In Olden Days

rhychydwr1

Active member
Do you remember? The days of Chopper bikes, going to the disco, going to the pool. TopDeck shandy, dandelion and burdock?
DAVID SCOTT does.

It's enough to make you wonder whether nostalgia today is as good as it was.....

ACCORDING to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us .who were kids m the60s, 70s and early 80s probably shouldn't have survived.Why? Because: our cots were covered with brightly coloured coloured lead-based paint which was promptly chewed and licked.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles or latches on kitchen cabinet doors and it was fine to play with pans.

When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just flip-flops and fluorescent spokey dokeys on our wheels.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or airbags - riding in the passenger seat was a treat.

We drank water from the garden hose, not from a bottle and it tasted the same.

We ate chips, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy juice with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.

We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or can and no one actually died from this.

We would spend hours building go-karts out of scrap and then went top speed down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into stinging nettles a-few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We would leave home in the morning and could play all day, as long as we were back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us and no one minded.

We did not have PlayStation orX-Box, no video games at all. No 99channels on TV, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no DVDs, no internet chatrooms.

We had friends - we went outside and found them and played elastics and rounders, and sometimes that ball really hurt!

We fell out of trees, got cut, and broke bones but there were no law suits. We had full-on fist flights but no prosecution followed from other parents.

We walked to our friends' homes. We also, believe it or not, walked to school; we didn't rely on mummy or daddy to drive us to school, which was just round the corner.

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls.

We rode bikes in pack sof seven and wore our coats by only the hood

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law.

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem solvers and inventors, ever. The past50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We bad freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all. And you're one of them. Congratulations! Pass this good news on to others who have had the luck to grow as real kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good.
For those of you who aren't old enough, thought you might like to read about us. This, my friends, is quite frightening... and it might put a smile on your face: The majority of students in universities today were born in 1986.

They have never heard of We are the World, We are the children, and the Uptown Girl they know is by Westlife not Billy Joel. They have never heard of Rick Astley, Bananarama, Small Faces, Dave, Dee, Dozy, Beeky, Mick and Titch

For them, there has always been only one Germany and one Vietnam. Aids has existed since they were born. CDs have existed since they were born. Michael Jackson has always been white. To them John Travolta has always been that shape and they can't imagine how this fat guy could be a god of dance. They believe that Charlie's Angels and Mission Impossible are films from last year.  They can never imagine life before computers. They've never pretended to be the ATeam or the Famous Five.They've  never applied to be on Jim'11Fte It or Why Don't You.. ?They can't believe black and white TV ever existed and don't know how to switch on the telly without a remote control. And they phone and text and phone and text and phone and text. Now let's check if we're getting old:

1. You understand what was written above and you smile.
2. You need to sleep more, usually until the afternoon, after a night out.
3. Your friends are getting married/already
married/re-marrying.
4. You are always surprised to see small children playing comfortably with computers.
5. When you see teenagers with mobile phones, you shake your head.
6. You remember watching Dirty Den in EastEnders the first time around.
7. You meet your friends from tune to time, talking about the good old days repeating again all the funny things you have experienced together.
8. Having read this, you are thinking of cutting it out and sending it to some old friends because you think they will like it too. Yes, you're getting old.


 
alot of people did'nt survive . before i left shool  there was 11 pupils i can remeber who got killed  and a few more i herd of but do'nt  know there names . it was dangrous then. accidents mostly
 
I'm supposed to be at the National Archives, Kew, today, doing some research to complete the last few updates for my book. They're normally open until 7pm on a Tuesday,  except when I had completed the underground and train journeys across London, being on the final 5-minute walk along the last couple of roads, I noticed rather too many people walking along the pavement in the opposite direction - like it was going-home time . . .

At first I soldiered on regardless, but then I recognised some of the people coming towards me as being staff members and one of them told me that there was a local power cut - which means the National Archives building has no electricity and has had to close for the day!

