Weird shit from an 80s childhood

[CandidFruit]

Reading through the retro sweets thread reminded me of some other random stuff from growing up in the early 80s.

Who else remembers the garbage pail kids? (I mean, Cabbage patch kids was bad enough!)
Now that is some seriously weird shit!

Mind you, I bet anything if you have the full set, you’ll probably be able to pay off your mortgage 😂

Zammo and the drugs storyline, 'Just Say No'...
And the previous Grange Hill residents - Tucker, Alan, Trisha, Roland, Mrs McClusky and that scary PE teacher!

I liked aniseed balls too! I think the shrimps and bananas did not fare well if they were stored in shop windows or direct sunlight. It was a cruel disappointment to find the anticipation of a chewy shrimp or banana rewarded by a hardened and grainy old manky one...

At university in the early 2000s my brother and his friends used to run retro 70s/80s club nights. They used to bulk-order Flying Saucers, Swizzels sweets, Sherbert Dabs and Flumps from wholesalers to hand out to everyone. Thankfully the lovely soft Flumps were unrelated to The Flumps on tv, who I always found faintly sinister.

I think Birds Eye started to replicate the Findus Crispy Pancakes of old, though not sure if you can still get them. I was a bit of a latchkey kid, and often made myself a Vesta Paella in the microwave we bought in Bejams (and which is still in my mum's house working perfectly) for dinner. Lovely.

Mr. Bronson!! Although his storyline with Danny Kendall was well-acted (by all concerned) and deeply moving.

Really?!? I have spent all this time thinking they were just like that .
I LOVED flying saucers, even though they were like eating paper.
We used to have these fairly grim frozen stir-fries; you got a 'Chinese' one and probably a 'Thai' one etc. I presume you literally put them in a pan and fried them, or maybe once microwaves became common you could microwave them. I thought they were quite exotic.

Ha! I used to get murdered for tracing so hard that I damaged the book covers underneath and then of course the resale price wasn't "like new"!

Hahaa! Yes, I remember those - in a bag. I liked the Chinese one, they were generous with the water-chestnuts. A Findus/Birds Eye microwave or boil-in-the bag prawn curry was also an excellent choice. With ice cream and Ice Magic (always choc-mint, never choc-orange) or a Tip-Top Freezepop for pudding. Or Butterscotch Angel Delight. Or - actually, a Bird's Hot Pudding (just whistle) Lemon Crunch.

Slimming World be damned - I want all of those now! 😳

I remember this stir fries, they were by “Ross” iirc. I recall one marvellous occasion when my parents and I were travelling home on the bus from a long day out and I saw a billboard poster advertising the Chinese stir fry; I made some casual remark about it which put the idea in DF’s head that he fancied Chinese food so we stopped off at the Chinese restaurant instead of going straight home! Being the early 80s going out for a meal was reserved for high days and holidays only so this impromptu dinner felt extra special.

We used this rhyme for a game of bouncing a ball against a wall...

England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales (Irish, so definitely said "whales"😆)
Inside, outside, inside, scales, (from elastics when you had to jump on both)
Highsidies (throw the ball up high)
Lowsidies (throw the ball low)
Into the woods (throw the ball under your knee against the wall)
Out of the woods (other knee)
Around the world (throw and turn)
And back again (throw and turn the other way).

Easily amused.

Oooh the songs in assembly "smell of bacon as I fasten up my laces and the song the milkman sings. So I mustn't forget, no I mustn't forget to say a great big thank you, I mustn't forget!"
Sitting on the benches when you got to the top of the juniors.

We did all the boring games with balls and chalk or whatever else we had.

For me an ice cream was a treat but for my best friend Carole who lived in a council house it was an everyday occurrence and she had lots of beige food, sweets and cakes. Her DM worked in Tescos though and later as a cook in a bingo hall 20 mins away by bus and her much older sisters (the eldest was 9 years older, next one 7 years older and her DB was 5 or 6 years older and they all had to look after her if her DM was working or out, no father on the scene and hers had another family as her DM was having an affair with him.

I was lucky as DM took us out to safari parks (Windsor Safari Park) and Chessington Zoo when it had a small funfair/amusement park and more animals.

We had cheap holidays though, staying in someone’s house or holiday home if they were away and as DM and her best friend were a teacher and nursery nurse both with DC same age they came with us for about 5 weeks, so that was good, and was always in countryside or near the sea.

@KitKatChunki I'd forgotten those Nescafe adverts!!

It was Maxwell house in my house. We used to collect the tokens to get household stuff. We all had an alarm clock each and I think I remember an apron too. I think my Dad might still have a wall clock still up in the garage.

Yes! Autumn Days was so evocative. Those weird white plastic bumps over the screws on the ends benches that had tiny cracks in as they aged...never wanted to have to sit on those bits!

I adored Autumn days 🍂 think it had a high bit at the end to sing, loved that and Lord of the dance.

