!! 

Any more stories?

Anyone remember the A B C D E etc at the Kop end of the Kemlyn Road stand which corresponded to the Matches in the programme, and if you were lucky you'd get the half time scores of the other games.

Yeah !!  I remember the 'alpine' man coming round, and yes, the pineapple was a bit of a 'mysterious' flavour    very tropical even though it tasted like p*ss !!  I remember having bags of ollies and was made up when yours managed to reach the score of a "tenner', ball bearings was the best though      I also remember when the Ice Rink was open, spending many a happy Saturday morning skating round and round in circles - thought I was Jayne Torville at one time    The best bit about Christmas was getting your new 'Annuals', for me it was the 'Mandy' or the 'Diana' annual, the smell when you opened them was mmmm...new paper smell !!  I must be weird, although I still love the smell of new magazines or books    Oh yeah and remember conkers?  we used to soak them in vinegar to make them harder, nearly impaled ourselves trying to put a hole through the middle though to thread the string through, aaahhhh.....the good old days eh ??         

Yeah !!  I remember the 'alpine' man coming round, and yes, the pineapple was a bit of a 'mysterious' flavour    very tropical even though it tasted like p*ss !!  I remember having bags of ollies and was made up when yours managed to reach the score of a "tenner', ball bearings was the best though      I also remember when the Ice Rink was open, spending many a happy Saturday morning skating round and round in circles - thought I was Jayne Torville at one time    The best bit about Christmas was getting your new 'Annuals', for me it was the 'Mandy' or the 'Diana' annual, the smell when you opened them was mmmm...new paper smell !!  I must be weird, although I still love the smell of new magazines or books    Oh yeah and remember conkers?  we used to soak them in vinegar to make them harder, nearly impaled ourselves trying to put a hole through the middle though to thread the string through, aaahhhh.....the good old days eh ??        

It was the Beano or the Dandy for me at Christmas Smiggs!
And what do you mean remember conkers? Don't you still play conkers now? It just so happens to be conker season now doesn't it? Shall we have a forum competition?...

How about Sweets ?

My personal favourite was Spanish Gold. Anyone remember it? it was golden strands of coconut made to resemble Rolling Tobacco and was sold in a red greaseproof paper packet, it used to turn your fingers yellow.

And how about Cola flavoured Spangles. They were the dogs dangly bits

And finally does anyone remember those long (about 12 inches ) sticks of Barley sugar,and my personal favourite was a really hard and brittle toffee one, that had chocolate running through the middle. I think you bought them at the Chemist?

And how about the local Chandlers shop. I can smell it now all Pine Disinfectant, Candles and Parrafin......"Esso Blue"

How about Sweets ?

My personal favourite was Spanish Gold. Anyone remember it? it was golden strands of coconut made to resemble Rolling Tobacco and was sold in a red greaseproof paper packet, it used to turn your fingers yellow.

And how about Cola flavoured Spangles. They were the dogs dangly bits

And finally does anyone remember those long (about 12 inches ) sticks of Barley sugar,and my personal favourite was a really hard and brittle toffee one, that had chocolate running through the middle. I think you bought them at the Chemist?

And how about the local Chandlers shop. I can smell it now all Pine Disinfectant, Candles and Parrafin......"Esso Blue"

Sweets :-
fizz bombs
gobstoppers
cola cubes (pineapple as well i think)
that chewing gum that tasted like 'germaline' but you got a free lick on tatoo with it.

My favourite memories were Panini football sticker albums. Going to school with a big pocket full of swaps - got, got, got, not got, got.........

Old Fart Alert! 

I remember when I was living in London in 1977 the Beano used to be 4p! (2007 and it's 45p!) 

We used to go and watch the Speedway on a Tuesday night at Wimbledon Stadium, South London and I got to meet the legendary Peter Collins (who was a guest on feel the sportsman on They Think It's All Over!) I was gutted when I moved back to London and read this press relase...
03.10.05 SPEEDWAY ENDS AFTER 77 YEARS IN LONDON THIS WEDNESDAY
Seventy-seven years of Speedway in the capital city will come to an end this Wednesday when the Wimbledon Speedway stadium closes it's doors for the final time. The shock news has come as a double blow for speedway fans across the whole of London as Wimbledon Speedway is the last remaining speedway club in London.
(I saw Oxford win the Speedway League title at their Cowley Stadium in 2002 which was amazing!)

I used to hear the 'Rag and Bone' man shouting in the street!

My mum used to drive a Vauxhall Viva then a Fiat 128, my step dad had a Scimitar, then a left hand drive Audi 80, my dad had a Mk2 Ford Escort Estate.

It used to be Friday, it's five to five and it's CrackerJack!  Win or lose everyone went home with a Crackerjack Pencil.

Tony Blackburn was on Radio 1 on a Saturday morning with 'Junior Choice'.

I used to love watching 'World of Sport' with Dickie Davies on Saturdays.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_Sport_(UK_television_show)#Theme_tune

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcFzJc_QxmE

World Of Sport also featured what was then the authority on English football - On the Ball. It was the weekly round-up on Saturday lunchtime ITV for many years until 1985. It was hosted by Brian Moore and later by Ian St John and Jimmy Greaves, who fronted a continuation of the show under the title Saint and Greavsie until 1992.

