Things that disappeared, without you realising?

[jennymanara]

What things have disappeared in society, and you did not notice until much later?
So when I was young in every shopping street you would see old women wearing coloured polyester macs and headscarves. And then one day I suddenly realised that I had not seen a woman wearing this kind of clothing for a long time.
The same with plastic rainhoods. You used to see these for sale in newsagents, and elderly women would wear them when caught unaware by the rain. Again disappeared.

The vinegar and sugar salad in a glass dish. This was a staple from childhood but no one has it now.

Pubs .

Outside Vending Machines, that worked.

Flat caps in til 80s. Hopped back early 90s then out but will return.

Kids making bows & arrows (might be just me)

Sausage dog draught excluders

Magic / joke shops

Sea monkeys

Old women reading tea leaves

OK stopping now

@Mumsymumphy

I saved my pocket money to buy my gran a rainhood when I was young, to keep her blue/purple rinse nice.

That so sweet! Did she love it?

Ha flat caps are still there @jennymanara my Dad's testament to that!

@soola I was going to agree re combovers ... but then isn't Trumps monstrosity a combover of sorts? I'm afraid that's very much there in all it's glory #CRINGE

I see less gin around the house these days ... but maybe that's just because I have three teenagers .... oh and Texan bars ... I still REALLY miss those!!

I bet not many remember children playing with a tennis ball in the leg of a pair of tights
How odd, we were only talking about this the other day. It would be a stocking and we would play against the gable end of the terraced house at the top of our Aunt's street, which also doubled as Wimbledon. It must have sounded awful inside the house!

Green shield stamps - I loved sticking them in the little books and helping my parents choose items when we had filled several books.

Hairstyles and hair magazine in the hairdressers. I remember spending ages choosing a hairstyle from a hair magazine and bringing a picture in. I'd sit having my hair done reading the hair magazines.

More often than not, the hairdresser cut my hair too short and I had to have a couple of day off school in hope it would grow in that time. Bizarre my mum let me!

Clear plastic bottles shaped like animals that were filled with brightly coloured bubble bath. Boots used to sell them and I thought they were the height of luxury!

Lamps made out of Mateus Rose bottles
The Covent Garden General Store
Women routinely wearing girdles/corselettes
Embassy coupons from cigarettes - my Grandparents ran a newsagents and bought these from customers. My Grandma had all her 'best' jewellery and crockery from the Embassy catalogue!

Haagen-Dazs comes in cardboard pot. But I know what you mean . I don't see young girls playing games together in the parks/street anymore... Ball and singing games I used to play as a child. Don't know when stopped.

Contact 400

We have a salt box down the road

A perfume called " aqua manda " ( does it still exist and one called , I think " Styx" or did I imagine that ?

I bought a freezer in the early seventies and the book that came with it assured me that my husband would not go hungry as he would be able to eat a meal I had frozen earlier and I could " take an evening off with a clear conscience " early 1970 s

LOVING the concept of a cockle and muscle man!

Everything being brown and orange - including shops (eg. WH Smiths, Sainsburys etc).

@Antigon

Yes she did. I remember feeling really chuffed that I'd got her just the right present! I must have been about 6 or 7. She was lovely.

I can't remember what I was doing last week but I can remember this from nearly 40 years ago.

In the late 50s when we were about 10 or 11 we used to take the neighbour's baby out for a walk in their pram, one neighbour had twins, they were quite happy for us to take them round the block a couple of times! I think MNers would be calling Social Services these days, sadly.

Three wheeled cars!

Rag and Bone men
Polishing/scrubbing front steps

Home landlines (parents generation have them but I don't know anyone my age, 36, or younger that has one)

You're clearly not in Norfolk! Landline or bottom of the garden for us.

I had reins for my kids (8 and 4). They were brill for when they were just learning to walk outside. I also live on a street where the neighbours sit out in the summer - I’m always out keeping an eye on my kids playing with the neighbours kids.

Knitted clothes on babies.

My Nan used to have a little telephone table/seat combination. I’ve not seen one of those in shops in a while.

The reason you don't see obvious nuns now, is that most orders just dress in longer skirts and blouses. I actually used to work with a convent at times. Only a few tiny orders have stuck to a traditional habit.

I hadn't realised that as someone mentioned upthread, I haven't seen an off licence for ages. They probably do still exist, but are rarer.

I saw someone smoking a pipe earlier today, and pointed him out to the DC (subtly as we were driving past). They had never seen anyone with a pipe.

Vickerstaff's! They were the best stationery shops back in the early 80s, selling really cool, rainbow coloured writing paper. Stickers. Cuddly Snoopies. Greetings cards. Scented erasers etc. Just bliss x

I thought of another one, those curtains made of long strips of plastic or beads which hung in doorways. I was watching a repeat of a drama from the late 80s or early 90s and several houses had one.

And a random one - I remember Boots selling loose pot pourri. You scooped it into a paper bag. I had some as a child which I bought with a Boots gift voucher.