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We get gangs of kids selling magazines and sometimes guys wanting to trim our trees. Haven't seen the Fuller Brush lady in years. They used to have a factory outlet in a nearby town, but that is also gone.
back when people used letter openers instead of tearing the mail open with their teeth.
Ink eradicator. Not those chalky rubber "ink erasers," but a chemical bleachy-smelling solution that came in a bottle with a glass-rod applicator like you'd use with iodine.
Ink eradicator. Not those chalky rubber "ink erasers," but a chemical bleachy-smelling solution that came in a bottle with a glass-rod applicator like you'd use with iodine. It would cause ink writing to go away, and leave a smooth surface for new writing. Used to be able to get it in office supply and stationery stores, but go into Staples and ask for it and they'll look at you like you have six heads.
It probably went away because it was a useful weapon in the arsenal of forgers and check-raisers, but whatever the reason I haven't seen it since the seventies.
Growing up, the door stops at home were some of my father's old drafting paperweights. (He was a civil engineer.) These were circular pancakes of sueded leather filled with lead shot. They made good door stops as you could wedge them under the door. Of course when I was working on my M.Arch and back home for Christmas, two orange leather drafting paperweights appeared in my stocking. Surprisingly, they also make very good paperweights for large sheets of drafting vellum and mylar.
Not exactly a "thing" that has disappeared, but it occurred to me today that it's been years since I heard a car backfire. I guess cars burn fuel more efficiently these days, but it was once a common sound.
Police whistles or cops on street corners directing traffic.
Gone.
Public speaking.
When I was a kid and my folks
took me downtown shopping.
There was typically someone
talking to no one in particular
about religion or some topic.
I also no longer see newspaper
vendors "barking" the latest
headlines or even newspaper
or shoe-shine stands in the city.