Yet, in the days of paper chits for ordering documents and men with trolleys (instead of motorised, computer-controlled container delivieries via a complex hidden network of rails) it would just have been a bit darker than usual and people would have kept on working!

What I recall from the past is wishing that the two-wheeled scooter I had could have had an electric motor to power it along, without having to push with one foot, and now I often see these mechanised versions all around!

Reel-to-reel tape recorders were great for recording sound, but wouldn't it have been brilliant if picture could have been recorded, too, in a similar fashion . . .

Sitting in the back of a car (without seatbelts) thinking it would be great if you could watch the TV programme you wanted to see, that was being broadcast right now, as you travelled along in the car. But, now you can do this the programmes are not so enticing!

You could only see feature films when they appeared 'on release' in the cinema or, if you were lucky, a copy would be purchased by a TV broadcaster and then you might get to watch it on television, sometime (decided by the channel), instead.

I could go on writing like this for ages, but I'd better now put the unexpected free time to some work use at home - where the local power supply is still working okay!
 
Clive G said:
I'm supposed to be at the National Archives, Kew, today, doing some research to complete the last few updates for my book. They're normally open until 7pm on a Tuesday,  except when I had completed the underground and train journeys across London, being on the final 5-minute walk along the last couple of roads, I noticed rather too many people walking along the pavement in the opposite direction - like it was going-home time . . .

At first I soldiered on regardless, but then I recognised some of the people coming towards me as being staff members and one of them told me that there was a local power cut - which means the National Archives building has no electricity and has had to close for the day!

Yet, in the days of paper chits for ordering documents and men with trolleys (instead of motorised, computer-controlled container delivieries via a complex hidden network of rails) it would just have been a bit darker than usual and people would have kept on working!

What I recall from the past is wishing that the two-wheeled scooter I had could have had an electric motor to power it along, without having to push with one foot, and now I often see these mechanised versions all around!

Reel-to-reel tape recorders were great for recording sound, but wouldn't it have been brilliant if picture could have been recorded, too, in a similar fashion . . .

Sitting in the back of a car (without seatbelts) thinking it would be great if you could watch the TV programme you wanted to see, that was being broadcast right now, as you travelled along in the car. But, now you can do this the programmes are not so enticing!

You could only see feature films when they appeared 'on release' in the cinema or, if you were lucky, a copy would be purchased by a TV broadcaster and then you might get to watch it on television, sometime (decided by the channel), instead.

I could go on writing like this for ages, but I'd better now put the unexpected free time to some work use at home - where the local power supply is still working okay!

I've just been using the London Metropolitan Archive at Clerkenwell.  I looked up the documents I wanted in a printed index, filled in a pink chit , dropped it in a wooden box and  a human being delivered my documents on a trolley - proper.
 
Smiley Alan said:
alot of people did'nt survive . before i left shool  there was 11 pupils i can remeber who got killed  and a few more i herd of but do'nt  know there names . it was dangrous then. accidents mostly

I've come across a lot of reports of inquests as a result of doing research into 19th century industrial history, the ethos espoused during which continued through until after the 2nd World War. The first rule was generally (but not always) for the incident to be reported (and found by the jury) as being an accident.

But, the word I've found appearing several times, which seems to encapsulate a whole attitude to life (and death), with suitable exoneration for those in higher offices, was that the person who met with the 'accident', who died, was acting 'incautiously'!

This includes the young son of one of the ironworkers at Garnddyrys Forge on Gilwern Hill, who, whilst visiting the works with his father, thought it would be rather fun to smack the large shiny roller in the works, with both hands, whilst it was rotating . . . Well, it picked him up, as it did with the metal to be rolled, and then he bumped into the roller rotating in the opposite direction . . . 'incautious', he was, and 'a frightful spectacle', he ended up . . .
 
Mangled, I suppose you could say....

I can still remember helping my mum mangle the sheets when I was a nipper.
 
rhychydwr1 said:
The majority of students in universities today were born in 1986.

