To ask what the weirdest thing you experienced or saw at someone else's house when you were a child?

On my French exchange (1984, Vichy grin) we had dinner one evening and once we’d finished the main course we turned the plates over and had pudding off the other side of the plate - within the ring on the bottom of the plate.

That's quite normal at village feasts in France where you might be catering for 50 -100 people and it's all done by volunteers who want to minimise the washing up. The plate is slightly dished, so you will have your soup in it first. The bread comes next so you can wipe the plate. Then cold meats or cold fish, then the mains... And yes, of course you have to wipe the topside of the plate clean with bread again before the cheeses, then you turn it over. (Sometimes out in the sticks they even serve coffee in your Duralex wine tumbler.) But I've not heard of people doing it at home.

Sounds strange but I grew up in an awful house so the weirdest thing I saw which was so bonkers to me I remember it so clearly even though I was only about 5.
I went round a friends house for the first time after school.
The house was clean, there wasn’t empty bottles everywhere, it was quiet. We played in the living room with Barbies.
Her dad came home from work and I literally wet myself but he didn’t shout/hit/scream. He walked over to her mum and kissed her! Said hello to us and asked us about our game! It was like being in the twilight zone, I was so confused and weirded out I never went back!

I once asked the mum what her job was she told me she did autopsy’s...thing is she always went to work wearing mini skirts thigh high boots and a fur coat and was picked up by various men...it’s only looking back with the eyes of an adult that I’ve realised she was probably a prostitute

Faffing about with the dead, anyway, I suppose . . .

I went back to a friends house for tea as a child. Her mum picked us up from school and nobody spoke in the car. We gets to a long driveway with massively overgrown gardens on either side. We pull up to a huge Victorian house standing in its own grounds, looked like it was falling to bits. The inside of the house was dirty and smelt funny ... like herbs that had gone off. All their furniture was old and mucky. The mum disappeared and the friend stood there in this silent massive house, shrugged her shoulders and said “what do you want to do?” ... it was like she’d never had a friend over before! I asked if we should play in her room so we went upstairs and all she had was functional furniture, no toys or anything. We ended up heading for the garden which was absolutely immaculate with peacocks etc!! So weird when the house was a bit of a shithole. Maybe they were renovating?

All those people who ate "raw" sausages - are you sure it wasn't liver sausage?

"Raw" sausage meat is apparently actually cooked - it's been boiled or summat! (Or so I was told by a uni friend who used to eat it. Her family was vair' posh and she farted five-pound notes, so to speak, so I was quite surprised that she had even heard of sausages . . . )

School friend when we were about 9-13 years old had two older brothers who were adopted, and she was their parents’ only biological child. She used to say all the time, and in front of them, that she was their parents’ ‘miracle child’ and they only adopted her brothers because they thought they couldn’t have children. Her brothers always struck me as sad and detached, and their parents clearly favoured my friend considerably.

Another friend, similar ages to above, was adopted and her parents very clearly favoured their two biological children. Her clothes, toys and bedroom furniture/accessories etc looked like it had all come from the worst dregs of a charity shop while her older brother and younger sister had lovely new-looking things. I had also heard them introducing their children to their new neighbour as ‘my son A, my daughter B, and my adopted daughter C.’ My mother was always disgusted at her parents and how they treated her, and looking back she was a very screwed-up child

A friend and I had a sleepover over at a mutual friend’s house when we were about 10. We had all known each other and all our parents for years. Once in bed the friend’s mother came in and told my friend and I give her our knickers so she could wash them so they’d be ready for the morning. We both pointed out we had overnight bags with clean clothing but she would not have it. We both felt uncomfortable and pressured, and she wouldn’t leave the room until we handed over our knickers.

When I was about 10, I was spent some time at a friend's house after school. We were messing around with her mother's make up and things, I know we shouldn't and I would be horrified if my daughter did the same.
We came across a pair of very lacy crotchless knickers. Neither my friend nor I could work out why such a piece of clothing would exist. I even went home and asked my mother about them. She went very red faced and changed the subject immediately.
The mother in question was lovely but outwardly very conservative.

