OLD STUFF
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| This cranky re-run is from June 2012 |
To all my fellow “Old Farts” in bloggyland, do you remember any of this stuff?
Adjusting the “rabbit ears” on the TV only to have the reception turn to snow when you moved back to your seat.
UHF channels.
The entire neighborhood getting excited whenever anyone came home with a new car or a color TV.
Regular home deliveries of Milk, soda, beer, and dry cleaning.
Doctor’s house calls…(happened maybe twice.)
The paper stopper on milk bottles that had a little flip-up tab. The tab had to be pried open with a butter knife which invariably forced the stopper into the bottle and squirted milk all over the table.
Milk bottles.
Cream on the top of non-homogenized milk.
Your mom talking about remembering the street “lamp lighter” guy.
Playing in the street.
Picking up the phone and having the operator ask “number please.” (Ocean City, New Jersey did not move to direct dial until the 60’s)
Telling the operator the number (four digits) and having her ask, “and how is your grandmother, Joe?”
Seven-cent Good Humor Raspberry-one-stick ice pops.
Paper boy calling out the latest edition, “Get your two star, sports Fi…nal Bulletin.” (Ocean City, New Jersey again)
Turning wire hangers with cardboard inserts from the dry-cleaner into a bow and arrow.
Being called into dinner by mom’s old two pound bell… and everyone knew their mom’s bell.
Catching crawfish in the creek. (The one running past Aunt Nancy’s house.)
Smoking on an airplane.
Fumbling with a bra fastener….wait….that was last week.
Using a clothespin and a card (baseball or playing) to turn your bicycle into a “motor” cycle
What is a church key?Using a clothespin and a card (baseball or playing) to turn your bicycle into a “motor” cycle
Old stuff question:
What old stuff do you remember?
I know a church key was used for opening beer. Not sure how I knew that. But I DID tell my 3rd grade teacher that one of our Presidents was named Millard High Life.
ReplyDeleteOld stuff I remember: a collapsible aluminum drinking cup my mom had in her purse, right beside her see-through fold-up rain hat in a little carrying case.
I remember so much you mentioned here. I remember milk being delivered to your house and party lines for the phone and how you weren't supposed to listen into other people's conversations, but most people did :)
ReplyDeletebetty
I remember the ice man delivering huge blocks of ice to go into the cooler that predated our fridge; I remember the baker coming around daily with breads and buns; I remember the greengrocer coming around to sell vegetables and fruit. He was the first to disappear, then the ice man, the baker still came around, but less often, when my own daughter was born many years after and had a van rather than a horse driven wagon.
ReplyDeleteI remember the "nightman" who came through the back alleys and removed the full can from under the dunny seat, replacing it with an empty one.
I remember Gosunders.... or in plain language pots to pee in that were kept under the bed. Or is my memory before your time... grins. We had to have chamber-pots to avoid a long walk to the outside toilet in the middle of the night.
ReplyDeleteWe do still have milk bottles but only when milk is delivered from dairy to door.
Some of these i remember, some i don't. We always had direct dial, for example, and the milk that was delivered was in the plastic coated paper cartons.
ReplyDeleteWe have a couple of old church key/bottle openers here, as well as the P38 style military can openers. Every time i try to buy a can opener, electric or not, it eventually falls apart, but those things work forever!
Do you remember getting your first tricycle? My dad and my uncle, in his army uniform, walked me up the street and around the corner. I rode home on the tricycle. It must have been around 1946, and my uncle was home from France.
ReplyDeleteYes I remember them all, miss some but not all. I was once the designated rabbit ear holder for an entire show. As soon as I let go, the picture went. My brothers convinced me I was the only one that held the power to make it work.
ReplyDeletePlaying in the street -- or just plain playing outside, for hours, unsupervised by constant presence of adults. What a great way to grow up! And there was no such word as "play date."
ReplyDeleteunder-inflated balloons could be used as well as the playing card and clothes pin.
ReplyDeleteSounded like a sick Harley
I remember many of these. Some good memories here.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day Joe. ☺
We didn't get home deliveries of beer or soda, but we did have a 'Bread Man', who brought baked goods to our house. And also a 'Fuller Brush Man', who came to sell us all manner of handy kitchen brushes.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course, the cardboard milk-bottle stoppers, and the half-gallon glass milk bottles they came with (ours had a little folded-paper cover over the top end of the bottle, that you had to remove before you got to the cardboard stopper)
And rabbit-ears. . . well, we still use those. . .
I remember party lines, when you'd pick up your phone and someone else was talking on it.
ReplyDeleteYep, I remember a lot of that stuff. Living in the rural south, we didn't have street lights until much later, but we did have peddlers that that came by about twice a week selling fresh produce, candy, cold drinks, and dry goods.
ReplyDeleteWhen I write a column about this stuff, it ALWAYS resonates with my newspaper readers.
I remember some of your things! And some of the things I remember: The chimney sweep going door-to-door. The "town crier" walking up and down Main Street, ringing his bell and reading an official announcement. Being born at home (OK, so I don't exactly REMEMBER it, even though I was there!), my mother plucking the chicken for Sunday's big dinner.
ReplyDeleteFun post!
I remember EVERYTHING; the Helms Truck, milk delivery, playing outside with no adult supervision----who's calling, please?
ReplyDeleteLove your list! And I do remember many of those antiquities!
ReplyDeleteWe had an early tv set. Mom would invite family and friends over to view the few scheduled programs there were. Later, those stupid rabbit ears wrapped in tin foil! - and worse! - having to get up to change the channels!
Grandma's house was considered quite upscale - it had a designated "milk box" on the side - a cute little latched door that was the perfect size for our dolls to live in.
Box fans put into your window at night and blue sky Popsicles from the ice cream truck.
ReplyDeleteGood Humor Raspberry-one-stick ice pops.
ReplyDelete- I thought I was the only one who remembered Good Humor Raspberry One Sticks. I think they were 10 cents in the mid sixties, my favorite ever!!
I remember as kid in the 60;s dialing a wrong number and calling the operator and telling them that, a week later got a card in the mail with a dime taped to it.
ReplyDelete