Did anyone else play British bulldogs in the playground, so fun

We were so easily entertained back then, compared to now, I used to get so excited when we had bubble wrap packaging and spent ages bursting them 😂 I remember doing that on a day with storms & lightening, we had to turn the tv off because of the lightening, I was quite happy to burst the bubbles

Also great ads

• Philadelphia (those secretaries! Lovely!!)

I still say, "and a little lollo rosso for that continental touch" (though not usually out loud.)

Welephant.

Stupid red elephant that scared the shit out of everyone about fires.

My dad was a fireman and came round giving the talks. Scared the shit out of us all by slamming a box shut in the middle of the talk and saying "now imagine that was the firework you're holding going off in your hand". Then proceeded to show pics of when it had happened. Never touched a firework since. Jeez parents would freak now if kids had talks like that!!!

Apologies if this has been mentioned already but did anyone put a tennis ball in a pair of tights and then lean with your back against the wall, swing the ball back and forth bouncing the ball on either side of your body? Writing this out sounds like I’ve made it up but I remember the fun lol

The mechanically recovered meat chip steaks that swoll up under the grill then burst n grease would come pissing out...yuck.

I haven't thought about that for 35 years! 😂

Little baby dolls in boxes, like match boxes?
Tiny ceramic animals - my favourite was the Bush Baby.
Small monkey things that had dummies and you could pinch their backs, their arms would open and you could clip them on your bike wires 🤣

Yes to all these doors. You got tiny things like ceramic mice in match boxes and pin cushions made of stuffed fabric and with quills to look like a hedgehog.

Collections, I got started off either by my nana or great uncle with China dogs, inherited 2 from him and then was bought loads which I collected and were bought for me as presents.

Trips with my step grandma and grandad were to Clapham or Tooting and to indoor coveted markets (arcades?) which had pet shops where you saw live animals and they got their pet food, then back via the pubs The Plough and The Alex where we were made a fuss of, given coins to go on fruit machines or juke boxes and given crisps and Coke or Fanta. Maybe via the old fashioned playground on Clapham Common, one “ride” was a metal circle where you jumped up held on and were spun around. Going to Battersea Park (it had a children’s zoo, rowing boats but our favourite was the fairground which had chairoplanes and the swinging boat rides. Plus the Buddha temple.

We also loved Kings Road. DM used to go to the Natural Shoe Store at one end then we’d meander down past Tiger Tiger (a lovely old fashioned toy shop, and into it), and the fire station, past another shoe shop which had a sort of raised stepping area, platform and into My Old Dutch (huge pancakes) and finally to Peter Jones (John Lewis) and then al the way back to where the car was parked either walking or by bus. Amazing how much time we walked or just a short hop on the bus. Sometimes we’d come with DM to her dentists in Harley Street (she had the money!) but our favourite part was the tube ride and then playing with the executive toys he or his secretary had on their desks, the metal ball magnetic swing toy and magnesium puzzles.

All those adverts scared the shit out of me, but then you got used to them. It still didn’t stop us going in derelict houses, on building sites and in Bradford on Avon a local girl showed us how if you put 2p pieces on the level crossing (no gates!) the train would come by and squash them. We did this despite knowing the woman we’d stay with, her dog had been killed on that same crossing. We were sort of sensible enough not to go in the river with the weir or the canal.

I'd forgotten about French skipping! It got a bit ridiculous when people (always girls) got really good at it – the elastic would go up higher and higher until it was under people's armpits

French skipping was awesome. I practiced at home too.

Pet shops had puppies and kittens. We went to a pet shop saw a litter who'd been brought in by an Irish family. One beautiful black cat with a white throat and green eyes stood out. We brought her home calling her Paddy. Sheesh she was a wild one I suspect a feral kitten. She took no messing from humans. But what a hunter, took care of all the mice in the hen houses and barns

@REP22 I’m glad this thread has brought you some happiness 🙂
I loved Brambly Hedge, I had some books and they were so beautifully and evocatively illustrated.
Our neighbours (still live next door to my mum, in my childhood house) was obsessed with Victoria Plum, so much so she named her daughter Victoria! I never knew it was created by Angela Rippon though.
My younger sister was into My Little Ponies (I used to buy her the magazines) but we both loved Asterix.

So many things mentioned on this thread I have literally not thought about until I read it!
Skipping double Dutch (not sure if same as French skipping)
Double balls against the back wall.

@ComputerInitiateJump DIBS!
I loved those things and have not thought about them in over 40 years 😮
Also loved those ‘pick up sticks’ like thin bamboo skewers with different coloured stripes on them, does anyone remember those?

We also played rounders with tennis balls and my brother’s cricket bat so you can imagine how far those balls flew 😂

Spent hours out on our bikes and roller boots and just playing out, our parents rarely knew where exactly we were.

Foam bananas covered with a very thin layer of chocolate were only had at a particular friend’s house. Her parents had a bulk stash of them for some reason lol.

It was an amazing time to be a child as a pp said.