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Just inside the back door of our house there was a coal flap in the floor .
The coalman had finished delivery , and I was standing holding my baby brother and watching over the large hole in the floor because mom had warned me that my sister Pat was due home . Sure enough , Pat , 6 , who hated me and was going through that awkward phase that girls do from the age of one onwards refused to acknowledge my warning of "Pat , the flap's open" , and saying "Blur , blur , blur" with her tongue out , she disappeared into the coal 'ole . There was a rumble of falling coal then dead silence . Mom appears and sez "Where's Pat , oi thought oi 'erd 'er" . I nodded toward the coal 'ole . Mom reached down and lifted a rather black and sheepish looking uninjured Pat out the 'ole .
My fault of course . It usually was my fault .
One thing though , with Pat , she was very loyal . I taught her some rude words , and when she repeated them in front of Mom , she refused to tell her where she had 'eard such werds .

ps please note , all the spelling is deliberate . I was lucky enough to be taught proper English by my parents and was bought countless books . So theeer .
 
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Viv apart from the NME there was also another one called Disc. Not sure which one it was out of the 2 that used to have on the back page 'Tales of the Alley Cat' giving out the gossip.

Tales of the Alley Cat was the back page of NME and I think it must be 60 years old as I was buying in 1958/9
 
On the subject of rations . Went on a school trip by train with a free issue of Kunzles Cakes . Somebody bit into one that was too hard , and chucked it out of the carriage window .
It knocked a tooth out of a fellow pupil just down the train .
 
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I remember the name of Comic Cuts but I don't think it is the comic I remember but the name being for comic or sarcastic reasons.
 
You may remember I talked about things that kept us alive .
There came , unbidden to my mind , the words "Cod Liva Ile" . Or , if you prefer , "codliveroyul" . Or even "Cod Livva Rile"
Cod Liver Oil used to come under various guises , many foul , some quite acceptable .
Cod liver oil and malt by the spoonful from a big brown glass jar , carefully wound around the spoon to stop it dropping on the floor , was a not too bad attempt .
But the one that may jog memories was "Virol" . I can't remember whether I liked it or not , but that didn't matter when told , loudly ,"Gerritdownya" . It may have done some good , gerrinitdownme , after all , I am still here .
 
Oh , yes , I was going to mention . My Mom used something called "O-Do-Ro-No" . A primitive roll-on perfume I think . When she got headaches (every day) she would rub her forehead with (Please excuse the spelling , I never saw this in print) "Ferozaclone" . Or summat . Praps someone here can enlighten uz .
 
Yes mikanamart it was Frozoclone or something similar.
My Nan used to love "4711" and I still use the cologne stick in Summer. Goya also used to make it in a rose perfume too.
There used to little bags of "Ashes of Roses" to keep the moths away.
rosie.
 
Hello , Rosie .
Yes , I think it was a contraction of "Frozen Cologne" . Cologne , or Kolnische Wasser still make 4711 . I was in their shop in Cologne (Koln) not long ago . In their shop you can buy a 1 Litre Decorated Bottle of Kolnisch Wasser , if it's kept out of the light it lasts for ever . They do some nice little refill sprays to go with it .
Now , someone may ask "Wossiss gorra dew wiv Brum?" . Everything , is the answer . It shows how well-travelled and educated uz brumz are .
Rosie , your mention of "Ashes of Roses" in bags reminded me , me Mom used to get some little bags , but I think she called them "Dollies" and put them in the washing . Do you know if that's right , or is my old mind wobbling again ?

Mike M
 
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Hello Mike M
You are thinking of Reckitts blue bags! It's on this thread somewhere. Have a look with the search engine, it will bring back all kinds of memories!
I've got a washboard and a dolly tub in the garden, except it's a water butt now!!
rosie.
 
I remember Goya perfume rosie. In the ladies powder room at the Towel Ballroom, there used to be 3 different Goya perfumes in a machine, where you put 6d in and got a lovely squirt of perfume out. I've been trying to remember their names, but it's too long ago for me to recall.
 