@SillyUnMurphy - I agree! The funny ones are great, brilliant idea for a thread OP, I’m enjoying reading those. But some of them are making me feel sick, it’s horrifically sad. I’m sorry for those who had less than loving upbringings xx

Not weird or from childhood but on the bidet point, a builder friend fitted one for a Muslim customer. The chap drives a taxi and he's picked my friend up a few times. Each time he tells my friend how happy he is with "my bum washer". Tickles me

Cutlery and plates for fish and chips is normal.

My Mum also talked about sugar butties being a luxurious treat (probably 1930s) and sometimes gave them to us as children in the 60s. She was from Liverpool. I had West Indian friends in the 70s who had condensed milk sandwiches and condensed milk in their tea which I quite liked.

I always put out cutlery and plates for fish n chips. Doesn’t everyone?

I grew up on a council estate in a mining village. My best friend lived across the road from us and they had an electric kettle which was obviously faulty. Her grandad used to tell us to feel the kettle to see if it was warm. We got a mild electric shock and he thought it was hilarious! He did it every time and we never thought of refusing . My friend and I thought it was quite funny (we were 8 and her sister was 6) but when I told my mum about it there was a huge fuss and the kettle disappeared.

@sleepymoggy Glad it wasn't just my gran who was weird! I was maybe 10 when she told me and even at that age I thought it sounded gross!

love the dodgy dressing table stools story

My friend’s dad had a garage containing ugly dressing table stools. They were velvet covered with Queen Anne legs, ugly braids, fringes, the works. He seemed to be assembling them. He worked at a car plant and when I mentioned the dressing table stools their reaction was as if I had uncovered a major criminal operation. It was all very hush hush and I was told not to talk about it.

On my French exchange (1984, Vichy grin) we had dinner one evening and once we’d finished the main course we turned the plates over and had pudding off the other side of the plate - within the ring on the bottom of the plate.

That happened to my uncle and aunt, also in the '80s. We've always assumed they were winding them up but maybe not. Alternatively, it was the same people and they played this joke on all their guests

My gran used to tell me that she used to eat bread with brown sugar on it

Never had one myself but this was definitely widespread at least in the north. When I was at primary school "sugar butties" used to be something you said as a polite version of "bloody hell"

I agree @ExhaustedGrinch. I'd call it civilised rather than weird!

Another friend's parents brought out forks and knives and plates to eat a fish supper - I do this ... I didn't think it was particularly odd?

When I first started dating my now husband I met his sister who was 14. She never, ever had friends round, and most certainly was NEVER allowed to a friend's house, for all of her childhood. Sleepovers were the worst kind of horror my MIL could imagine. When I tentatively asked why, I was told "Because if there's fire the other parents will save their own children and would leave my daughter to burn". Like, she honestly believed that, but probably because she herself WOULD let someone else's kid burn just to save her own.

@halexanderamilton was the musician Ozzy Osbourne?

I'm remembering more as I read everyone else's tales now. My gran used to tell me that she used to eat bread with brown sugar on it and also bread with a tin of condensed milk on it as a snack

*had just gone back to work.
This was about 45 years ago.

We went though a phase of seven meals a week. Sunday, roast dinner, Monday, cold meat and jacket potatoes. But Mum has just gone back to work as Dad wasn’t earning (retraining). It made life easier for her not to have to think about meal planning on top of everything else.

The only outstanding thing I can remember is playing with the girl two doors down and her mother giving us cake as a snack. I was amazed and thrilled when she offered ice cream with it.

So much heartbreak on this thread

@katewhinesalot funny! I wasnt allowed to watch Grange hill! But was allowed to watch Aliens, Young guns, Dirty Dancing, Lost Boys....and read endless Stephen King and James Herbert- But 'Grange Hill'....'it's way too affecting'....