Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Things you thought were posh/exciting/unattainable as a child that are actually everyday items

804 replies

AlternativelyWired · 02/11/2022 10:26

I'm just searching for scotch tape on Amazon ready for Christmas. It got me thinking how double sided sticky tape was but a dream back when I was little. Blue Peter used it all the time but it was something I'd never have. The same with play dough. I only ever had plasticine. Scotch tape was fancy too, we only ever had yellow sellotape. Ribera. I'm sure I'll think of others.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
6
JudgeJ · 02/11/2022 13:30

Itsthepits · 02/11/2022 13:10

Viennetta. Went to a friends house for dinner and they had this for pudding. We had only seen it advertised on TV before, never in real life.

On a bad day hot water. We had to find 50p for the gas meter and we didn’t always have it. We thought egg and home made chips for Sunday dinner was a treat, we had no clue it was because DM couldn’t afford meat.

So many mentions of Viennetta, I bought one recently and it was horrible, nothing like I remember.

CoffeeChocolateGin · 02/11/2022 13:31

Kitchen roll
Matey bubble bath

Clevs · 02/11/2022 13:32

BT Phonecards. I felt so grown up putting a card into the payphone instead of a 10p piece.

wibblewobbleboard · 02/11/2022 13:32

Hoovesandpaws77 · 02/11/2022 13:29

Oh yes, apologies if this has already been mentioned but soft loo paper was seen as a bit louche in our household 😁. We had to endure the utilitarian boxes of small square paper sheets that had the texture of baking parchment. 😃

Izal 😂😂😂

Timetochangetheoil · 02/11/2022 13:33

I remember we only ever had Nutella when we went to France and it felt so posh and exclusive. My brother would get a jar at the soonest opportunity and eat it with a spoon 😂 Now my kids do the same at home! They don’t know they’re born 😄

I also remember how only super rich people seemed to have Sky tv and then we got it when I was about 11 and me and my sister were so amazed just by the games in the menu 🤣

Cuck00soup · 02/11/2022 13:34

Mr Kipling caramel shortbread fingers. As soon as I moved into student accommodation I bought a whole packet to myself. I also thought sandwiches bought from anywhere were posh when I was a teen as the default was to take our own.

A landline phone upstairs.

My best friend's mum and dad's glass and chrome dining table, their smoky glass mugs and their leatherette settee. I thought they were the most sophisticated people I knew.

JacketPotatoQueen · 02/11/2022 13:34

A Mr Man meal at the Beefeater. We went once a year (mother’s day) and this seemed super fancy!

RedRiverShore2 · 02/11/2022 13:34

We had Izal on a roll when I was young, it was like grease proof paper

Bobshhh · 02/11/2022 13:34

Mignon morceaux only ever came out as a snack when my parents had a dinner party and they were the height of decadence in my mind, I used to sneak handfuls!

Shimmyshimmycocobop · 02/11/2022 13:36

Anything my mum wouldn't buy for being too expensive or we would only get as a treat.
Seedless grapes
Fizzy drinks
Cornettos
Double 99 ice creams ( we never got these)
Bell peppers, I think my mum didn't know what to do with them .
Avacado

There was a girl in my street whose mum used to give us coke and buy double 99's from the van, I'm ashamed to say we'd call on her just to get food.

TheSausageKingofChicago · 02/11/2022 13:36

Croissants

Hoppinggreen · 02/11/2022 13:37

We got invited to my Mums Bosses house in the late 70s.
They had a big house with a pool but what I was most impressed by was their electric carving knife.
For years it was the epitome of wealth for me for some reason.

RedRiverShore2 · 02/11/2022 13:37

Grapes and satsumas were once only for Christmas in our house

Freddosforall · 02/11/2022 13:37

Going out for dinner anywhere, fresh fruit that wasn't bananas or apples, orange juice, fizzy pop, holidays other than camping, vienetta (I remember when KFC started doing the family meal deal and it came with a vienetta - biggest treat ever!)

Frith2013 · 02/11/2022 13:37

A television with a remote
VCR
Central heating
A shower
Fizzy drinks
School bags with a brand name on
Avocadoes
Pasta (in any form other than spaghetti)

Until I went to University, I had only had rice in rice pudding and had never heard of cous cous, flatbreads etc.

ImTheOnlyUpsyOne · 02/11/2022 13:37

Mr Kipling Cakes....and Sara Lee gateaux

Libre55 · 02/11/2022 13:38

I used to work in. Berni Inn. The orange juice was Happy Shopper brand. And the Farmers Choice soup, freshly prepared? Bollocks was it. It was Heinz Big Soup, watered down. So many shortcuts, it’s rare I would visit a ‘chain’ restaurant nowadays.

Things you thought were posh/exciting/unattainable as a child that are actually everyday items
ErrolTheDragon · 02/11/2022 13:38

whowhatwhen · 02/11/2022 13:06

Golden Shred marmalade, my Granny and Mum always made their own. I thought Golden Shred was the height of sophistication

The absolute height was Rose's Lime Marmalade, in its fancy jar. It was one of those things that might be bought at Xmas or if we had a very special visitor. Ritz crackers were in this category too.

Lozzybear · 02/11/2022 13:38

A kitchen island and an American sized fridge freezer…saw them on loads of US TV series/films growing up but didn’t know anyone who had them in real life.

hesbeingabitofadick · 02/11/2022 13:39

Automatic washing machine (not a twin-tub)
Having a garden with a veggie plot
Central heating
Double glazing
Matching dinner service/cutlery
Tablecloth on the dining table
New toys rather than hand-me-downs from older cousins

Butchyrestingface · 02/11/2022 13:40

The name Dora.

MoirasSaggyBundles · 02/11/2022 13:41

Very poor 70s and 80s childhood.

Wall to wall carpet. We had bare floorboards.

The pop man who delivered fizzy drinks to the neighbours. I still see fizzy drinks as an indulgence.

Ice cream from the ice cream van.

Foil wrapped chocolates like Quality Street. A Christmas treat only. Each would be nibbled and savoured, there would be just the 1 tin for 6 of us over the whole period. We'd save the foil, the glittery coloured wrappings were like nothing else we'd see day to day.

Felt tip pens and plain paper. Stickers. All fancy stationery - especially when the smelly stuff came into fashion in the 1980s.

Buying books rather than borrowing from the library.

Colour TVs.

A home telephone. I used to love using the dial on the public telephones. Loved the whirring noise it made. Was very disappointed when we finally got one and it was a button dial.

Holidays of any length other than a day trip on the bus to the nearest city.

Going to the cinema.

Having a car.

Clothes that weren't hand me downs or hand made.

BobbyBobbyBobby · 02/11/2022 13:42

In the 60s and early 70s we wore black plimsolls with elastic at the front for PE.

Possibly 1972 I got my first pair of proper trainers/training shoes.

The excitement!

Massive let down as they were white and blue stripes (Adidas or Puma, I can’t remember) and the body of the shoe was rock hard!

They were so uncomfortable but being a little kid I wanted to wear them so badly that I sucked up the pain of any blisters!

Things you thought were posh/exciting/unattainable as a child that are actually everyday items
Knittedfairies · 02/11/2022 13:42

Those little packets of cereal - a variety pack? - seemed the height of poshness and luxury to me. And carpets that met the skirting boards.

TheDivineOddity · 02/11/2022 13:43

An actual proper electric shower as opposed to one of those rubber mixer hoses that you attached to the bath taps.