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Post by patricklondon on Aug 31, 2020 11:56:20 GMT
It being that time of year, and seeing rose hips developing, I'm reminded of rose-hip syrup, which I think was still on Government issue when I was at primary school in the 1950s, to be swirled into whatever boring milk-based pudding we got for lunch. AIUI it had been realised before WW2 that rose hips were a good source of Vitamin C, so there was a drive to collect them to be turned into syrup for children. My blog | My photos | My video clips | My Librivox recordings"too literate to be spam"
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 31, 2020 12:32:55 GMT
I can't think of any special supplements that I was given as a child. My parents' generation was still shuddering from the horrors of castor oil and cod liver oil, and I'm sure that my mother had sworn to never have her children endure such things. However, I do recall that I was sometimes given Castoria as a laxative when I was little. I just looked it up and saw that it never contained castor oil -- it was probably just a trick name to make it sound more medical. It seems to have been renamed "Fletcher's Laxative" some time in the 1980's. Apart from that; the big deal was the use of iodized salt and the fact the fluoride had been added to the water supply.
I know that in the 1960's we religiously took One-a-Day multiple vitamins, which was certainly ridiculous since we had a very balanced diet, but the advertising on television made it sound compulsory if you cared at all about your health. In this century, I still know a few people who are gorging on vitamins as though their life depended on it.
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Post by casimira on Aug 31, 2020 13:05:52 GMT
My mother had been subjected to having to swallow a tablespoon of cod liver oil every day as a child. As a result of that she had an aversion to eating fish of any kind for the whole of her life. Growing up in a seaside town and the bounty of fish we had available to us year round this had to be difficult for her. She sure knew how to cook it and made marvelous fish dishes of every variety. The only seafood she would eat were scallops. I take a daily B-Complex with C in a time released capsule every day. (the B and C vitamins are water soluble so taking a large dose of them just turns to bright yellow pee afterwards.) I also take a Calcium supplement for bone density so as not to have brittle bones and teeth.
The rose hips that come from the rosa rugosas that grow in the dunes of beaches on L.I. are huge. Right about this time of year they are forming. I made rosehip preserves a few times but, I don't find it very tasty.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 31, 2020 17:24:08 GMT
As far as I know, cod liver oil, castor oil, and rosehip syrup are all things I've heard of but have never come in contact with. Casimira, I was going to answer you here about B vitamins, but had a dim memory of there being a thread on vitamins. I just went and found that ancient thread & decided to revive it by answering about the Bs there ~ anyportinastorm.proboards.com/thread/789/vitamins-supplements
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 31, 2020 17:27:25 GMT
AIUI = as I understand it
At least that's what I understood.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 31, 2020 17:37:43 GMT
AITY = Ah, I thank you.
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Post by Kimby on Aug 31, 2020 18:09:54 GMT
YGATF! (You guys are too funny!)
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Post by bjd on Aug 31, 2020 19:06:00 GMT
Spending the first 7 years of my life in Manchester, England, where the sun rarely shines in winter, I was given cod-liver oil as a kid. In little gel capsules because the liquid oil was gross.
Once we moved to Canada where the sun actually shines a lot more, I was no longer subjected to it.
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Post by patricklondon on Aug 31, 2020 19:24:30 GMT
Ah, fish-oil capsules - we had those to be washed down with the daily issue of milk. Nothing to taste, as I recall, unless you bit into the capsule (which you only did once). Some wicked children would stick someone else's pen nib into a capsule for the amusement of watching them trying to write with it later on. My blog | My photos | My video clips | My Librivox recordings"too literate to be spam"
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Post by mich64 on Sept 1, 2020 0:55:34 GMT
Once we moved to Canada where the sun actually shines a lot more, I was no longer subjected to it. I am not sure if my parents began giving us the cod liver oil capsules when living in France as I was to young to remember, but I do remember taking them until about 10 years old when living in P.E.I and then in Ontario. We also took Flintstone multi vitamins daily.