Rosie ,
That's it , Blue Bags . I went shopping at the Fox and Goose often enough to get them , I should have remembered .
Isn't it funny how we say we're going shopping at a pub ? Going round the outer circle (all the way , fourpence ha'penny) the areas were all called out by the conductress "Fox and Goose , Washwood Heath " etc., I didn't come across that habit anywhere else in the world .
 
My g/mother always dabbed on her one and only perfume "mischief", on a saturday night to go to the pub" it came in a little black bottle,...don'nt know who made it....but thats the only scent l knew her to have...wonder if it still around....Brenda
 
According to recent news record companies are releasing vinyl records again which will bring into use record players. Long live Dansette...

My son buys loads of vintage vinyl, and uses a record player from the 1980s - which is older than he is.

Coincidentally, I'm looking for a home for an Ultra radiogram from the 1970s. I know there are people who collect such items - does anyone have any ideas? it is in excellent condition, and has its manual and guarantee.Perhaps I should put this on a different thread.
 
When you bought an LP, EP or Single, it was special. Couldn't wait to get it home and start playing it over, and over, and over ........ I think we had a Dansette (was that by Decca?) which stood on four 60s style legs with round discs at the bottom of the legs to balance it. It was a grey and cream colour. You could load, I think, about 8 singles at a time and balance them on the central post ready to drop when the last record had finished playing. Don't think you could load more than one LP at a time, but could be wrong on that. Our first record "My Old Man's a Dustman" . God that was dreadful!! Viv.
 
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Not so much a product that has faded away but it is an advert from an age long gone.
 
We could never afford one the first I ever saw was my cousin Pam's, it was a "Dansette" or something like it I believe, this would have been around 1960.
paul
 
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Seeing the advert for the Columbia Record Player reminded me of when I left school (Handsworth Tech. in 1946) I began work at a radio shop (Potter Sound Systems, Soho Road) At the time I had an old wind up gramaphone on which to play my record collection (all three of them). To enable me to play them through Mom and Dad's radio I bought a new electronic "Pick Up " arm from the shop where I was working( Sixpence a week stopped from my pay, which was twenty five shillings per week including Saturday mornings) I replaced the old gramaphone sound arm with the new electronic pick up and connected it to the radio "Hey Presto" high quality"(?) reproduction. The only problem was having to wind up the the old gramaphone !
I still play records, through a Sony system although that is now 30 years old.
regards Reg
 
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I have heard some of these mentioned but I do not really remember them.
 
My Dansette was the same colour as yours Sparks, and I had so many happy hours with it. Like you Viv, I could never wait to get home and play my latest 65 or EP.
 
Remember liquorice root and coltsfoot. But didn't like either as it was a more 'natural' product. Give me the sweet liquorice, loaded with sugar! The root must have been a real alternative treat when there was still rationing. I grew up in the 50s and 60s and remember Barratts sherbets tubes with the liquorice stick to get at the sherbert. Once nearly choked on the stuff. As I was happily sucking the sherbert though the liquorice stick whilst gliding along on my roller skates I bumped into a raised paving stone and the sherbert hit the back of my throat and gushed up my nose. Thought that was my last breath. Not a very pleasant experience. But it didn't put me off. Have no idea what coltsfoot actually is but remember it looked like a seaside sweet - in pastel a colour. Maybe it was a herb? Viv.
 
I don't remember hearing of Coltsfoot in the context of health food ; if it's derived from the Coltsfoot weed (little yellow flowers , common on waste ground) , then it isn't too healthy . It has Carcinogenic properties . So has just about anything that tastes nice .
I am surprised that nobody has said they remember the Sulphur sticks , like yellow seaside rock . I suppose it's to avoid the discussion of the after effects of eating it . These were absolutely dreadful , and of course we all laughed our heads off at it . Mom used to send us into the garden until the effects wore off .
I have been to Mt Etna and the smell there is like roses compared with little boys' sulphurous outgoings . But very similar .
We should have used it in chemical warfare , the Jerries wouldn't have stood a chance . Ours didn't .

Mike M
 
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