Drinking straws

susie123 · 18-07-2012, 10:42

This question was brought to mind when I heard someone ask the other day where he could buy drinking straws. I reflected that nowadays, like everything else, they are made of plastic and often come with a bendy bit in the middle so that you can sip your drink at a comfortable angle. And you can also pick them up in handfuls off the counter at Wetherspoons and other establishments, should you so wish.

Do you remember when straws were made out of wax paper glued together in spirals? And how the bottom bit started to unwind if you left it in the drink for too long? and how the top bit in your mouth would go flat if you sucked too hard and kept it in your mouth too long till it went soggy?

And do you remember having your school milk in a third pint bottle with a foil cap through which you had to put the straw? And the metal crate the bottles came in?

What memories were evoked when I heard someone ask a simple question about shopping!

mobertol · 18-07-2012, 11:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by susie123

This question was brought to mind when I heard someone ask the other day where he could buy drinking straws. I reflected that nowadays, like everything else, they are made of plastic and often come with a bendy bit in the middle so that you can sip your drink at a comfortable angle. And you can also pick them up in handfuls off the counter at Wetherspoons and other establishments, should you so wish.

Do you remember when straws were made out of wax paper glued together in spirals? And how the bottom bit started to unwind if you left it in the drink for too long? and how the top bit in your mouth would go flat if you sucked too hard and kept it in your mouth too long till it went soggy?

And do you remember having your school milk in a third pint bottle with a foil cap through which you had to put the straw? And the metal crate the bottles came in?

What memories were evoked when I heard someone ask a simple question about shopping!

How could anyone forget -we also got proper orange juice at school on special days in place of the milk. Those were the days -milk monitors who changed weekly! it was a great honour...

Mum used to send me and sister Denise across to Enfield CC when they were playing at home during the summer to get us out of her hair - dad used to be there all day watching -the incentive was that he'd buy us a bottle of pop (+ straw as you describe) and a packet of crisps!

Do you remember the Humphrey ads of the seventies Sue?

Watch out there's a Humphrey about!

susie123 · 18-07-2012, 11:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by mobertol

How could anyone forget -we also got proper orange juice at school on special days in place of the milk. Those were the days -milk monitors who changed weekly! it was a great honour...

Mum used to send me and sister Denise across to Enfield CC when they were playing at home during the summer to get us out of her hair - dad used to be there all day watching -the incentive was that he'd buy us a bottle of pop (+ straw as you describe) and a packet of crisps!

Do you remember the Humphrey ads of the seventies Sue?

Watch out there's a Humphrey about!

No Dianne the seventies was virtually a television-free period for me, not a bad thing seeing what was on offer mostly I think!

I was otherwise engaged
a) being a student then getting my first job and having a busy social life
b) working in USA for a year
c) living in a bedsit in London with no telly
d) meeting Richard and doing other things with him
e) buying our first house and doing it up

Saw most TV in America, mostly watched the public broadcasting channel so saw quite a bit of BBC drama!

claytonx · 18-07-2012, 15:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by susie123

No Dianne the seventies was virtually a television-free period for me, not a bad thing seeing what was on offer mostly I think!

I was otherwise engaged
a) being a student then getting my first job and having a busy social life
b) working in USA for a year
c) living in a bedsit in London with no telly
d) meeting Richard and doing other things with him
e) buying our first house and doing it up

Saw most TV in America, mostly watched the public broadcasting channel so saw quite a bit of BBC drama!

I can remember the cardboard circles which went in the top of the school milk bottles wih the hole in the middle which you pushed in to take the straw,then you could wind wool around them afterwards and make pom-poms

Margaret Pilkington · 18-07-2012, 16:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by claytonx

I can remember the cardboard circles which went in the top of the school milk bottles wih the hole in the middle which you pushed in to take the straw,then you could wind wool around them afterwards and make pom-poms

So can I.......that makes us antiques.

susie123 · 18-07-2012, 16:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

So can I.......that makes us antiques.

Don't remember those - we always had tinfoil tops - might have been a different dairy.

steve2qec · 18-07-2012, 17:11

[quote=mobertol;1003301]How could anyone forget -we also got proper orange juice at school on special days in place of the milk. Those were the days -milk monitors who changed weekly! it was a great honour...

Mum used to send me and sister Denise across to Enfield CC when they were playing at home during the summer to get us out of her hair - dad used to be there all day watching -the incentive was that he'd buy us a bottle of pop (+ straw as you describe) and a packet of crisps!

Do you remember the Humphrey ads of the seventies Sue?

I remember the Humphrey's, they were on at about the same time as Buzby the BT bird.

claytonx · 18-07-2012, 17:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

So can I.......that makes us antiques.

That,s good of you Margaret. Obviously Susie went to a more upmarket school than us. Come on "silver tin foil tops" I ask ya?

susie123 · 18-07-2012, 17:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by claytonx

That,s good of you Margaret. Obviously Susie went to a more upmarket school than us. Come on "silver tin foil tops" I ask ya?

Don't even remember having milk at my primary school, which was private. I'm talking about what we got at the high school.

jaysay · 18-07-2012, 17:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by susie123

Don't even remember having milk at my primary school, which was private. I'm talking about what we got at the high school.

We are talking about milk here arn't we susie

Eric · 18-07-2012, 17:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by claytonx

That,s good of you Margaret. Obviously Susie went to a more upmarket school than us. Come on "silver tin foil tops" I ask ya?

Don't know about "upmarket" but at All Sinners we had tin foil tops. And the cream used to be at the top. And in winter, the sparrows would peck holes in the tinfoil

susie123 · 18-07-2012, 17:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric

Don't know about "upmarket" but at All Sinners we had tin foil tops. And the cream used to be at the top. And in winter, the sparrows would peck holes in the tinfoil

Yuck! I hated the cream - still do! Remember the sparrow holes too.

susie123 · 18-07-2012, 17:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaysay

We are talking about milk here arn't we susie

John really... what do you mean??

Judith Addison · 18-07-2012, 22:43

I can clearly remember the waxed paper drinking straws looking like stripey spirals. I remember school milk with the foil caps very well, at both Hippings Methodist and the High School. I hated milk at school because it was lukewarm. At the High School the janitor used to bring a crate round to each classroom and put it next to the radiator. When I started at Hippings Methodist in 1953 we used to get milk, plus that thick clinic orange juice and a big spoonful of cod liver oil. I suppose we were the post-war generation and had to be built up to become nice and healthy. We never knew what rationing was, fortunately, although I know it didn't completely end officially until the early 1950s. I've heard about kids who grew up during the war who never saw a banana until the war was over and they reappeared in the shops. We were the lucky ones!

mobertol · 18-07-2012, 23:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judith Addison

I can clearly remember the waxed paper drinking straws looking like stripey spirals. I remember school milk with the foil caps very well, at both Hippings Methodist and the High School. I hated milk at school because it was lukewarm. At the High School the janitor used to bring a crate round to each classroom and put it next to the radiator. When I started at Hippings Methodist in 1953 we used to get milk, plus that thick clinic orange juice and a big spoonful of cod liver oil. I suppose we were the post-war generation and had to be built up to become nice and healthy. We never knew what rationing was, fortunately, although I know it didn't completely end officially until the early 1950s. I've heard about kids who grew up during the war who never saw a banana until the war was over and they reappeared in the shops. We were the lucky ones!

My dad told me the same -never saw a banana or an orange till after the war. The eggs were powdered apparently.