Another walk down Memory Lane (for some of us)

[Newportnobby]

Back in the days of tanners and bobs,
When Mothers had patience and Fathers had jobs.
When football team families wore hand me down shoes,
And T.V. gave only two channels to choose.

Back in the days of three penny bits,
when schools employed nurses to search for your nits.
When snowballs were harmless, ice slides were permitted
and all of your jumpers were warm and hand knitted.

Back in the days of hot ginger beers,
when children remained so for more than six years.
When children respected what older folks said,
and pot was a thing you kept under your bed.

Back in the days of Listen with Mother,
when neighbours were friendly and talked to each other.
When cars were so rare you could play in the street.
When Doctors made house calls and Police walked the beat.

Back in the days of Milligan's Goons,
when butter was butter and songs all had tunes.
It was dumplings for dinner and trifle for tea,
and your annual break was a day by the sea.

Back in the days of Dixon's Dock Green,
Crackerjack pens and Lyons ice cream.
When children could freely wear National Health glasses,
and teachers all stood at the FRONT of their classes.

Back in the days of rocking and reeling,
when mobiles were things that you hung from the ceiling. When woodwork and pottery got taught in schools,
and everyone dreamed of a win on the pools.

Back in the days when I was a lad,
I can't help but smile for the fun that I had.
Hopscotch and roller skates; snowballs to lob.
Back in the days of tanners and bobs.

[David Asquith]

That's great Mick.  All your own work?

[themadhippy]

 no doubt posted many times.but so true.

   

According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 50's, 60's, and 70's probably shouldn't have survived...

Our baby cots were covered with brightly coloured lead-based paint which was promptly chewed and licked.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on doors or cabinets and it was fine to play with pans. When we rode our bikes, we
wore no helmets, just flip flops and fluorescent 'clackers' on our wheels.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the passenger seat was a treat.

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

We ate dripping sandwiches, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy pop 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-carts out of scraps 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 play all day, as long as we were back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us all day and no-one
minded.

We did not have Playstations or X-Boxes, no video games at all.

No 99 channels on TV, no videotape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet chat rooms. We had
friends, we went outside and found them.

We played elastics and street rounders, and sometimes that ball really hurt.

We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits. They were accidents. We learnt not to do the same
thing again.

We had fights, punched each other hard and got black and blue - we learned to get over it.

We walked to friend's homes.

We made up games with sticks and tennis
balls and ate live stuff, and although we were told it would happen, we did not have very many eyes out, nor did the live stuff live inside us
forever.

We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore our coats by only the hood. Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law. Imagine that!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years have been an explosion
of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all. And you're
one of them.

Congratulations!

[guest373]

Oh for rose tinted spectacles;

do not forget

the children who did not come back to school after the measles epidemic
the children lost in Aberfan before Health and Safety
the frost on the window inside
no glucose fructose syrup to fatten
mentally ill mothers
the killer smoke that turned fog in to smog

the rest I will let rest

[grumbeast]

I'm getting of an age where looking back seems more appealing.  But I think you're all correct.  There is much that we have lost, but also much we have gained, The trick is knowing which is which, Rose coloured glasses can be dangerous, but so called progress often doesn't improve things and often makes things much worse

So you all make good points, my lungs are shot after growing up in a South Wales mining village with all the pollution, but on the flipside I wander around town here and see only the tops of people's heads as smartphones irrevocably turn them into Zombies.

On the  positive side, I have great drugs that help me breathe! and I can get some interaction with people here on this awesome site!

[Bealman]

That's a post very well put. 

And thanks for the kind words about the forum! 

[joe cassidy]

We had no computers, or telephones.

We didn't even have Playmobil, but we had :

comics
Meccano
Lego (or Bettabuilder)
Philips electronic engineer kits
Mamod steam engines (must be banned today)
Britains toy soldiers
A vast range of Airfix models
Corgi and Dinky cars
Scalextric
Subuteo

and..............

TRAIN SETS §

[The Q]

We had no computers, or telephones.

We didn't even have Playmobil, but we had :

comics
Meccano
Lego (or Bettabuilder)
Philips electronic engineer kits
Mamod steam engines (must be banned today)
Britains toy soldiers
A vast range of Airfix models
Corgi and Dinky cars
Scalextric
Subuteo

and..............

TRAIN SETS §

I can remember Not having a TV, and the family gathered round the radio on Sunday mornings to listen to Forces favourites.

1 Comic allowed, mostly second hand dinky and corgi, plus occasional airfix kits, I don't remember Lego being around as a child. The rest was way too expensive.

[Bealman]

I had a far sighted aunty who bought me a tiny Lego set for Christmas,  just after it kicked off, must have been around 1959 when I got that.

[dannyboy]

I remember building large skyscrapers and hotels with my Lego pieces, Dad made me a box with lots of compartments to keep all the different bits in. I also remember getting our first stereo record player and a stereo sampler record, (You know, one of those vinyl black disc things), it was just amazing listening to the sound of an airplane moving from one side of the room to the other!

[Bealman]

Sampler records.

They were the best! Strapped for cash students like me would buy em, 14/6.

I still have and still play,

The Rock Machine turns you on, CBS

You can all join in, Island

Nice enough to eat, Island

[guest311]

"Bettabuilder"

was that the one where you had a base plate with holes, fitted steel rods into it and then slotted blocks of bricks / windows / doors in to build houses ?

[Bealman]

Yes, it's where Roger of Wrenton fame, cut his teeth!

[themadhippy]

I still have and still play,
The Rock Machine turns you on, CBS

Ive the follow up,the rock machine i love you,it was  amongst half a dozen second hand lps i was given when i got my first record player , ,im certain that and the stardust lp had a major influence on my later musical tastes

[joe cassidy]

Bettabuilder was like Lego but the bricks were smaller and moulded in harder polystyrene.

Roof tiles were green.

I forgot to mention Spirograph in my earlier post