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Things you'd forgotten about

341 replies

CharliesAngles · 23/01/2026 13:47

String art.

Remember those pictures that hung on walls in the 70s/80s (? I'm guessing)
They usually had a black background and coloured string making geometric type patterns.
I had totally forgotten (most probably for the best 😂) that they had ever existed until I looked through some photo albums at my auntie's house.

Anything else of that ilk you can recall?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
16
CloseEncountersOfTheLoveKind · 25/01/2026 07:37

Oopsylazy · 23/01/2026 14:54

grew up in Australia in the 70s and it seemed like every house had a badl painting of a topless woman kneeling with long blonde hair and some sort of flower tucked behind her ear. The same pairing I mean, not a number of different ones on that theme. Does anyone know what I mean? I tried to Google but it threw up too many dodgy images.

Do you mean like the “Tina” painting everyone had?

I (am probably wrong), but I thought she was referred to as The Green Lady ???
Can one still purchase these?

Oldglasses · 25/01/2026 07:55

Three rings when you get home!

My mum loved a doily - when we had guests for afternoon tea she’d get the silverware out with a doily underneath on tip of a nice tablecloth - and the fancy China/cutlery. We weren’t posh by any means.

The little table in the hall for the phone which was sort of wrought iron. I think they had one in The Vic in Eastenders.

CloseEncountersOfTheLoveKind · 25/01/2026 08:06

Notebooks that had blue carbon paper to put in between the two sheets of plain paper, so if you wanted to keep a copy of your handwritten letter, you could.

About ten years ago, I wanted some of that carbon paper, so I went to a “specialist” stationery stockist, and when I described what I was looking for, not one so called expert in that shop knew what I was talking about.

Does anyone remember Telex machines?
My second office job from after leaving school, had one, and as a sixteen year old, I was “trained up” to use one.
I also remember there were lots of warnings against using the tiny dots of white paper that spewed out, as “confetti” at weddings, as being so small, it could easily get in peoples eyes and cause trouble.

I can’t remember the last time I saw children using chalk on the pavements to mark up Hopscotch grids.

What I also used to love as a very young teen is hanging on to the poles at the back of buses, where the “clippie” used to raise their fists and shout at you to stop the dangerous practice… I expect it was dangerous, but at the time it just felt like the grown-ups were out to spoil our fun.

Childrens playgrounds back in the early sixties paid no regard to health and safety, and the enormous height of slides were (looking back) so terrifying.
We climbed the open metal “ladder” to the top, with the bigger boys and girls shoving past you if they deemed you to be too slow.
The drop to the floor below was frankly ridiculous, and back then, it was just a concrete floor, no soft rubber landings for the poor unfortunate victims.

i don’t see those wrought iron flower pot holders like my mum put in the porchway with huge fake wheels to look as tho you could move it, but it was just for show. The popular plant to place in their, always seemed to be red geraniums.

Ahhh those were the days. 🤣

ChopstickNovice · 25/01/2026 08:26

These!! My mum still has some somewhere.

Things you'd forgotten about
UnctuousUnicorns · 25/01/2026 09:35

Oldglasses · 25/01/2026 07:55

Three rings when you get home!

My mum loved a doily - when we had guests for afternoon tea she’d get the silverware out with a doily underneath on tip of a nice tablecloth - and the fancy China/cutlery. We weren’t posh by any means.

The little table in the hall for the phone which was sort of wrought iron. I think they had one in The Vic in Eastenders.

I always hankered after one of those hallway phone tables combined with a padded seat, a slot for the phone book, and usually with a pad and pen (possibly in a holder) next to the phone itself for jotting down notes, numbers. So practical.
Sadly, my first experience of a home phone was in a house without a hall - just a small square porch - and to add further insult, the only phone was wall mounted high above the fridge, in the kitchen. So any calls had to be conducted standing in the doorway between the living room and the kitchen. Hardly conducive to long, cosy chats in my lusted after but unattainable phone seat. ☹️You kids don't know you're born these days! 👵

RabbitFurCoat · 25/01/2026 09:43

sashh · 25/01/2026 07:26

Horse brasses? My mum got in to collecting them.

