Not been very well today (Man Flu!) so been feeling a bit melancholic.
Is it just old age that makes me feel nostalgic ?
Nothing seems to stand out in the world since the mid 80s to me !
For example :
I can't think of a modern guitaris to rate alongside Clapton/Hendrix/Gallagher (that's Rory)/Townsend etc.
Same with drummers/vocalists and bassists !
Cricketer's used to have great personalities on the field : Botham/Edrich/Close/Sobers etc
Same for footballers : Marsh/Best/Charlton etc
Gone are the days when you could tell a football team from its strip.
And....I could list the names of all 92 football grounds.
Rugby League was played in the North and Union in the South.
Trains & Locos too had their personalities and my local station would see Halls/Granges/Castles/Manors/Counties/Panniers/Moguls/Praries/Standards (of all sorts) and a mixture of new hydraulics and DMUs.
You could tell a car by it's shape from 200 yards.
People smiled at you in the street and passed the time of day.
Opening an account at the bank (aged 17) you met the Manager (not someone who can only act on what the computer tells them).
Shops sold a single thing : Tobacconist/Stationers/Butchers/Greengrocers/Florists etc
And so on.............
Ah well, I'm just getting old.
Back to the model railway I think to restore some sanity !
Ramble over !
Oh dear, what have you started? ::)
Agree with some of that, can't comment on the whole music thing as never been into music in a big way, and as far as I'm concerned sportsmen never have had personalities ;)
Concerning 'people smiled at you in the street and passed the time of day', everyone is too shallow and self-obsessed to even consider that other people exist now, everything is judged on how much money you have and what labels are on your clothes, and everything is "me me me" with no concern for others. It's only getting worse too, the general consensus is that the human race has already peaked and is now getting dumber as we rely more on technology and less on ingenuity :no:
Paul
Those were the days when people dealing with the public
would call you sir or madam instead of mate or pal. ;D
A few things have not changed like GPs' receptionists
who are invariably less than helpful and Post Office queues
where somebody is gossiping with the counter clerk about
someones' wife. husband or budgie.
Despite all their so called "Mission statements" printed in every
language except Klingon many local authority employees are often
less than helpful or downright stupid.
When my Dad died on Christmas Day 2011 I went to
the registrar's office on the 27th and was asked if I had
made an appointment, I replied that I did'nt know he was
going to die leading to a frosty look from the minion
who was dealing with me.
Some things I don't miss
Max Bygraves
Smoking in eating places
Gilbert O'Sullivan
Elvis movies
Vesta curries.......
And that is the beauty of model railways and modelling in General.
You can recreate the bygone era's in which ever scale you choose and bring back all of those fond locations, years gone by, memories and ways of life long since changed in model form.
The past may be gone, but not forgotten.
All the best
OwL :wave:
Well said, Owl.
Well said Owl.
As the Max Bygraves song went: 'Fings 'aint wot they used to be'!
We still have our memories that is one of the reasons we model the era's we do.
:thumbsup:
I notice that you are in Valetta,Owl.
Just finished watching "The Battle for Malta " on television.
What brave and inspirational people !
We visited Malta (and Gozo) 2 years ago and had a wonderful time. Such Friendly people.
A fabulous holiday.
Shame I didn't see your layout!
Quote from: Kesdrive on January 13, 2013, 09:07:02 PM
As the Max Bygraves song went: 'Fings 'aint wot they used to be'!
He also did "Gillygillyossenfefferkatsanelybogen by the seeeea" ;)
He also did "Gillygillyossenfefferkatsanelybogen by the seeeea" ;)
[/quote]
Is that continental 'N' gauge?
:smiley-laughing:
Sounds a bit like Welsh 'N' Gauge to me.
Llanfair????????????????????????????????????????????ogogoch !!
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (typed without Googling it) ;)
Paul
I'm Impressed !!
Be more impressed with the station sign :smiley-laughing:
(http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq108/Scotsoft/NGF/Emoticons/259314d8.jpg)
Quote from: port perran on January 13, 2013, 09:20:09 PM
I notice that you are in Valetta,Owl.
Just finished watching "The Battle for Malta " on television.
What brave and inspirational people !
We visited Malta (and Gozo) 2 years ago and had a wonderful time. Such Friendly people.
A fabulous holiday.
Shame I didn't see your layout!
