Older mums ??? 40 plus???

[Laurang63]

Hi, I'm 41whispers quietly and have 3 kids, dd18 ds16 and an 8 month old. Would love to hear from any other older mothers.

Oh Sherbet Dips, yes remember them. And Jubblies.

What sort of place did you live in when you were small? We lived in a two-up two-down terraced with no inside loo. Just a coal fire in the middle room, so cold we used to get dressed in bed.

My kids don't believe me, especially that we didn't have a proper bath When I was 8 we moved to 3 bed detached with two loos and a huge garden...talk about culture shock!

Misspiggy, I think noone's mentioned them because there's a limit to how much shame we can inflict on ourselves . In the mid 70s, my dad went to a trades union conference in Blackpool and I begged him to bring me back a David Essex t shirt and much to my HORROR (because I thought he was a wimp) got the name wrong and brought me back one with David Cassidy on it!
I used to buy a quarter of blackberries and raspberries for 8p from the post office on my way to school every day. I also loved creme eggs (still do), and the post office owner named me miss creme egg 1976.

Sherbert Fountains ET!!! Yeah I remember those! Once was eating one walking around the caravan site on holiday with my bro and sis. We used to tip the tube up and swallow the sherbert. Well I inhaled some of the sherbert and thought I was going to die! That kind of put me off them! Also remember black jacks and fruit salads, and Golden Wonder crisps for 2p!

So who was a proper new romantic, and who (like me) was a bit crap and only managed the floppy shirt, stretched fringe and a bit of eyeliner?

At one house, we only had an outside loo and I used to have a potty under my bed.

We then had a telephone installed. Thought we were so posh. It was a big, cream thing and we shared a party line with a family over the road. If you wanted to make a call you had to push a button on the phone to get a dialling tone . You could obviously listen into the other family's calls.

TV used to finish at 11 or 12pm. They would play the national anthem and then it would all disappear into a white dot!

Wallpaper and crockery was all brown and swirly.

Oh yes the party line. And the potty - shared ours between us three kids all in one room.

And helping mum with the washing - putting it through the mangle.

Helsy....you are so right re shame and David Cassidy. As soon as I posted that one I thought "OMG - what have I done" . Am considering a MN name change now to hide identity! I kind of got into the New Romantic thing. Do you remember seeing Spandau Ballet on TOTP singing "Paint me Down"? I was overcome with teenage lust at the thought of "painting down" Tony Hadley...phwoar! I had the shirt with the lacy ruffles and a pair of green velour pedal pushers (definitely going to have to change my name now eh?!)which I wore to go round and call for my friend before we hit the town (well, the Youth Club disco). Her Dad opened the door to me and promptly collapsed into fits of laughter and asked me "Where's your cat then, Dick Whittington" Harrumph!!

I am going to to see them all !!!

I probably should be using loads of the blushing icons at this point

I had these turquoise hot pants that my mum made on her sewing machine which had a handle she turned round to sew with. I thought I looked great.

I have just remembered Spangles, I loved those sweets. Kayleigh, I have a friend who is always going to those concerts. She is 42 and regularly sees Donny Osmond and David Essex. We bought her a Donny Osmond calendar for her birthday and she loved it. Mind you he still looks pretty good.

Goldfish, I'm 42 as well ! I was a David Cassidy fan and then moved on to the Bay City Rollers. So not too upset that Donny won't be there in the flesh !

I just hope we aren't too near the front. I reckon if you can see them too closely it'll spoil the memories. This will definitely be a concert better watched from a distance

I'm just a daydreamer walking in the rain, oh you just wanted to melt into his arms.
My sis was a BCR fan, she wore those jeans with tartan stripes down the sides. Oh and of course the tartan scarf to match.

arrggh!! had a friends 2 boys for a few hours this morning,,,one weed on the stairs the other i thought was teething cried constantly,,,,,,oh boy am i over having kids!!

I'm scarred for life: I was never allowed a pair of hot pants. I was sooooooo jealous of a friend who had some.

I've never forgiven my mother!

Who else remembers Tiny Tears? I was desparate for one - it was in the window of the toy shop close to my school, and I really wanted one for Christmas. Only (much) later did I realise that Mum & Dad simply couldn't afford her.

Prettybird, I wasn't allowed hot pants either. I sort of had the impression that if you wore hot pants in my mum's mind, you were damned forever more!

My sister had tiny tears and I had a younger version called Teeny tiny tears. I actually hated dolls so I am not quite sure how I ended up with TTT.

I had a teeny tiny tears, also a 'Tressy'. Do you remember those ?- bit like a Barbie/Sindy but had hair that you could lengthen by twisting a button on her belly. I loved that doll!

Oooh - I remember them.

Talk of long hair also brought back memories of my troll collection

Ah yes the trolls! And I had a collection of felt 'gonks' (they were owl-looking stuffed thingies) that came precut in a pack and you sewed them together.

Oh wow, I'm on roll now! ............what about those cardboard dolls with paper clothes with tabs on? And we had a rag and bone man who came and took away your old stuff and left a bag of wax crayons and colouring books attached to your door knocker.

I had a wonderful collection of those cardboard dolls and their clothes!

I loved my Sindi - but I left her in the garden in the rain and she was never the same again

Lots of the toys are back in fashion as part of the retro movement - like spacehoppers and choppers.

Who remembers 'Watch with Mother?' My kids can't believe the tv was only on at certain times of the day.

We loved the woodentots and Rupert Bear as well.
What about which window shall we look through today? Will it be the arch window, the square window or the round one? We used to try and guess, how exciting that must have been!

Potty, you can still buy paper dolls with paper clothes! My dd loves them. M&S do a good selection of them in books - lovely and easy to press out. The old toys were the best eh?

So that's where I went wrong then,having a mum who bought me a pair of, wait for it, white satin hotpants

Oh thats not fair Cam. How come you got white satin ones and mine were just plain old turquoise.
I would have been so jealous of you.

Have read all this and taken me back. I cut my Tressy's hair thinking I could just push the button for more. AND I had a big bag of paper dollies, but the worst is - I am going to see Donny in October and I was a David Cassidy fan!!Will he forgive me/ does he care? Donny is about to become a grandad! (Only coz I now subscribe to his website, ssshhh don't let on)

Aaawww your poor Tressy sammac.

Lonelymum - might just pop into M&S today and relive my childhood.