View Full Version : When I Was a Boy...
Inspired by the new smiley...
:wheniwasaboy:
I thought it might be fun to start a list!
So...
The only pod I played with was the buds of Snap Dragon flowers...
My Mum made me carry 2p around with me everywhere in case I needed to make a phone call...
My "Home Computer" had 1k of memory, (16k expanded!) and plugged into a Black & White telly...
There were 3 TV channels, if you wanted to watch early in the morning you got Teletext or Ceefax... if you wanted to watch it late at night you got a still picture of a creepy girl with a chalk board, a clown and some muzac...
I'm sure I'll think of more - any one else got some to add to the list? :)
Reid Malenfant
21-05-2011, 10:23
Shillings were still legal tender :)
There was a half pence piece :scratch: You could actually buy things with it to :lolsign:
E2A:- Martin reminded me, it was sixpences not shilings :doh:
The Grand Wazoo
21-05-2011, 10:27
They put tarmac underneath the swings in the park so you didn't ruin the grass - don't make a fuss, the wound on your kneecap will heal, rub it a bit & it'll get better!
Stratmangler
21-05-2011, 10:30
Children had legs and used them to walk to school ;)
There was no nannying - I took the Underground three stops on my own to go to school. Primary school.
There was no Victoria Line, let alone a Jubilee Line. And you could still get off at Aldwych. And Charing Cross was called Strand.
There were florins, half crowns, thrupenny bits, ha'pennies and sixpences.
No calculators - we had slide rules and log tables.
My uncle started his car with a crank handle.
TV had two channels as BBC2 was still sending out test transmissions. Oh, and it took a minute for TVs and radios to warm up.
I flew on holiday to Mauritius in a four-propeller Britannia which took 22 hours and three refuelling stops to get there.
I went to Australia by scheduled ocean liner. It took five weeks. There has NEVER been a better way to travel.
Trains were pulled by steam engines, women wore stockings and there weren’t any supermarkets.
Telephones were big heavy lumps of bakelite with a metal dial. There was only one per house and it sat on a table in a draughty, unheated hallway by the front door. It was for messages and emergencies only...
Cars did not start if it was a bit nippy, or a bit damp in the morning.
'Ten pee' was a small fortune
There were only 3 telly channels but they quite often put shows on that were 'entertaining' and 'imaginative' - if you are a youngster you will have to look those words up in a dictionary - sorry, I mean google them..
Anyway stop distracting me Alex UK I am trying to work on my 'Celestion Old vs New(ish) shootout post:)
Every Friday after school, my grandad would give me half a crown (12.5p) pocket money - but this would be reduced to two shillings (10p) should "inspection" dicsover any of the following:
dirty fingernails
shoes not polished
failure to carry a penknife
said penknife not sharp, clean and oiled
no handkerchief
School holidays were endless days of larking around on tarzans, in streams and woods etc
'hi-fi' was a Bush all-in-one record player
If you wanted to make a phone call, you walked to the phone box
Reid Malenfant
21-05-2011, 11:03
Street lights went out at midnight :D
Dustmen came onto your property to collect the dustbin & carried it to the dustcart to be emptied :eek:
Every Friday after school, my grandad would give me half a crown (12.5p) pocket money - but this would be reduced to two shillings (10p) should "inspection" dicsover any of the following:
dirty fingernails
shoes not polished
failure to carry a penknife
said penknife not sharp, clean and oiled
no handkerchief
School holidays were endless days of larking around on tarzans, in streams and woods etc
'hi-fi' was a Bush all-in-one record player
If you wanted to make a phone call, you walked to the phone box
Love that about the penknife especially with the media hysteria these days about knife-wielding youngsters! Still have my old Swiss Army knife with Wenger blades (handed down from my grandfather).
As Billy Connolly says - 'Corkscrews oot! Fuckin' intae them!'
Love that about the penknife especially with the media hysteria these days about knife-wielding youngsters!
:lol: he was an ex-copper too!
Public parks had a 'parky' who lived in a little wooden hut by the swings. He was always, always a miserable old fecker who hated kids and he would occssionally come out of his hut and shout at you, usually for no good reason.
If you wanted to make a phone call, you walked to the phone box
Oh, I forgot that one. The nearest phones at the station always had broken dials but I learned to overcome that by tapping the number out, pulse dial fashion.
Rare Bird
21-05-2011, 11:22
You didnt need a big flash car to be cool
Only Records & tapes were available
No bulshit withing hifi circles, a wire was a wire
no internet for many years to come, Didnt even know about a computer
Milk at school
you got a clip around the earhole by the teacher
None of your cheap imported junk
Milk at school
you got a clip around the earhole by the teacher
Oh yes, and slippered and caned. And it HURT :)
Seat belts, if fitted, were optional and in fact only expensive foreign cars like Saabs and Audi's (that at the time could only be bought and owned by Doctors or Solicoitors) had them at all. There were no 'child safety seats'. The proscribed method for transporting a baby or toddler in a car was for the mother to hold it on her knee whilst sitting in the front passenger seat.