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Post by questa on Sept 1, 2020 4:32:09 GMT
Being a prem baby and then a very picky eater I was dosed with whatever the current fad advised.I remember 'Milk emulsion' which contained cod liver oil (yecch) and 'Iradole A' a vitamin A and D mixture which was a treacley goo from Malt syrup (yummy).Pentavite drops when she remembered and vitamin C tablets at the first sign of a cold.
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Post by mossie on Sept 1, 2020 7:01:53 GMT
Oh we had cod liver oil and malt rammed down our throats, and daren't mention a guts ache or it was a stiff dose of castor oil right quick. We got the little third of a pint bottles of milk at school daily, could be fun in the winter, the milkman had come round early with his horse and cart and left the crates on the steps, if it froze the tops were pushed up and the cream at the top was ice cream, sort of.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 10, 2020 10:11:21 GMT
I remember when car horns were used to warn of possible or impending danger and not just to express displeasure.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 11, 2020 12:35:06 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 11, 2020 16:43:48 GMT
Kids always loved those rolls of caps, even without using the cap gun. You could pop them with a rock or a hammer and get the satisfying bang plus that great smell.
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Post by lugg on Sept 11, 2020 18:35:04 GMT
That is what I remember most about cap guns. Plus the satisfying blackened area on the round dots after they had been fired.
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Post by mossie on Sept 11, 2020 20:20:41 GMT
Little stuff, by the time I was 11 I could strip and reassemble the .303 service rifle, and load and fire it but unhappily not allowed to. When I was 12 we moved down to an old house that had been owned by an uncle. Rummaging about in a loft I found a .303 rifle which the old boy had obviously stashed away when we were expecting to welcome the jerries. I had some live ammo so took it out into the back garden with the intention of firing it into the air, I loaded it but chickened out of firing it. So that was another prize the village policeman had to deal with.
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Post by patricklondon on Sept 13, 2020 11:24:04 GMT
Something that struck me this morning. My coffee machine was dead, but soon fixed by changing the fuse in the plug (a very rare occurrence in itself) - and I remembered the days when changing a fuse meant going down into the cellar, switching off the power to the entire house, taking out each earthenware fuse block to see which one had burned through and re-wiring it (not difficult if you could use a screwdriver). Of course you had to remember to make sure you had the screwdriver, wirecutter and spare stock of fuse wire or the required amperage, and where you'd put them - and that you had enough power in your torch batteries (as I recall, we kept candles down there as well, just in case). My blog | My photos | My video clips | My Librivox recordings"too literate to be spam"
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Post by onlyMark on Sept 13, 2020 12:56:55 GMT
That is a skill to soon be lost in time - same as wiring up a plug. Most electrical devices I remember(?) came without one. In Spain and Germany I'm almost certain you can't buy plugs any more, they are all sealed anyway.
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Post by Kimby on Sept 13, 2020 12:58:29 GMT
I remember when you could fix a car by changing a fuse - if you had the right one in your glovebox.
Newer cars are so computerized there’s little one can do on their own to repair them.
But fortunately, they are also SO much more reliable. I remember cars that half the time didn’t get me to my destination.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Sept 13, 2020 13:53:09 GMT
When Jeff went to Saudi in the early 80s leaving me at home with the children miles from my family, I had never changed a plug, replaced a lightbulb, painted a wall or put up curtains, blinds or bookshelves. I was a timid little thing of 24.
With no alternative I pretty much did everything, decorated the house, fitted blinds, built flat pack furniture...etc. I taught myself how to use an electric drill and the basics of electrics, bleeding radiators. I even put up wallpaper.
Jeff would check my handiwork when he became home on leave and invariably took plugs to pieces to reassure himself that I'd wired them up correctly.
He came home for good in 1988. I don't think that I've done anything 'DIY' since... unsupervised. I appreciate his skills tremendously.
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Post by onlyMark on Sept 13, 2020 16:15:11 GMT
Kimby, still plenty of fuses in cars. Too many now for all the electric devices.
