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I loved Horlicks, still do, but it is very fattening so I keep away. I seem to remember a drink in a green tin - Milo? I think that is what we used to have.
 
carolina said:
Need to correct myself it was cleaned (roller as well) with methylated spirits.
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Yes, shops used to clean their (non electronic) tills with meths, I remember going into Rackhams on a Monday, which must have been cleaning day as it was less busy, and you could really smell the stuff!

I worked at an accountants in the late 70's and we used to have a lady come in to clean the phones - what luxury!!
 
I think so stitcher - I think I have seen it in the big pet shops - the ones that are like a supermarket for pets.
Don't think we have Corn chandlers any more though do we?
 
A Sparks said:
Yes, shops used to clean their (non electronic) tills with meths, I remember going into Rackhams on a Monday, which must have been cleaning day as it was less busy, and you could really smell the stuff!

I worked at an accountants in the late 70's and we used to have a lady come in to clean the phones - what luxury!!
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She would have a full time job now if she did mobiles as well, I
did read how many cell phones there are, but I have forgotten
Bernard
 
paul stacey said:
I almost had a stroke when the NAAFI put up my favorite Chocolate horlicks to 5d old money about 1964, I got used to it in the cafe of Harborne swimming baths in the 50's.
paul
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Hi Paul, I've had many a hot chocolate in the Cafe at Harborne Baths. Mine were probably 1958 onwards. It's all changed now mind. It's a multi-gym & pool. Credit to Birmingham Council, they could have just closed it down but they've done a really nice job.
Harborne Pool Old.JPGHarborne Pool.JPG
 
Shortie said:
I have never had a corn, and thank goodness looking at that advert! I have gone grey happily - but I stick to two rules - always wear lipstick and always keep your hair looking right. It's the ones who let grey hair just hang lankly that give grey hair a bad name. (It's cheaper too!)
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My late wife used to say"Will you love me when I am old and grey/" I said "Ive loved you
with fifteen other colours over the years" Bernard
 
I never liked Bovril as a drink, always felt it was too watery, but it is delicious on a slice of hot buttered toast. A must in my cupboard, still available.
 
We always had a cup of Bovril after a swim. Most of the swiming baths had a cafe type place where we could buy hot drinks etc, but Bovril was always my favourite, and I still like it. Never tried it on toast Shortie.
 
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One I have never tasted but I do remember the ads, is it still about?
 
Oh Maggs, you want to try it. For me, it beats Marmite any day. Especially delicious on pikelets (or crumpets or whatever you wish to call them).
 
Maggs and Anthea - I also remember the ladies coming in to clean the telephones in the offices I worked in in the 50s/60s. But we always had to clean our own typewriters and this was something we learned in secretarial school. With the old manual typewriter we had different brushes - a hard one for the keys and a softer one for all the other places. Changing the ribbon was always a dirty job with the two coloured ribbon to thread through.

Does anyone remember the Banda copies in the days before Gestetner made it a lot easier?

Judy
 
There was also the round typewriter rubbers before tippex came in. If you rubbed too hard, especially the copy paper it ripped.
 
Oh Judy, I remember cleaning our own typewriters too. I think we used methylated spirits on a brush because the carbon used to build up in the letters and become illegible. Those ribbons were an awful dirty job to replace, and my light coloured clutch handbags were always marked indelibly for ever, impossible to remove. I also remember those circular rubbers which we used to rub out about four or five pages of type between the carbon paper. What a mess it all looked. Tippex was a sllght improvement, but not a lot, the fluid always hardened long before the bottle was half gone. We used to try and get it runny again, but can't remember what we used for that job.
 
Judy, I had forgotten about the brushes used for cleaning our manual typewriters. Mine were in a pouch in my desk. I still have a round orange coloured typewriter rubber from days of yore.....and accuracy was most important working with several carbon papers between the sheets of paper - didn't want to waste time rubbing out errors, or risk tearing the paper.
 
Anthea those were the days when it was really not acceptable for typing errors to occur. The copy paper we called bank paper and came in different pastel colours. Indented first line on the paragraphs and knowing whether it was Yours sincerely or Yours faithfully. When the black/ribbon came to the end you had to turn it over manually for it to come back again.
 
Yes that's right Carol - the copy paper was called bank paper - I'd forgotten that!

Anthea - After those round flat rubbers, they brought out pencil rubbers which were a lot easier to use, but still tore the paper if you weren't careful.

Maggs, the Tippex was awful when it ended up in a thick lump on your paper. Looked even worse than a rubbed out mistake! Did we use to thin it with nail varnish remover?

I remember going for an interview for a job once and I was asked if I ever made mistakes! I replied 'Yes' but you couldn't see them when I corrected them. I was told that mistakes weren't allowed in that office, so I told the interviewer that everyone makes mistakes at some time, and if that was their policy then it wasn't the job for me. I got up and walked out of the interview, and that is the only time I have ever done that.
 
Do you remember if you wanted to underline - you typed the words and then went back to the beginning of it and the held the shift key down at the same time as the underlining key . It was a revolution when the electric round golf ball (IBM I think) came to the office.
 
I do Carol, also remember having to use the low case 'l' for 1 as there wasn't a number one on the keyboard.
 
Carol and Judy, I expect you both, like me, had to tackle typing tables - measuring out spaces between the columns, setting the tabs, etc. I graduated to an electric typewriter which had black ribbon spools on each side of the machine. I think it was an IBM a forerunner to my IBM Golfball electric typewriter with interchangeable heads.
 
I had to do that too, Anthea. Having passed RSA 1 and 2 as a mature student of 35, I also took on RSA 3 which was a nightmare - typing out railway time tables so your paper had to be put into the machine on the slant. I was really glad when my back trouble made me give it up - to me better than failing an exam that I thought I might never pass.

Thank goodness for computers I say!
 
Yes Anthea, having to tab up and type tables were always something I dreaded. Electric typewriters were a step forward, then later I used an electric typewriter with a memory which was useful - don't remember the make. But looking back at those days now I can't believe how we coped. Having the abilities that the computer gives us now was something we could only dream of.
 
I have been enjoying your threads on secretarial work and typewriters and agree with you what a difference to nowadays with computers - our work would have been done much quicker. I used to work for an Architect typing out pages and pages of specifications with about four copies with carbon paper and it was so difficult if one made a mistake. That was between 1957 and 1961. I now just enjoy my laptop for fun and genealogy. Incidentally, I also lived in Harborne and am now in Devon.
Cheers - KINS
 
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Not a product in the true sense of the word but the Charleston has faded away.
 
My uncle taught me the charlston Sitcher circa 1965, we did the march of the mods, the hokey cokey, and the old time dances at 21sts and engagements and weddings in to the early 80's. My Nan won prizes she said for the Charlston the Turkey Trot and the Cakewalk. SHe had a dance card and also did the cuckoo waltz and hands knees ands bumpsadaisy,.
 
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