Rag and bone man

[Emmeline]

What memories all this has conjured up of my London child-hood.  I still like bread and dripping - plenty of salt on top !  I remember our  rag-and-bone man  always wore a cap and a scruffy old muffler round his neck - can see him now.
My mother would often tell me of the street-vendors in the London of her day. One of her favourites was the 'cat-meat ' man  -  ' Come and get yer cat-meat ' was the clarion call.
What a pity most of this is lost - but thankfully  not the bread and dripping .

[molar]

My memories of the rag and bone man include receiving a "donkey stone " for the old clothes. Said stones were cream or white and I always had to ask for the white one. Mum used these to stone the doorstep and window sills. One day the horse stumbled in the street and all the children gathered round to watch the vet stitch the horses knee. All this was happening in the sixties in Manchester.
Linda

[acorngen]

Hmmmm Bread and Dripping I still eat today.  Some of the local butchers still produce it.  Potty meat or potted meat or paste as more know it today I still love.  As for mopping up the gravy after a meal ......well I eat at work now and I always look longingly at the plate and wish I had a loaf in front of me.  Old habits die hard.   Apart from the dripping my kids have taken up the old habits.

As a Yorkshireman the one thing I despise now but loved as a kid was drinking tea from the saucer and not the cup.  Always have bikkies though to dunk although you can guarantee every cup as a sodden rich tea at the bottom cos it broke off

Rob

[giving up for a while]

I remember  getting Goody when Iwas sick
it was bread with boiled milk and a sprinkle of sugar.

remember going to the local farmer with a bucket for our milk

all we got all our water from the stream down the end of the road

ah the memories


Anne

[Su]

Emmeline. what a beautiful picture.

We used to get goldfish off our Rag and Bone Man. 

Don't mention donkey stones to me.  That was my Sunday morning job as a child,  Donkeystoning the front steps (we had three, living in a shop).  My other job was boiling and scrubbing all the snotty hankies ugh! I had two brothers and my Dad's to scrub, I remember retching everytime I had to do it.  Thank goodness for the invention of the tissue.

Su 

[Swampduck]

Ugh snotty hankies - been there and done that Su but loved ironing them afterwards... .   I also used to help Mum black- lead  the kitchen fire/oven.  I had to wear one of her 'pinnies which came down to my feet.

Some favourite childhood foods - black pudding and potted meat (both of which I still love), chittlings and bag (I think they belong with the tripe family).  We also had "cold fish" - didn't have the same batter as fish-shop fish.   It was sold at the tripe shop and tasted delicious.   

Swampduck

[wellie]

Rag and boneman
I always remember my sister running down the street and coming back with a gold fish. minus her knickers. mom alway went mad at her every time she did it.
I'm sure if she got the chance she would do it again & she is fifty odd now.
Wellie

P/s whoopee I'm a 100 today

[liverpool annie]

Congratulations on being 100!!

You made me laugh so hard about your sister - thanks I needed that today!!

Annie

[goggy]

Bless me little cotton sock's!!
you wont find info like this on any other site,and nor wiil you find the humour that goes with it!!
Now then,about the Salt Seller,no the man with the handcart with large blocks of salt on it?
you bought it by weight,put it into a salt box in kitchen,and scraped off it as needed,for the table was a salt pot,into which you placed a small spoon,or if' 'blue collar',the tip of a clean knife to sprinkle on the meal.
Not only but also the Chippy salt shakers had large holes in 'em,i believe this was sea salt,just dont taste the same now!!
As one Aussie said,Black Puddings are a dead loss!
                Slavering,Goggy.