Who remembers when you could sit down on a Sunday afternoon in the 80's and watch footy on the TV for free?

In junior school at break time we used to get a half pint bottle of milk and a packet of 5p Smax!

I remember our first video recorder in the 80's - a Freguson Videostar! It had big levers on the front where you had to press play and record at the same time!

Who remembers Pacers, the soft, minty, chewy sweets with the stripes? Or Spangles. I remember the germoline penny chewies with the face tattoos! And also when you could get quarter of aniseed twist for 22p from the Tuck Shop situated right outside the high school gates in Rhyl. At Easter time me and my sister would always be given Cadbury's Creme Eggs, 3 in a box. One year I ended up with 21 ! 

Finally for now, my step dad was in the amusement trade, ie fun fairs. We lived in London, where he was manager of Battersea funfair till 1978, then we moved to Rhyl, Noth Wales. There he went into business with the son of Helmut Schreiber of the furniture trade. They constructed a Monorail on Rhyl sea front which was opened by Terry Wogan on 4th June 1980. Unfortunately it lasted no more than a year for various reasons, a bit of a flash in the pan, and an expensive one at that!
(I hope to post more pictures of it as I have some rare, exclusive stuff from back in the day... eeee, when I were a lad...!)

 

Talking about speedway, my nan lives in the West Midlands, and we regulary watched the speedway down there when we visited.
They had a team called Cradley Heath, and the American World Champ - Bruce Penhall used to ride for them.

Happy days coming home with your face balck, inside your ears black and your snot black for days !!

this is a great thread !!  Old English spangles, mojos, gold nuggets in a little material bag which were chewies, rainbow drops - loads and loads of them for about 2p !!  Cadbury's Toffee Buttons were deffo the dogs you know whats !!  How about lolly ices   -  anyone remember Twicers ?  and Mivvi's when they tasted like Mivvi's !! 

I remember the rag and bone man !  we used to get a balloon for any rags we took out to him, my mums wardrobe deplenished rapidly !!   

Mcgowans highland toffee with the hairy cow on the paper
Aztec bars
Bar Six
Home made milk shakes with fluorescent green Schofields cream soda and Vanilla ice cream.
Home made stilts my dad made for me that would have put a circus performer on disability benefit for life! As did the go cart he made for me.
Clackers, two rock hard balls (watch it) on nylon string that you furiously banged up and down whilst trying not to break your wrist. To think some South American native tribes use something similar as a weapon!
Does anyone remember the name of the two to three foot long piece of plastic tubing you whirled round your head so it would make whistling noises?
My wife informs me her Nan once burned her hair off with a wax taper because she told her it would grow back thicker! Once you had left the burns unit obviously.
Screwball ice cream with the chewy at the bottom.
Watching me dad eat tripe on a Sunday morning desperately trying to hold on to the bread and milk I had just eaten.(I wasn’t in jail it was mixed together)
I too had Harry  Potter nhs glasses but with the fashion accessory of white elastoplast over one lens, add this to the cows licks in my hair that my mam had tried to flatten with Cossack hairspray but more often than not her own spit and you can see I was quite a catch.

gold nuggets in a little material bag which were chewies,

Forgot all about them the competition was to see who got the biggest nugget

I remember our first video recorder in the 80's - a Freguson Videostar! It had big levers on the front where you had to press play and record at the same time!

We had the sameone, I can remember getting one with a remote control after that one but it was still connected by a wire to the video recorder dead posh

Oh yes !!!!

I remember those Rainbow drops Smiggs. When me Mam got paid on a Friday, she used to buy a few bags from "The Blue Van " that used to come round are way about 8pm every night, selling sweets & ciggies etc, and she would give us them on a Saturday morning for are breakfast, in a bowl with milk & sugar.

We also used to have hot milk poured over bits of white bread, for are breakfast on school days. We used to eat it out of a cup, and we called them "Pobs "

How about those big, massive Liquorice Torpedos. We didnt like them much..........but if you sucked one end for a while, you could use the moistened end to apply your lippy.....come on all the kids did it......doesnt mean your a bad person

Finally for now....How about the portable cassette players that came out in the seventies. I use the term portable very loosely, as they took about ten of those fat batteries, and you had to have Arms like Popeye to carry the bugger. But they were so cool. You would sit there for hours, just taping your family talking, and on a Sunday evening you would hold the mic for two bloody hours against the radio, trying to tape the top twenty and metculously turning it on and off. So as not to tape the talking in between tracks........... I think I was the original M.C. Hammer

Oh yes !!!!

I remember those Rainbow drops Smiggs. When me Mam got paid on a Friday, she used to buy a few bags from "The Blue Van " that used to come round are way about 8pm every night, selling sweets & ciggies etc, and she would give us them on a Saturday morning for are breakfast, in a bowl with milk & sugar.