The Highway Code of the time allowed up to three under fives to be transported in this way leaving the back seat free for six or possibly seven older kids, in fact eight if one was small enough and flexible enough to endure the journey lying prone on the rear parcel shelf.
Smoking was compulsory for all adult males, fags if working class, pipe if middle class or aspiring. Smoke did not harm children back then so a 200 mile car jounery (to Rhyl or some other god-forsaken 'holiday' destination) would be spent breathing in clouds of St Bruno Ready Rubbed as an antidote to the bracing fresh air - i.e freezing cold gale loaded with sleet - that would practically knock you off your feet when you finally arrived and got out of the car.
Car seats were made of dimpled vinyl (the dimples were there to catch the dirt) - on a hot day they would deliver second degree burns to the back of the legs as well as imprinting a fetching pattern into the skin.
I went to school on an armed bus with chicken wire over the windows to stop the grenades!
I spent the mornings in school and the afternoons down the beach
To see 'Doctor Who' after curfew, my brother and I had to be picked up by armed jeep and transported to my friends house (they were the only people who had a TV)
An army Corporal nearly shot me one day, as he thought I was an Arab terrorist (I thought that was a lot of fun strangely :lol:)
I nearly got attacked by a shark whilst on a li-lo outside the shark net ..........
Our housemaid Armena cooked me the most amazing food I had eaten up to that point in my life
My Dad flew the bodies of murdered SAS soldiers back to the UK at night, whilst under heavy fire from an improvised desert landing strip lit by oil cans!
The flat next to ours had a bazooka go through the wall one night, which was a few feet from my bedroom wall and luckily didn't detonate - I slept right through it and was amazed/fascinated by the large blackened hole in the wall :scratch:
.... and despite all this I had oodles of fun and thought life was rather a hoot, in fact some of the happiest days of my life .... oh the innocence of youth. :)
Aden 1964 - 1966
Car seats were made of dimpled vinyl (the dimples were there to catch the dirt) - on a hot day they would deliver second degree burns to the back of the legs as well as imprinting a fetching pattern into the skin.
Stop it! I'm laughing so much it hurts. I remember that soooo well.
Also heaters in cars were an optional extra so the odd journey in a tight uncle's car mid-winter was an exercise in arctic survival.
My dad had a Hillman Imp van for his work - we used to travel everywhere sat in the back of the van on top of the engine. We didn't get cold! Of course in those days you had lead in petrol. And pencils. And paint.
Men wore garters!
Shoes were made of leather and wood.
4 wheeled perambulators made great go carts.
Parents read to their children.
Wild strawberries!
The emergency services still used bells and klaxons.
Techno Commander
21-05-2011, 11:48
You could buy knives, glue, cap guns and chemstry sets.
Bat out of helll was a cool album
You could have a wad of pound notes.
Rare Bird
21-05-2011, 11:51
My dad had a Hillman Imp van for his work - we used to travel everywhere sat in the back of the van on top of the engine. We didn't get cold! Of course in those days you had lead in petrol. And pencils. And paint.
I remember dads Morris Mini, someone pinched the seats from it while we were on holiday, he had to drive all the way back sat on a beer crate :lol:
jantheman
21-05-2011, 11:52
we used to fight over the cardboard from the cereal box so we could cover the holes in our shoes........
LOL! Road safety was non-existant. My dad had a large furniture lorry and loads of us would go out on a picnic - sat in the open back while he drove.
Schools had gymnasiums and playing fields and sport and PT was compulsory. If it was warm and dry out it would be PT in the gym - if it was freezing cold and raining then football outside.
PE kit had a regulation standard and you would be inspected before the lesson began. Regardless of how cold it was you played football in T shirt and gym shorts. The case ball was made of brown leather with laces and weighed 10 kilo - more when wet or frozen. The pitch would resemble no-man's land on the Somme after a particularly heavy shelling had occurred. The penalty spot would be between 1 and 3 foot deep, you could break a leg by steping into it unawares.
No 70 yard passes were possible in those days and the frozen laces on the ball would cut your face open like a knife if you mis-timed a header.
When you got back in the changing rooms you would need to wear your footie boots into the shower as the laces would be frozen solid requiring copious hot water to thaw them out enough to untie them. Feeling would finally return to your extremeties around 7pm that evening.
And if you forgot your PE kit it was "vest and pants" :lol:
JazzBones
21-05-2011, 12:26
You had your hair cut by a man in a male only barber shop and when he was finished giving you a short back and sides, he'd ask you in all seriousness, 'anything for the week end sir? You'd go to the chemist for a packet of three only to be served by a stern looking woman so you ended up buying cough drops. It was a fecking good world in them tha days t'wernt it?
Ron :)
You had your hair cut by a man in a male only barber shop and when he was finished giving you a short back and sides, he'd ask you in all seriousness, 'anything for the week end sir? You'd go to the chemist for a packet of three only to be served by a stern looking woman so you ended up buying cough drops. It was a fecking good world in them tha days t'wernt it?
