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

[Deleted User]

KEZ I'm so very sorry that your Aunt has left you all, from your posts about her I felt that she was a larger than life character who was the life and soul of any gathering she was in, she sounded the best fun and I hope that your memories of her will always be smiles!!!

SWEETPEA I've just read through the past pages and you have a Podenga!!!!!! Oh how I envy you, DD1 and I met Podengas at the Discover Dogs stand at Crufts a few years ago and I'm completely smitten, they are wondercrump!!!!!! Such large dogs inside a very small frame, I got the impression that they would take you as an owner, but only on thier terms, I loved them on sight.

Butternut squash, the best way we like them is to deseed them and peel them, then cut into chunks and steam until cooked. Then mash them to a puree and add some butter and black pepper and use them instead of potato mash, it's smashing with chicken dishes, we grow them on the lottie and I never ever have enough to last peyond the Autumn, we love them so much.

maryb

gosh this thread has been flying today. Sorry I can't see who originally asked about summery squash recipes but there is one I love which involves peeling and cutting up the squash into biggish chunks then sprinkle it with a little bit of oil and some chilly flakes and bake in the oven. After about 10 minutes add some hazelnuts and some chipolata sausages cut into 1 inch pieces. basically cook until the sausages are brown by which time the squash should be done. Serve with a rocket salad. Absolutely yum

Rowan9

Goldiegirl wrote: »

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.

yes and yes...I also did my O levels in 1976 and it was even roasting in Scotland. What a summer. I still remember the tar melting on the roads. Yes also to pen-pals. My one was from New Zealand and we wrote for years. Postcards - we are just back from holiday and I didn't send any. DD had a couple of months of travelling recently and I have wonderful ones from her from Thailand and Vietnam. She is so good at writing letters as well as post cards and they are wonderful to receive.

savingqueen

Kezlou - thinking of you and sending hugs.

Mrs LW - glad to hear about your lovely girly weekend, 8 weeks to go, how exciting!

So many memories growing up in the 70s/80s, I was born in '68. Some of the stuff I remember in no particular logical order:

winceyette nighties, petticoats and vests, stretchy nylon navy PE knickers, rara skirts, the dreaded crimpline and only ever handmade clothes/handmedowns/jumble sale clothes; candy cigarettes, sherbert fountains, dibdabs and mix-up bags; warm squash in Tupperware beakers and warm bottles of milk at school. Sharing textbooks with one or two others because school couldn't afford enough to go round and spending hours copying down work from a blackboard.

Bonnie (I think the mag was called bonnie and playhour??), twinkle and when older Jackie mags. I also read an older male friend's old beanos and dandys and I think whizzer and chips??

Sindy dolls with homemade outfits and furniture (my richer friend, an only child had the shop bought real stuff.) Tin toys you wound up with a key - I had tiny cars that raced round a track and nothing with batteries. Listening to the top 40 with a tape recorder, pausing when the DJ chatted to make my own tapes. Going to Sunday school just for the cheap coach trips to the coast in the summer!

Washing with coal tar soap. My grandma using a washboard and me turning the mangle. Having to get our water from a tap in the street one year - must have been a water shortage.

Paraffin heaters and power cuts - mum having a race to get dinner cooked and sitting there with oil lamps/candles and even having to go one day a week to a church hall instead of school all week long, sitting there in our coats because there was no heating and it was winter.

Rare treats - going to an old fashioned ice cream parlour and ordering knickerbocker glories or pie, mash and liquor down Walthamstow Market. Double decker buses with conductors. Children's parties always at homes with jelly and icecream, a homemade birthday cake and party games. No themes or party bags!

could go on for ever so will stop now!
sq:)

savingqueen

Oh just remembered something from JackieO's post. I sometimes was drafted in to accompany my best friend at the time, an only child, to boring bowls matches. Her nan used to make us crochet dresses (looking back they were beautiful) and set our hairs in ringlets with setting lotion. I didn't like having to be on my best behaviour all dressed up for a long day out but my friend and I still managed to have fun.

kidcat

evening toughies

Stiltwalker - I know exactly how that feels, my OH doesnt get it either, I always say he gets four days off when he goes to work, he gets meal breaks, normal breaks and is able to switch off, for me even if all the kids are in school I cannot switch off, if my phone goes I am back in action and permanently on call. Even if OH is off work and I am out I get the crisis school calls.

