h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Daddy would say.. you bad tempered little bugger!!

I meant chew your nails off, with your teeth, instead of cutting them.

I can manage my fingernails, but my toes.....


Did anyone else have occasional visits from the Rag & Bone man in their town? Everytime he appeared round our way, Mum would tell me that he'd take me away. I was terrified of him

Lx

We got balloons from the Rag and Bone man

We never did have enough for a goldfish though!

Balloons?

Lx

and lollipops!

You're just rubbing it in now


Lx

L~a~n~g~l~y do you want a clip round the ear? 'Cus your going the right way about it.


Hee hee, makes a change to be saying it, not hearing it!


I remember being asked: "If I'd looked inside my ears?" Then trying to look with two mirrors. Often the tag was "You could grow spuds in there." Then be shown a cotton bud, perfectly clean, no matter how hard she tried to push it in my head.

My little sister:-

"I've never had my ears clipped!"

"OOOEWWWWWWW!!"

"you have now" says little brother!

nah nah nahnah nah!!

I used to get the 'You could grow spuds in there' line too

Lx

Why did parents in the seventies (or therabouts) have an obsession with clean ears?

RF

Could it be because of the soap rationing during the war years?

I know my parents were ones for making us eat fresh fruit because of that.

"You'll be laughing on the other side of your face!"

Like how? How is *this* possible?





Oh, being asked to cut the lawn; "Can you cut the grass, there'll be Lions and Tigers in it before long."

Good question. I'm wondering if it's got anything to do with the amount of time I now spend twiddling my little finger around in my ear, usually whilst pulling a very strange face

On occasion I sometimes feel the urge to *whispers* smell the resulting extracts. At no time do they ever smell (or look) like potatoes.

Er, too much information?

Lx

Being told, "Your face will get stuck like that if the wind changes" while pulling faces at my mum

or "Your face will stop a clock" while sulking

The obsession was not limited to ears, like some kind of pride thing, not letting you become the 'grubby' kid at school...


Being checked for 'nits' etc. Though it was mum that introduced the 'nit nurse' as "Nitty Nora".



Possibly the 70's was a time that heath was an issue for children; introduction to dentist, eye test, the world was fine until we got Thatcher, first the free milk was gone, next the school pencil they would give you, and even a ruler, soon it was a lack of books. Apprentice remember that what you'd become after leaving education, not a 'YOPer' and later 'the YTS kid'.

I don't know weather I was happy or sad to see the school milk go, in the summer ours was warm or it had gone off cos the caretaker had left it in the sun

I take it Mrs T was known as "Maggie Thatcher the Milk Snatcher" in your school too

'Good night sleep tight mind the bed bugs don't bite'

RG, that's the one! *grumble* *grumble* Some kids still got it though, which was strange, then some could get 'free school dinners' in secondary school too.



Mother: "It will either kill you or cure you!" when shoving a spoon full of cough medicine in yer-gob.

The kids on free school dinners had to queue up for tokens at our school, school dinners never bothered me as I took sandwiches and then used to go home.

Ah the classic British cue to cue sene. At ours, Monday morning you'd buy tickets for the week during registration, the others "could collect them at the end." We all knew they were the freebee ones, 'cus the kids in the dinner cue on free dinners would have a big red felt mark on their tickets anyway.


I give 'butties' (sarnies / sandwiches) a try, but they would be gone be 10am, wonder how *that* happened? End-up going out for dinner more often than not by the 3rd year; though sometimes I'd go home for dinner, catch-up on the Sulivans.


Mother: "Act you age not your shoe size." Meant nothing to me at seven, eight, nine...