More memories

Memories! I have been thinking about what else I can remember from childhood. I have been prompted by all your lovely comments, both here and at Yahoo. So I have made a bit of a list.

1. Ice cream vans playing their jolly tunes as they drove down the road. By the time we had gone inside and asked Mum, it would’ve moved on and we would have to chase it to its next stop at the bottom of the road. They used to do an ice cream in a cone shaped wrapper that had a chewing gum ball at the bottom.

2. Potato puffs. I think they cost three pence in old money and I used to buy them from the tuck shop at break time. That was when I was at primary school. They had a taste all of their own, which I have never found since.

3. Bell bottoms. Trousers that I wore in my teens. They flared out really wide below the knee.

4. Cigarette cards and tea cards. These were small cards given away free in packs of cigarettes and PG Tips tea. They would do different series, such as animals, butterflies, kings, queens etc. We used to try and collect whole sets.

5. Aprons. All our Mums wore aprons whilst doing their house work. My Mum call it a pinny.

6. Platform shoes. They had a very high heel and a very, very, high solid sole. They were often multi coloured. I loved them because I am short!

7. Oxford bags. Big wide baggy trousers often made of tartan.

8. Sandcastle flags. When I was little and we went to the beach on holiday we always had buckets and spades and would make sandcastles. My Dad would buy packets of multi coloured paper flags to stick in the top of them. I haven’t seen those for years.

9. Tupperware. I can remember my Mum going to Tupperware “parties” and coming back with plastic boxes and beakers and bowls. We had a set of pastel coloured cereal bowls that lasted for years.

10. White chocolate mice. Very sweet but yummy.

11. Box brownie cameras. I went on a holiday with the brownies when I was 7. My first time away from home on my own. I was allowed to take my Dads Kodak box Brownie camera with me and I still have the photos that I took with it.

12. Church bells. Our house backed on to fields in those days (they have since covered the fields with housing) Across the fields was the village of Aston. The church bells were rung on Sundays and for weddings, christenings and other events. They also struck the hours. I can remember listening to the bells in bed on Sunday morning and I always knew what the time was!

13. Walnut whips. Do they still make them? I would bite of the walnut, then the top and then stick my tongue in to lick out the fluffy whipped cream before eating the shell!

14. Bottle deposits. In those days if you returned glass bottles to the shops you got a penny for them. It was coke and lemonade bottles, that kind of thing. I was always willing to take the bottles back and to collect the pennies.

15. Green shield stamps. These were given away by the grocers shops. You got a certain number depending on how much you spent. Sometimes you would get double stamps as a promotion. You had a book that you collected them in and when you had enough you redeemed them for some kind of household item from a catalogue. My Mum got things with Green shield Stamps.

16. Bunty. My favourite comic when I was young. It was very basic and printed on a sort of sugar paper. Nothing like todays glossy things. It also came with a cut out paper doll and clothes on the back of each issue.

17. Spangles and Opal Fruits. We often had them on car journeys. Spangles were hard boiled sweets in fruit flavours and Opal Fruits were soft and chewy with a liquid center, also fruit flavoured and quite tangy.

18. Hot pants, Shorts with bib ‘n’ brace, very often made from crimplene! Some had turn ups. These were nothing like todays hot pants which are just very mini shorts. Some things have improved over the years. Just ask yourself, who looked better in Hot pants, Babs from Pans People or Kylie? My dad actually made my first pair of hot pants!

19 “45” singles. I had a lot of these records. I used to buy several each week.

20 Chopper bikes. I never had one of these, but they were everywhere. I think they made one for girls but it was the boys that really took to them.

 

21 Beonging to the brownies. I loved the Brownies and can still remember the Brownie promise! "I promise that I will do my best, to do my duty, to love my god, to serve the queen and my country, to help other people and to keep the brownie guide law". At least I think that's it!