We also had something similar to aertex in the hallway.

Polystyrene ceiling tiles, that if there was a fire melted.

Answering machines. An actual machine, usually with a micro cassette for the recording.

We had fake brick interior walls in the hallway. My brothers liked to poke them in, they were hollow - no idea what they were made from.

RabbitFurCoat · 25/01/2026 09:45

UnctuousUnicorns · 25/01/2026 09:35

I always hankered after one of those hallway phone tables combined with a padded seat, a slot for the phone book, and usually with a pad and pen (possibly in a holder) next to the phone itself for jotting down notes, numbers. So practical.
Sadly, my first experience of a home phone was in a house without a hall - just a small square porch - and to add further insult, the only phone was wall mounted high above the fridge, in the kitchen. So any calls had to be conducted standing in the doorway between the living room and the kitchen. Hardly conducive to long, cosy chats in my lusted after but unattainable phone seat. ☹️You kids don't know you're born these days! 👵

I keep seeing people setting up phone stations in their homes to get away from having it on them all the time - maybe you could do it now, go all out on the setup. I'd love this too...

UnctuousUnicorns · 25/01/2026 10:07

RabbitFurCoat · 25/01/2026 09:45

I keep seeing people setting up phone stations in their homes to get away from having it on them all the time - maybe you could do it now, go all out on the setup. I'd love this too...

Ah, sounds like a good idea for some, but I'm recently disabled following an accident. We live in a house with stairs so I'm waiting on a stair lift being installed.

Anyway, on the subject of phones, when our phone company recently digitised the landline, we bought a base unit with four handsets, one for our living/dining room and one each for the three bedrooms. So if DH or DD3 is upstairs I can contact them via the home intercom system, which is very handy. Especially since my mobile phone is currently in for repair so I can't use that at present. When the landline handset is charging I can also use the phone function on Messenger to contact DH if I need him while he's upstairs. So these modern methods of communication are essential to me now.

CalzoneOnLegs · 25/01/2026 10:10

Those circular chipboard side tables with a floor length cloth covering and a glass top, usually with a ceramic lamp with a pleated shade and a bowl of pot pourri on

UnctuousUnicorns · 25/01/2026 10:11

Not that intercom systems are exactly modern, but you get my jist!

fishfingerbutty · 25/01/2026 10:17

CalzoneOnLegs · 25/01/2026 10:10

Those circular chipboard side tables with a floor length cloth covering and a glass top, usually with a ceramic lamp with a pleated shade and a bowl of pot pourri on

Had one of these, also a hall table of the same ilk, with storage underneath ( for phone directories) and the house phone on top.

sueelleker · 25/01/2026 10:26

the80sweregreat · 23/01/2026 14:16

Half day closing ! Most hairdressers don’t open on Mondays , which I find very reassuring tbh. At least it makes up for working Saturdays, but maybe the actual hairdressers don’t agree ..

In my town, we have three main shopping streets. Each one had a different half day closing; which was very useful.

Talltreesbythelake · 25/01/2026 10:28

CloseEncountersOfTheLoveKind · 25/01/2026 08:06

Notebooks that had blue carbon paper to put in between the two sheets of plain paper, so if you wanted to keep a copy of your handwritten letter, you could.

About ten years ago, I wanted some of that carbon paper, so I went to a “specialist” stationery stockist, and when I described what I was looking for, not one so called expert in that shop knew what I was talking about.

Does anyone remember Telex machines?
My second office job from after leaving school, had one, and as a sixteen year old, I was “trained up” to use one.
I also remember there were lots of warnings against using the tiny dots of white paper that spewed out, as “confetti” at weddings, as being so small, it could easily get in peoples eyes and cause trouble.

I can’t remember the last time I saw children using chalk on the pavements to mark up Hopscotch grids.

What I also used to love as a very young teen is hanging on to the poles at the back of buses, where the “clippie” used to raise their fists and shout at you to stop the dangerous practice… I expect it was dangerous, but at the time it just felt like the grown-ups were out to spoil our fun.

