Some 18 months ago Lakeland's wondrous plastic tube plant ties, which I
had loved, disappeared, and I was left bereft. But at Chris's suggestion
I persevered with my tights, having discovered that the key is to slice
them up into *very thin* slices - and have spent many happy hours
pottering with them since - thanks, Chris!

But the plastic tubelets seem to have had a new incarnation: apparently
the same sort of thing is now called 'scoubidous': thin plastic tubes in
all colours of the rainbow and even glitter, and must-haves for primary
school children: they braid them, make jewellery and animals out of them
....

Wonder how long before we're encouraged on some makeover programme to
tie up our plants in toning colours, contrasting colours, glittery
colours.....

--
Klara, Gatwick basin

Janet Baraclough wrote:

The message
from Klara contains these words:


But the plastic tubelets seem to have had a new incarnation: apparently
the same sort of thing is now called 'scoubidous': thin plastic tubes in
all colours of the rainbow and even glitter, and must-haves for primary
school children: they braid them, make jewellery and animals out of them


My schoolfriends and I were making scoobidoos with coloured plastic
tubelets back in the 50's :-)

Janet.
Now let me see, making things with school friends in the 1950s, um that
means Janet is, no never reveal a Lady's age. :-)

Janet.
Now let me see, making things with school friends in the 1950s, um that
means Janet is, old and crusty.

On Sun, 24 Apr 2005 09:48:00 +0100, Klara wrote:


Some 18 months ago Lakeland's wondrous plastic tube plant ties, which I
had loved, disappeared, and I was left bereft. But at Chris's suggestion
I persevered with my tights, having discovered that the key is to slice
them up into *very thin* slices - and have spent many happy hours
pottering with them since - thanks, Chris!

But the plastic tubelets seem to have had a new incarnation: apparently
the same sort of thing is now called 'scoubidous': thin plastic tubes in
all colours of the rainbow and even glitter, and must-haves for primary
school children: they braid them, make jewellery and animals out of them
...

Wonder how long before we're encouraged on some makeover programme to
tie up our plants in toning colours, contrasting colours, glittery
colours.....

Oh, I shall have to raid my grand-daughter's supply of those things!

I buy a big roll of brown plastic "string". I've bought the rolls I've
had from stalls at garden shows. I think it was the company that sells
gardening gloves, markers etc. It's very soft, lasts well, is reusable
and less noticeable than the brightly coloured stuff.
I's still use tights for tying up tomatoes and other soft stemmed
plants.

Pam in Bristol

Mike?

uk.rec.bdsm next?
--
Martin

wosat?

Klara wrote:

Some 18 months ago Lakeland's wondrous plastic tube plant ties, which I
had loved, disappeared, and I was left bereft. But at Chris's suggestion
I persevered with my tights, having discovered that the key is to slice
them up into *very thin* slices - and have spent many happy hours
pottering with them since - thanks, Chris!

But the plastic tubelets seem to have had a new incarnation: apparently
the same sort of thing is now called 'scoubidous': thin plastic tubes in
all colours of the rainbow and even glitter, and must-haves for primary
school children: they braid them, make jewellery and animals out of them
...

Wonder how long before we're encouraged on some makeover programme to
tie up our plants in toning colours, contrasting colours, glittery
colours.....

Actually they are still available in Lakeland shops, but only in what
they deem "the gardening season"

In message , Janet Baraclough
writes
'scoubidous': thin plastic tubes in
all colours of the rainbow and even glitter, and must-haves for primary
school children: they braid them, make jewellery and animals out of them

My schoolfriends and I were making scoobidoos with coloured plastic
tubelets back in the 50's :-)

I can only remember plaiting pipe-cleaners and straws! (We moved to the
States in the 50's, and I remember being agog at the neon lights, the
colours, the multicoloured boiled sweets after grey post-war Europe!)
But did you really call them scoobidoos then? I thought that name was
born from a 70s cartoon!

--
Klara, Gatwick basin

On Sun, 24 Apr 2005 14:51:39 +0100, Janet Baraclough
wrote:

My schoolfriends and I were making scoobidoos with coloured plastic
tubelets back in the 50's :-)

So was I but we used to buy plastic-coated-electric-wire and strip out
the wire first!
Strange how things come back again!

Pam in Bristol

Whyever not? I'm 58.

Is that all? God you seem so much older :-((

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message
from Klara contains these words:

In message , Janet Baraclough
writes
'scoubidous': thin plastic tubes in
all colours of the rainbow and even glitter, and must-haves for primary
school children: they braid them, make jewellery and animals out of them

My schoolfriends and I were making scoobidoos with coloured plastic
tubelets back in the 50's :-)

I can only remember plaiting pipe-cleaners and straws!

So did we. My cousin (pipe-cleaner-doll fanatic as a child) told me
recently that she'd introduced the joy of pipecleaners to her 3 yr old
neice :-)

But did you really call them scoobidoos then?

Yes.

I thought that name was
born from a 70s cartoon!

