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.

bath cubes. And fluffy toilet seat covers and mats round the toilet pedestal, dreadful things. shorts on little boys all year round. Sliding down the hill on plastic sheets or cardboard. Trolley buses, bus conductors. Glass clowns - aargh. Anaglypta, the devil to remove. Polystyrene ceiling tiles, outbreaks of smallpox. Lucozade in the yellow film if you were poorly. making firelighters with newspaper, and mum or dad putting a newspaper over the fire to make it draw, or throwing a handful of sugar on it to make it go. Back boilers, miss mine. China horses pulling carts, only having strawberries in summer. Being able to go to the doc without an appointment. Old ladies never going out unless they wore a hat, unless they were on holiday and calling each other Mrs Smith or Mrs Jones, even though they'd known each other for 50 years. Women getting less pay for their work or getting a reduced stamp, thank heavens that'd gonne out by the time I started work. schoolchildren wearing knitted cardis or jumpers

The peanut and coconut sweets in revels
Decent tv on saturday nights that was suitable and entertaining for the whole family
Can't remember what they were called, but they were smoky bacon crisps that were little hollow pigs!
A bar of chocolate that was round and we think it was called a stop gap

Raleigh Chopper, Chipper, Grifter. Fantastically heavy for the size as I remember.

Yes, Raleigh.

My first proper bike was a bright red Raleigh Poppy. I got it for my 8th birthday and was so excited about going to the bike shop to choose it.

Radiograms. They sounded fantastic because they were made of wood and gave a warm and mellow sound, so much better than the plastic speakers we have now.

Smash hits magazine
I think those plastic lunchboxes with flasks in were called rough necks, but not certain
Just 17 mag was fab
Community spirit, hardly anyone knows their neighbours anymore

I know all my neighbours! We even had a street party to celebrate the 50th birthday of our houses haha. There is only 5 of us to be fair though haha

@spidersonmyceiling there is a bath mat & toilet mat in the house where I’m staying, obviously I moved burned it.

@olbndansmummy yes, rough necks! Well that seems to be the flask anyhow.

Don't remember stopgap bar but having a look discovered www.goodtoknow.co.uk/food/food-latest/28-retro-chocolate-bars-that-need-to-be-brought-back-immediately-113654

The queue of pensioners on Monday mornings collecting their pensions from the post office. Now, of course, pensions are paid directly into bank accounts.

Yes I know all my neighbours too, enough to chat to and take in my next door neighbour ,s deliveries if she's out,I'm not best friends with them but I'll have a chat in the Garden etc .

Reins and harnesses can be incredibly useful if you have kids that are bolters, ds2 is severely autistic and has learning disabilities,and whilst he will hold my hand,many other children we know with similar disabilities won't and wrist straps are often used to keep.them safe I would think it would be more abusive not to use harnesses etc in those instances .

@CasanovaFrankenstein omg! Forgot about loads of those! I'd never heard of the milk tray bar but dh had.
We know most of our neighbours now, but up until about 10 years ago most of us worked full time, now lots of neighbours have retired and i'm a sahm so we seem to see more of each other.

Biarritz chocolate boxes and neapolitan chocolate boxes

Mingles chocolates (“you can’t eat a single Mingle!”)

@olbndansmummy
Aldi do an own brand Neopolitan chocolate box.

Ooh thanks @SwimmerGirl40 i'm going tomorrow so will look

More’s Position of the Fortnight. I was always going to try them when I had the opportunity but now it would be more like Position of the Season.

Gas fires, with fireguards round (or do people still have those?)
Yy to bath cubes!
Is it still a thing for men (it's always men) who are usually nonsmokers to have a cigar at Christmas?
Covering school books in wallpaper offcuts.
Looped sanitary towels! I (just about) remember when 'press on' towels were called that because they were so new. At the 'period talk' in fourth year juniors there was a little promotional pack of Tampax with a bright pink plastic tampon holder as a free gift.
Big bulky hairdryers that stood on stands and connected to a hairdryer hood via a tube. Spent many an unhappy half hour under that hood as a longhaired child.
Early closing day.

I saw a public information film from the mid 70s telling parents when their dc should have their vaccinations. The 13 month measles one was illustrated by a toddler on reins. I bet most 13 mo are in pushchairs these days. On that subject, those very basic Maclaren pushchairs with red, white and blue striped seats.

Built up shoes these days are very discreet and done to blend with the shoe. You can't usually tell someone is wearing them unless you look quite hard.

@BikeRunSki - I fear you may be right there! Young people have no idea how to find things out without the internet, and even the older generation are starting to forget how they used to do it!

@MyInnerAlto yys public information films, looped sanitary towels (Dr. Whites!), the free tampon holder and covering school books in wallpaper!

...speaking of neapolitan, I think there was a neapolitan chocolate in a box of WEEKEND! - for those old enough to remember them. My grandma always had a box of 'Weekend' on the go! They knocked 'Quality Street' out of the park.

Plastic headscarves for rainy days, which my mother and grandmother used. You just keep them in your bag, rolled up tiny.

I actually managed to locate a pack of them online, and DD (early 20s) took one from the packet to work and used it shortly afterwards. A bit ugly but less hassle than a brolly, as long as you have a water resistant coat.

Karvol - rebranded as Klearvol, and available from Boots