People of Malta were very brave during the 2nd world war. They endured a blitz on par with London, and at one point in 1941 was the most heavily bombed area on planet Earth with both the Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica (Italian Airforce) taking turns to bomb Malta day and night from bases in Sicily only 60 miles away.
Maltese people's friendly nature and welcome is notorious world wide :beers:
What about the longest place name in the world then?
Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu
Think that's right :hmmm:
Again typed from memory. Trouble is, ask to remember anything IMPORTANT and it's gone in ten minutes!! :laugh:
Paul
Quote from: Agrippa on January 13, 2013, 06:11:57 PM
Those were the days when people dealing with the public
would call you sir or madam instead of mate or pal. ;D
A few things have not changed like GPs' receptionists
who are invariably less than helpful and Post Office queues
where somebody is gossiping with the counter clerk about
someones' wife. husband or budgie.
Despite all their so called "Mission statements" printed in every
language except Klingon many local authority employees are often
less than helpful or downright stupid.
When my Dad died on Christmas Day 2011 I went to
the registrar's office on the 27th and was asked if I had
made an appointment, I replied that I did'nt know he was
going to die leading to a frosty look from the minion
who was dealing with me.
Some things I don't miss
Max Bygraves
Smoking in eating places
Gilbert O'Sullivan
Elvis movies
Vesta curries.......
Vesta Curries - now that takes me back to my childhood in the late 60's... (unfortunately Pot Noodles are still with us :no:)
But seriously 'smoking in eating places' - I remember well when the smoking ban came into effect (hoorah!) going into a pub a few weeks later. The difference was great.
But for me nostalgic is some of the shops that are now longer with us - 'Woolies' is the one that springs to mind (our local one is now a Poundland!).
Also more recently, in the balance as I type, Jessops and HMV.
Some of us maybe don't want to shop on the Internet and prefer to go into a proper shop, speak to a real person, see and handle the goods before we buy, pay and walk out with them in a poly bag!
OK, I'm a GOM...
Yep things just ain't the same, I am glad I am 69 years old and wont have to put up with this crazy world for to much longer, crikey they cant even show a decent Animal Documentary without showing all the gory bits, they think we don't have an imagination :veryangry:
I look at my Grandkids and wonder what kind of life they will have :uneasy:
Oh "The Good Old Days". Buying sweet tobacco from the corner shop as a kid (do gooders would have a coronary if that was sold to children today). Buying 2 park drive in a white paper bag at the grand age of 14, getting 2/6d a week for doing a paper round 7 mornings & 6 evenings and best of all watching steam trains being serviced from the local park :claphappy: Oh and discovering girls :angel:
Quote from: justintime on January 16, 2013, 10:27:31 PM
Oh "The Good Old Days". Buying sweet tobacco from the corner shop as a kid (do gooders would have a coronary if that was sold to children today). Buying 2 park drive in a white paper bag at the grand age of 14, getting 2/6d a week for doing a paper round 7 mornings & 6 evenings and best of all watching steam trains being serviced from the local park :claphappy: Oh and discovering girls :angel:
Brace yourself everyone - I feel a huge wave of Nostalgia approaching
Pass the sick bag Alice :sick:
I think that I am lucky to live in the timescale that I am in. We've had a total eclipse and other rare natural phenomena, Olympics/Paralmpics in London, some of the greatest sportsmen and women and animals (e.g. Federer, Ellen MacArthur, Frankel, Kauto Star etc) of all time, the rail tunnel under the channel was built and opened, smart phones etc, etc
However, I am sad to see names like Jessops disappearing.
What about the craze for Victory V lozenges and licorice imps? Button A and B public telephones? Those machines on station platforms that you could use to stamp out a metal strip with letters on? Paynes chocolate peanuts?
Fruit Salad chews and Decent sized wagon wheels from the school tuck shop.
Met some incredible people over the years.
Dr Barnes Wallis, Andy Green(Thrust land speed driver), Murray Walker, Patrick Moore. Donald Campbell
The changes in technology. From Sinclair ZX81 to modern laptops. Cars that will do more than 60MPH. Artic lorries that have increased massively. Colour TV- can still remember B&W. Pirate radio stations like Radio Caroline,listening to Radio Luxemburg at weekends after dark.
The old analogue mobile phone system where phones were just for calls, personal pagers and Pounds,Shillings and Pence.