Evidently not. I think it may possibly have been WW2 slang, but
apart from the game, the only web reference I can find is the name of
Breton boats which harvest seaweed .
Janet.

I remember then too (thought a ted younger than Janet!)

Found the following........
How to: http://www.home.zonnet.nl/willeke_ig...ext_table.html
Alternative use:http://www.platenspeler.com/diy/cabl...oobidoo_1.html

Jenny

Janet Baraclough wrote:
The message
from Klara contains these words:

In message , Janet
Baraclough writes
'scoubidous': thin plastic tubes in
all colours of the rainbow and even glitter, and must-haves for
primary school children: they braid them, make jewellery and
animals out of them

My schoolfriends and I were making scoobidoos with coloured
plastic
tubelets back in the 50's :-)

I can only remember plaiting pipe-cleaners and straws!

So did we. My cousin (pipe-cleaner-doll fanatic as a child)
told
me recently that she'd introduced the joy of pipecleaners to her 3
yr old neice :-)

But did you really call them scoobidoos then?

Yes.

I thought that name was
born from a 70s cartoon!

Evidently not. I think it may possibly have been WW2 slang, but
apart from the game, the only web reference I can find is the name
of
Breton boats which harvest seaweed .

Very interesting: I have never actually seen one, and was told about
them by French friends in about 1970. I, like them, assumed they were
a French thing. There's a French site which says they appeared in the
'60s after being introduced by a manufacturer of plastic curtains:
http://www.webzinemaker.com/admi/m14...br=3&id=152839
so I suppose they must have crossed the Channel from Britain after
the craze Janet was involved in, and the curtain-maker took the
credit.

The French friends said that at the height of the craze some
electrical shops actually ran out of connecting wire.

--
Mike.

Janet Baraclough wrote:
The message
from "Mike Lyle" contains
these
words:

Very interesting: I have never actually seen one, and was told
about
them by French friends in about 1970. I, like them, assumed they
were
a French thing. There's a French site which says they appeared in
the
'60s after being introduced by a manufacturer of plastic curtains:

http://www.webzinemaker.com/admi/m14...br=3&id=152839
so I suppose they must have crossed the Channel from Britain after
the craze Janet was involved in, and the curtain-maker took the
credit.

The French friends said that at the height of the craze some
electrical shops actually ran out of connecting wire.

I'm pretty sure the scoobidoo technique is much older than the
50's. It's somewhat like making corn-dollies (that was another
school craze, several years later). Those ornamental woven-stalk
techniques for making wrist and head bands, belts etc go back
centuries in many different cultures.

Certainly: quite apart from corn dollies, there are hundreds of
ornamental knots and plaits, many of which must have been around for
centuries or millennia (see _Ashley Book of Knots_, for example). I
was thinking only of the name "scoubidou" and the thing's occurrence
as a children's craze.

--
Mike.

In message , Janet Baraclough
writes
But did you really call them scoobidoos then?

Yes, really :-)

I find it strangely reassuring that what with gameboys and everything,
this has come around again...

--
Klara, Gatwick basin

Martin wrote:
On Mon, 25 Apr 2005 17:12:46 +0100, Janet Baraclough
wrote:

The message
from Klara contains these words:

In message , Janet
Baraclough writes
But did you really call them scoobidoos then?

Yes, really :-)

I find it strangely reassuring that what with gameboys and
everything, this has come around again...

Me too. So has "jacks", apparently. We used to play that for
hours
on end with 10 little star-shaped metal things and a small bouncy
ball.

AKA "five stones"

In Godzone we actually sometimes played knucklebones with real dead
bones! We never quite knew the official rules, though. I'm
reminded -- and this _is_ relevant to garden use -- of the routine by
one of the stand-ups (Billy Connolly maybe, but I've fallen out with
him) about boys intently watching girls playing hopscotch, trying in
ever-increasing bafflement to work out what on earth the rules were,
let alone the _object_ of the pastime (a bit like watching American
football, I suppose).

--
Mike.

In message , Mike Lyle
writes
I find it strangely reassuring that what with gameboys and
everything, this has come around again...

Me too. So has "jacks", apparently. We used to play that for
hours
on end with 10 little star-shaped metal things and a small bouncy
ball.

AKA "five stones"

In Godzone we actually sometimes played knucklebones with real dead
bones! We never quite knew the official rules, though. I'm reminded --
and this _is_ relevant to garden use -- of the routine by one of the
stand-ups (Billy Connolly maybe, but I've fallen out with him) about
boys intently watching girls playing hopscotch, trying in
ever-increasing bafflement to work out what on earth the rules were,
let alone the _object_ of the pastime

A girl thing ... but to stay on gardening: there were also daisy chains,
of course, but we made lots of other things out of flowers and twigs and
stones: petunia ballerina dolls, and frogs' chairs out of grass, and
pipes out of ... I don't remember, some twigs with a soft centre that
you could push out ... and 'tobacco' out of mulberry leaves (my brother
got into terrible trouble for that...

--
Klara, Gatwick basin