The OS Doorstep - a helpful and supportive thread in these tough times

Pooky

Thanks Possession - how's the bunnies today? These pets are more trouble than the kids!

I love attic 24, I want to live in her house (but with my kitchen).

Possession

They seem much better today, although still not drinking. I'm drenching leaves in water, hopefully that's enough.

jpscloud

GreyQueen wrote: »

just had a memory flash of brushed nylon nighties, something not thought of in donkey's years.

Oh my, the nylon years. Do you remember there were even nylon knickers?!

Nylon was sold as cool in summer and warm in winter, but it was nasty, sweaty and clingy in any weather! And God forbid you get near a fire.

We had no central heating until after my school years and in severe winters had to rush downstairs to warm clothes in front of an open fire (later a gas fire) before getting dressed!

Ches

My MIL had a Glowbaby bedwarmer and it did half a job but the warmth didn't reach the bottom of the bed so you still had cold feet.

Until I was 10 years old I lived in the country and we had no running water and a bucket and chuckit loo which had to be emptied by the man of the house into a large hole that was firstly dug at the bottom of the garden. The loo was up a little brick paved garden path between hedges so at night we had chamber pots under the beds. My Mum had to fetch the water in buckets from the other side of the farmyard for kitchen use. I also remember we had oil lamps and a black leaded stove for cooking. The iron was also heated on this. I went to bed with a little Alladin oil lamp or a candle beside my bed. We did have electric installed a couple of years before we left to move to a council house in the nearby town though.

The milk/bread was bought at the door and the rest of the groceries were bought at the Co-op. Grandad grew all the veg and fruit as we had a huge garden.

My school consisted of just 2 rooms. One was for the infants and the other the juniors in half of it and the other half as a hall for assembly. I remember when I was about 9yo having to make the two teachers their mid-morning coffee. I had to stand on a chair and light a gas ring then keep watch over the milk to make sure it didn't boil over. The infants room had an open fire with a huge fireguard round it but the juniors room/hall had a huge great black stove also with a fireguard.

monnagran

Well, well, well! Here you all are! And some new friends to tease.
Can't wait to catch up on all your news, but not tonight. They've got a BB sleepover at the church next door. And a brass band! I cooked a meal for 25 on Friday night and am doing a buffet for 65 tomorrow lunchtime so life has been a bit fullish.
I must say Fuddle that the picture at the head of the thread looks horribly familiar. That's it, I am now officially historic.
See you all soon.

x

monnagran

Ches. My first school was like that, but I was the teacher!

babyshoes

Pooky, hope fluffy kitten continues to improve. Sick pets are such a big source of stress.

I've discovered that Royal Canin do some really good supplements for poorly carnivores of all types - most vets stock them, and you can get them online too. Convalescent Support is a food replacement which you mix with water a bit like the human milkshake ones. It is high in calories but a bit rich if the tum is upset. Most cats and all ferrets I've encountered like it.

Rehydration support is really good if they've not been drinking as it has electrolytes in it. It is a good choice if you need to syringe in some fluids. My fuzzies reckon it tastes wonderful, though I've tasted it myself and think it has no flavour at all...

Another idea to encourage her to start eating when she's feeling a bit better is to warm the food slightly, and/or add warm water to kibble. The warmth will make it more smelly and hopefully more appealing to her. Hand feeding can also encourage poorly pets to eat.

[Deleted User]

Some more memories have come to me the Esso blue man who would deliver parrafin for the heaters to your door in the 1960s.Those awful Brentford Nylon sheets that used to spark dreadfully with static in the dark.They were always in lurid colours as well
I remember my late Ma-in-law buying me a purple nylon nightie that went from neck to ankle and was a complete passion killer with ruffles down the front like a fancy dress shirt I used to take it with us when we visited and stayed and leave it lying around the bedroom so hopefully she thought I had worn it :)

Liberty bodices with rubber buttons that dug into your chest and having to have bright red flannel next to your chest covered in camphorated oil if you had a bad cold.
'Nitty Nora' the nit nurse at school with the steel comb that would rake through your scalp I swear our one was related to Eva Braun.
The boys who had a skin complaint on their head and it was shaved and them coming to school with purple stuff painted over them no one wanted to sit near them in case you caught something .
Of course the measles parties where anyone with an infectious discease would have all the local children in to play with you so they could catch it and become immune I had Mumps and Measles from a girl in our street after that.Best of all Saturday morning pictures when for 6d you had a serial,cartoon and a big picture, and if you pretended it was your birthday you all trooped up on the stage and had happy birthday sung to you by the audience and got a free ice cream tub with a little wooden spoon I used to have at least four 'birthdays ' a year.I don't think there was a child in london who didn't automatically press button B in the phone box in the hope of getting some money returned especially if the box was near a pub and it was always checked out first thing on Saturday morning after the drunks from the night before had been in there.

Tizer bottles with 3d back and beer bottles with 2d Economics were important in those days as few children had pocket money, so you did what you could to earn a few pennies.We would collect jam jars from as many neighbours who could spare them and walk from Blackheath to Catford/Bellingham with them all in my brothers soapbox cart (home made of course) and if they were all Robinsons golly jam jar ones the chap at the back of the factory would pay a penny for each one returned
Kellogs had masks on the back of their cornflake boxes and kids would cut them out and nick Mums elastic to be able to wear them.The beano and dany comics and my favourite Girls Crystal and School Friend
My brothers liked The Eagle with Dan Dare and the dreaded Mekons with big green heads
When you got into your teens you had Valentine or Mirabelle to read on the train to work or sometime I bought the New Musical Express to find out who was top of the pops.My Mum like Womans Weekly or Womans Illustrated.In those days there were three evening paper and the man on the corner by the pub uded to shout out Star,News or Standard from about 5.30 onwards.My Dad would bring a paper home on the way home from work.He would never allow The News of the World in the house on Sundays though as he said it was a filthy rag and not worth wrapping the rakings of the grate in from the fireplace.

recoverydust

Thank you for starting this new thread, I lurked on the previous one, reading daily maybe I can feel able to contribute a bit.
Question? Does anyone know of a summery recipe for butternut squash? It's pretty cheap at the moment, but I am stuck for something simple and tasty to cook with it
Thank you
X

Hardup_Hester

Nothing as posh as brushed nylon for me, winceyette occasionally, but I mostly slept in my vest & knickers, lol.
We had a Flatley, it was the only heating in our small flat, I remember leaning against it to get warm.
In those days a family's comfort depended a lot on how good a housekeeper their Mother was. My Mum hated anything like that, so I was often cold dirty & hungry, there was never cereal or bread in the cupboards for breakfast and no regular evening meals. She managed roast chicken most Sundays with potatoes and peas, but week nights it could be half a mars bar cut into slices, a couple of spoonfuls of condensed milk or skate in black butter or nothing, lol.
Hester