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.

LadyRanaldini - I loved Vent Vert and used it for a number of years before I graduated to Shalimar and then Chanel No. 5 - both still going of course.

LadyRannaldini Me and my friend used to knock on different neighbours houses and ask to take their toddler out for a walk. I don't ever remember being told no. We would take them out for an hour r two. I think we did this from age 9.
Although once we asked a neighbour if we could take her baby put in the pram. She said yes. The baby was a couple of months old. When I told my mum she told me not to ask to take the baby out again as it was too young.
Can you imagine posting on MN that you allow a neighbours DD to take out your toddler or baby for an hour or two?

Babies alone in prams outside shops. Used to be very common.

@sashh what's the contraceptive pill got to do with thalidomide? I don't know of a connection?

Horse troughs that aren't planters. Rag 'n' bone men with a (usually) pongy old horse pulling a cart. Coal men and dustmen that slung your dustbin over their shoulder emptied your bin and returned it to your door/gate/garden. We never had bin liners either in years gone by; I think it went directly into the dustbin and you wrapped your food scraps in newspaper before throwing them into the dustbin.
Chips wrapped in newspaper. Always tasted good!
Routemaster buses.

Milk floats - we still have milk delivered in bottles. Dd is also a recent convert. It's becoming popular again IMO - a lot less plastic.

As for things thatbhave disappeared, or largely so, old ladies in a summer uniform of curly perm, floral patterned frock and white cardi.

Ditto in a winter uniform of sludge-coloured Dannimac and woolly hat.

Re Nuns... DDs saw some Nuns a couple of months ago. DD2 pointed at them and said 'Look! Midwives!'. Trying to explain what Nuns were was a bit confusing for us both.

Cigarette machines that dispensed packs and ones that sold single fags in pubs.

And yy, the coupons.

I have a beautiful suede jacket people have offered to buy off me or ask me where I get it. My mother saved cigarette coupons for months in the 80s and that's how I got it.

Telex machines - the bits of perforated paper which were 'dangerous' if you swallowed them by mistake.

Large boxes of Milk Tray Chocolates which only came out at Christmas - one layer only but in a flat box which had a picture of a country cottage or a ballet dancer or cute puppies on the lid - chocolates were in individual paper cases. Oh how I miss them! That is when Milk Tray were wonderful tasting chocs.

Primark had those plastic rain hoods in last week! Near the till, on one of those vertically hanging things!

Um bongo fruit drink

Sunny Delight

I work in a care home so most of these related to elderly I see all the time 😂

Pink or brown blancmange rabbit served on a bed of chopped up green jelly, as a children's party food centrepiece.

Will you lot stop!!! I'm laughing so much, but so needed. Thank you so much. Funny too, to compare the equivalents of today. e.g white dog poo/ shit in nappy bags hung in tree's, red & white workman tents/ big fat hole ripe and ready to fall down. Those things must have saved so many lives. I'm carrying on reading. You lot are cracking me up! 😍😁

Yikes pencils

My neighbor smokes a pipe. My kids think it's the most fascinating thing they've ever seen!

HalfBloodPrincess
I am sure somebody has told you by now, but I will say it anyway 😂. The sad clown was ‘Pierrot’, I had a room full of it (even though it actually gave me nightmares!), it was my upgrade from Victoria Plum! 🥰

A relative has a built up shoe, just not the big black ones they used to be.

@InterchangeableEmma I had thunder flies last summer - totally freaked me out at first. They were everywhere and I had to google them to find out what they were!

Milk machines that dispensed plain and strawberry milk and orange juice in cartons.
I had 'Styx'. The cream perfume came in a little pot shaped like a witches cauldron.

Neckless yes I remember those. Jelly moulds were very spectacular I was always impressed as a child!
Also all cakes were home made apart from very special occasions when you had to make enquiries with the local baker to see if he/she could possibly make you a bespoke cake.
It always seemed like a huge deal and because my brothers birthday was in December, there was lots of oohing and ahhring because the bakery would be busy and the master baker could not possibly commit to baking a birthday cake at that time of year, even with 6 weeks notice!!!!
No wonder the supermarkets saw a gap in the market.

Whoever mentioned Pierrot the clown, my MIL still has a framed Pierrot picture on her wall.
Has anyone mentioned co-op stamps yet? Used to love sticking them in the little book for my mum.

Old ex servicemen from WW1 with an empty jacket sleeve pinned to their shoulder were they had lost an arm in battle. Elderly ladies with dowager's humps and people with rickets.

@jennymanara I did this when my 2 were little (they're now 9 and 6) and to be honest they lose so many gloves now that I'm tempted to do it again.

That picture of a swan with its wings turned upwards and a naked man and woman in the centre of them.
Also proper tramps wearing big old overcoats tied with rope round the middle, wellington boots,beards down to their waists etc.

Heinz tinned steamed puddings.