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Original poster

When I was a kid........................................................

482 replies

waterfalls · 16/06/2006 15:03

My mum often put my hair up with elastic bands and it hurt like hell getting them out....................and awful cheap plasters that became part of your skin, could only be forced of after a long soak in the bath while painfully peeling them off with a knife.

anyone elseGrin

OP posts:
2shoes · 17/06/2006 16:43

martianbishop do you think every village had their own weirdo. we had one who used to flash in the woods(was ny neighbour at one time today we would say he had sn)

Blandmum · 17/06/2006 16:48

The thing was , everyone knew this bloke and knew that he was a bit of a perve, so we just avoided him. So he wasn't really a danger to anyone. The was a curious sort of 'live and let live, but don't let the funny bugger near you' sort of thing going on. I think that in an odd way our parents trusted us to be streetwise....wheras my 9 year old has never crossed a road on her own!

themoon66 · 17/06/2006 16:48

Our village had its own weirdo too. He is still there! He lived in a wooden shack just outside the village and people used to pay him to clean out drains. Mum always lowered her voice when talking about him... 'he's a bit simple bless him'.

tenalady · 17/06/2006 16:50

No weirdo as such, but a couple of tramps from time to time.

Blandmum · 17/06/2006 16:51

I now live in the grounds of what was once a massive mental hospital. Patients were let out into the village, and no-one would turn a hair if one of them shoved a frozen chicken up her jumper in the co-op and announced that she was pg (this happened to a friend who was in the shop at the time) The shop keeper would just phone to get the chicken back.

The old boys would toddle off to the local , have a half and toddle back, this was real care in the community. Nowerdays the poor bastards shuffle the streets Sad

themoon66 · 17/06/2006 16:54

My dad worked in the local mental hospital and regularly used to bring patients home with him. They would stay for tea and play dominos with me. I remember when I was quite small being taken onto the wards with him and hearing groaning and screaming from behind locked doors. Dad just used to say 'oh thats george (or whoever) he's not feeling too good today'. Then next week George would be over for tea in our front room.

Rather than scaring me, it gave me an understanding of the ups and downs of life. I went on to train as a psychiatric nurse.

southeastastra · 17/06/2006 17:01

blimey you've had a v interesting life themoon!

i live by two recently closed mental hospitals too. we used to hear sirens go off and panic because we thought mad axe murderers would be coming for us.

they have turned the hospitals into a huge housing estate, perhaps you live there martianbishop!! one part of the hospital is now on the market for thousands.

themoon66 · 17/06/2006 17:02

I think i already guessed that MartianBishop is in Kingston-upon-Hull Wink

Blandmum · 17/06/2006 17:04

no she isn't! Grin

southeastastra · 17/06/2006 17:04

not the same one then !! it's sad they shut so many down.

themoon66 · 17/06/2006 17:10

Sorry - mixing you up with SaintGeorge

Blandmum · 17/06/2006 17:10

I one I live on is biiiiiggggg had its own fields, stables and wash house. They used to take laundry in to make money. They have built over 550 houses on the grounds, the one bit they can't build over is the old cemetry.....rather sad, all unmarked graves, but rather lovely and full of wild flowers now.

The nurses block is fancy fats, but the assylum itself is just gradualy falling to bits. Took expensive for most developers to take on.

BettySpaghetti · 17/06/2006 17:12

...I remember my Gran collecting Green Shield Stamps in a book and talking about what she was going to cash them in for.

...climbing trees in the graveyard next to our house and eating plums from the tree until we had tummy ache.

...having "sales" in the garden where we sold bits and pieces (of crap probably!) to friends for a few pennies. We'd then spend those pennies on buying the friends crap off them!

...banana sandwiches with brown sugar.

...eating croissants (from M&S in the days before bog-standard supermarkets sold them) for the first time and thinking "how exotic"

Smile
themoon66 · 17/06/2006 17:13

Epsom?

southeastastra · 17/06/2006 17:13

ooh it might be the same one, but i imagine there are quite alot closed now.

southeastastra · 17/06/2006 17:16

i used to love sticking the green shield stamps in!

themoon66 · 17/06/2006 17:17

We never had green shield, but I clearly remember Co-op stamps. Gran used to save em up for me to stick in the books.

Blackduck · 17/06/2006 17:18

ohh 'Stamps or discount?' - I remember that...
and penny chews (space hoppers and black jacks, and sweet tabacco - made of shredded coconut - how un PC!)
and cherryade and ice cream floats - R Whites lemonade (cream soda even better!)
and playing with two tennis balls up against a wall and a length of elastic (WWB's pressie from her MIL would have done me!) to play French skipping..

themoon66 · 17/06/2006 17:19

And who else wore over the knee stripey socks with mini skirts?

Blandmum · 17/06/2006 17:20

I remember sticking in green shield stamps and the excitment of looking at the cattalogue....mum would always get something dull though!

And my aunty used to collect 'Players cigarette' vouchers. We used to have to count them up. My parents didn't because they both smoked woodbines!

Blackduck · 17/06/2006 17:21

Used to get cards in PG Tips tea as well.. (God I think I'm revealing my age here!)

JanH · 17/06/2006 17:26

Oooh, blackduck, we had a thread on those quite recently - you can buy old albums with the cards stuck in (for quite large amounts Shock) but it's great seeing the actual cards I used to fight my brother for! Some \link{http://www.wildyorkshire.co.uk/naturediary/docs/2004/7/25.html\here}.

tenalady · 17/06/2006 17:27

anyone remember H.R puff n stuff with jack wilde in it?

themoon66 · 17/06/2006 17:34

anybody remember DAvid Cassidy? Blush

BettySpaghetti · 17/06/2006 17:35

Being allowed to stay up and watch Tales of the Unexpected (and then being really freaked out by it!)