I don't think they would believe it nowadays?

[Cooper]

sometimes we would strike lucky and get 4d come out. Two hits in an evening and we could get a bag of chips each, complete with free batter bits if we asked nicely.

Your chips were expensive. We had to take you 3d for subs to cubs and 4d for the phone. The 4d bought chips on the way home, 6d was a big bag, enough to share with my brother, 1d profit for each of us!

 

[John Brown]

And still have change for a haircut...

 

[Delwood]

And the gas boilers with a clockwork timer that you had to remember to wind up.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

We never had gas. Still don't have gas.

 

[John Brown]

We never had gas. Still don't have gas.

What, no radon?

 

[Spectric]

Hi all

From these post it does seem that it is the older generation that like to be hands on and have real interest like woodworking with fewer youngsters getting involved. I don't think they do metal work, technical drawing or woodwork in schools anymore as it has been combined into something like material studies.

What about the fact kids were tougher in those days, we still had to walk to school in our shorts even if the snow was over our knees and were still sent outside during breaktimes what ever the weather, if the lead paint had not killed us a little rain or snow was not going to. We had smaller class sizes and real teachers, not so called teaching assistants.

Then we also had the scabby knees which never seemed to heal, always in the rough and tumble and playing in the dirtiest of places, our mums never reached for the spray that kills 99.9% of bacteria apart from the fact it did not exist they knew we would develop our own immunity and could that be an issue today? How do children develop strong immune systems without the exposure.

We used to put asbestos onto bonfires and watch it go bang, explore derelict buildings and get a nail in the foot or fall through a roof but it was all fun and life experiences, in short we had real childhoods and were shielded from many adult topics.

Children now do not have a childhood, they have to grow up faster and are exposed to an adult world in which they cannot explore because of all the sicko's, weirdo's and pedos that are now free to roam. Then they seem to think they can escape the world of having to work by becoming "Famous" and become addicted to false images that lead to facial disfigurement, often refered to as plastic surgery or as I call it the sink plunger look.

Yes life might well have been harder in the sixties and our parents had more of a struggle but from that came appreciation, we valued what we had and could entertain ourselves without having to buy things, I spent hours dismantling Tv's and old radios for fun. Our dads would show us how they decoked the family saloon by removing the cylinder head, we had a Rover 110 with freewheel and how to repair our bikes, now it is a buy a new one.

I look at the later generations and feel sorry for them, they may have the latest in technology but oh what a mess everything is in, the planet is dying, greed is openly accepted and no one has time for others and they face higher health risk because of all the pollution from the past like radiation from bomb testing and accidents. They have a tougher time finding work because so many industries are gone and the system fails them, and the cost of living is higher.

Does everyone really need to go to university, in our days engineering apprenticeships were the big objective, universities were for the academics from high schools not us from the local secondary school, mine was in Hornchurch.

So would we have wanted to grow up in todays world, no way because there is so much wrong with society these days and I loved my childhood, so much freedom to explore, we had chemistry sets that would now be banned under the terrorism act, remember the Jetex engines we put in model planes and boats again HSE would have something to say about those and we grew up with an awareness of danger, not wrapped up in cotton wool.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

What, no radon?

Plenty of that. The house I sold in 2013 was eight times over the safety limit.

 

[Wildman]

A TV you had to go and change channel on the TV itself, or you had a bit of bamboo with something soft taped to the end so you didn't have to get up.
Oh and only 4 channels.

wow 4 channels we only had one

 

[rafezetter]

I had a conversation with my wife's niece ( 20 years old) last year and was trying to explain to her that telephones used to have a dial on them that you had to put your finger in and turn the dial, let it go and then wait until it went back, stopped before you then had to dial the next digit in the phone number.......She thought I was joking and I'd just made it up.... I said there used to be a little book by the phone that had your friends and family phone numbers in it written down....or, you had to be able to remember all the numbers....She thought I was drunk!!!

There's a youtube of an american father asking his teenagers (15/16ish) kids to make a telephone call with an old fashioned telephone - he gave them a minute and they didn't figure it out

 

[mhn]

My father spent all his working life at the local coal mine, we had a ton( yes not a metric tonne in those days) delivered in a loose pile to the pavement outside our house once a month as part of his wages. As most of our neighbours also worked for the NCB walking down the street was an obstacle course as deliveries were often on the same day for each road. It needed to be shovelled into a wheelbarrow moved round the back to be dumped outside the coalplace and then shovelled in there. Two open fires meant our dustbin was full of just ash and tin cans, a back boiler meant constant hot water and a range oven heated from one of the adjacent fireplaces was where mum cooked, however bedrooms were freezing in winter with ice on the inside of the windows.....no not 1870 but as late as the 1970s
"Nostalgia's OK but it's not what it used to be. EEee by gum"

 

[Bod]

1st TV in 1966, black and white, 2 channels BBC & ITV.
First programme I saw was "Dactari" big impression on a 7 year old. (Think I've spelt it wrong)

Bod.

