Things that you just don't see now!

[Timbuck]

Remember them well - got me in to loads of trouble.

As far as I can remember there was a spring with a sort of plunger in the barrel, you cocked the gun which drew back the spring and loaded the spud.

The trigger released the spring and plunger thus despatching the spud pellet into dad's mug of tea or the cat etc.

New potatoes made the best ammo.

That must have been the "delux model".. The early "Spud Gun" that i bought in the 1940's was just a metal tube and length of wire about 4mm diameter the end of the wire was bent in a loop like a gun handle..you had to put both ends of the tube into the spud to plug the ends then shove the wire handle down one end and the spud slug would shoot out with great velocity (depending how fast you shoved it)..I used to play with it for hours on end..can still remember the hole riddled spuds that used to litter the streets...There was another Toy gun that was made of bent wire and a spring, it used to shoot little coloured wooden bobbins.

[Timbuck]

Can anybody remember the "Monkey up a stick" toy and "the acrobat", 2 sticks with a little man at the top who perfomed when you squeased the stick ends....And can you remember a jar on the mantle piece or near the cooker full of coloured wooden spells.

[mr_blue_owl]

That must have been the "delux model".. The early "Spud Gun" that i bought in the 1940's was just a metal tube and length of wire about 4mm diameter the end of the wire was bent in a loop like a gun handle..you had to put both ends of the tube into the spud to plug the ends then shove the wire handle down one end and the spud slug would shoot out with great velocity (depending how fast you shoved it)..I used to play with it for hours on end..can still remember the hole riddled spuds that used to litter the streets...There was another Toy gun that was made of bent wire and a spring, it used to shoot little coloured wooden bobbins.

 

I had mine around the late 50s

Technology must have progressed spud gun design by then!

[seriessix]

. I remember years ago helping my father plant some roses in our back garden. He was digging in some horse manure with a spade when I made the obvious observation that folk would pay good money for horse manure but would never pay a penny for dogs mess. Well my father soon put me right by telling me about how they use dog’s mess in leather tanning factories.

As you can imagine my eyes lit up at this revelation as I knew of a tannery in Chesterfield I had seen from the train last time we went on holiday. So I decided to collect up all the local dogs waste in a wheel barrow then walk it over to the Tannery and sell it. I made a handy scoop from an old woolen glove stuffed with paper and attached it to the end of a stick. After the initial success of selling my first barrowful I could be seen at all hours of the day roaming the local streets of Gleedless looking for my bounty. I’d happily use my stick to wave at passers by and soon acquired the nickname Eddy Three Arms that name later got abbreviated to Three Handed Ed.

It would take me about a week to collect a barrow full and I’d have to keep the barrow in the living room at night for fear that it might be stolen. After a few months I could tell what type of dog the mess had come from just by glancing at it. Summer was the best though, the mess would dry up on the top side in the hot sun but be all soft inside, just like a springtime pie.

The eleven mile walk to Chesterfield was a hard slog but it was worth it. The money I made helped to put food on the table and clothes on my back. However, in the 70’s bone-meal was introduced to dog food and with it came the advent of ghost poo (white dog mess). The tannery weren’t interested in any white dog mess so my days as a collector sadly came to an abrupt end. I still have my scoop hanging up in shed and look at it fondly now and again, ah the memories.

[Texas]

On another thread I was remembering the smell of Bay Rum in barbershops, which in turn got me thinking in general about those establishments. Remember singeing?

No, not singing, as in barbershop quartets. Singeing, where they got a burning taper and singed your hair.

What was that all about then? An highly dangerous maneouver I think.

Imagine the chaos today with all the flammable gels and stuff, It'd be 'WOOOOSH' and be like the Black and White Minstrel show, with emphasis on the black.

Come to think of it, you dont see a lot of barbers doing shaving nowadays either.

[Solomon1]

I saw some this week, i was tempted to take a pic of it to show you all, but thought better of the idea

 

haha! you shoulda done pinkers!

[bigcheese]

Penny farthings.

 

Guineas.

 

Tin baths.

 

:hihi:

[DC33]

Extinct things:hihi:

 

Destroyed buildings:hihi:

 

My Money:hihi:

[Dave650]

You don't see now!

 

Kids with glasses and either a patch over the lens or frosted glass in one lens.

 

Snake belts

 

Rag and bone men.

 

Bob a job week.

 

Rubber girdles(with sussies)

 

Motor bikes and sidecars

 

3 wheeler cars (other than Relient Robin's)

 

Last 3 wheeler I saw my uncle sang "Three wheels on my wagon" loudly. The three wheeler screeched 2 a stop and the man jumped out with a hatchet, my uncle proceeded with his song and then the man shouted some more and ragged a shotgun out of his boot. At which point my uncle grabbed his kids and ran round the corner. Apparently this man is notorious round ringinglow.

[carpet]

why dont you ever see baby pigeons?