Found this and thought WOW, am I really that old?!? I'm sure there is plenty from before my time. Okay, so you don't have to be REALLY old to remember seeing this stuff at home or at Grandma's house, but what changes we have seen (good and bad) over the past 40+ or so years. What can you add to the list? I remember: - actually knowing our neighbours - addressing anyone over 18 by Mr. or Mrs. so and so (or else!) - Only 6 teams in the NHL - B&W TV 3 channels - Transistor Radios - Young Michael Jackson - wringer washer - first automatic dishwasher that wasn't named Wayne - chore's - paper route - phones with bungee cords attached to the wall (dial too!), and only one in the house - manual lawnmowers - no seatbelts in cars - 25 cents was a fortune And when did they stop building school's that required uphill climbs both ways? Someone asked the other day, 'What was your favourite 'fast food' when you were growing up?' 'We didn't have fast food when I was growing up,' I informed him. 'All the food was slow.' 'C'mon, seriously.. Where did you eat?' 'It was a place called 'home,'' I explained! 'Mum cooked every day and when Dad got home from work, we sat down together at the dining room table, and if I didn't like what she put on my plate, I was allowed to sit there until I did like it.' By this time, the lad was laughing so hard I was afraid he was going to suffer serious internal damage, so I didn't tell him the part about how I had to have permission to leave the table. But here are some other things I would have told him about my childhood if I'd figured his system could have handled it: Some parents NEVER owned their own house, wore jeans, set foot on a golf course, travelled out of the country or had a credit card. My parents never drove me to school... I had a bicycle that weighed probably 50 pounds, and only had one speed (slow). We didn't have a television in our house until I was 10. It was, of course, black and white, and the station went off the air at 10 PM, after playing the national anthem and epilogue; it came back on the air at about 6 am. And there was usually a locally produced news and farm show on, featuring local people... Pizzas were not delivered to our home... But milk was. All newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys delivered newspapers --My brother delivered a newspaper, seven days a week. He had to get up at 6am every morning. Film stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least, they did in the films. There were no movie ratings because all movies were responsibly produced for everyone to enjoy viewing, without profanity or violence or almost anything offensive. If you grew up in a generation before there was fast food, you may want to share some of these memories with your children or grandchildren. Just don't blame me if they bust a gut laughing. How many do you remember? Headlight dip-switches on the floor of the car. Ignition switches on the dashboard. Trouser leg clips for bicycles without chain guards. Soldering irons you heated on a gas burner. Using hand signals for cars without turn indicators. Older Than Dirt Quiz: Count all the ones that you remember, not the ones you were told about. Ratings at the bottom 1. Sweet cigarettes 2. Coffee shops with juke boxes 3. Home milk delivery in glass bottles 4. Party lines on the telephone 5. Newsreels before the movie 6. TV test patterns that came on at night after the last show and were there until TV shows started again in the morning. (There were only 2 channels [if you were fortunate]) 7. Peashooters 8. 33 rpm records 9. 45 RPM records 10. Hi-fi's 11. Metal ice trays with levers 12. Blue flashbulb 13. Cork popguns 14. Wash tub wringers If you remembered 0-3 = You're still young If you remembered 3-6 = You are getting older If you remembered 7-10 = Don't tell your age If you remembered 11-14 = You're positively ancient! I must be 'positively ancient' but those memories are some of the best parts of my life.
Back in Feb 1965 my two daughters made my wife & I cut short a lovely day's outing in the country so that they could get back home in time to watch the Beatles on TV. I took this snap at the time. Dig the snazzy curtains, the table lamp and the TV set legs. Ah............. those were the days ! Ron
We actually survived without mobile phones! When people ask me why I don't own a mobile phone, I reply " I have lived on this planet for nearly 50 years , without ever once thinking that If I had a mobile phone right now I could...................."
Rosyredd Ron is that a T.V aerial on top of your set?! No........ we actually had an outside ariel (see the wires) I think it was just a small bowl for holding peanuts. We certainly knew how to live it up in those days Ron
Tempted to hook my kids up to the internet with 33600 Baud modems, or better yet 9600's. See if they could live online like we did not so long ago when you actually had to "wait" for something to show on your screen and it wasn't HD graphics. (Or currently if you live in a fancy new area by a plantation , you get that last mile issue fixed yet Andy?)
Rosyredd No........ we actually had an outside ariel (see the wires) I think it was just a small bowl for holding peanuts. We certainly knew how to live it up in those days Ron
Recently on FB there was a photo making the rounds with a caption that suggested you must be knocking on a bit if you could make the connection between a pencil and a cassette tape... And back to T.V's, did anyone else hit theirs when the picture squashed down to a horizontal line in the centre of the screen? Something to do with the tube I think?...a good whack or few on the side would bring the picture back.
One of my personal favorites "old fart" memories I like to stun and amaze kids with is the fact you had to visit a bank, line up, and then talk with a bank teller to deposit money or take money out. And you had to take enough money out to last you because there were no ATM machines around everywhere that you could take cash out when needed. And bank hours were very restricted too. So if you ran out of cash, you just had to wait until the bank opened.
I can go back to the time when shop assistants were polite and helpful- and you needed a reference to open a bank account... and tram conductors didn't yell "pass along the car whitey ".........mind you I am 88.... Cheers