The students are 30?? Also, Michael Jackson died 7 years ago and Jimmy Savile died 5 years ago.

I wonder how long that spam message has been rattling around the internet for...
 
Kevlar said:
rhychydwr1 said:
The majority of students in universities today were born in 1986.

The students are 30?? Also, Michael Jackson died 7 years ago and Jimmy Savile died 5 years ago.

I wonder how long that spam message has been rattling around the internet for...

I am pretty sure Tony has posted on this very forum at least once before!

Chris.
 
Bucket and Chuckit at the bottom of the garden.
Potties under the bed.
Two in the tin bath in front the fire once a week.
Strip wash on the draining board.
One coal fire to heat the whole house
Three mile cycle to school.
Being brought up by Granny.
I did 27 years at work with just one day off sick.( recovering from lost at sea incident ).
Sunday school.
Caving in woolly jumpers and old jeans. No helmets.
Motorbike not a car.


Guess what ? All of that is character building. I am rarely ill. Not over weight. Not scared to try anything.
 
ChrisJC said:
Kevlar said:
rhychydwr1 said:
The majority of students in universities today were born in 1986.

The students are 30?? Also, Michael Jackson died 7 years ago and Jimmy Savile died 5 years ago.

I wonder how long that spam message has been rattling around the internet for...

I am pretty sure Tony has posted on this very forum at least once before!

Chris.

I did a search but could not find it.

I found it on a DVD whilst housekeeping.
 
I've seen it loads of times on t'interwibble. I'm not convinced the good old days were that good. Kids are just as inventive, just in different ways that fit the modern environment.

As Tony Capstick said "We had lots of things in those days that we don't have now. Like rickets and diptheria"
 
crickleymal said:
I'm not convinced the good old days were that good.
No, they weren't.
crickleymal said:
Kids are just as inventive, just in different ways that fit the modern environment.
No they aren't.

If the goal is to yearn toward a future, It does no good to glamourize the past or present. It does good to learn from both of them.
 
Ah! The good old days.
Born while the air-raid sirens howled.
Grew up playing on derelict bombsites.
Ration books.
Went to school where at least one kid in your class wore a caliper as a result of polio or rickets.
A single parent family meant Daddy died in the war.

On the up side, we all had chicken pox, measles, german measles (Now rubella), whooping cough and mumps, now labelled as killer diseases. We all recovered.

Half our pop heroes died young but we got to see some of them before their demise.
We were allowed a day of lessons when Buddy Holly crashed and again after the Munich air disaster.
We were teenagers before three hours a day of television took over from the piano and the wireless.

It wasn't all fun, it wasn't all misery but it sure as hell taught you a lot about life and living it.
I don't regret a bit of it.


rhychydwr1 was I a generation too soon?

Homo habilis
 
Laurie said:
On the up side, we all had chicken pox, measles, german measles (Now rubella), whooping cough and mumps, now labelled as killer diseases. We all recovered.

No. You just don't remember those who didn't. They very much are killer diseases, they're killing blinding and disfiguring people and children every day.
 
caving_fox said:
Laurie said:
On the up side, we all had chicken pox, measles, german measles (Now rubella), whooping cough and mumps, now labelled as killer diseases. We all recovered.

No. You just don't remember those who didn't. They very much are killer diseases, they're killing blinding and disfiguring people and children every day.

Absolutely right. Measles can play havoc on an unprotected population. 
 
crickleymal said:
Kenilworth said:
crickleymal said:
I'm not convinced the good old days were that good.
No, they weren't.
crickleymal said:
Kids are just as inventive, just in different ways that fit the modern environment.
No they aren't.
Oh yes they are human nature hasn't changed in a few decades. Could you hack into a computer at 16 years old?

Human nature has not changed, you're right. Kids now have just as much curiosity and potential ability as ever, for as few years. The difference is that they now live in an "environment" that stifles originality, creativity, and resourcefulness. Computer hacking by the young is a very inadequate demonstration of the equality, or superiority, of modern creativity.
 
Back
Top