Mumsnet Talk

I was schrunching some foil today and it reminded me of the Vitalite tub of milk bottle tops for the Guide Dogs (always a concept I struggled to undersand) at my DGP's house.

And the whoosh hit of tomato smell in the greenhouse.

And the tea caddy of buttom at the other DGP's house.

And the duoble loo roll holder for soft paper (guests) and Izal (unfortunate family).

And rice pudding with skin on.

And a shiny 5p coin for whomever had the smallest new potato on their plate at Sunday lunch.

Good times. Bittersweet memories.

The sound of a fly buzzing about

Piano melodies my granny would play as I went to sleep

Fox gloves

Pipe cleaners and empty matchboxes

The sound of of the aga as grandpa raked it and refilled it with coal

A photo of a camper van like theirs brought smells back to my memory that were so strong!

Happy Days

The tea trolly
Toast and dripping
Cherryade from the Corona man that left you with a red tache
'Sing something simple' on the radio
Banjo

and a xylophone like Rolf Harris had.

Sausage fritters for Saturday tea

Sandy the dog

The bat that lived in the outdoor loo <shakes>

Hiding under the kitchen table from the rent man

Sunday night...newspaper on gran's lap...head on knee for de-nitting

Grandad drunk every Sunday afternoon

Miss my grandma

Oh - and Quality Street tins and the mn paying 'cribbage'

Great question.

Lying in bed at my GPs in the dark and watching the car lights from the busy road outside travel across the wall paper.

The lovely silky bedspread on my gran's bed - we used to rush into bed with her in the mornings. She would fire up the Teasmade and we would dunk biscuits in her tea while she told us stories of 'the old days'.

The BEST fish and chips ever.

Sitting on a step-stool at the table because she didn't have enough chairs when we were all there.

My grandad pulling coins out of my ears and letting me roll his roll-ups.

Playing with the china ornaments that my gran collected. Little elephants, china ladies etc in front of the open fire.

Good times indeed.

grandma bending down to get sweets out of the bottom of the cupboard, and my dad panicing
shop brought farmhouse cake(yum)
her wrap around apron.

Blankets with satin ribbon on the edges.

top and tailing gooseberries while sitting on the draining board.

woodpigeons in the early morning.

shiney 50ps granny had saved for us for pocket money.

green plasticine.

....... and those little wooden square grids that went on the wall that had miniature ornaments on.
Floral carpet
Floral settee
Floral curtains!!

Nylon sheets

The cupboard of toys my granny had, mostly from the early decades of the century, like stereoscopes with views of American national parks.

The shelf of children's books she had that were cut into shapes - incredibly exciting! (actually I think the content was very dull but the SHAPES were great)

her putting bran on everything

the faint smell of gas

and later on after her sight had gone, my granny doing the Times crossword in her head while I read out the clues in a state of awe

Purple flowery duvet covers with a sheet underneath to keep them clean.
Enormous hostess trolley that was wheeled out every Sunday.
Nasturtiums covered in caterpillars.
Ben Shaws lemonade.
Very flat Yorkshire pudding with onion gravy.
Ready brek for breakfast.
Baking jam tarts. (or rather, watching my twin make jam tarts)
A plate with different animals dressed up and named. I can remember Darcy Dog and Conchita Cow, but there were others.
Teaspoons with saints at the top of the handle.

Oooooh yes totally relate to having very vivid memories of grandparents' houses - for some reason much more vivid than memories of my own family home.

In my case: at my Italian grandparents' house:

walking round and round between kitchen and living room via an outside balcony (they were on the 5th floor) and smelling the smell of freshly made bread coming from the bakery in the courtyard below

the heat on my legs when we went out

the mothball smell from my grandmother's wardrobe

the smell of my Dad's deodorant as he got ready in the morning

the endless naps my parents would have in the afternoons while my sister and I annoyed our grandparents who they themselves eventually dozed off as well!

delicious vegetables

mozzarella

and loads more....

