• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

Items that have faded away

Status
Not open for further replies.
How to be a 50s Housewife ,think this has faded away. 1. Have dinner ready: Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal on time.

This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him, and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospects of a good meal are part of the warm welcome needed.

2. Prepare yourself: Take 15 minutes to rest so you will be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh looking.
He has just been with a lot of work- weary people. Be a little gay and a little more interesting. His boring day may need a lift.

3. Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives, gathering up school books, toys, paper, etc. Then run a dust cloth over the tables.
Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift, too.

4. Prepare the children: Take a few minutes to wash the children's hands and faces if they are small, comb their hair, and if necessary, change their clothes.
They are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part.

5. Minimize the noise: At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of washer, dryer, dishwasher or vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quiet.
Be happy to see him. Greet him with a warm smile and be glad to see him.

6. Things to avoid: Don't greet him with problems or complaints. Don't complain if he's late for dinner.
Count this as minor compared with what he might have gone through that day.

7. Make him comfortable: Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or suggest he lie down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him. Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes.
Speak in a low, soft, soothing and pleasant voice. Allow him to relax and unwind.

8. Listen to him: You may have a dozen things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first.

9. Make the evening his: Never complain if he does not take you out to dinner or to other places of entertainment; instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure, his need to be home and relax.
 
Today being a little gay for your husband would certainly make life more "interesting" for him, though he might not appreciate it
 
Listening to the news today regarding the riots and the intention of attacking The Barton Arms and shots being fired. What a difference to what we had as kids - CAP GUNS. Do you remember you bought the caps and they were all wrapped round in a circle and we had such fund playing cowboys and indians.
 
Bengal Matches, used to buy them from Mannys in Cattell Rd, but what were they actually for ? And vending machines outside paper shops. I can remembe a 1d Matches machine in Cattell rd that sold a little box of safety matches, about half the size of and Englands Glory box. Seems like Chocolate and Cig machines were everywhere, even a machine that sold pasteurised milk on Moseley Rd - The shop was called Shufflebottoms I think.

We didnt use Pas milk though, we had coucil house milk -Sterilised - same as everybody else round our way, even used to drink glasses of it. Pas milk was for posh people. Havent seen one of those Stera milk bottles for years.
 
When I was a milkmans assistant on the Co-op at Hall Green depot in 1956-7 the rounds were mainly on council housing estates and the bulk of the deliveries was steralised milk but every round had customers who prefered pasteurized. There was also a few who had T.T. Gold top and I think there was another one as well.
We used to deliver quite a number of cartons of cream on Sundays.
 
This brings back memories of my parents drinking Sanatogen - not the tonic wine, but a powder which would be mixed with hot milk. I think they took it twice a day.
Wonder what it was meant to do? Energise them, I suppose!

When did those transparent tanks filled with orange squash, with plastic oranges bobbing around on top, disappear?
 
Sterilised milk is very much a Midlands thing - I wonder why?

We used to go to Cornwall for holidays and it was very difficult to find anywhere that sold it!

Some of my family moved to Bournemouth and had to change to pasteurised as they couldn't get it either. When my aunt used to visit Brum afterwards she liked to buy a bottle of sterilised to take back as she thought it made much nicer tasting custard.
 
fatfingers said:
Bengal Matches, used to buy them from Mannys in Cattell Rd, but what were they actually for ? And vending machines outside paper shops. I can remembe a 1d Matches machine in Cattell rd that sold a little box of safety matches, about half the size of and Englands Glory box.

We played with Bengal matches as kids, (except that we called them "Bingle matches" )!
I don't know where the name comes from but I do remember reading that in WW1, flares were sometimes called Bengal lights.
I have a box of these matches among my other army junk, upstairs. They came with a little metal tube filled with aspirin-sized tablets.
When ignited, by a Bengal match, the tablets gave off a white smoke which contained CS gas. They were used to test soldier's respirators.