Ron :)
I was petrified of going to the barbers, he always told me he had a box of ears from where naughty boys didn't stay still enough and he accidentally cut them off! :eek:
I also had my first drag of a cigarette at the same barbers in Wellingborough. We moved to Norwich when I was 8, so I was younger than that! And it was my dad that gave it to me! :eek:
Never got offered any Jonnies though! :lol:
I was petrified of going to the barbers, he always told me he had a box of ears from where naughty boys didn't stay still enough and he accidentally cut them off! :eek:
:
That was actually true - Barbers were allowed to do that in those days before Esther Rantzen got on her soapbox and cruelty to children all of a sudden became 'wrong':rolleyes:
JazzBones
21-05-2011, 13:10
(Never got offered any Jonnies though! :lol:)
I well remember as kids me and my best mate went looking for tiddlers in a stream when a 'white balloon' floated by. As we hadn't caught any fish I hoiked it out of the river, gave it a bit of a wowsing, blue it up and tied it to a stick and went home to my gran's waving my white ballon on a stick. She gave me a right slapping and I had no idea why. Not long afterwards I found out that my balloon on a stick was a discarded durex and that gran was a staunch Catholic :rolleyes: To this day I can't pass a vending machine without a smile but 'white balloons' are no more... what has taken their place:scratch:?
Ron
Never walking past a phone box without nipping in to press button B. With a bit of luck, it would disgorge 4d, which would buy a load of sweets.
Taking squash bottles out of the crate behind the pub, then going round to the bar to claim the 2d back on the bottle.
Picking up the phone to hear a nice lady ask which number you wanted.
Listening to Beethoven's 6th involved stacking five 78s on the old Garrard autochange, with a satisfying thump and crash as they dropped onto the platter.
The TV was black and white, and had an on off switch and a volume control. No channel change knob because it only had one channel.
Dad's old Austin, which had a cracked chassis, so that the nearside and offside back doors dropped open in turn on roundabouts. A problem he dealt with by splicing a loop in each end of a piece of rope and hooking it over the door handles.
Having a picnic sitting on the fold-down picnic tables in the back of the front seats.
"Vertical Hold" and "Horizontal Hold" knobs on TVs
Being sent out to the corner shop by my gran for her bottle of Mackeson's Stout (I was about 7 at the time). She'd said "get me a bottle of Mackies" - I hadn't got a clue what a bottle of Mackies was and thought she said "a box of matches". She wasn't best pleased when I came back with a pack of Swan Vestas :lol:
Chemistry sets. Couldn't be bothered following the boring instructions for the experiments and just mixed random stuff together to try and make the foulest smelling concoctions possible (with the faint hope that I might find a combination that actually exploded). My uncle, who worked in a lab, supplimented the chemicals in the set with stuff he "aquired" from work. Stuff like Concentrated Nitric Acid and Phenol etc. Perfect for a 10 year old to play with :eyebrows::doh:
Building 'bogies' (soap box carts) and racing them down the steepest hill in town.
Making swords out of wood and fencing with my cousin. Stitches were required on more than one occasion:lol:
I remember finding a couple of 12 bore shotgun cartridges in my mate's dad's shed - so of course we tried to make a gun using a bit of old pipe, held in a vice and tried to hammer the centre of the cartridges with a centre pin punch! :eek:
I think they were so old the primer must have gone off or something, or we didn't hit them hard enough. Luckily, otherwise I'd probably be typing this with my toes...
I remember once piercing the top of a Camping Gaz canister, just to see what the jet of gas would look like.
Ooh yes - and an empty aerosol can on the bonfire was a good one. We probably emtied it by spraying the aerosol into a lighter and using it as a flame-thrower. Surprised I made it to adulthood thinking back!
Buying fags in the paper shop and smoking them in the launderette to keep warm on winters nights
Playing with shotgun cartridges and making gun powder trails
Shooting things in the garden with my dads live 22 rifle
Making camps in the woods
Generally playing outside all day long and not wanting to be indoors
Pissing off my older brother, although i can still do that
Making go carts and racing them down hills as has been said before
Walking or biking everywhere, no lifts from mum or dad
Being allowed to drive a tractor for hay carting when i was 9
Being taken into town by my Nan to get a new Dinky toy, on one of these occasions i made the front page of the Kent Messinger in 1969 when i met Miss Great Brittain, i was only 3 at the time though
Long holidays in Nth Wales I loved so much plus many of the things already mentioned. Watching my first episode of Dr Who after Christmas 1963 - Daleks - I was hooked for life... Seeing my first Garrard 401 in a window display and wondering where the arm was - the Decca arm was boxed on the other side of the window...
spendorman
22-05-2011, 09:04
I reckon this is a good one:
If you wanted to listen to Stereo radio, you needed two radio sets tuned to different stations, one broadcasting the right channel, the other the left.