Childrens playgrounds back in the early sixties paid no regard to health and safety, and the enormous height of slides were (looking back) so terrifying.
We climbed the open metal “ladder” to the top, with the bigger boys and girls shoving past you if they deemed you to be too slow.
The drop to the floor below was frankly ridiculous, and back then, it was just a concrete floor, no soft rubber landings for the poor unfortunate victims.

i don’t see those wrought iron flower pot holders like my mum put in the porchway with huge fake wheels to look as tho you could move it, but it was just for show. The popular plant to place in their, always seemed to be red geraniums.

Ahhh those were the days. 🤣

Slides! One of my earliest memories is standing on the top of the small slide, looking down on my Mum's head. It was well over 6 feet high and I was a preschooler. I wasn't allowed on the really big slide at that age, though. My Mum didn't think that was safe.

CalzoneOnLegs · 25/01/2026 10:32

Mum cleaning the oven with Ammonia 😭😭

Favouritefruits · 25/01/2026 10:58

Watching your mum wash her hair in the sink? Why was this a thing in the 80s why not just have a shower?

Talltreesbythelake · 25/01/2026 11:01

Favouritefruits · 25/01/2026 10:58

Watching your mum wash her hair in the sink? Why was this a thing in the 80s why not just have a shower?

Er, because the shower was a rubber hose you attached to the taps. It was a different world back then.

nzeire · 25/01/2026 11:14

I so wanted a wall mounted plastic phone. And then one that had a really long spiral cord, that you could walk around with. Like an American.

Mummyoflittledragon · 25/01/2026 13:16

The national anthem late in the evening when the bbc stopped broadcasting. Coloured bathroom suites. Swan taps being vey vey posh in the 70s. Toilets that flushed properly as they contained so much water. Then water shortages and black outs of the 70s. Petrol rations. Gasping at petrol going up to £1 a gallon. Carpets in the bathroom and kitchen. Plastic carpet runners to protect the carpet.. you can still get this 🤪. Everything lasting forever so very little consumerism and keeping your house the same for years… 1970s patterned carpet. I had one in my bedroom and when I got drunk the blobs seemed to move. Laura Ashley clothes being made in the colony of Hong Kong.

Xatz63 · 25/01/2026 13:21

As a child blankets on my bed there was one that felt scratchy dont know what it was made of .Then topped with a pink candlestick cover .
I also remember going on long car journeys with my parents to visit grandparents , me and 2 siblings and no seatbelts going down the motorway oh and the dog was in the back with us as well .

Allseeingallknowing · 25/01/2026 13:27

Xatz63 · 25/01/2026 13:21

As a child blankets on my bed there was one that felt scratchy dont know what it was made of .Then topped with a pink candlestick cover .
I also remember going on long car journeys with my parents to visit grandparents , me and 2 siblings and no seatbelts going down the motorway oh and the dog was in the back with us as well .

Candlewick, perhaps? Unless you’re going for the viscous thread!

Allseeingallknowing · 25/01/2026 13:30

RabbitFurCoat · 25/01/2026 09:43

We had fake brick interior walls in the hallway. My brothers liked to poke them in, they were hollow - no idea what they were made from.

Aertex? That’s what my school gym shirt was made from! Think you meant artex! Sorry, that’s for Sashh!

Abracadabra274 · 25/01/2026 13:53

Tinned fruit cocktail with evaporated milk. And the ceramic dolphin!

Things you'd forgotten about
Things you'd forgotten about
Xatz63 · 25/01/2026 14:12

Yes I meant candlewick. Having g a senior moment

Blingismything · 25/01/2026 14:19

I had a spiral/string art kid as a child. I remember it was easy to do. Also the plaster of paris ornaments with age rubber mould. I had Mrs Tiggy-Winkle. I ruined it when I painted it badly.

PersephoneSmith · 25/01/2026 14:30

Superhansrantowindsor · 24/01/2026 08:38

Pierrot. Why? I had a fair bit of it.

I had that bedding, must have been about 11 or 12, I thought it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen

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