I bet Paul remembers them !
Click to expand...
 
Jayell said:
I think the Sanatogen Powder was supposed to be a tonic Maria. Like the wine.
Click to expand...

Boots still sell itn dunno what it does though. Probably snake oil like a lot of old remedies and tonics. Cant think why but any mention of Sanatogen makes me think of Shelleys Chemist on Coventry Rd.
 
As little kids, in the 1940s, we used to tear round our estate trailing lengths of silver foil. It was sold in sellotape-sized rolls and made a wonderful rattling sound as the wind caught it.
We loved it but it would give you a nasty cut if you were'nt careful.
With the benefit of hindsight I suspect this would've been War Office surplus foil that was dropped by Bomber Command to confuse the German radar. It was called "Window".
 
img678.jpg
This is/was an extract from the 1904 catalogue of products made by Parker Winder Achurch.
 
Oh, I want one! Did they actually make them Stitcher? I knew someone who drove for them in the 1970's and 1980's and they had loads of different products, but they would not have made them all. From vases to lampshades - perhaps they started off manufacturing and then went into being the middle-man?
 
Stitcher said:
View attachment 76717
This one along wtth Pip Squeak & Wilfred are from the 1920s.
Click to expand...

Pip Squeak & Wilfred survived in the Daily Mirror until the early 1950's - I can just about remember them. (Along with Garth and The Ruggles - showing my age!)

The was an aircraft known as Gugnunc - the Handley-Page HP39 single-engine biplane from about 1930. Presumably the name came from the cartoon.

Big Gee
 
Nitric acid - or similar - to remove warts or veruccas. It was sold in a little brown bottle with a rubber pipette on top. Doubt that it's sold like that today. Viv.
 
Are you sure it was Nitric acid Viv?. Nitric acid would have dissolved a rubber teat in the pipette as quick as anything unless it was very dilute
 
Hi Mike and Bernie - yes it must have been well diluted. It was in a small brown bottle with vertical ridges on and a black rubber squeezy teat on top. I remember you had to make a few applications for the veruuca to gradually form a sort of crust (sounds disgusting) but it was a very gradual process. Viv.
 
Technology has come a long way since you used to have to take your roll of film into the chemist to get it processed, waiting about a week ( I think) before you could collect the photos - not knowing if you'd get a decent set of photos for your efforts. Remember these little folders with the negatives in one side and your printed photos on the other. This Kodak one is dated March 1967. Viv.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1335624378.186957.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1335624395.527458.jpg
 
carolina said:
How many moms used reins for their babies?
Click to expand...
My mum (mom) she called her mum mom. My reins were brown with a reindeer swimming on them. My grandson has got some now in the from of an expensive back pack from Boots shaped like a tortoiseshell. He hates them they are too short and too tight
 
My reins were pale blue leather with little bells on (they were used for my brother first!). My son's were just nylon braid , from Mothercare. I had some from a Charity shop for my Grandaughters, and had some strange looks as no-one else used them!!
 
I inherited a Tidy Dry and a Spong from nan I would still have the spong but there is a tiny cog missing I was gutted that she sold (or her 2nd husband sold) a lot of stuff including her weighing scales with the brass weights. The Tidy Dry was bakelite maybe dark brown and cream, it should have been screwed to the wall but mine was on hooks, when the washing got too heavy it jack knifed off the wall. There was a massive clear bulb which lasted for years. I still have a strip light in the bathroom which nan inherited when she moved to her last house in 1971, It is still working and there is a spare strip bulb for when it conks out. My kitchen is part 1940's I think. Perhaps someone can clarify. The practical wall cupboards the bottom tier which slant inwards are light plywood ish with sliding glass or thin wooden sliding doors with plastic indented sort of handles which are round and some have holes worn in them. Under the sink had a curtain replaced by sliding doors which I have had hinged. I still have a built in cupboard with slatted shelves to breathe.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top