Boiled egg and soldiers

[Enfys]

My breakfast today that is. Really fancied a boiled egg and it took me right back to my childhood especially when I turned the egg shell over and broke it. Had to to that to stop the witches getting out!!! Or so I was told when I was 5 . My mum has a lot to answer for 😧 Any other old favourites you enjoy from your childhood ?

[Plantaholic]

New shoes, even in boxes not allowed on table, bad luck. Drop a glove, if another person picks it up don't say thank-you.

[Glammanana]

Plant, my mum was fanatical about shoes on a table and also not putting up an umbrella in the house also never walk under a ladder all seemed to bring bad luck,no one ever offers to pick up your glove nowadays you have to do it yourself (thats if you notice you have dropped it) hence two odd gloves in my drawer.

[Plantaholic]

Yes I had forgotten about the umbrella, still will not do it.

[Nannynou]

Custard cream biscuits! My Mum used to take me to our local Woolworths (remember it!) on a friday after school. It had wooden floorboards and I used to try and look down the cracks! One of our rituals for the up and coming weekend! She'd buy a bag of broken biscuits and us kids would love it on the weekends, as we could have some with a weak cuppa, with no rushing about for school just a nice lazy start to the weekends! I still love those biscuits, and did the same with my kids! Funny the little things that provoke such clear memories. Good thread Enfys...I want a bikky now!

[Oma]

Oh I loved going into Woolworths and getting the coloured marshmallow chocolate biscuits the ones like Tunnicks tea cakes they had coloured foil wrappers , and broken biscuits

[Nanto2girls]

Loved Woolworths as well.I can remember the shop assistants behind the counters,before they went self service.
Can you remember when the co-op had the money carriers attached to an overhead cord which was pulled by the assistant and it whizzed away then whizzed back with change in it.

I can still remember my grans co-op divi number,my dads number and my own.

[Elisi]

Magpies, one for sorrow two for joy, if I see one I just spit on both little fingers, and count up to 21 and say Good Morning General THANKS MUM

Also never look at a haylorry from the back, get past it and look at the front! Never put new shoes on a table, and never cross knives.

Once again THANKS MUM

[Plantaholic]

I can see a lot of sense about the hay lorry, it might shed the load at the back

[Daisy]

Turn a sixpence over in your coat pocket when you see a new moon.

I can't imagine why you would want to feed any beef broth, but my mother swore by it if I was ill. And warm milk with a teaspoon of glucose in it. Ugh!

[Elisi]

Yes the hay lorry was perfectly sensible Plant in the old days you kept clear of them as they were overloaded and could easily harm a small child.

[Nanto2girls]

Touch your collar when you see an ambulance.

[Enfys]

Oh yes, Nanto2 I'd forgotten that. We had to hold your collar until you saw a dog or cat!! What was that all about

[WeeGranny]

Don't speak going under a bridge.
No shoes on table ( still do that,it drives family mad!).
No umbrellas up in house.
Always put your right shoe on first( something to do with devil if you put left one on first?)
Don't walk under a ladder.
Spit an a snail/slug and say It's no ma granny!
Salute a magpie if it's on its own.

My Mum used to make beef tea Daisy when someone was ill. She made it in an earthenware jar. Can still recall the smell....it was a yummy smell,but it was usually for my brother who was a sickly child. I did get to dip bread in it to eat!
Scotch eggs made in a cup and steamed rather than deep fried. I didn't like yolks so I had all white in mine and someone else got two yolks!
Granny's home made tablet/coconut tablet and toffee! And she used to roll new potatoes in oatmeal and we would eat them out of a paper 'poke'.

[Daisy]

WeeGranny - I thought the smell of the beef tea was awful, but perhaps that's because I wasn't feeling well. It never appeared when I was well and had an appetite

I assumed not putting shoes on the table was in case they were dirty. I remember new shoes had to be scored on the (leather) soles to stop them being too slippery.

A black cat crossing your path was suppposed to be lucky.

It was bad luck to tread on the cracks in the pavement.

I wonder if all these superstitions were because people felt less in control of their lives and destinies. Our parents grew up pre-NHS so health care was mainly for those who could afford it, and many people were frightened of things they didn't understand.