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Post by Kimby on Sept 13, 2020 17:57:08 GMT
Yes, but mostly lights and radios and other gadgets.
Not so much the ones that get your car going when it stops running?
We had a car (1979 VW Dasher) just quit on us while exploring further up the valley from our house. While I hoofed it home cross-country to get our other vehicle (we were only about 2 miles from home as the crow flies, but on a 2-track road in the woods where no other vehicles would be likely to find us).
While I was gone, Mr. Kimby fiddled around and found a burnt-out fuel pump fuse, which he replaced and started driving off the mountain to intercept me. In his haste he ran over a rock that split the oil pan, meaning the car was really dead.
When I got to him with the truck, I was surprised to find him and the dead car in a location different from where I’d left him. We used a tow rope to pull the VW out of the woods, and down hill about 600’ in elevation over about 8 miles to a repair shop. But we had to leave the VW in neutral to keep the engine from being damaged for lack of oil. I rode the brake all the way down to avoid wrecking the front end of our car on the rear end of our truck. Pretty exciting!
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Post by onlyMark on Sept 13, 2020 20:25:14 GMT
Yes, but mostly lights and radios and other gadgets. Not so much the ones that get your car going when it stops running? I'm afraid with all the complexity of engine management systems, air bags, traction control, lane assist technology, grip modes, tyre sensors, crash sensors, cruise control, computer, immobiliser, engine control unit, heating, air con, stability control, limp home mode...... etc, etc, they all have fuses and relays and your car will protest most strongly if one blows, especially those that are essential to keep the engine/transmission going - of which there are now far too many that will strand you at the side of the road and fit in the category of ones that will get your car going if you change them. And that is the problem nowadays, whereas there were only half a dozen of which two or three were for non-essential items, you now have twenty or more that are essential instead of three (or so).
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Post by mickthecactus on Sept 13, 2020 20:35:24 GMT
I’m not a real man. I don’t understand cars.
Although I like to think I’m a good driver. But then all men do.
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Post by questa on Sept 13, 2020 22:59:14 GMT
How many people actually read the hand-book that takes up all the space in the glove box? We have progressed since we had an ignition button on the floor to start the engine and the introduction of (gulp) automatic transmission came at a time when we decided that any more fiddling should be done by a bloke, preferably one who knew about cars. My cars tend to be bought 2nd hand with low mileage, held until they are starting to need attention then sold on.In the last 20 yrs I have had 2 Daihatsu Charades and 2 Hyundai Getz. Although they are similar cars, the info in the handbooks is different. It is fun to see how each model overcomes problems or incorporates new development. Have you read your car's book?
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Post by Kimby on Sept 14, 2020 1:48:20 GMT
Vehicle owners manual are pretty boring reading, until you need them. Then an index takes you right where you need to go. Mr. Kimby usually buys a repair manual specific to each vehicle we get, and he’s pretty handy. Has a code scanner for the computer, so when the check engine light comes on, he can find out why without taking it in to the shop. He changes oil, air filters, fuel filters, etc., so we rarely have a car in the shop except for factory recall work, or when we hit a deer (3 times, so far, not counting the one he hit in Wisconsin before we were married).
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Post by bjd on Sept 14, 2020 6:21:20 GMT
My husband is totally uninterested in cars and probably wouldn't even own one if it wasn't occasionally useful. As it is, our car is rarely used and we have put very little mileage on it since we moved here and stopped driving back and forth to Toulouse.
We have had few cars, only one bought new, the rest second-hand with low mileage and then driven for years, or given away to our son. Very few automatic cars in France. If you want to rent one you have to ask specially.
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Post by onlyMark on Sept 14, 2020 6:39:23 GMT
I’m not a real man. I don’t understand cars. I used to but less and less so now. Maybe I'm becoming less masculine as I grow older.
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Post by whatagain on Sept 14, 2020 6:58:17 GMT
I’m not a real man. I don’t understand cars. Although I like to think I’m a good driver. But then all men do. I am not a real man either. But i am not even a good driver.
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