True!
Stratmangler
22-05-2011, 09:19
I reckon this is a good one:
If you wanted to listen to Stereo radio, you needed two radio sets tuned to different stations, one broadcasting the right channel, the other the left.
True!
I don't remember that, but wiki does have this to say about it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AM_stereo
spendorman
22-05-2011, 09:38
I remember hiding behind the couch from the Daleks during the first episode of Doctor Who.
jantheman
22-05-2011, 10:02
the weather never stopped me from doing anything........
Making 'pea shooters' at school out of empty plastic pen bodies, filling your mouth with barley, popping the 'pea shooter' into your mouth, and then firing the soggy bits of barley at folk down below when you were upstairs on the first floor... :eyebrows:
Taking 'cap guns' to school, firing them off at playtime, and annoying the fuck out of all the girls. Ditto with water pistols (usually aiming for bras under girls blouses for obvious reasons, hehehe).
'Tuck shops' at school, which sold lovely things like 'Merri-Mate' and 'Cresta' soda pop, 'Fish & Chip Shop' crisps and 'Salt & Shake' ones from Smiths, 'Bazooka Joe' bubble gum, Space Dust, chocolate cigarettes, 'Penny caramels' and Cola Cubes.
'Chopper' bicycles and 'Moon Hoppers'.
Collecting Panini football stickers and swapping them with your mates. Having 'sand pits' in the playground in Primary School. Riding a motorbike to school in 5th and 6th year, and enjoying the female 'attention' it attracted..... ;)
Using the old 'London style' buses with the entrance at the back, which had red leather seats inside, and having your fair taken by a conductress in a skanky uniform - arf!
Using trains when they had quaint little individual compartments inside, lit up with small lamps at night, which were accessed by sliding doors in the corridor.
When women dressed more femininely and made an effort to look nice in public (and wouldn't be seen dead in 'jogging bottoms' and trainers, unless playing sports).
When roads were nice and quiet with much less traffic, and Shell petrol stations had those lovely 'shells' on petrol pumps which lit up at night. I loved those old dial-type petrol pumps!
Collecting 'Green Shield' stamps and claming the 'free' gifts.
When a 'cream boy' used to call at your house, selling not only cream, but milk, yogurt, (white) eggs and orange juice. When people bought their groceries from individual specialist shops, rather than from supermarkets.
When bin-men actually did some work!
When there were genuinely hot summers for weeks on end.
When cinemas had 'Stalls' and 'Circles' and were located in city centres. I used to love going up to the 'Circle'. And when there were funny wee women who stood at the front of the cinema at the interval with a tray, strapped to them, selling ice-cream and sweets.
Berni Inns. 'Chicken and chips in a basket', sold as pub grub.
Reading '2000AD' and 'Warlord' comics, and loving being a 'Secret Agent' of the latter.
Playing 'Scalextric' and 'Subbuteo', and with the latter, collecting all the different teams.
When department stores sold LPs. When you could demo phono cartridges in hi-fi shops. When there were proper hi-fi shops, especially ones which sold all manner of 'accessories', mainly stuff for turntables, inside glass cabinets at the till area. When you could buy loads of different types of blank cassettes.
When radio stations played mainly LPs and 7" singles, and used high-quality audio reproduction equipment for broadcasting. When big speakers were normal in households.
Being obsessed with Dr Who (Tom Baker era), Space 1999, Blakes 7, Fireball XL-5, The Tomorrow People, and 'Sapphire & Steel'. Also Hammer House of Horror, 'Tales from the Crypt', 'Thriller', 'The Sweeney', 'Callan', and countless other 70s and 80s TV classics.
I'll think of more later! :cool:
Marco.
i'll tell you what I REALLY miss..
there were these humbugs made out ouf licorice and blackcurrent and stuff.
Sooo big, you could only just get them in your mouth, and then after a bit of careful chewing and softening you had to be dead careful or else the juice would run out of the corners of your mouth and stain your shirt purple.
Rare Bird
22-05-2011, 10:43
Making 'pea shooters' at school out of empty plastic pen bodies, filling your mouth with barley, popping the 'pea shooter' into your mouth, and then firing the soggy bits of barley at folk down below when you were upstairs on the first floor... :eyebrows:
Taking 'cap guns' to school, firing them off at playtime, and annoying the fuck out of all the girls. Ditto with water pistols (usually aiming for bras under girls blouses for obvious reasons, hehehe).
'Tuck shops' at school, which sold lovely things like 'Merri-Mate' and 'Cresta' soda pop, 'Fish & Chip Shop' crisps and 'Salt & Shake' ones from Smiths, 'Bazooka Joe' bubble gum, space dust, 'Penny caramels' and Cola Cubes.
'Chopper' bicycles and 'Moon Hoppers'.
