HOUSEHOLD TIPS NOT FOUND IN WOMAN'S WEEKLY

[PanBiker]

I did Bodge, mum was a dressmaker after being let go from her engineering post at Rover after the war so lot's of bits about. Cotton reel tanks as well, I had a virtual battalion of them, you got about 10 from 1 candle.

[Stanley]

You must have been better off than us, I only ever got to use candle ends.....

[PanBiker]

I wonder how many kids could make one now if given the various bits?

[Stanley]

I suspect very few if any. Any that can do it must have dinosaur dads like us!

[Stanley]

Show kids how to make a communication device out of two empty tin cans and a taught length of string......

[Stanley]

Or make an aerial ropeway across the garden at high level from an upstairs window. I made one at Napier road when I was about twelve and my dad was very impressed. He played with it with me......

[Stanley]

Show your children, including the girls, how to make a simple electric motor that can be driven by a battery. (LINK)

[Stanley]

Fruit bowls can become contaminated by mould spores. Give them a good deep clean occasionally....

[Stanley]

Keep your eye on anything cooking on the stove. Don't let other tasks distract you!!

[Cathy]

Always use a Timer, it will bring you back into the kitchen. Cooking something under the grill can be tricky cause it takes a few minutes to heat up, then just gets hotter and hotter.

[Stanley]

You're right Cathy. I always set the timer when I have a loaf in the machine and I know I'm in the shed. The machine switches off of course but if you forget and leave a loaf in it dries out as it cools and is not as good. I use an old fashioned Smith's photographic timer that's like an old fashioned alarm clock and has a large bell in it....

[Stanley]

At this time of year just as things start moving in the garden it is as well to watch the weather forecast because of the danger of late frosts right through May.

[Stanley]

Use your vote on Thursday!

[Stanley]

Don't plant annual bedding until the weeds start to show growth. If they can't survive, neither can tender young plants!

[Tizer]

Use your vote on Thursday!

`Light blue touchpaper and stand well back!' (Other colours are available).

[Stanley]

I am quite clear, I shall vote for the local labour candidate Azar Ali for MP and Richard Milner the Liberal in the local election. So my touch papers are red and yellow.....

[plaques]

I lit my slow burning fuse last thursday and put it in the post. The grim reaper can now do his worst, I've had my say!

[Stanley]

Good lad P! "Light the blue touchpaper and stand clear"!

[Stanley]

Vote early and often!

[Tizer]

People died so that we could vote.
There is a good, brief history on the National Archives site LINK

[Stanley]

Pick yourself up, dust yourself down and start all over again. (At least that's what I keep telling myself this morning as I survey the rubble.....)

[Stanley]

In the old days the first one to the breakfast table got the cream off the top of the milk for their porridge!

[Stanley]

Best way to clean the interior of a microwave oven is to boil a bowl of water in it. Leave it until the steam has condensed and then wipe the inside down with a clean cloth. It will come up bright and clean and has been sterilised by the steam.

[Cathy]

Adding a slice or two of lemon to the water will make the microwave smell sweeter.

From 1963 (not from the WW) Small grease marks on wallpaper can usually be removed by patting generously with talcum powder. Leave on for a few minutes, brush off and repeat if necessary.

[Stanley]

Dead right Cathy, I forgot to mention that. Vinegar does the same thing.
Common soda attacks aluminium but this can be useful if you have a badly stained aluminium pan. It leaves a slightly frosted finish but will shift almost any stain.