Falklands War, Fall of the Berlin Wall, Space Travel, The first jet passenger planes on package holidays. Day trips to france when you did not need a passport.
Just a few of my memories.
Re your reply Oldman, mention of wagon wheels reminds me of a family tale.
My dad was brought up in the thirties , in a single parent family scraping by,
few or no social services handouts with my granny working as a cleaner
in shops. They had little money and when my Dad was starting school
it was feared that my Granny would have to get his clothes from
the parish as it was called in Glasgow, ie stuff that other kids would know
where it came from and ridicule you.However my gran worshipped at a small
gospel church and one of other worshippers was one of the Weston
family of wagon wheels fame who arranged for new clothes and shoes for my
Dad bought from a high class outfitters.
PS in later life my Dad voted Conservative.
It's a funny old game !
I
Funny thing is go back a couple of generations further and the shops delivered your orders at least if you were posh. The internet stuff isn't "new" - although Amazon is a slightly larger scale than the grocers boy and bicycle.
For the most part I much prefer internet ordering and having the shopping delivered. Mind you ebook readers are dangerous. That looks a good book, click, oops ::)
I miss the days when if you had a problem with a service or something you had bought, If you called them you would speak to someone from that company who actually knew what you were talking about and would do something to help, instead of a foreign call centre manned by polite but useless people reading from scripts that do not help at all
And when you get through to one of those call centres all I keep having to do is ask them to repeat what they said as I can't understand what they are saying with their heavy accents. :(
Quote from: whiteswan on January 17, 2013, 03:03:53 PM
And when you get through to one of those call centres all I keep having to do is ask them to repeat what they said as I can't understand what they are saying with their heavy accents. :(
The last couple I have used have sent me an email afterwards, containing a link asking me to complete a customer satisfaction survey. I complete the survey with relish and give full vent to "heavily accented" help centres >:D
If enough folk did this they might eventually realise these heavily accented call centres are not liked.
cheers John.
Getting off topic a bit now - Call centres should be in the angry thread ! :offtopicsign:
Ah Welcome to the Call Centre.
The most annoying one is when broadband breaks down and the recorded message tells you that further help can be
obtained by visiting www.nohelpatall.com (http://www.nohelpatall.com).
How can you visit the website when the internet isn't working ? :veryangry:
Quote from: Hailstone on January 17, 2013, 02:52:10 PM
I miss the days when if you had a problem with a service or something you had bought, If you called them you would speak to someone from that company who actually knew what you were talking about and would do something to help, instead of a foreign call centre manned by polite but useless people reading from scripts that do not help at all
Thats why my ISP is Andrews & Arnold. It costs a little bit more but I get fixed addresses, can run my own mail and web server if I want. The staff understand the subject and the management people do things like writing pieces of PBX software in their spare time.
You can get good customer service from an ISP but it's more expensive than employing low paid muppets to script read on the far side of the planet.
I like the world we live in today. The are some exceptions. These being, modern politics and politicians the EU dictatorship, call centres, greedy banks, rip off companies, reality TV shows like x factor, Big Bro, dancing on ice and the jungle celebrity garbage, recession, silly Political correctness and Graham Norton :veryangry:
I like technology getting better and cheaper plus better/greater N Gauge models. :claphappy:
Things i miss about the past are better tasting Fish and Chips, Hot summers, more varied traction on the railway freight scene, better job prospects, cheaper houses, less state control/interference and people/authorities/organisations with more common sense ;D
Quote from: OwL on January 17, 2013, 10:00:13 PM
and Graham Norton :veryangry:
Whilst conceding he is unlikely to be an avid N-gauge enthusiast, what has Mr Norton done to be singled out for the ire of an owl!
I quite like the EU - it lets me buy trains from Germany without all the hassle about duty and fees :D - and it provides us with somewhere to send our drunk chav types to get wasted where it isn't a problem. It even provides us with Spain - a warm facility to leave all sorts of elderly people where it costs us less
Quote from: EtchedPixels on January 18, 2013, 10:56:17 AM
It even provides us with Spain - a warm facility to leave all sorts of elderly people where it costs us less
ahmmm, just doing my bit then. :) :P
Proper sized Curly Wurly's, Space Dust and Spangles!
Clothes that actually were the size quoted on the label.
Beer at £1.20 a pint and decent chips at 30p a portion!
New GF J94's at £20 and lots of small, local exhibitions.
Ah, the good old days... :'(