Collecting Panini football stickers and swapping them with your mates. Having 'sand pits' in the playground in Primary School. Riding a motorbike to school in 5th and 6th year, and enjoying the female 'attention' it attracted..... ;)
Using the old 'London style' buses with the entrance at the back, which had red leather seats inside, and having your fair taken by a conductress in a skanky uniform - arf!
Using trains when they had quaint little individual compartments inside, lit up with small lamps at night, which were accessed by sliding doors in the corridor.
When women dressed more femininely and made an effort to look nice in public (and wouldn't be seen dead in 'jogging bottoms' and trainers, unless playing sports).
When roads were nice and quiet with much less traffic, and Shell petrol stations had those lovely 'shells' on petrol pumps which lit up at night. I loved those old dial-type petrol pumps!
Collecting 'Green Shield' stamps and claming the 'free' gifts.
When a 'cream boy' used to call at your house, selling not only cream, but milk, yogurt, (white) eggs and orange juice.
When bin-men actually did some work!
When there were genuinely hot summers for weeks on end.
When cinemas had 'Stalls' and 'Circles' and were located in city centres. I used to love going up to the 'Circle'. And when there were funny wee women who stood at the front of the cinema at the interval with a tray, strapped to them, selling ice-cream and sweets.
Berni Inns. 'Chicken and chips in a basket', sold as pub grub.
Reading '2000AD' and 'Warlord' comics, and loving being a 'Secret Agent' of the latter.
Playing 'Scalextric' and 'Subbuteo', and with the latter, collecting all the different teams.
When department stores sold LPs. When you could demo phono cartridges in hi-fi shops. When there were proper hi-fi shops, especially ones which sold all manner of 'accessories', mainly stuff for turntables, inside glass cabinets at the till area. When you could buy loads of different types of blank cassettes.
When radio stations played LPs and used high-quality audio reproduction equipment for broadcasting. When big speakers were normal in households.
Being obsessed with Dr Who (Tom Baker era), Space 1999, Blakes 7, Fireball XL-5, The Tomorrow People, and 'Sapphire & Steel'. Also Hammer House of Horror, 'Tales from the Crypt', 'Thriller', 'The Sweeney', 'Callan', and countless other 70s and 80s TV classics.
Yeh i remember all that, Re:the 'Pea Shooter' pen, i used to tear bit of file paper, chew them up to a mushy pulp, fire that, it made such a mess :lolsign:
Yup, did that, too! Also, leaving drawing pins on the teacher's seat, and sticking bits of paper to people's backs, when they weren't looking, with 'Kick me up the arse' written on it! :lol:
Spying on girls in the PE changing rooms :eyebrows:
Marco.
Jac Hawk
22-05-2011, 11:00
Garages were everywhere and petrol was less than a £1 a gallon:eek:
A packet of crisps cost 2p and a Mars bar was 10p and had some chocolate on it:eek:
Saturday afternoon TV was either Grandstand, World of Sport or some old crap B&W Western on BBC2
holidays usually meant a long drive to somewhere exotic like Newquay in my dads Vauxhall Viva, on arrival my dad would spend the next 2 days fixing the Viva to enable it to complete the return journey:lol:
Entertainment didn't require an XBOX, PS3, Wii or any other electronic device, heaven was a football and a kick about with yer mates
Cans had proper ring pulls, and everything went into the one dustbin
Takeaway food was Fish 'n' Chips and it came in proper news paper
Takeaway food was Fish 'n' Chips and it came in proper news paper
Yep - and if you went down the chippy at tea time the queue would run right around the inside of the shop, out the door and half way down the street - every night!
Mind you we did have a bloody good chippy...
Yep - and if you went down the chippy at tea time the queue would run right around the inside of the shop, out the door and half way down the street - every night!
That's what all our family chippies were like - those my dad owned, and my uncles and granddad. I remember those days very well! :)
Marco.
Going to watch Morton with my brother,father and grandpa.
Grandpa smoking his pipe in the car. (Can still smell it)
Being given a sup of whisky at the football at half time,to keep me warm. (Don't tell your mum)
Going to Peter's after the football for fish'n'chips. :)
Shopping in Lewis's (department store in Glasgow) going up the escalators and marvelling at how short womens skirts were.
Hearing 'Piper At The Gates Of Dawn' for the first time in 1973 on my brothers hi-fi.
Playing footy all day,rain,hail or snow.
The burning smell when you used you scalextric set for more than a couple of hours.
Playing hide'n'seek with up to 30 other kids.
Going for fritters after Boys Brigade.
Appearing on telly wearing a dress. (Never recovered from that)
Driving around in my neighbours Triumph Herald Vitesse soft top with the roof off.
Getting driven to the ice cream shop in a Bentley/Rolls Royce with loads of other kids,most of us with manky faces and wearing simmits.
Long hot summers.
Watching 'Bill and Ben The Flowerpot Men'. (Must have had good drugs back then)
Helping my mum in the kitchen,baking cakes.
Listening to Nat King Cole singing Mona Lisa,with my two girlfriends at the time (must have been about five years old).One called Lisa,the other called Liza.
