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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.

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ilovepixie · 06/11/2022 17:03

A box of chocolates. I remember watching Fawlty Towers and Sybil was eating a box of chocolates in bed and it wasn't even her birthday!

ilovepixie · 06/11/2022 17:06

Real proper coke cola. Rather than the big bottles of own brand cola from Victor Value!

TheVeryLastUsername · 06/11/2022 17:09

Being able to drink milk- my mother used to water it down to make it last.

Boxes of maltesers.

Born late 80s but poor family, made poorer by my father pissing up our money down the pub.

wheresmyshoe · 06/11/2022 17:12

Roast dinners were an extravagance that were strictly for birthdays, Christmas or Easter if you were lucky, and there was no guarantee of being lucky.

ilovepixie · 06/11/2022 17:21

Foreign holidays actually any kind of holiday
Owning your own house

nomoreflyingducks · 06/11/2022 17:54

Smoked salmon and pate were Christmas treats only.
Little cafe my mum would take me to as a special treat at the end of each summer term.
Choc-ices weekly treat during summer holidays on a Friday.

ErrolTheDragon · 06/11/2022 18:33

Pineapples. They really were a luxury before the days of air freight; the first one I remember was a gift from our neighbour who was a BOAC airline steward.

WickedSerious · 06/11/2022 19:31

TheVeryLastUsername · 06/11/2022 17:09

Being able to drink milk- my mother used to water it down to make it last.

Boxes of maltesers.

Born late 80s but poor family, made poorer by my father pissing up our money down the pub.

My mother used to go up the wall if we asked for a glass of milk.

Isleoftights · 06/11/2022 19:51

Radox bath salts. I remember the black and white tv ad for them, but they were beyond our budget. They cost (now) £1.20 !

TheVeryLastUsername · 06/11/2022 20:25

@WickedSerious Same, my son asked my mother for a glass of milk when we went to visit the other day and it triggered me, the fear and shame I felt! It was like I was a child again. She obliged though.

Whatthebarnacles · 06/11/2022 20:54

Vol-au-vents.
Even the word made me go ooOOoo!!

Mum always made egg salad cream ones, or prawn ones... but ONLY at Christmas time. Whereas my nan made creamy mushroom at christmas - the absolute pinnacle of posh!

WickedSerious · 06/11/2022 21:10

TheVeryLastUsername · 06/11/2022 20:25

@WickedSerious Same, my son asked my mother for a glass of milk when we went to visit the other day and it triggered me, the fear and shame I felt! It was like I was a child again. She obliged though.

I don't know why it was so strictly rationed,we had a pint delivered every day and there'd sometimes be so much of it in the fridge she didn't know what to do with it.
Letting us drink it was out of the question though,no matter how much there was.

Youreafirework · 06/11/2022 21:22

A toaster, my mum did toast under the grill. Always wanted those pop tart things but was told no because we didn't have a toaster.

Cushions on the sofas.

Handwash, we used a bar of soap.

PyongyangKipperbang · 06/11/2022 22:16

WickedSerious · 06/11/2022 21:10

I don't know why it was so strictly rationed,we had a pint delivered every day and there'd sometimes be so much of it in the fridge she didn't know what to do with it.
Letting us drink it was out of the question though,no matter how much there was.

My mother was the same.

Its like drinking it was a waste as there was nothing to see for it, you could just have water! But making say a rice pudding some how ok as there was a thing that could be eaten.

For some its from growing up in poverty, for my mother its because she is as tight as a ducks arse around things other people like but it happy to spend on what she likes. For example my father loves lamb chops (they can afford them, they are the classic boomers everyone hates!) but she will only buy him one as "you dont need anymore" but will spend twice the amount on something for one meal for her. She is what I call a miserly spendthrift.

PyongyangKipperbang · 06/11/2022 22:18

I should add that he still gives her housekeeping, she has never paid for a bag of shopping out of her own money in her life. But she rations him on the food he pays for. Heating, lights etc, which he has always paid for, is a free for all. Anything she has to pay for out of her own money.....no.

VisitingThem · 06/11/2022 22:25

Sky TV in the 80s snd 90s.

GhastlyBoo · 06/11/2022 22:30

The internet

ErrolTheDragon · 06/11/2022 22:35

GhastlyBoo · 06/11/2022 22:30

The internet

That would have been science fiction!Grin

HRTQueen · 06/11/2022 23:04

Going our for dinner

we would make sure we had nice clothes on it was a special occasion to go for dinner at Bernie Inn. We would get the three course steak meal I felt so sophisticated

WickedSerious · 07/11/2022 08:01

ErrolTheDragon · 06/11/2022 22:35

That would have been science fiction!Grin

I'd have expected it to appear at around the same time as flying cars.

WickedSerious · 07/11/2022 08:30

PyongyangKipperbang · 06/11/2022 22:16

My mother was the same.

Its like drinking it was a waste as there was nothing to see for it, you could just have water! But making say a rice pudding some how ok as there was a thing that could be eaten.

For some its from growing up in poverty, for my mother its because she is as tight as a ducks arse around things other people like but it happy to spend on what she likes. For example my father loves lamb chops (they can afford them, they are the classic boomers everyone hates!) but she will only buy him one as "you dont need anymore" but will spend twice the amount on something for one meal for her. She is what I call a miserly spendthrift.

My mother would make bread puddings,which I absolutely hated.

mam0918 · 07/11/2022 09:13

VisitingThem · 06/11/2022 22:25

Sky TV in the 80s snd 90s.

We had seemingly everything as a kid, except Sky... we got cable in 2000 and Sky in 2003.

For some reason my mam lies about this and insists I'm 'misremembering' and 'we always had it', we didnt in my bloody mid teens when we finally got it so quite memorable.

I DO remember my mam slagging off sky dishes as 'tacky' in my youth (probably to make it seem more like a 'choice' that we didnt have it) and remember the BIG deal when we got cable even though for some reason it only had 3 channels that worked.

I also remember my mam using teletext to check cinema times etc... I never undrstood how teletext worked.

jennakong · 07/11/2022 09:59

Tropical fruit...kiwi fruit were a novelty when first sold in the UK, would it have been the late 70s/ early 80s? A lot of confusion about whether you ate the skin or not. And strawberries I only remember being sold in little punnets at the side of country roads, sometimes in the greengrocers for June/July only, or in a tin...euugh. And you had to be practically on your death bed to get grapes.

Remember going to America in the late 80s and encountering watermelon for the first time and being stunned by the colour and loveliness of it.

I also recall the excitement around the new 'low calorie' drinks in the early 80s, like Tab and Diet Coke. There was a homegrown lemonade called 'One Cal' which was a bright green limeade which tasted fairly disgusting really.

jennakong · 07/11/2022 10:45

Even bloody peas that weren't lurid green and in a tin were special. In the days before freezers you had a tiny little fridge with an 'icebox' that held about one small box of fishfingers, so frozen veg wasn't much of a thing.

Didsomeonesaydogs · 07/11/2022 11:26

Sandwiches with ham AND cheese. I was never allowed these as a child as it was counted as two fillings and way too extravagant.