 

[OldWood]

Are we getting competitive on this ? My father drove my sister and I to Golspie from Edinburgh in 'Belinda' in 1950. I see that the current distance is 203 miles and takes 4 hours; we took 2 days! Our mother went by train taking the bulky gear with her.
Rob

 

[doctor Bob]

My mate used to hang me upside down over the edge of the great river Ouse relief channel sluice gates (like canal gates but the river width) so I could retrieve the corona bottles washed down there. Falling in would deffo be drowning. Happy days.

 

[Distinterior]

In 1969, my parents took us all for a holiday to Anglsey in our Ford Anglia Estate. We left from the East Anglian coast and it took a day and a half to get there......On the way, the car overheated and the 5 of us + our labrador had to spend the night in the car parked in a petrol station.....I can still remember the smell in that car from the following morning....

 

[Retired]

Hi,

Poverty was happiness because everyone around us was the same; who needed door locks in fact could the lock key be found; no one had anything of value to steal and very few actually stole anything other than kids raiding orchards in summer.

Real summer days that seemed to last all night hardly getting dark; short severe winters. No electricity in our cottage until I was about five just gas; cold water and a single coal fire; my family were coal miners and I well remember the home loads of coal which has already been mentioned and having to barrow a ton of coal into "the coal ole". Watching a neighbours B&W TV with only one channel all the kids sitting around on the floor; wow Flash Gordon was a super hero.

Old fashioned steam road rollers and trolley busses; no money for fares so four of us used our all terrain legs to get to and from school even in deep snow; teachers and headmaster had control of the school and any kid in trouble at school got an hiding at home. Every kid left school being able to read and write; a number of kids used to smoke Woodbines at break times but drugs; alcohol; tattoos and body piercing just didn't exist. Police were respected as were adults; to answer back meant real trouble. Clothes; shoes and food were luxuries; no obese kids either. Lasses played as hard as lads and there was lots of courting but very few unwed mothers; it was shame on the family for a girl to get pregnant without being married.

We played out building tree dens; games were hide and seek; squad can; whip and top; hopscotch etc. We had the school bully so this hasn't changed much. Kids were inspected for nits; free school milk because parents were so poor; family allowance I think possibly £1 for the first child; mother at home dad down the pit coming home to have a bath in front of the coal fire. Paper chains at Christmas with few presents because of the poverty. Cockroach infested cottage with outside toilet right round the back. Three brothers one sister sharing an unheated unlit bedroom were candles had to be used.

Twin tub washing machines started to appear but the old mangles remained. DDT in every house and also real creosote smell everywhere. Carbolic soap was used to wash kids mouths out. Compo cough medicine; goose grease on chests; oh boy we lived well but in spite of every hardship people had a smile on their face and actually made conversation.

One days holiday each year with the working men's club; kids were given an envelope with a few bob as spending money which was soon confiscated by parents; the day was usually a train trip to the seaside the highlight of the day a full dinner of fish and chips without having to share and using a knife and fork then build sand castles on the crowded beach. Kids always watched over by every adult so were always safe even when they became lost.

Car owners locally were rare so it was safe to cross the road but we were taught how to cross the road from a very young age; cars were very unreliable and prone to disintegrate due to severe rusting; posh cars had trafficators; police officer on traffic duty in busy places no traffic lights. M&S and Woolworths the big stores; army surplus stores were common as were the old fashioned hardware stores where a single tap washer could be bought for about a penny. Lead paint already mentioned and lead pipes to the houses; lots of heavy cast iron around painted with lead paint which lasted forever.

Big jars of sweets meaning sweets were weighed and put into paper bags; all parents had ration coupons.

Lots of modern things are better but the smile and friendliness of years gone by has somehow mostly disappeared.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

When my daughter (born '95) tells me I'm a dinosaur, I remind her that her great grandmother (died '97) had never owned a house, had never had an indoor toilet let alone a bathroom, had never driven a motor vehicle nor held a bank account.

My daughter was twenty one months old when my grandmother died. We were called to see her at the old people's home she was in, and it was obvious she was fading away. My daughter smiled at her for a minute or two. Squeezing my hand, she looked straight into my eyes said daddy, I think we'd better go - great grandma is tired and she's going to go to sleep now for a very, very, very long time. Not once did she blink - it was the spookiest thing I've ever seen. One memory that'll always be with me.

 

[DBT85]

Windows used to be installed from about 35 floppy disks and take about a week.

 

[clogs]

all the above plus havin to clean the lodgers boots for 6d and breaking the table salt block with a knife and hammer.....
clean the lino in the front hall.....

 

[NormanB]

My mum and dad had the only phone in our street people used to come and use it quite often.

That got me thinking.
Someone must have been the first to have a telephone installed. Who did they ring?

 

[John Brown]

That's the penalty paid by early adopters.