Stuff you took for granted that no longer exists?

[Confusednbemused]

Was saying to my daughter how I used to go to Boots or Superdrug and take free perfume samples to try at home before deciding what to buy and it occurred to me I've no idea when that stopped and the little strips of paper became a thing!!

What inanimate or service level thing do you miss which you used to take for granted?

Dorothy Perkins, Miss Selfridge, Wallis, Principles, Top Shop.

Mr Green (the slimy git living on his yacht) has a lot to answer for. Thank god he never got his hands on Mark's and Spencers.

Debenhams and House of Fraser were a great loss to the high street.

Sundays. The old fashioned sort, before shops were open 7 days a week. Just the quietness of it.

I wish more of these existed. I find it really hard to decipher a perfume unless I've worn it for a whole day.

Proper Irn Bru. Not the sweetener filled crap that passes for it now

Lifts with a lift operator sitting on a stool by the control panel
Waitress service as the norm in coffee shops and restaurants
Jamboree bags
Green grocers' brown bags with zigzags along the opening edges

This is nostalgia. I don't really want these things because of the bad things that ran alongside them: racism, homophobia, misogny, misguided respect for authority, corporal punishment in schools, parental smacking of children. I wouldn't have expected some of these things still to be with us but they are.

New Berry Fruits.
Were they only sold at Christmas time?

And Drs who actually went to work rather than standing outside with placards.

Quiet libraries where you can actually read books and study (without kids running in and out of the bookshelves playing tag - happened today) or people talking loudly and shouting across the room (usually the librarians). I feel sorry for children who have nowhere to study at home and need places like this.

😂😂

On the subject of stars, I live in a dark sky reserve part of the country and so am lucky enough to still see them.

The sad thing for me is that the thousands of satellites criss-crossing the night sky. I wish you could look up and just see the stars without the constant reminder that there is no part of this beautiful, natural world that man hasn't filled with junk and fucked up.

That's what's been missing! I've had a box recently and I was thinking how different they seem. The galaxy truffles 🤤

Yes, still happens in Spain. I do love it!

It's still like this in Germany and I cherish it! Think a day of rest is sincerely beneficial.

Same!! Things smell differently on a human than on a strip of plasticky paper.

No. They were available all year round. My grandmother used to get me misshapes from the factory in Bedford. Some didn't have the juice in them.

Good manners. Politeness.

Oh no, I was scarred in the 70s by the boringness of Sundays.

The long dark teatime of the soul?

If only, life before Parkinson’s for me, mid stage now

I kind of miss in person Christmas shopping. It was also hell on earth but it was part of the rhythm of Christmas.

I was out with my dsis last night and we were discussing what I can get them for Christmas. Fewer choices these days. I mean you can still by CDs and records and tapes and DVDs etc but they are a bit niche now. And all the concomitant accessories like cassette tape holders etc. I don't just want to buy them gift cards even if they are easy. I've occasionally bought gift eCards. I'm sure they don't care but it's not much fun going "happy Christmas! Check your inbox!"

Mumsnet being usable in a standard browser.

Izal toilet paper

Joking!

Film cannisters from cameras. Really useful little tubs for all kinds of things.

Having a choice of drinks without artifical sweetners.

Decent chocolate. Cadbury's. Being able to forensically nibble away at bars like Kit Kats or Twix. Rubbing the foil to see the embossed lettering in chocolate.

MSN. I know there's loads of messaging Apps now but none compare to MSN.

Oh Yes indeed. I hate the way libraries have become "social hubs" as they're now either full of uncontrolled kids running/shouting around, or small groups chatting away, plus sounds of printers/copiers, etc, or even worse, in our village one, an hour every day when different classes of the primary school visit to get a reading book - it's noisy and chaotic.

They always used to be quiet places where you could read or study, but now that's impossible. Like you, I feel sorry for pupils who have nowhere else to study - it must be a nightmare for them trying to concentrate to do homework or research in those conditions. Then they wonder why libraries have lost their popularity - it's because they're not libraries anymore!