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

God I remember the coal man ( in the 80's) I remember we had a coal bunker in the garden me & my dB would play on it . I think once he fell and cut his head .

My dad was a coal man! When we were little he’d throw us over his shoulder shouting “sacks of coal” and dangle us down coal chutes while we screamed (in fun!). And growing up, it never occurred to me that other kids parent’s DIDN’T throw them around like they were coal. I thought it was as common rock paper scissors

@raspberrymolakoff In the 1980s there was an elderly rag and bone man who used to come to our road, complete with a horse and cart, and a bell.

Our house also had a coal chute, which my parents say was still in use when they moved in, before they got a boiler. I don't remember the coalman though.

1forall74
few on here will be old enough to remember the horse and carts which did collections from houses but I do. Rag and Bone Men they were called and you knew they were coming as you'd hear their cry "any old rags, any old rags". I was born mid 50s but I remember it clearly. The coal was also delivered by horse and cart when I was small by a thrillingly dusty coalman with a heavy bag over his shoulder, literally back breaking work!

@VenusClapTrap I remember being hungry a lot as a child. I lived with my grandparents and they served minute portions. DS 8 would be very lethargic on what I used to eat.

Not as a kid (but maybe my DC will tell the story in years to come) but we had weird neighbours. They moved in and were quite normal, then overnight they became almost reclusive. Curtains closed all day, we would t see them for weeks on end. Then middle of summer a few neighbours were sat on our doorsteps talking (terraced road) and the husband came out shouting that we had woken them up and could we be quiet (this was mid afternoon!!!) One day a moving van turned up and they moved out.
Weeks later the bailiffs started turning up knocking on the door. The house was repossessed and turned out they had been growing drugs for God knows how long. All the floorboards pulled up and the big ventilation pipes all over, holes in roofs... They now live at the other end of the village and are neighborhood watch coordinators!!!

Like Whynosnowyet, your post just there - it all sounds really grim, and I'm so sorry you had to go through all that! I wouldn't especially want to come to Classics to read it tbh (That's probably come out all wrong, I don't mean it as something against you)

Yes, the tone is all over the place - I er... I agree with @Buscake

it’s clear that some posters have experienced some really heart wrenching things, and to have it categorised as ‘classic’ seems gross to me

Buscake I'm sure that if anyone is upset about their personal memory going into classics, they could contact MN and have their posts deleted.

If people don't do this, we can assume that they are comfortable with it being left online.

I agree @Buscake

I agree with @Buscake

I completely agree with @Buscake

@Footiefan2019 I didn’t contribute. And I’m not speaking for everyone else, I’m simply putting forward an opinion that you don’t agree with. That’s all.

@Buscake if you’ve said something on this thread you aren’t happy with other problem reading just ask for it to be taken down. I don’t see why you should have to speak for everyone else

@Footiefan2019 “classics isn’t full of happy shiny stories and amusing ‘fails’”

I didn’t say it was. Nor did I say the past should be erased it’s clear that some posters have experienced some really heart wrenching things, and to have it categorised as ‘classic’ seems gross to me.

Of course there are other more serious threads in classics, but the contributions here on this specific thread make it appear more like an attempt at a ‘lighthearted’ thread that has gone horribly wrong. There is a huge difference in tone between eg the drug addicted foster baby thread and this thread.

The drug addicted Foster baby was one of the saddest and most poignant threads I've ever read on here, that is in classics. The OP sadly passed away a few years after it was written.

@buscake classics isn’t only full of happy shiny stories and amusing ‘fails’, there’s often some quite heart wrenching stuff in there that is still interesting and important. How is it intrusive to anonymously talk about something? Anything identifiable on here has been removed.

A lot of this massively highlights the mistakes of the past and how parenting and modern life has changed. I don’t think it’s helpful to erase anything bad that’s ever happened and have no trace of it.

I’m shocked this has gone in to classics. It’s full of deeply painful memories for many posters, detailing neglect and abuse. It seems ghoulish to say it is ‘fascinating’ and to keep it available for all to read and reread. I’m sure there will be some posters who wouldn’t have contributed if they’d known it would be categorised as a ‘classic’ thread that is easily found. Ive messaged MNHQ and I really hope they reconsider this. It’s intrusive and unfair.

In Junior school, I had a friend whose family were very devout Christians. She used to tell her younger sister that if she did XYZ, Jesus would;d make her fall down and bang her head.

I once slept over and the girls said their prayers (fair enough). Then the mum said "And what is your prayer, Cru?" so I made one up. My Mum was really cross when I told her the next day because the family knew we were not religious (in fact my Mum is quite a militant atheist).

This was in the 1980s.

My stepdaughter visited an old(er) friend of mine. I hadn't seen her for years although we were in regular touch by phone and she offered dsd a bed for the night when she was going to an audition in a nearby town. Her husband had died 7 years before. D sd came back.somewhat traumatised.as the entire house, every surface, was covered in thick dust and my friend happily told dsd that she never cleaned because dust was mainly made up of skin cells and the dust was all she had left of her DH!!...Dsd said there were mouse droppings in the sugar bowl too....

Thanks for sharing @Softskin88 they are such awful statistics but important for us to know.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51105266

Let’s hope the number reduces now everyone’s more aware of the phenomenon.

Wow, I've been totally consumed by this thread reading in snippets over the last few days. It has been horrific and so so sad in lots of places. When I first read the title I thought to myself, well that's going to be a huge list of abuse, and lo it was. It's awful that so much of it was not reported, even as children knowing something was wrong but for whatever reason not being able to tell trusted adults. Ive done so much safeguarding training and it's eye opening to hear of a different time (although that's obviously not to say children aren't abused these days as the statistics are still so high ). But as PPs have said, it's good we have safeguarding nowadays, it is all our responsibilities. Also interesting how important it is to be believed as a child, so many where they had told their parents and were told off for telling lies or they had laughed it off.