The Pikers Pit

Pasta had not been invented.
Curry was a surname.
A takeaway was a mathematical problem.
A pizza was something to do with a leaning tower.
Bananas and oranges only appeared at Christmas time.
All crisps were plain; the only choice we had was whether to put the salt on or not.
A Chinese chippy was a foreign carpenter.
Rice was a milk pudding, and never, ever part of our dinner.
A Big Mac was what we wore when it was raining.
Brown bread was something only poor people ate.
Oil was for lubricating, fat was for cooking
Tea was made in a teapot using tea leaves and never green.
Coffee was Camp, and came in a bottle.
Cubed sugar was regarded as posh.
Only Heinz made beans.
Fish didn't have fingers in those days.
Eating raw fish was called poverty, not sushi.
None of us had ever heard of yoghurt.
Healthy food consisted of anything edible.
People who didn't peel potatoes were regarded as lazy.
Indian restaurants were only found in India.
Cooking outside was called camping.
Seaweed was not a recognized food.
"Kebab" was not even a word never mind a food.
Sugar enjoyed a good press in those days, and was regarded as being white gold.
Prunes were medicinal.
Surprisingly, muesli was readily available, it was called cattle feed.
Pineapples came in chunks in a tin; we had only ever seen a picture of a real one.
Water came out of the tap, if someone had suggested bottling it and charging more than petrol for it they would have become a laughing stock.
The one thing that we never ever had on our table in the fifties was elbows!

You ate anything you could get
Any sweets came off a ration card you had to present on purchase!.
All the bread was white in the corner shop.
I was sent to the butchers once a week to buy a Sunday joint of meat. That was the only day you got a roast dinner.
If a yank warship visited, you got free gum sticks on boarding.
Mum got the dewberries, wimberries and blackberries I picked in the seasons, so we got pie/tart after our Sunday dinner.
Sometimes I got the odd rabbit from a friend with ferrets
All the trout I caught were taken home for tea.......as were all the sea fish.
Teabags didn't exist.


Diversion coming up..........forgive me.

The Telly (IF you had one) was a 12 inch box sat on a table. Black and white, one channel, shut down with national anthem every night at 10pm.
The bog was a small block building at the bottom of the garden, toilet paper was old newspaper sheets.
The bath was a tin bath, used in the kitchen once a week.
Nobody owned a car in our street.

davelumb wrote: ↑Wed Jul 17 2019 11:18 -

Leftovers weren't binned, you got them for your tea the next day.

'Best before' dates didn't exist. The only 'best before' was best eat it before someone else did!

Only rich kids were overweight.

You could buy bags of broken biscuits and kept any that were nearly whole for 'company'.

Evaporated milk was a major treat and if it was 'Carnation' you thought you were royalty.

Your mum got her 'Tupperware' and 'Pyrex' as wedding presents.

Everybody had a set of 'Apostle' teaspoons.

Crikey, I remember those spoons!
Not much else though.

John Milford wrote: ↑Wed Jul 17 2019 11:39 -

Leftovers weren't binned, you got them for your tea the next day.

'Best before' dates didn't exist. The only 'best before' was best eat it before someone else did!

Only rich kids were overweight.

You could buy bags of broken biscuits and kept any that were nearly whole for 'company'.

Evaporated milk was a major treat and if it was 'Carnation' you thought you were royalty.

Your mum got her 'Tupperware' and 'Pyrex' as wedding presents.

Everybody had a set of 'Apostle' teaspoons.


7f7ae42c7eb39ca6b05ce84d4ce31add.jpg

A set of apostle spoons? We only had one.

davelumb wrote: ↑Sat Jul 20 2019 16:02 -

John Milford wrote: ↑Wed Jul 17 2019 11:39 -

Leftovers weren't binned, you got them for your tea the next day.

'Best before' dates didn't exist. The only 'best before' was best eat it before someone else did!

Only rich kids were overweight.

You could buy bags of broken biscuits and kept any that were nearly whole for 'company'.

Evaporated milk was a major treat and if it was 'Carnation' you thought you were royalty.

Your mum got her 'Tupperware' and 'Pyrex' as wedding presents.

Everybody had a set of 'Apostle' teaspoons.


7f7ae42c7eb39ca6b05ce84d4ce31add.jpg

A set of apostle spoons? We only had one.

Did you have to take it in turn to stir your tea?

