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 ability to find things out without the internet

Karvol. Where's bloody Karvol?

Toddler harnesses, with long straps. My Mum used to have to harness my younger sister as she kept running off. My sister now has a daughter who does the same yet reckons the harness would be tantamount to child abuse!!

China cart horses. My XMIL had seven, seven I tell you, trudging along her window sill. The poor bastard at the rear was pulling a little wooden cart. They looked severely depressed with their heads hanging down. I was depressed every time I looked at them.

You can still get toddler harnesses with reins. My nephew wears a set because he likes to run off. Pound land sells them.

I miss Karvol too. And Syndol. The new version of Syndol is crap.

Bottles of kaolin and morphine over the counter from the chemist. Best thing ever for upset stomachs. Mum used to dose me and my siblings and the dogs with it!

www.chemist-4-u.com/care-kaolin-mixture-200ml

Still available, just in limited quantities.

Blocks of raspberry ripple ice cream is another thing that seems to have disappeared.

You used to be able to get some very strong over the counter medications. Anyone remember dodo tablets? Don't know what was in them, I took them for what you were supposed to, but they still gave me a bit of a high.

I can remember when reins went out of fashion. Lots of parents started talking about them as child abuse and comparing it to leading a dog around on a lead. I never understood it myself. They seem incredibly practical to me.

Corn dollies
Horse brasses
Frilly aprons
Big moths splattered over the front of the car after driving at night (actually, that probably explains their absence)

DD had back pack reins and another more traditional set. They were both well used from the moment she started toddling at 1 until she was about two and a half.

I think they encouraged her to walk, she had a little bit of independence and now that she's three and a half, she's used to wearing a backpack when we're out, so carries a drink, a snack and a toy. She walked for miles and still does.

Nutty bars, Cosy Toes tights, string vests, men with hankies on their heads that had knots tied in each corner, hostess trollies . . .

Eternal Beau crockery

Kaolin is a very good product

Jennymanara, I remember Dodo tablets, I used to take them for breathlessness 20 years or so before I was finally diagnosed with asthma. And, yes, they did make you feel a bit spaced out

Yes I took them for what was undiagnosed asthma as well. They were bloody strong.

My mum always says that cough medicines were amazingly effective when they used to have actual morphine in them.

Re harnesses - you can buy an expensive novelty rucksack with a clip on lead. How is that not a harness?

Metal sandcastle buckets

Hard plastic lunchboxes with flasks

Bonanza and other fancy choc ices (replaced by Magnums and ice cream versions of choc bars)

Coals from Newcastle (sweets)

Fruit juice as a starter

Bead things over car seats

Those lamps with oil drops down wire that looked like water

Big glass bottles in chemists windows full of coloured water

Halloween witch’s hat - orange and black, made of paper with a very particular pattern in. Saw them every year, not sure when they vanished.

Some of these are just things I remember from childhood, like the lamps, they would have just been a trend so I’d “expect” them to disappear,

I remember the local pharmacy selling a home made linctus that was supposed to cure lots of minor complaints. It was probably just sugar water.

I've got one as well; used it today in the deluge! Very handy if just popping out to the corner shop.

Encyclopaedia sets. My parents had a collection in a wide cabinet to house them all. I can’t remember how many volumes there were exactly, at least 12.

PPs have mentioned kaolin and morphine. Horse liniment/embrocation? for muscular pain.

Black cherry ice cream is a sight seldom seen these days. Not in Italy though. The sensible Italians still make and sell it.

I think we got a bit dazzled by Ben & Jerry’s/other ice creams with sweeties and lumps of chocolate embedded in them, and forgot what good ice cream was supposed to taste like!