Author Topic: Disappearing England. The Stuff we remember!  (Read 14384 times)

Flug

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Disappearing England. The Stuff we remember!
« on: May 17, 2008, 10:55:42 AM »

I feel confident that this type of topic may have been aired before. But just reading the "Sweeties" thread I was thinking of a product my mum used to feed me as a lad.  I was born in 1951 and it was still close in real terms to the end of WW2. some things were still scarce.  My parents decided I needed a vitamin supplement and so they used to feed me a god awful product called Virol...can anyone remember that?  A gooey nasty sugar sour brown thick syrup that I revolted against every day.  I think mum ate more of it than I ever did. I do believe there may have been a competitor product as well.

Can anyone else remember these "forgotten" items and products. That may drag up the odd memory....... :-\ :)

tramp

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Re: Disappearing England. The Stuff we remember!
« Reply #1 on: May 18, 2008, 01:16:41 AM »
Flug,

The oldest brand names I can remember were, of course, of things that were forbidden me, like fags: Abdullah No.5, Capstan, Double Ace, Du Maurier, Gold Flake, Greys, Kensitas, Lambert & Butler, Passing Clouds, Players, Park Drive, Senior Service, Sobranie, Weights, Woodbines, all these were before new-fangled things like Strand, Embassy, Kent etc.

I used to like black treacle, but I only usually got near it with suet pudding.

Aaaah, it's coming back now mate, although Virol was only a diluted mixture of Havoline & Castrol, it would certainly have ''got you moving''. ;D

jasper14

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Re: Disappearing England. The Stuff we remember!
« Reply #2 on: May 18, 2008, 07:52:27 AM »
I remember the forbidden items that used to be dreamed about,then came the
big days when I could partake of some,  Senior Service sounds so posh ehDo you remember the different coloured  Cocktail Cigarettes in a gold flat box very
dear and had to be smoked rather flashily to show off,,
This is not ciggies but I used to smoke a small Briar rosewood pipe and a tobacco named believe it or not   Baby,s Bottom.
I have an idea that  Virol was to clean the drains...

Flug

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Re: Disappearing England. The Stuff we remember!
« Reply #3 on: May 18, 2008, 09:06:52 AM »
Tramp and Jasper,

The virol certainly cleaned my "drains". I hated the B. stuff..  The coloured ciggies were called sobraine and were alleged at the time to be Russian, though i have my doubts......Tramp add to the cig list De Resk.

jasper14

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Re: Disappearing England. The Stuff we remember!
« Reply #4 on: May 18, 2008, 09:48:20 AM »


More suiting the pocket  ciggies   Red Robin.  Black Cat.Gold Star
These we sold at our "corner store" during  WW11.
Even then tho others gradually took over,   only served to families registered
with us or people on leave

What about Craven A

Phil

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Re: Disappearing England. The Stuff we remember!
« Reply #5 on: May 18, 2008, 11:32:18 AM »
The thing I remember most was the old corner shop, you know that used to have a chair for the customers to sit.  With their big blocks of butter, cheese and lard. doing the weekday shopping on the book until the weekend.

Some were cash only, they never seemed to get the custom the ones with a strap book got.

I always thought that the butter and cheese tasted better, when it came from one of those blocks.  The lard was something else, spread on hot toast with salt and pepper it made a meal fit for royalty.

Phil
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

tramp

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Re: Disappearing England. The Stuff we remember!
« Reply #6 on: May 18, 2008, 01:34:18 PM »
Sobranie weren't made in USSR thee black ones, also with gold tips like the cocktail were called Black Russian as a brand name.  First cigs I smoked were a 'Bar One' found in a packet, and the next a Woodie, the third was 'Turf'. They all made me di=zz=y but we persevered didn't we to 2 packs a day.

That lard was great Phil, but my favourite was dripping with little black streaks (of blood I think) salt, now 2 wedges (they weren't just slices) that was a meal and a half.

Like you. I liked to see a side of bacon on the slicer and a few blocks of cheese - without that authenticity they were only CTNs (cigs, tobacco & news).

The on the strap corner shops are everywhere here,. They're obviously not as cheap as supermarkets but you can phone and they deliver for free 7 days a week (if you're tight and don't give the lad anything).  They often go bust in bad areas due to protection rackets and non payers.

tramp

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Re: Disappearing England. The Stuff we remember!
« Reply #7 on: May 18, 2008, 11:07:43 PM »
I was fascinated by ''Robin Blue'' a little lump of deep blue solidified but soluble powder.  I couldn't understand how dropping this into the outdoor washtub could make clothes whiter, and there was never a trace of blue on them, even when they came out of the tub - I checked that because I'd developed a suspicion that the blue was squeezed out by the mangle.

Jacqueline

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Re: Disappearing England. The Stuff we remember!
« Reply #8 on: May 18, 2008, 11:14:12 PM »
Cannot go back to ww2 as was not born until the mid 50's but here are a few products i remember.
Philosan, said to fortify the over 40's. That disgusting black cream called black jack which was said to draw out infection.
Some of the simple products still seem the best. Forget all the cream cleansers i still use the simple scouring powder...there's another whatever happened to Vim?
There are some products that i cannot imagine life without though such as sliced bread and teabags and how the heck did we manage without a fridge let alone a freezer. :o

Phil

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Re: Disappearing England. The Stuff we remember!
« Reply #9 on: May 18, 2008, 11:24:10 PM »
how the heck did we manage without a fridge let alone a freezer. :o

Jacqueline,

Why do you think we had all the corner shops, the main reason was we had to shop more often,

Phil
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

jasper14

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Re: Disappearing England. The Stuff we remember!
« Reply #10 on: May 18, 2008, 11:25:42 PM »
Jacqueline,
                  Managing without a Fridge, well one gets a cold dark damp house
with a slab of concrete for a shelf and there you are one fridge.milk in a bucket
of water left in there was also rather good in Summer    I was married for 9 years before
I had a fridge,washer,telephone and various taken for granted things of today,
and that was 1957.Had a hand agitated gas boiler with detachable wringer
in the kitchen,cost seven pounds paid on the gas bill,5 shillimgs rebate cos we paid if off early.........And they say those where the days, no way,keep today


 

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