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

Mrs_Chip

Goldiegirl wrote: »

Yes, I'm from 1960 too.
I didn't escape crimplene though. My mum made a lot of my clothes and I had various trouser suits in groovy colours which I wore with ruffled blouses, which I wore around 1970. I must have looked like an extra from an Austin Powers movie!

Mum made me a very fetching dress out of burnt orange crimplene, very 60's 'A' line with bell sleeves and a mandarin neckline, trimmed at neck sleeves and hem with gold lame ribbon that was all rough. I had white pvc knee high boots to go with it, the sort where the leg was all soft and stretchy. I must have looked the bee's knees:rotfl: (not).

A lot of my early memories relate to smells - while we still live in London Mum was friendly with the local greengrocer, and I was allowed down into the cellar for a wee in their loo. The cellar smelled of boiling beetroots and the floor was covered with lovely soil from hundreds of sacks of Cyprus potatoes, it was a wonderful place, and every now and then, when I am somewhere that cooks their own beets, I am taken back to Kentish Town.

I can clearly remember the first time I had frozen chips - I had gone to a friend's house for tea and her mum dished up crinkle-cut chips - I had never seen them before. Even the oil she used to cook them smelled different - my mum always cooked in lard, her mum used Mazola. Even now when I smell it, I am taken back to being 6!

Mum used to wear a perfume called 'White Fire' and had a tiny bottle with a long pointed top on her dressing table. Years later I had to track down a bottle on Ebay, just so I could smell it again. I have to admit that when I opened the parcel it made me shed a tear.

ETA - another smell - warm orange squash out of a tupperware beaker for my lunch time dirnk - nothing else smells quite like it!

nan2many

What about Jubblies, broken biscuits a penny a bag, but I am a bit older than most of you. In 1976 I was expecting my third and spent all summer dragging myself from one shady spot to the next. Have a lovely photo of my eldest holding new baby wearing his 'Pippa Dee' jammies, they then went down through the line, practically indestructible. Oh and what about hot pants, I was married in them.

Mrs_Veg_Plot

Mrs_Chip wrote: »

ETA - another smell - warm orange squash out of a tupperware beaker for my lunch time dirnk - nothing else smells quite like it!

Mrs chip you have just sent me right back to my primary school days

Nargleblast

Woo-hoo! New thread! Let's see, we have a doorstep, so all we need now is a set of curlers and a garden fence and we'll be well away......

Memories of the 60s and 70s - life seemed so much simpler then, before the advent of t'internet and mobile phones and loads of cars on the road, and 24-hour telly - remember when you fell asleep during the film and woke up to see a screen full of white snow and a loud hissing noise? And being offered coffee in someone's house and when it appeared it was Camp? And when cheese and wine parties with loads of French bread were the in thing?

Mrs_Chip

Yup, it's my abiding memory of school. I used to take packed lunch, sometimes it was sardine and tomato paste sandwiches (does anyone still buy that?), and sometimes it was a little lunch pack thing my nan used to bring down for me - with little clear plastic pots of conserve with a white plastic top my favourite was lemon curd. It came with a packet of cream crackers.

Other primary school smells were plasticine, the smell of wax crayons melting on the big metal heating pipes that ran around the edge of the classroom ( a great game!), the outside loos (stale wee), the smell of warm milk, eugh.

Nargleblast

Sardine and tomato paste on bread and margarine....luvverly!

And bread and sugar sarnies.

Remember when all the kids hung round the washbasins in the school cloakroom? The conversations we had.....now they just sit next to each other but totally ignore each other while they each mooch around on F-Book.....(don't get me started...)

kezlou

Haha tatty cath you should have seen the other stuff she had me doing, you would have been in stitches.

Thanks, the mri went well, had to lay straight for an hour during the scan. Felt ill but feeling better now.

Just found out some sad news my great aunt died in, the, early hours of last night. she fought to the end but at least now shes not in pain. Soon she'll be with my mum (her sister) with pint of lager and black playing cards.

What a miserable day, we've had an amazing thunder storm, torrential rain and hail stone s. We just sat and, watched the scenes.

nuttyp

hi, just found where you are all hanging out! Some lovely stories on here. I remember the smell of cow glue at school.....

stiltwalker

Hugs Kez - X

Thanks for the lovely memories, they have made me smile today and it's about the only thing that has, the kiddlies have had one of their rare rotter-pants days! DD is desperate to get back to nursery and DS is just fed up of an entire week of no time away from his big sisters relentless cuddling! so has been even less patient with her than usual. DH didn't help with all the moaning about it being the last day of his holiday and how he has to go back to work tomorrow - he gets to get out of the house, talk to grown-ups and has the real luxury of an entire hour of breaks where he can actually sit down in the canteen and eat his breakfast and lunch in peace - I have offered to swap with him but somehow he doesn't think I'm up to tipping wagons. With the amount of lifting I do with 2 disabled kids, I think I could manage ok, specially as 'elf and safety at work is far stricter than I could ever do at home! Ok, mini rant over - love them all really, just sometimes they make me go grrrr!

I was born in the late 70's so most of my childhood was 80's. I remember having the prettiest ra ra skirt but desperately wanting a puffball skirt and not being allowed as they were 'far too silly' my Mum was right but at the time ..... I also remember SAW at their height of teeny bopper music production, Kylie, Jason (who I actually saw years later playing Frank'n'Furter in Rocky Horror and was amazed to find he was actually rather good!), Bros, etc, even at the time I thought they were all a bit naff. By the early 90's I had posters of Extreme, Guns and Roses and Meatloaf on my bedroom wall. I also remember getting 'Now that's what I call music 4' on a cassette from Woolies - caught sight of an ad for the current one a while back and was shocked to see they were up to NTWICM 80 something.

Right off to put the oven on for tea before I get too caught up in nostalgia - Take care all - X

Goldiegirl

Ah, 1976, that long hot summer, or in my case the summer of O levels.

I'll never forget trying to do my revision in 90 degree heat, and trying to keep a cool head in the exam room when the temperatures were soaring. But the best moment was, when I'd finished my last exam and had the rest of the summer free. That was bliss!

Did anyone have pen pals? I used to write to people all over the place. These days you can chat to people all over the world just by a few clicks or taps, but it was so exciting when an air mail envelope arrived.

I used to collect postcards too. I've kept them for years, and I'm selling them on eBay at present. I've kept some of the ones that I feel are special, such as ones from relatives who are no longer with us. It's been fascinating reading all the messages. These days people would sent a text or an email for a short message. I haven't sent or received a postcard for years.

Life is so different now. It seemed so simple back then. But I suppose life is simple when you are younger.