Watching these 'old hairy people' make a noise in the local pavilion.They were actually one of Andre's favourite bands,Beggar's Opera.
Dreading going in a neighbours car in the summer,they had cheap vinyl seats and your legs would stick to them.
Getting a pair of George Best football boots from my granny.One of my best presents ever.She also used to buy me a football strip every Christmas.
Going to the Avion (local pub) and having pennys glued to a bit of fishing gut.When an old jakey came out,he would always try and bend down to pick it up,only for us to slightly tug on the gut.The looks on the jakeys faces and the times they fell over.PRICELESS.
More later,maybe.
Playing football in the street
8 bubble gums for a 1p
Curly Whilrleys
Wearing shorts in the snow
Woolworths in every town
Black and White TV
Slade The Sweet and Wizard on TOTP
Listening to my cassette player in my bedroom
Playing Chicken on our bikes
Jac Hawk
22-05-2011, 13:21
Can anyone remember Spangles or Texan bars, or a stick of rhubarb with sugar on it if your mum was skint and you were pestering her for sweets
In the north east you also had the Ringtons Tea man come on Tuesday, the lemonade man on a Thursday and the Fishmonger on a Friday, ohh and the rag and bone man had a horse and cart and not a white tranny van
Recording the top 40 off the radio with your finger hovered over the, rather large pause button to 'edit' out the DJ's voice and those songs you didn't like.
Going to the video shop to get a video out for the evening, spending about an hour there trying to find something worth watching, then coming home, sticking it in the monolithic VCR, waiting a minute for it to load and then, using two hands to press down on the play button. I say button, it was a lever. Plus, the picture was rubbish, and so was the film.
I once inadvertently left my racing bike at the shops across the road. Walked back and it was still there, right where I left it!
Listening to my Haircut 100 cassette on my walkman, along with Duran Duran, Culture Club, Wham and my home made top 40 c90's. My tastes have improved since I was 13.
Thinking Adam Ant was amazing. He was when he first hit the scene to be honest.
Remembering where I was when Elvis died. Holidaying on the Isle of Wight, and it was raining. It always rained when we were on holiday!
I remember buying The hurting by Tears For Fears in 1981 on vinyl in Trowbridge whilst visiting my Aunt and Uncle. I loved Madworld and Change. I listened to it on my Aunt's Amstrad system. The album as a whole was quite scary for an 11 yr old especially The Prisoner!
I remember having a wealth of places where I could buy records and cds. Now, it's just HMV in the high street. I also recall paying more for records and cds then than I would dream of paying now, and I'm better off now.
I remember listening to more music. I miss that.
Playing football in the park on cup final day, about 2 mins after the final whistle had gone. Do kids do that now?
Playing football in the park on xmas day with all my new kit on, no matter the weather.
Eating semolina at school and seeing my friend sneeze and have it come out of both nostrils. I hated semolina anyway, but that didn't help.
Can anyone remember Spangles or Texan bars,
Yeah,I remember them.Loved the Texan bars,but hated spangles.
Do you remember Aztec bars,a bit like Mars bars,only better.
or a stick of rhubarb with sugar on it if your mum was skint and you were pestering her for sweets
I used to love rhubarb,freshly pulled from the garden.
My parents still grow rhubarb,as well as strawberry's,onions and tatties.
Can anyone remember Spangles or Texan bars
"A last request, Gringo?" :lol:
Rare Bird
22-05-2011, 15:43
Proper music not the tripe you hear today
Milk men especially the wuring electric milk float sound you heard early morning
Real women with some meat on their bones, no high Maintinence birds sun tanned to the eyeballs, thin as a rake, nothing more than blokes with titz
Real stereos with tone controls :eyebrows:
White artificial christmass tree with real glass balls that were guarenteed broken the year after no matter how good you packed them
Polystyrene roof tiles
saucy seaside postcards
Somethings just don't mix..Remember Radial & Cross-ply tyres, somethings just don't mix :lolsign:
Always follow the green cross code & 'Tufty' the road saftey club
On your last trip did you discover what the earth people eat, they eat a great many of these..They peel them with their metal knives, boil them for twenty of their minutes :lol: , then they smash them all to bits :lol::lol:, they are clearly the most primative people :lol::lol::lol: :D:D
spendorman
22-05-2011, 15:53
Can anyone remember Spangles or Texan bars, or a stick of rhubarb with sugar on it if your mum was skint and you were pestering her for sweets
In the north east you also had the Ringtons Tea man come on Tuesday, the lemonade man on a Thursday and the Fishmonger on a Friday, ohh and the rag and bone man had a horse and cart and not a white tranny van
Spangles, Texan Bars, certainly. I remember the Lemonade man coming round, here it was R Whites, long before that famous advert on TV. Rag and bone man with a horse, Milkman had a horse as well, my brother used to give it a cube of sugar.
Covenant
22-05-2011, 15:59
Making silly gadgets with bits around the house:
Lolly ice sticks fixed to your bike so it made a noise on the spokes.
