lost in time

Can you remember any of these? They were part of our lives in the 50s and 60s but mostly have been lost in the mists of time.

Women who went to the local shop in slippers and wearing curlers in their hair.

Hairstyles on men that had a ‘quiff’ at the front.

Coconut macaroons with a cherry on top, mum made them in an eggcup.

Double seats at the back of the cinema, young couples could enjoy ‘a bit of slap and tickle’ and probably saw little of the film.

Boys shouting to cyclists, ‘Get off and milk it’ and ‘Is it a bike or a bedstead?’

Dipping a small stick of rhubarb into an eggcup-full of sugar and eating it.

Your sister ironing her long hair on the ironing board in order to straighten it. Or cellotaping curls to her cheeks until they had dried and set to get a Cilla Black bob style look.

Boy scouts ‘bob-a-job’ week

Cow-horn handlebars

The ‘pop-man’ - he used to bring a truck full of fizzy pop to the street. Ours was Barrs pop.

Taking empty pop bottles back to the corner shop and getting a few pennies for them.

Making a peashooter from and empty biro pen and blowing grains of uncooked rice through it.

Knitting long woollen ‘tails’ using a cotton bobbin with four small nails in the end. The tail emerged from the hole in the bobbin.

Playing a game of ‘ponks’ with glass marbles. We used to play it in the gutter of the road all the way from school and back home.

Making a toy ‘tank’ out of an empty bobbin, a slice of candle, a rubber band and a used matchstick.

Girls doing handstands against a wall and tucking their dresses/skirts into the legs of their knickers to hide their modesty.

Seeing your breath as steam on a cold frosty morning – in your bedroom!

Making a sort of gunpowder out of weed-killer and sugar. We made a trail with it on a wall and when lit it would fizz and sparkle and work its way along the line.

Collecting empty cigarette packets and cutting the front and backs off to make playing cards. We played ‘snap’ with them and did swaps. Some favourites brands were: Bachelors, Senior Service, Capstan Full Strength, Craven A, Kensitas.

Barbers shops where men had their split ends singed off with a lighted taper. The mysterious ‘Something for the weekend sir?’

Stuffing your bra with paper hankies

Sitting on the wall by the road and writing down every car registration that passed.

Drying your hair in front of the open fire and seeing steam rising off it.

Paraffin heaters and Esso Blue

Folding cigarette cards and pegging them to the struts on your bicycle, the spokes on the wheels would make them flap and create a sound like a motorbike (so we thought).