in grannys day

elona

When DH was a boy - he got stung on the ear by a bee - his mum put the blue bag on it and off he went to play - with a giant blue ear!!!!:eek:

Queenie

LOL @ elona - awww, your poor dh! Did he ever live it down?

*My own "bluing" was very discreet - the bee stung me bum *

Allexie

Queenie wrote:

:eek: OMG, MATH!! "Dolly-blue" ... the little blue bag ... my mum used that if we were stung by bee's LOL - ok, so she did the laundry with it as well

My gran used to put a few drops of dolly-blued water into her icing when doing the Christmas and Birthday cakes. She said it made the icing a proper white rather than a creamy white colour. It's a wonder we weren't all poisoned!!!! :eek:

MATH

Can you still buy dolly-blue? I'd like to give it a bash cos I miss those Whiter-than-white-whites.

trafalgar_2

MATH wrote:

Can you still buy dolly-blue? I'd like to give it a bash cos I miss those Whiter-than-white-whites.

An aunt who lives in canada says you can still get it there but I'm not sure if you can still get it in UK

The Dolly Blue works Back_barrow fascinated me as a kid,everything was blue,even the people:rotfl:

Allexie

MATH wrote:

Can you still buy dolly-blue? I'd like to give it a bash cos I miss those Whiter-than-white-whites.

MATH...I got one about 18months ago from one of those old-fashioned iron-mongers...(now closed!). Think its still under the sink...did not seem to work for me!

Just found this...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cumbria/features/askaway/industrial/dolly_blue.shtml

trafalgar_2

Oh,and it stunk to high heaven:rolleyes:

Ticklemouse

Do you also remember the fact that your granny never used to have much in her bin when it came to emptying it.

My g/parents grew their own fruit and veg, bought locally so there was very little in terms of packaging to throw out, and what there was, they managed to recycle. Clothes lasted forever (g/ma had a suit she'd crotcheted (sp?) when I was tiny and I still remember her wearing it 30 years on - but then fashion wasn't her ) When anything was done, it became hankies or cushion covers or cleaning rags, whatever was appropriate.

The insides of cereal boxes contained their greaseproof, butter wraps also used in baking tins. Milk came from the milkman and they would never have wasted money on yoghurt therefore plastic pots - 'just drink a pint of milk' was her answer when we asked for it

Marg tubs became storage pots either in the kitchen or the shed/garage. Newspapers were used on the fire, wrapping paper was peeled off carefully and reused - as were some pressies. Cards were recycled for charity as were milk bottle lids and stamps.

Books came from the library - they wouldn't waste money on them. They eventually had a stereo, and a sum total of about 12 LP's (all pressies)

They had a compost heap for kitchen and garden waste.

In fact - what did they chuck out?

Queenie

Ticklemouse wrote:

........ In fact - what did they chuck out?

Their kids as soon as they were old enough to work

beachbeth

When I was little in the late 60's I can remember my mum boiling the washing in an electric tub (don't know what it was called). She had the tongues too and I remember being frightened of these because she seemed to put her hands so close to the hot water when she used them. I was watching her put the clothes through the mangle one day and she told me not to put my fingers near it. Little Miss Opposite that I was immediately put my finger next to the roller to see what would happen - ouch! She was quite pleased when she got her new top loading washing machine (very modern!!!). I can remember a plastic whirly thing in the middle of it that went round one way and then round the opposite way to swish the washing round.

My parents were quite well off and we always seemed to get the newest gadget before anyone else and we were all very excited when we got our first colour tv. My dad said we'd have to sit right back from it because of the radiation!

My mother-in-law, god bless her, was older than my parents (she died about 10 years ago) and one thing she used to do when cooking Sunday dinner was put a pinch of bicarbonate of soda in with the boiling cabbage as this made it stay a green colour (apparently!). I tried to tell her that doing this got rid of the vitamin C in the cabbage and that vitamins were more important than greenery on your plate but she wouldn't have it!!!