MrsCD

Kezlou - sorry to hear about your auntie. She must have been a great person to know.

I can't keep up with you all! You really know how to talk on here
Sq -I was born in the very late 50's but I remember a lot of the same things as you. Brentford Nylons - both sheets and nighties, and getting static shocks off them. Dark blue PE knickers with our skirts tucked up into the knicker legs to do handstands.
Playing with a top and whip in the street, 2 baller and 2 baller against the wall, skipping with the rope tied to the fence and a friend turning the rope so more than one could jump together.
My grandma had an electric mangle on her washing machine which fed the clothes into the sink. She also had an outside loo when I was very young, then the council renovated the houses and everyone got a lovely new bathroom (partly under the stairs and a bit of the kitchen taken away) They had to move out for about a year and they were worried about where they would be housed as the place had a bit of a reputation, but it all worked out ok and their house was as good as new when they moved back again. Granda had the biggest rhubarb plant - my cousins and I would ask for a stick of it to eat raw with some sugar in a little greaseproof paper bag. The leaves were bigger than an umbrella.
When we had the occasional trip to the seaside, we always had salmon sandwiches - a real treat, and always homemade cakes and flasks of tea.
When I was deemed 'old enough', about 12 I think, I was allowed to stay at home during the school holidays instead of being taken to stay with Granda and Grandma all day. Our next door neighbour had to keep an eye on me until Mam or Dad got home from work.
Well enough reminiscing for me for now.... night, night.

nuatha

Enjoying the memories, I was born in 63 and had nylon school shirts (and was given a pile of nylon bedding when setting up my first house from some well meaning aunts.
Fuddle my grandfathers knew each off from racing in the Isle of Man TT, it only came to light in my late teens when I recognised one of the motorbikes in my maternal grandfathers greenhouses. Dad's Dad died when he was seven and Mum's Dad had never connected the name when my folks started courting. Because Grandad's second wife hated motorbikes they were never mentioned. After I'd seen the bike several old photos were dug out showing both my grandfathers.
Donkey stoning happened in parts of the North East, it was still happening in the colliery part of my village in the late 60s early 70s. The tradition of painting two white lines down the sides of the step was still happening there into the 80s. The centre was left natural by then.
I remember the smell of the green grocers van, and queuing out side the bakers door to buy bread at 7 in the morning (the shop didn't open till nine, but they sold bread from the side door) and the walk home being an exercise in self control as I loved bread hot from the oven.
I'm fortunate, lots of really happy memories from childhood.

tattycath

Kezlou, sorry for your loss. (((Hugs)))
I was 7 in 1976. I remember the lovely hot summer
I remember we often had power cuts and mum lit candles and we played I spy.
My dad used to get a mars bar out of the drawer and mum would cut it up and we had a piece each (there were 7 of us altogether when I was little).
We used to entertain ourselves, either walked everywhere or caught the bus.
Buses we few and far between. I grew up out in the sticks.
It was a bit of a culture shock when I moved coz I was used to seeing tractors and I hardly ever see tractors etc now, where I live now buses run at least every hour. When I lived back home there were only 3 buses a day to town and 3 back.
On an evening if we were bored we would get a sheet of paper each and play girl, boy, fish, flower, fruit. Someone would pick a letter and you had to think of a name for a girl, boy, fish, flower and a fruit. We used to go through the alphabet. As we got older we added animal, countries, vegetables etc. we loved it.
My granny used to come over twice a week and we occasionally played cards and dominoes with her-when she wasn't too busy putting the world to rights with my mum. She died when I was 12 and I still have one of her scarves-mohair I think. I never wear it and it doesn't have the granny smell, but it is in a drawer. I kept it to remember her by-even though I didn't really get on that well with her and thought she didn't like me.
She was my dad's mum, I never knew my mum's mum-she died before I was thought of.
Mum used to cook chips in beef dripping.
We never had spaghetti bolognaise or pasta (apart From tinned spaghetti), mum never made curry. It was plain English cooking.
Right time for a cuppa.