We also used to have hot milk poured over bits of white bread, for are breakfast on school days. We used to eat it out of a cup, and we called them "Pobs "

How about those big, massive Liquorice Torpedos. We didnt like them much..........but if you sucked one end for a while, you could use the moistened end to apply your lippy.....come on all the kids did it......doesnt mean your a bad person

Finally for now....How about the portable cassette players that came out in the seventies. I use the term portable very loosely, as they took about ten of those fat batteries, and you had to have Arms like Popeye to carry the bugger. But they were so cool. You would sit there for hours, just taping your family talking, and on a Sunday evening you would hold the mic for two bloody hours against the radio, trying to tape the top twenty and metculously turning it on and off. So as not to tape the talking in between tracks........... I think I was the original M.C. Hammer

Liquorice torpedos, were cool, yeah i used to do that, wet them and pretend they was lipstick !!  I was deffo a saddo, i used to list the top 20 on a sunday night in a little note book !!    Anyone remember the Scotts Bread man coming round?  he used to open the back of the van and you used to be able to go inside and pick what bread and cakes you wanted and the smell was out of this world !!  And to really show my age, we used to have an icecream man on a bike, me mam wouldnt let us have anything off him though cos she said he didnt have anywhere to wash his hands 

Please someone tell me I'm not going mad and these things actually did exist as none of my mates seem to remember them. They were like fireworks but when they exploded loads of little parachutes used to come out & float to the ground. They used to have them at my school fete every year (unless I'm imagining them of course), I used to love running round grabbing them all, quite a few fights broke out over that I recall

Eddie your not going mad, I think you've just got a vivid imagination  your school fate was obviously more sophisticated affair than mine

our grand finale was a glass of orange squash and a custrard cream

I don't think we actually had a school fete? If we did, I can't remember ever going to one. I remember in the summer holidays we used have a play scheme at our Junior school, which was brilliant!! We got to play football with those green fluffy case balls that were only supposed to be used indoors. We used proper net goals in the school yard - as opposed to using cones when we were in school! We'd go on little trips to Knowsley safari park or the old Garden Festival by Otterspool. One of the other things we used to do was play Treasure Hunt all around the grounds of our school. They used to write what prize you would win on these little white cards and hide them everywhere. I only ever found one. It had 50p written on it. I was so rich that day!! Bought a Wham bar and two packets of Salt And Vinegar Thingies and still had 30p change left!

I remember the rag and bone man as well. Also the scrap iron man!! Always remember being in my Grandads back garden when I was a kid (my nan and grandad used to live next door to us, which was brilliant!) and I could hear the scrap iron man in the distance, yelling that funny "aaaaaaaany oooooool scrap irrrrrrrrrrron!!". And because my grandad was a bluenose (bless him, one of the better bluenoses though), he'd tell me that the scrap iron man was yelling "aaaaaany ooooool Kenny Dalglish!" Used to wind me up to bits! 
They were the days....

Wow - memories...

70's Speedway; You say Peter Collins; I say Poole Pirates and Malcolm "Super Simmo" Simmons.
You say sweets, I think SUPERMOUSSE! (no apologies for caps!) and Toffos (what a man's gotta chew...).
How about living by candle-light during the power cuts? The adventure of it, and playing with candle-light shadows and melted wax (purely innocent, I assure you ), and oh, Mother's fallen down the stairs again... :

How about playing Kerby in the street? Didn't used to do the Risse rub of the football on me shirt though 'cos my Dad would kill me if I got dirty!
One time me and my mate had finished playing and I shouted to him "Take the ball then." I placed it on the pavement and curled it round the bonnet of the nearest car and watched in horror as I'd got all the angles wrong... SMASH! Straight through his front window!  Whoops!  :  I can't remember what happened next but I got to see my next birthday so couldn't have been too bad!

Anyone get beat up at school?! When I was 14 I moved from Rhyl to Liverpool to live with my Dad. I started school a month late due to moving. I went to Highfield Comprehensive opposite Broadgreen hospital on Queens Drive. It was a tough time and to top it all when it snowed that winter I got attacked by a gang of lads who put big stones inside snowballs and pelted them at me! Nice! Welcome to Liverpool!

Another classic was when my dad found matches on the stairs. "Who's been playing with matches?" boomed the ex R.A.F firefighter of 12 years! "Me Dad!" I said cowering.
"I made some paper airplanes, set them on fire and threw them out the window!" I said as the blows came raining down on my stupid head!! 

Everyone's done this... bunking off school !
In Rhyl I would climb a fence, tightrope walk across the cut and hide in the old, disused railway sheds by Rhyl station, normally after nicking loads of oranges from the fruit display outside the corner shop! Sometimes we would sick a penny on the railway tracks with chewies and wait for the train to pass by. The result was a penny flattened to the size of a 10p! I even did a bit of train-spotting and would almost wet my pants with excitement when I'd see the diesel engine class No. 47 484 - with the nameplate Isambard Kingdom Brunel. (Top bloke!)



In Liverpool I'd get off school and boot a stone or can around under the Rocket flyover. Other times a few of us would go to an old warehouse near the Old Swan and take up demolition rights! The sound of breaking glass was like music to my ears and a great way to let off steam.
Other than that I was a good boy.  :