A little self-propelled vehicle from a cotton bobbin, candle, hair grip and an elastic band.
Christmas:
Cards with line of sixpences sellotaped inside. The utter luxury of half a crown.
A glass of Stones ginger wine.
TV:
Watching Doctor Who from behind the settee.
Playing out:
Out in the snow all day so when you came home you couldnt stand the heat in the house.
Going to the shop and the nice man letting you sit on the floor at the back of the counter to feel the lucky bags for the toy that you wanted.
Making bombs (big part of my childhood). The most successful was made out of a lead pipe filled with weed killer and sugar. Hammered down the ends and made a hole in the middle with a nail. Stuck the end of a banger in it. Blew a crater in the park with that one.
spendorman
22-05-2011, 16:03
Making silly gadgets with bits around the house:
Lolly ice sticks fixed to your bike so it made a noise on the spokes.
A little self-propelled vehicle from a cotton bobbin, candle, hair grip and an elastic band.
Christmas:
Cards with line of sixpences sellotaped inside. The utter luxury of half a crown.
A glass of Stones ginger wine.
TV:
Watching Doctor Who from behind the settee.
Playing out:
Out in the snow all day so when you came home you couldnt stand the heat in the house.
Going to the shop and the nice man letting you sit on the floor at the back of the counter to feel the lucky bags for the toy that you wanted.
Making bombs (big part of my childhood). The most successful was made out of a lead pipe filled with weed killer and sugar. Hammered down the ends and made a hole in the middle with a nail. Stuck the end of a banger in it. Blew a crater in the park with that one.
Coor, must have been a cult thing lol, watching Doctor Who from behind the settee. Seems that I was not the only one dead scared!!
Drilling a hole in the end of the chalk and inserting a red match. Very satisfactory when the end of the chalk erupted in the bastard English teacher's hand.
I did stay in sometimes to watch the following
Saturday morning cinema
Harold Lloyd
Tales of the unexpected
Captain Pugwash
Rhubarb and Custard
Top Cat
Willow the wisp
The Clangers
The A team
Dukes of Hazard
Mary Mungo and Midge
Christal tips and Alistair
The Hair bear bunch
Banana Splits
The Double deckers
Mr Ben
Bod
thats a few to be going on with
spendorman
22-05-2011, 21:09
I remember the Bumblies:
http://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/tv/children/bumblies/bumblies.htm
And, It's a square world:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpWomdkwtoY
jantheman
24-05-2011, 06:29
Jack Hargreaves...Out of Town and Gone Fishing on the TV....Those were a 'Must See'.....
I’m worried now :eyebrows:
Aren’t these supposed to be the best and most formative years of ones life and all some of you seem to have absorbed was some crap on the telly :doh::lol:
Thankfully we didn’t have a TV the entire time I lived at home.
Unfortunately imo after my Dad remarried a telly miraculously appeared along with the stepmother :(
When I was a boy, we eat at a table, all of us, together and had conversations.
We read books, played games and went out for evening walks.
Once the telly arrived that all stopped :(
spendorman
24-05-2011, 07:49
I’m worried now :eyebrows:
Aren’t these supposed to be the best and most formative years of ones life and all some of you seem to have absorbed was some crap on the telly :doh::lol:
Thankfully we didn’t have a TV the entire time I lived at home.
Unfortunately imo after my Dad remarried a telly miraculously appeared along with the stepmother :(
When I was a boy, we eat at a table, all of us, together and had conversations.
We read books, played games and went out for evening walks.
Once the telly arrived that all stopped :(
Telly, yes, but also quite a few hobbies, including cycling, making diesel powered model boats, building electronic things, etc. etc.
jantheman
24-05-2011, 07:55
I’m worried now :eyebrows:
Aren’t these supposed to be the best and most formative years of ones life and all some of you seem to have absorbed was some crap on the telly :doh::lol:
A rather broad brush.............:eyebrows:
In reply to my previous..IMHO Jack Hargreaves was exactly the opposite.
Life didnt revolve around the telly....in fact I was only allowed to watch selected programs
I’m fond of broad brushes……………don’t have to worry about all the fiddly bits then ;)
Collecting conkers from the local park and playing conker fights in school, normally with 'specially hardened' ones, which had been subjected to various processes, and usually winning the fights...! :eyebrows:
Playing footie in the park with my mates, especially after games involving Celtic, and pretending to be the star striker at the time (I was a bit of a free-kick specialist back then, with a very hard shot - and used to nearly take my mate's head off in goal, if he was unfortunate enough to get in the way - lol!)
Going cycling with my mates in the school holidays, often doing 50-60 mile trips, and taking rather 'exotic' packed lunches with us that my mum had made, such as salami, gherkin and caper sandwiches, parma ham and melon, inside tubs, and cold roast chicken drumsticks, infused with garlic and rosemary - yum-yum!