John Milford wrote: ↑Sat Jul 20 2019 16:08 -

davelumb wrote: ↑Sat Jul 20 2019 16:02 -

John Milford wrote: ↑Wed Jul 17 2019 11:39 -

Leftovers weren't binned, you got them for your tea the next day.

'Best before' dates didn't exist. The only 'best before' was best eat it before someone else did!

Only rich kids were overweight.

You could buy bags of broken biscuits and kept any that were nearly whole for 'company'.

Evaporated milk was a major treat and if it was 'Carnation' you thought you were royalty.

Your mum got her 'Tupperware' and 'Pyrex' as wedding presents.

Everybody had a set of 'Apostle' teaspoons.


7f7ae42c7eb39ca6b05ce84d4ce31add.jpg

A set of apostle spoons? We only had one.

Did you have to take it in turn to stir your tea?

I don't think it was ever used for anything. It was one of those things we just 'had'.

Who else had a set of Alfred Meakin 'Hedgerow' crockery from Woolworth's?


(Like Ronnie & Reggie).

John Milford wrote: ↑Sat Jul 20 2019 16:21 -

Who else had a set of Alfred Meakin 'Hedgerow' crockery from Woolworth's?


Selection-of-vintage-Alfred-Meakin-Hedgerow-dinnersidetriosaucer-and.jpg

Those look familiar. Don't remember my parents having them though.

How about a Vernon Ward print?

Not the Tretchikoff?

Certainly not!

Bloody good memory you old farts

Nige Johns wrote: ↑Sat Jul 20 2019 19:17 -

Bloody good memory you old farts

I bet you can remember easting in the 1940s.

davelumb wrote: ↑Sat Jul 20 2019 20:01 -

Nige Johns wrote: ↑Sat Jul 20 2019 19:17 -

Bloody good memory you old farts

I bet you can remember easting in the 1940s.

I can’t remember what I had for tea last Wednesday tho

Thanks for the memories Rosie

Dont ask me where my car keys are......but
I can remember sitting in a high chair in my nan's kitchen, I was told that was around '49 because we got our own house in 1950 under the Homes for Heroes building scheme.
Back then the butcher told you what meat you would have!
Choice of meat wasn't a word unless you were a moonlighter and those above you were c*cks and hens.

Amazing to remember that in the '50's cars were often shared, if your family didn't have one you could borrow one of someone who had. My first holiday in Devon was in a borrowed car, Mum and Dad camped outside and my sister and I slept in the car, everyone did it back then.

How about party lines? Sharing a phone line with the house across the street. Tell that to kids today, and they won't believe you!

davelumb wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21 2019 15:42 -

How about party lines? Sharing a phone line with the house across the street. Tell that to kids today, and they won't believe you!

They'd really freak out if you mention having to 'Press button B' to get change after your call from a red public telephone box . . . . .

John Milford wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21 2019 18:18 -

davelumb wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21 2019 15:42 -

How about party lines? Sharing a phone line with the house across the street. Tell that to kids today, and they won't believe you!

They'd really freak out if you mention having to 'Press button B' to get change after your call from a red public telephone box . . . . .

A red what?

Bread and dripping! (With a liberal sprinkling of salt).

Quite delicious and virtually 'death on a plate' by modern food standards. You could literally feel your arteries narrowing as you scoffed it! Lovely grub!

John Milford wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21 2019 19:35 -

Bread and dripping! (With a liberal sprinkling of salt).

Quite delicious and virtually 'death on a plate' by modern food standards. You could literally feel your arteries narrowing as you scoffed it! Lovely grub!

One of my first jobs , packaging up the dripping
Worked in a posh area but did they love their Dripping
Regards
Tom

davelumb wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21 2019 15:42 -

How about party lines? Sharing a phone line with the house across the street. Tell that to kids today, and they won't believe you!

Party lines, we didn't even have the poles put up until 63/4.
Can you imagine party lines being used today, the way times have changed I somehow doubt a party could not resist listening to your private calls.

If they bought back the 4p phone boxes I reckon I still have enough pennies call NZ for a few hours.

Mike J wrote: ↑Mon Jul 22 2019 10:09 -

davelumb wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21 2019 15:42 -

How about party lines? Sharing a phone line with the house across the street. Tell that to kids today, and they won't believe you!

Party lines, we didn't even have the poles put up until 63/4.
Can you imagine party lines being used today, the way times have changed I somehow doubt a party could not resist listening to your private calls.

