Silly things your mother did (lighthearted)

Thought of another one.

Mum used to make us stand outside and count out very loudly the number of bags of coal delivered. She was convinced the coal man would diddle her otherwise (and constantly tell him NO SLACK (fine dust or very small pieces of coal)). Humiliating all round except for her hiding in the pantry and watching it all anyway.

She always cleans hard to reach places, like behind the washing machine, before going away. Apparently this is because if anything happened to her, she would not want people to think she was dirty!

My mum used to mop the kitchen floor and plump up all the cushions before we went away on holiday. And they used to hide the (hefty non flat screen) tv in case anyone stole it!🤣🤣

Take your coat off or you wont feel the benifit.
Tights must be worn, never bare legs (very common)
Bra less oh my heavens noooo
Tea must be made in tea pot, never in the cup and it must be a China cup, not one of those horrid thick mugs.
Wash the front step, neighbour's will talk.

Hilarious

My Mum did all this plus

Always had posh telephone voice

Always asked anybody what they were having for dinner that night

Was extremely superstitious (back then a lot of superstitions were based on fact, e.g don’t cross on the stairs (not enough room) stir with a knife bound to cause strife (you could cut yourself) don’t walk under a ladder (something could fall on you)).

She was particularly offended by the colour green (buy a green coat, the next one will be black) so much so that when she chose to send me to a school which had green uniform I was the only child dressed entirely in BROWN except for my knickers which were white and could be put into the boil wash with other whites.

When I have a chesty cough/bronchitis, I had a Wright's coal tar lamp in my room to help me breathe. It gave off a weird blue glow all night and a very strong smell. Anyone else remember this??

Also the hankies boiled in a special pan! Urgh! He wore shirts with a detachable collar and these were sent to the laundry along with his shirts, sheets and towels. They used to come back in a blue paper parcel and had been stiffened with starch!!

I recognise so many of these - was telling DH the other day about ITV not being allowed apart for sport because it was vulgar, sultana in curries, the man must be the master in his own home so always got his way (DH quite liked the sound of that one) and presents handed over with the rider 'it's a good one' to emphasise they had cost more than she thought was appropriate.

@unmarkedbythat That's hilarious and it would also drive me up the wall (as I call it)

Don’t sit with your back to the fire, you’ll be sick.
Don’t wash your hair when you’re ‘like that’ (on your period).
Don’t go out with wet hair, you’ll get pneumonia.
Don’t go out in bare feet. See above.
Don’t eat sugar out of the sugar bowl, you’ll get worms.
Don’t sit on a cold floor, you’ll get piles.

Life was a minefield in the 70s and 80s.

When we were young, we were given a spoonful of Radio Malt and a Haliborange tablet every day to stave of colds.

If we had a chesty cough, we would have Vick rubbed on our chests, and a heated flannel vest on top of that. We would sit in front of the coal fire to help our chests.

Mum would also make 'butterballs' for a sore throat, little pieces of butter covered in sugar.

Dad's cotton hankies were boiled in a special large pan, which was also used for cooking the cat's fish, which was ling. (Not at the same time!).

"The lunch box would be a walls ice cream tubs, the old blue ones with the white lids. She used to wash out any ice creams tubs or anything similar and use them for storage."

Oh God, yes, we did that in my family too.

I still find it hard to throw out a box or a jam jar.

@JamesMiddletonsMarshmallows

I never put towels in the dryer either. They take way too long to dry. And I like the scratchy feeling personally.

My mum would never use a dryer in a million years, however.

My mum seemed to have an unhealthy obsession with making all our clothes smell like pot pourri. Scented drawer liners, hemp bags full of lavender, air fresheners in the wardrobes, all the time. They'd appear by stealth as well, we'd just be going about our day, open the pyjama drawer and WOOF the smell of patchouli and cinnamon would come wafting into your face.

I remember one of my brothers having a MASSIVE tantrum when he was about 16 because mum had put new scented liners in his drawers and he was going on a date and everything he tried on stank of old lady

There was also a military style regime when it came to washing clothes. IIRC, the process would be -

• take clothes out of clothes basket, sort into piles exactly as the labels said to wash (often meaning just 2 or 3 things would go in the machine)
• once washed, put on spin setting to squeeze excess moisture out
• hang everything on the line to dry or on the clothes horse
• after line drying put some things in the dryer (but for some reason never jeans or towels so they'd be stiff as a board)
• put clothes on coat hangers to put in the airing cupboard for about a year
• iron the clothes

Took forever to get a shirt washed.

She's absolutely horrifed that all I do now when I wash clothes is separate darks/colours/whites, stick it on 30 degrees (or 40 if smelly/stained), put everything in the dryer and then put away in drawers. I iron once in a flood. This seriously displeases her - like I think she'd be less disappointed if I took up a cocaine addiction.

Did anyone else have double glazing in the 70s/80s that was basically a second set of sliding panes fitted an inch apart from the original windows? Much long winded faffing for mum on the designated cleaning day carefully removing them for cleaning both sets!

Yes to the sliced up Mars bars and repurposed knicker dusters here too!
Rearranging the configuration of the three piece suite (!) for summer/winter. Assume this comes from growing up with no heating and needing to sit closer to the fire in cold months?
Forcing us to wear underskirts with vests attached!

No washing on New Years Day or you will wash someone away.
No new shoes on the table, I tell hubby off for this.
I'm 34 and will always listen to my Nan

Me too, haven’t drunk it in years now.

@RJnomore1
I loved Barrs cream soda.

@50FootWave I throw pasta at the kitchen tiles, I heard it means it's done I'm 31, not handed down to me by my mum

@Contemplatinglife omg you’re the only other person I’ve seen mention that ever! My wee granny did that to my red kola and cream soda (Barrs, none of that cheap American stuff that fits your guts though. A spoon or two of sugar in to take out the fizz so it didn’t upset my stomach.

I’ve kept several dentists in business over the years...

[quote ParkheadParadise]**@Puffalicious
St Anthony is for lost items.[/quote]
Ahhh so it is!

I take it from your name you also had a Catholic upbringing. We call Parkhead the Fatherland . When I lived in Dennistoun I could see its lights from my 3rd floor flat.