Taking a cue from Paul's sports car lighter post I thought I'd look at a few more lighters and associated ashtrays from my youth.
Smoking is nowhere near as commonplace now as it was when I was a kid. Everyone smoked in the Sixties and Seventies it seemed, except me and that's because I was a kid. My folks smoked as did my older sibs. It was just the done thing and lighters and ashtrays where scattered everywhere round our home.
OK, a blast from the past, here's the first of a series of posts.
This bad boy was a tall steel portable ashtray. Looking like something a carpet fitter might use, it could be found next to any armchair but might not have been in the same place next time you were there. Smokers took it with them! I think the ribbed structure on top wasn't just a handle. It's where the fags were stubbed out. At some point the tank at the bottom would get full and someone had to empty it, which I'm pleased to say wasn't on my job's list! I remember it reeked of fags as you got closer to it with a Dinky UFO Interceptor!
Do you remember these readers?
I remember the ones with a plunger that you pressed down and it opened a bin in the thing! Thankfully, it was never a part of my youth, neither of my parents smoked, nor any close relatives and I never have or would!
ReplyDeleteYes, those too Kev! Watch this space! Its funny how smoking brings out strong emotions nowadays. Back then it was just accepted in many homes - like booze - including the one I grew up in, a large family house in suburbia.
Deletewe had one of those lighters on a stand. if I can find a picture of it I'll send it your way
ReplyDeleteMy dad smoked like a chimney in the 60s as did his mother and father. I remember visiting them as a young kid and my asthma was always set off anyway by the hair on their Collie dog. I watched my Grandma puffing away on an Old Holburn rollie and I asked her what it was like. The wise old Chinese lady offered me her fag and I took a big snort.
ReplyDeleteThat cured me for life!
A few years later my dad gave up too and lived on to be 88!
When I was little my grandmother - who lived with us - smoked. I have never touched a cigarette, and never wanted to. Her smoking put me off for life. She did give up later.
ReplyDelete