If they bought back the 4p phone boxes I reckon I still have enough pennies call NZ for a few hours.

Always used to press that button to get your pennies back after completing the call, sometimes it worked

House phones (for us working class) came many years later!

alan behenna wrote: ↑Mon Jul 22 2019 10:21 -

Mike J wrote: ↑Mon Jul 22 2019 10:09 -

davelumb wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21 2019 15:42 -

How about party lines? Sharing a phone line with the house across the street. Tell that to kids today, and they won't believe you!

Party lines, we didn't even have the poles put up until 63/4.
Can you imagine party lines being used today, the way times have changed I somehow doubt a party could not resist listening to your private calls.

If they bought back the 4p phone boxes I reckon I still have enough pennies call NZ for a few hours.

Always used to press that button to get your pennies back after completing the call, sometimes it worked

House phones (for us working class) came many years later!

Agreed
The unwritten rule was you never go past a phone box without pressing button B.
I reckon its why they made the doors so damned heavy so it was difficult to do it fast.

Mike J wrote: ↑Mon Jul 22 2019 10:09 -

davelumb wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21 2019 15:42 -

How about party lines? Sharing a phone line with the house across the street. Tell that to kids today, and they won't believe you!

Party lines, we didn't even have the poles put up until 63/4.
Can you imagine party lines being used today, the way times have changed I somehow doubt a party could not resist listening to your private calls.

If they bought back the 4p phone boxes I reckon I still have enough pennies call NZ for a few hours.

I had a party line back in 1979/80
I was pretty sure the old bat over the street listened in and did the necessary gossiping afterwards with her mates ---so I had a girlfriend ring me and talk sheer smut for an hour or so
She never looked me in the eye again

back to the 50's--we had feck all---in fact we had so much feck all we had twice as much of it as anyone else, parents had divorced (which was very hard in those days) just me younger bruv and my Dad with 2 chairs and a bed left (so I'm told, I was only 4)
Spent a lot of time at my grandma's back then and I always used to go round my "auntie" Wynn's house next door for a slice of bread and chip fat which back in those days was dripping----it was deeelicious.
Milkman used to come round with a horse drawn cart and we would feed it a slice of bread, then run round the other end with a shovel and bucket to get stuff for my grans roses
Sunday was always leg of lamb dinner and rice pudding for afters (with the much fought for thick brown skin ) ,and a tin of salmon for tea with goldfish (peach slices) and evaporated milk to follow.

Anyone remember golden syrup or sugar sandwiches?

Anyone remember golden syrup or sugar sandwiches?

Sugar sandwiches, yes.

Kev Berry wrote: ↑Mon Jul 22 2019 15:13 -

Mike J wrote: ↑Mon Jul 22 2019 10:09 -

davelumb wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21 2019 15:42 -

How about party lines? Sharing a phone line with the house across the street. Tell that to kids today, and they won't believe you!

Party lines, we didn't even have the poles put up until 63/4.
Can you imagine party lines being used today, the way times have changed I somehow doubt a party could not resist listening to your private calls.

If they bought back the 4p phone boxes I reckon I still have enough pennies call NZ for a few hours.

I had a party line back in 1979/80
I was pretty sure the old bat over the street listened in and did the necessary gossiping afterwards with her mates ---so I had a girlfriend ring me and talk sheer smut for an hour or so
She never looked me in the eye again

back to the 50's--we had feck all---in fact we had so much feck all we had twice as much of it as anyone else, parents had divorced (which was very hard in those days) just me younger bruv and my Dad with 2 chairs and a bed left (so I'm told, I was only 4)
Spent a lot of time at my grandma's back then and I always used to go round my "auntie" Wynn's house next door for a slice of bread and chip fat which back in those days was dripping----it was deeelicious.
Milkman used to come round with a horse drawn cart and we would feed it a slice of bread, then run round the other end with a shovel and bucket to get stuff for my grans roses
Sunday was always leg of lamb dinner and rice pudding for afters (with the much fought for thick brown skin ) ,and a tin of salmon for tea with goldfish (peach slices) and evaporated milk to follow.

Anyone remember golden syrup or sugar sandwiches?

Remember the Virol Kev

No, but I do remember the cod liver oil and those little flat bottles of orange juice everyone with kids used to get free

everyone thought I was strange cos I used to love the taste of cod liver oil (still do)