Getting my first air rifle (.177) and shooting tin cans and used shotgun cartridges in our back garden, then later doing target shooting and getting quite good at it, entering and winning competitions.
Getting my first shotgun (a 20-bore side-by-side) and going hunting with my dad for rabbits, then taking what we caught home, skinning it and giving it to mum to cook a nice recipe with!
Helping my dad during the school holidays prepare the chip-shop we owned in Glasgow for opening in the late afternoon, by going down every morning and re-stocking the shelves with fizzy drinks, carrying crates of bottles in from the store, re-stocking the shelves with sweets and cigarettes, and sweeping and mopping the floors, and polishing the display cabinets.
It was quite hard work, but I loved it!
Long summer holidays (6 weeks) at our family home in Tuscany. Going out with my parents for some truly epic and memorable meals at tiny family-run restaurants in the middle of nowhere, up the top of mountains in the Tuscan countryside.
Picking the grapes in our small vineyard and making wine from them. Picking lovely juicy fresh cherries from the tree next to my bedroom window and having them for breakfast.
Visiting all my relatives in our village, called Barga, and having amazing fun on their farms, feeding the animals, getting a ride on tractors, etc, and then afterwards having the most amazing lunches (and home-made wine) imaginable.
Driving through France with my parents, on the way to Italy (from Glasgow) and spending 3-4 days on the journey touring and travelling through pretty little French villages, way off the beaten track, eating the most amazing 'peasant' food, and practicing and improving my French in the process, as my dad was crap at it. Obtaining accommodation at hotels we stopped at, totally randomly, doing the same thing.
Buying wine direct from French vineyards, and all sorts of lovely goodies from French food stores and supermarkets (and stuff we'd bought in Italy, such as whole Parmesan cheeses and whole Parma hams!) and taking it all back home in the car. On the journey home, the car could hardly move!!
Awesome times :cool:
Marco.
Spectral Morn
24-05-2011, 09:48
A 1p mix-up got you a bag of sweets instead of now days......:scratch: nothing.
Regards D S D L
jantheman
24-05-2011, 10:21
A pennys (old money) worth of broken biscuits. I would get them after school then take them home so mother could sort the best ones and I had what was left..
Great stuff chaps - I can almost picture all these lovely memories you each have as if they were my own. I hope my daughter has such lovely memories in 40 years time... Hopefully I've still got some old-style family values, being an older dad, but I do fear for some of the "PlayStation Generation's" kids...
jantheman
26-05-2011, 07:25
Pocket money....2 bob a week...and that used to last...lol.....
Thing Fish
26-05-2011, 07:44
Finding your Dads stash of dirty mags was a major event.
Jubly's making your head ache.
Finding tadpoles was like finding gold.
Trying to cut out the DJ when taping the top 40.
Smoking your first fag and going dizzy.
Trying to avoid the school bully when walking home from school.
Buying a 'lucky bag'.
Playing with plastic toy soldiers in the dirt.
Penny up the wall.
Dropping your lolly in the street, picking it up and eating it.
Seeing girls playing netball in their knickers and not being bothered.
Jubly's making your head ache.
Que? :scratch:
Seeing girls playing netball in their knickers and not being bothered.
Indeed, and understandable when the nun's were playing topless darts in the next room.
Marco.
Thing Fish
26-05-2011, 07:57
Que? :scratch:Marco.
Jubly's - big lumps of flavoured ice giving you an ice headache. Or at least that's what I remember.
Rare Bird
26-05-2011, 10:12
I remember something like that, big triangluar things they were, your lips were twice the size & numb by the time you had finished..
spendorman
26-05-2011, 10:20
I remember something like that, big triangluar things they were, your lips were twice the size & numb by the time you had finished..
lol, me too
Apologies for being a wet blanket, but I also remember not having any worries to speak of, as everything was done for me and wondering what was going to happen next week wasn't an issue, let alone bothering about adulthood and the responsibilities it brings.
I don't like being "an orphan............"
Thing Fish
26-05-2011, 19:21
When I was a boy we had...
Pez
Hi-balls
Bazooka Joe's
Sparky
Jonny 7 guns
Dinky toys
Land of the giants
Curly whurly
Oxford bags
Tank tops
Clacker balls
Gat guns
etc etc...
Spud guns!
And those little plastic rockets you put a cap in and threw.
And what where those little paper "snappers" called, filled with a bit of explosive that you threw on the floor and they went bang - much better if you disassembled 3 or 4 and put all the explosive in one bit of paper... :eyebrows:
Sellotaping half-a-dozen bangers together, sticking them in the ground, lighting them and putting a plant pot on top - to see if you could get the plant pot higher than the house! Ok, so just me then on that one!? :lol:
A Hand Reared Boy.
Brian Aldiss.
:
Sellotaping half-a-dozen bangers together, sticking them in the ground, lighting them and putting a plant pot on top - to see if you could get the plant pot higher than the house! Ok, so just me then on that one!? :lol:
No mate! In fact I was still doing that into my twenties:rolleyes:
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