At my English grandparents' house:

again the smell of the house

thick wall to wall carpet

my sister and I sleeping under matching duvets

the light/windmill that played a tune that my sister and I listened to again and again

listening to Radio 4 news being read by the newsreader with the really deep voice on our way there

apple and blackberry pie - also steak and kidney pie (am now a vegetarian so that is actually a bit of a yuk memory!)

and on and on and on!!!!

The smell of Warburtons bread - Nana's flat

The smell of lamb cooking and of huge jars of pickling vinegar - Other Nana's flat. She also had a blow up doll in the corner of her bedroom, which her brother used as part of his comedy sketch (in a non sexual way).

My gran's big box of buttons.

Playing shoe shops with my DSis and my nan's shoes. Not her best ones though.

Watching Tom and Jerry with my grandad.

My grandad playing the organ.

Our yearly trip to Blackpool. Not strictly a memory from their house but one I always think of.

Grandad's homemade mushroom soup and lovely porridge on cold days.

My best childhood memories all come from my grandparents house.

The smell of my grandmas sherry
The piles of newspaper clippings my grandad stashed under his chair
The quality street tins full of Lego and buttons
Polishing my grandmas silver tea service every weekend when I stayed there
Freezing our tits off because my grandma refused to have the heating on
20p every weekend and £2.50 for my birthday

I really miss them

Lawks, yes, Cribbage.

And lime jelly with onion. Truly - it was lush!!

Oh and home-made cream horns. I have the metal cones somewhere that she used. [sob]

I miss mine too. The strength of their unconditional love was formidable and unquestioning.

warm gooseberries (from the sun)
coffee and smoke (she smoked 60 a day)
heavy heavy duvets
canasta
cross words
Sitting on the ironboard with 2 cousins as we had run out of chairs so ironboard over 2 chairs made for 3 seats
Sleeping in 2 chairs pushed together
4711

and oh love love love..

miss her still.. (18 years in Jan since she passed)

wonderful thread

Nanny's button box.
The tin of sweets in the larder.
Butcher's steels and knives, hams hanging in the larder (Grandad was a butcher).
Grandad bringing the take from the shop home and sitting with him counting old pound notes and marvelling at a £50.
The HUGE, 6 inch thick ledgers in which he wrote his accounts.
Antique furniture and treasures, the textured glass jug which inspired my own antique glass collection many years later.
Nanny's apple pie.
Blackie the Labrador.
Making a kite from a paper bag and flying it from the balcony.
The click click of Nanny's knitting needles.
Reading the Observer with Grandad on a Saturday afternoon.
The clunk and whoosh of the lift to their flat as it was operated late at night in the still darkness.

Oh how I miss my Nanny and Grandad.

I had a money box from Lloyds for 50 pences. It was the shape of a black horse head. <<omerta>>

Half-crown for birthdays. I thing that is 12.5p

The doorbell.

The swirly carpet pattern, we used to pick a coloured "swirl" and then you were only allowed to step on that colour!

The extremely grumpy and scary old cat, who would think nothing of swiping a sharpened claw down your arm as you passed him on the stairs.

How the spare room had a "hard bed" and a "soft bed" and we'd always fight to sleep in the "soft bed"!

The loo roll holder in the bathroom that was 3 foot high - little cupboard for loo roll storage, little shelf for grandad's newspaper, little dispensing section with serrated edge for ripping the loo roll, and an ashtray on the top!

The old out-of-tune piano.

Gran's "press" - the mysterious cupboard we used to try to sneak into to find treasures!

All the old family photos on the dresser. Australian relatives we'd never meet but seemed to know so intimately.

And the smell of it, that familiar smell.

Ahhh...memories!

Am sitting here weeping now.

They're great aren't they, grandparents? I hope my lot will have similar feelings when the look back.

Pressed send to fast

at paternal grandparents house

Bow and arrow (grandad taught me)
Raw peas in brown paper bags
the coin she would press in my hand
the clock

at step grandparents house

matchboxes to build with (we had 2 huge bags)
the huge plate rack with sweets at the bottom
longhaired jack russels
the smell of wool
knitting

and yes agree with the poster all the best memories come from my grandparents houses I was blessed to have 3 sets

I miss mine too much to even start.