Are you old enough to remember “sipsis” coming to the door selling pegs or heather?

[Nailest]

Something I’ve just seen has brought back vivid memories of sipsis (think that might be the Welsh word for gypsies - it’s the word my grandma used at any rate) coming to her back door. As far as I recall, they only ever sold heather or pegs. I don’t remember my grandma buying any but I do remember her having long conversations at the back door.

Feeling nostalgic now and remembering the coal man and the rag and bone man. I was terrified of both of those.

Yes. Quite often in my childhood. My mum would always buy something and said it was bad luck not to.

When I was pregnant with my first child a woman came to the door selling heather. I bought some because I still felt really superstitious.
She saw I was pregnant and told me it would be a girl. I said I've already had the scan it's a boy.
She told me the scan was wrong. I thanked her 🤦 and she left.

My son is now 22. 😁

That visit was the last time anyone came to my door selling heather now I think of it. I haven't seen or heard of it in years.

Oh yes, the scrap man. " IRON. ANY IRON." I don't think you get that any more.

What about the pop man?
It was a real treat when it was pop day.

Yes we had ladies selling lucky heather in the early to mid 1990's. I was terrified of the rag and bone man as a child. I still hate the scrap man to be honest (he's not called the rag and bone man any more round here). I have to stay away from the windows if he's going round. Don't know why!

Nostalgia =
Bob a job week
"Any old iron ?" Scrapman.
Yes to pegs / lucky Heather
Corona ( mean of the fizzy pop variety !) van.
Knife sharpening at the door.
Rent man calling ( lived in a council house as a child to collect 2 weeks rent in cash. )
Electric / gas man/ woman to empty the coin meter. Would count it in your house and give you some back.

I remember the rag n bone man
Tramps as apposed to homeless people
Pools man calling

Also the provvie man.

And the pools. My dad always did the pools.

Oh yes, the meters.
We also rented a telly and it ran on a meter.

Tin bath in front of the fire when there wasn't much hot water.

It was a different world in some ways.

I remember ladies on the street selling lucky heather. I remember being terrified I was going to have bad luck because my mum wouldn’t let me buy a bit of heather.

Yes, but that's not what we called them and I'm Welsh too.
I'll come back when I remember what we did call them.

Rent man came round every week with his brown leather bag. He lost a leg in WW2 but got around easily. Lovely man and always had a bag of Sports Mixtures in his pocket and us kids fight for the black one
Pop man came Saturday and it was such a treat..we could choose two bottles; orange crush, cream soda, dandelion and burdock, lime or cherry ade or good old shandy

Did anyone else have a Barbados money box? Someone came to empty it every so often there was never very much in it

*Barnados.

Yes Rag and Bone man with a horse and cart. (Glasgow). Also Onion Johnnys with berets, bicycles and strings of onions round their necks. They really were French and always got a cup of tea and a snack from my mum who enjoyed speaking French to them. She was a great French speaker who only learned at school.

Blimey yes we used to have them come round as well. Our house used to confuse the hell out of them as we had two doors at the front - one into the hallway and one into the utility room. They would knock on both and look very bemused when the same person answered each time.

My mum would always buy something and said it was bad luck not to.
Same!

The scrap men came round by ours today. "Any iruurn. Any old iruurn!"
The rag and bone men used a horse drawn cart.
I remember the pop man, milkman and bread man (who also sold cakes) coming round when I was little.

When I was a kid we had coal delivered by horse and cart, which led to my love of horses ( i was obsessed!)
We had a romany family who visited every year and eventually settled in the village. The wife sold pegs and I used to think the father was John wayne because he wore a big hat lol.He was also my hero because he had a very smart appaloosa horse which he drove in a sulky (I tols you I was obsessed)
We had Corona man and Kleeneeze man,also a sikh man who sold rugs, which I was convinced were magic carpets .
Jeeze I feel old lol

We just called them Gypsies. I remember.Mum buying pegs.

We used to get a gypsy lady and her daughter and her daughter bring lucky heather to our street. They loved talking to my mum who was Irish living in England. They were proper gypsies, with vardos based in a field on the edge of the village. Lovely good people, I wonder if any of them are still around

I am 1/4 Romany on my grandfather's side so was never scared of the lucky heather sellers, it was a v common thing for gypsy women to do then. I think they've mainly stopped now due to the abuse they get.

@Lacedwithgrace

We used to get a gypsy lady and her daughter and her daughter bring lucky heather to our street. They loved talking to my mum who was Irish living in England. They were proper gypsies, with vardos based in a field on the edge of the village. Lovely good people, I wonder if any of them are still around

What's a 'proper gypsy'?!

Ww still have someone coming around collecting scrap metal.

And someone would always go out into the road with a shovel to collect the horse droppings to put on their roses or rhubarb.

Horse droppings were quite sought after and you had to be out there like a whippet if there were a few keen gardeners on the street.