Starch and other forgotten stuff

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

I tripped over mine today. Purchased a year ago, and still in its box, never opened and still being ignored. Why do I fall for all this junk?

looksee wrote: »

I am not completely sold, I had a go at the cooker top, which is cleaned frequently, and only takes a few minutes with jif and a brush, and didn't make much progress at all, it seemed pointless. And I did get to a stage with the splashback where I was just moving grease around and it took longer to clean the brush than to clean the splashback. In fairness, it was really bad and it was amazing that it came clean at all.

maringo wrote: »

Have one of them steamers thingys used about twice on the tiles. Up in the attic now with all the other thingymajigs collecting dust.

But, but…..the man with the funny accent and several orange women said that your steam cleaner would solve all of your domestic woes! Yiz must be doing it wrong because there is a special filter on all shopping channels that removes exaggerated and misleading claims. Everything they say is the truth, the whole truth, etc.

Are yiz sure yiz aren’t trying to clean your surfaces with your no-nos? I know they're great for mowing your carpets but it might take longer than the 60-day money back guarantee period to clean your house with a no-no!

Just wise up, but some car batteries, drill holes in the bottoms and use that special watery stuff to clean your surfaces. It will give you spotless surfaces, with new and different colours and aromas – job done!

You might want to wear your Marigolds and those Polaroid sunglasses from the 70’s, though. I forgot mine and that may explain why this post took 7 hours to type. Also, my labrador is now doing a great impression of a dachshund.

Hows about the Summer Drink? Came in a sachet and it made a cupful or orange flavoured drink. Ciderette gone also. The Titbits and Weekend magazines. All gone.

What about TCP liquid and its nasel-battering smell? Just a dab behind your ear and you could persuade teacher that you really needed yesterday off school. Mind you, you needed big, flappy ears and to walk into the wind or sit in a draught to prevent self-asphyxiation. On detecting the smell of TCP, people would stop you in the street and ask if you were OK. If you limped away, you would hear "such a brave little soldier".

Today, you can easily find namby-pamby, wussy wuss TCP cream but, perhaps thanks to the PC police, the availability of the real stuff seems limited.

I'm sure that the vast majority of sensible people would agree that the mandatory application, or even the threat of application of TCP liquid onto the vast majority of affected parts, preferably by merciless grannies, would eradicate the vast majority of today's trendy, made-up allergies.

Other benefits are many and self evident:

• The vast majority of shelves, currently full of remedies for made-up allergies, could once again carry flagons, nay magnums of TCP liquid.
• Pharmaceutical companies could then cease manufacture of those "remedies" and start investigations into the manufacture of smellier versions of TCP liquid, thereby employing millions of chemistry grads.
• NASA could cease seeking alien life-forms where no man has gone before because they could find us by following the TCP smell emanating from Earth.
• Steam cleaners would no longer be necessary, thereby saving vast amounts of attic and shed space.

Regards,
BrensBenz
CEO etc. of TCP

I always felt ill AFTER gargling with TCP

Lux flakes (particularly at Christmas to make 'snow') and soft green soap, though I can't recall what the soft green soap was used for!

| got a very small box of boric acid in a chemist when needed for some cleaning project.

Eiderdowns, Paraffin heaters and ice on the inside of the window. Jack Frost!

One of the earlier posts mentioned Mercurochrome. I remember it well. It was an antiseptic used for, among other things, impetigo, which seemed to affect the mouth. The product left a purple stain around the mouth. Kids used to get chilblains in those days too. Haven't heard of it in a long time.

Carbolic soap was in most households. Someone else mentioned poultices. I remember moistened bread mixed with soap was a home remedy for poultices.

Long before Nescafe appeared most households had a bottle of Irel coffee. It was vile stuff. A spoonful mixed with a bit of sugar (sold in stiff grey paper bags - almost like cardboard) and some milk was how it was made.

Short trousers were worn by boys up to the age of 14 or 15. No such thing as jeans. And shoes were made from leather. My dad had all the gear for mending shoes. He had a last with individual cast iron "feet" which fit into a fixed mounted base unit. Both my brother's and my shoes, having had new soles fitted were finished off with a dozen or more studs which produced a great clatter, similar to a soldier's boots.

The first car we had was a Hillman Minx which needed a starting handle. For those too young to know what that was, it was a long metal circular bar with a double bend inserted under the radiator and given a sharp turn or two to turn over the engine. No such thing as an electric starter.

Broken biscuits? Biscuits were displayed in groceries in metal boxes with a glass lid. The grocer would collect any broken biscuits and sell them at a discount. They'd probably all been handled by just a few dozen people previously. Hygiene?

The mention of self-service shops sounds almost quaint. Am I right in thinking one of the chains of shops was called Liptons? As well as sugar being sold in plain paper bags (no advertising on bags then) butter was sold from a great big slab - the grocer slicing it up to your requirements with a big pair of flat wooden spatulas. I think tea was also sold loose. Yes, I remember most grocers had a tea chest full of the stuff. In fact most food items were dispensed by the grocer. Cheese, rashers were cut to order. And many grocers ran a personal account, purchases being recorded in a ledger using a "copy-and-ink" or was it "copying ink" pencil. My local grocer had a permanent purple stain on his lower lip from when he'd lick the pencil to produce the required moisture.