[Deleted User]

I have been reading through the posts and what struck me was how many smashing memories there are here ,none of which involved spending large amounts of cash on gadgets. I have nothing against techy stuff, but I daresay that like me, you either have children or grandchildren that seem to spend hours staring at a screen and 'playing' games.Bacically just pressing buttons.
All of my childhood games involved either a ball, a skipping rope (I once had one of those ones with ball bearings in the handle and really thought I was the bee's knees)or just plain imagination.Today's children seem to find it hard at times to actually relate to each other .One of my grandsons 'plays' with his friend on his Xbox and he has a set of head phones, and is in the dining room chatting whilst playing
I think its a bit sad that so many children today don't get out in the fresh air to play.As a child holidays from school entailed going to the park with a jam sandwich(if you were lucky ) and a bottle of water, and strict instructions to be back by six and no later.It meant being free from most adult restraints, and making 'dens' or small hideyholes as kids that were away from grown-ups and their boring conversations.Today's kids rarely seem to venture very far from home unless they have adult supervision.I know that you have to be careful of stranger-danger but I too was warned 'don't talk to anyone you don't know especially if they ask you to go anywhere' I was brought up on Blackheath in London and at times it was deserted, and in the winter could be a bit creepy in the fog, but you knew how to stay safe, and I can't remember ever being approached by anyone.

Most children hung around together anyway where I lived and everyone knew everyone else.in the road.How many folk even know their next door neighbours surnames today I wonder. So we may not have had lots of money or 'designer stuff (my grandson has a pair of 'Vans' that to me are no different from the 'bumpers' that my Mum bought me as a small child to play in during the summer holidays for 7/6d from Woolworths :)) but we did have freedom and imagination and the ability to amuse ourselves.How many times today do you hear kids say 'I'm bored' yet most of them have far more than I could ever have dreamed of when I was small.So they have lots of gadgets and things that have been bought for them yet they are still bored and restless.I look after four of my grandsons before and after school and during the holidays and one word that is banned is 'bored' I tell them bored people are boring and I've never been bored in my life there are far too many interesting things to do.:)
We make up games and daft things to try and I do get them out of the house and into the parks as much as possible,especially during the holidays.A bat ,a ball and voila you have 'french cricket' which even I, as a clapped out old Granny with rubbish joints can play.or we cook ,all the boys can make flapjacks or biscuits I taught them as soon as they could stand on a chair and stir that food is made in the kitchen and not out of a packet:):) we forage for stuff in the summer and I have taught them to recognize differnt birds on our walks I don't spend lots of money on 'things' for them but I do spend lots of time with them playing cards or board games and probably because I have time to spend it works, and keep them fairly happy.they do have their moments as do all children when things go wrong and they argue,but I try to divert their attention to something else.I feel very privileged to be able to be part of my grandsons childhood and my DD says its really funny sometimes to hear the boys if they say something and she says she knows they have heard it from me as she can remember phrases from her childhood.The other day apparrently the youngest one Mikey was singing a song in the car that came from my childhood, and she said she could remember me singing it to her over 40 years ago
By the way I have just rememebred something else who can recall those awful metal curlers that were instruments of torture when you 'set' your hair and worst of all when I was little on a saturday night having to have your hair done up so that you had ringlets in the morning for church.My hair was stick straight and nothing my Mum could do would induce a ringlet that stayed in well.I had chemo 5 years ago and when my hair grew back in I finally had a curl in it after well over 65 years my mum would have been so pleased :):):)