Nostalgia

[Graham]

Here's a nostalgia message !
How's This For Nostalgia?
All the girls had ugly gym slips

It took five minutes for the TV to warm up

Nearly everyone's Mum was at home when the kids got home from school

Nobody owned a thoroughbred dog

When 3d was a decent allowance

You'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny

Your Mother wore nylons that came in two pieces

All your male teachers wore ties and female teachers had their hair done every day and wore high heels

You got your windscreen cleaned, oil checked, and petrol served, without asking, all for free, every time. And you didn't pay for air. And, you got trading stamps to boot

Washing Powder had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the box

It was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents

They threatened to keep children back a year if they failed. . .. and they did it!

When a Ford Zephyr was everyone's dream car...
and people went steady

No one ever asked where the car keys were because they were always in the car, in the ignition, and the doors were never locked

Lying on your back in the grass with your friends
and saying things like, 'That cloud looks like a... '

Playing cricket with no adults to help the children with the rules of the game

Bottles came from the corner shop without safety caps and hermetic seals because no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger

And with all our progress, don't you wish, just once, you could slip back in time and savour the slower pace, and share it with the children of today.

When being sent to the head's study was nothingcompared to the fate that awaited the student at home

Basically we were in fear for our lives, but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc. Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! But we survived because their love was greater than the threat.
As well as summers filled with bike rides, cricket, Hula Hoops, skate hockey and visits to the pool, and eating lemonade powder or liquorice sticks.
Didn't that feel good, just to go back and say, 'Yes, I remember that'?

I am sharing this with you today because it ended with a Double Dare to pass it on. To remember what a Double Dare is, read on. And remember that the perfect age is somewhere between old enough to know better and too young to care.

Send this on to someone who can stillremember Mr Pastry, 6.5 Special, The Army Game , Sunday Night at the London Palladium, Emergency Ward 10, the Lone Ranger, Hancock's Half hour, Trigger and Sgt Bilko

How Many Of These Do You Remember?

Sweet cigarettes

Coca Cola in bottles.

You're never alone with a Strand .

Coffee shops with Table Side Jukeboxes.

Blackjacks and bubblegums.

Home milk delivery in glass bottles with tinfoil tops.

Newsreels before the film.

Telephone numbers with a word prefix...( Mayfair 3489). Party lines.

Peashooters.

Andy Pandy.

Hi-Fi's & 45 RPM records.

78 RPM records!

Green Shield Stamps.

Adding Machines.

Scalextric.

Do You Remembera Time When..

Decisions were made by going 'eeny-meeny-miney-moe'?
'Race issue' meant arguing about who ran the fastest?Catching tiddlers could happily occupy an entire day?

It wasn't odd to have two or three 'Best Friends'?

The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was'chickenpox'?

Having a Weapon in School meant being caught with a catapault?

Saturday morning television wasn't 30-minute commercials for action figures?

Spinning around, getting dizzy, and falling down was cause for giggles?
The Worst Embarrassment was being picked last for a team?

War was a card game?

Cigarette cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle?

Taking drugs meant orange - flavored chewable aspirin?

Water balloons were the ultimate weapon?

If you can remember most or all of these, Then You Have Lived!!!!!!!

Pass this on to anyone who may need a break from their 'Grown-Up' Life.

I Double DareYou!

 

[jennyann]

Remember it all...thank goodness. Lovely memories most of them,
Thanks for posting Graham. Lots to pass on to others in my age group.

 

[Stitcher]

I came in for a lot of stick on the thread 'Now and Then' because I said, and I still believe, that all those things made for a happier childhood and better social comunities.

 

[Topsy]

Thanks Cadeau,
I remember them well, they were the best days. I liked it better before TV we had fun, learnt to socialize, played games like, kick the can, sardines, hop-scotch and many more and I didn't mind the ugly gym slips, they keep us all on an even field didn't have to keep up with the latest fashions and was easy on the pocket book.
If only we could turn the clock back, the kids today would have a much happier life.

 

[Ann B]

Memories of happy days eh Graham?

And pram wheel carts, climbing trees, scrumping, never being 'in', playing rounders, hanging upside down on school gates, kiss chase, spending your bus money on a dry crusty roll and walking home, roller skating everywhere.....

Ann

 

[Graham]

Ann, and tucking je skirt up je navy blue or bottle green gym knickers to do handstands; just how sexy was that?

 

[Ann B]

Yes Graham and I have a photo of myself somewhere doing exactly that. I shan't be looking for it!

Ann

 

[Wendy]

Ohh goo on Ann ya know we would love t see it......I mean we all did it, well the girls anyway!

 

[Ann B]

Wendy, it's definately not one I have scanned, and is probably at the bottom of one of my boxes, where it can stay. Myself and most of my mates went to dance lessons, including acro, and so we permanently had our skirts tucked up. At least Wendy that is something that hasn't changed. Young girls still do that.

Ann

 

[OtherHalf]

funny how things are forgotten and we are reminded by something so simple.the joys of the internet LOL

 

[Arkrite]

It is probable that half the things we used to do as kids are now Illegal,banned by Health and Safety or cause for a report from Social Services. I used to wander all over the place as a child. I pity the children of today, they will never have that freedom to discover their world at their own pace. You have to meet targets these days.

Radio was a world of imagination. TV never lets your imagination run riot, it is presented on a plate so no need to think.

It was an adult world and us kids had our own called childhood. Sometimes the two worlds collided resulting normally in us kids getting our ears boxed.

We did not care who our favorite footballer was married to. As long as he wore the proper colored shirt on Saturday afternoon and knew where the goal mouth was, thats what mattered

We had no need of " Celebrities". We had real Hero's borne from the worlds greatest conflict. Every boy knew the names such as Douglas Bader , "Sailor "Mallan and Guy Gibson. Real role models, not someone who has won a fixed talent contest.

Thank you Cadeau for reminding me that I was of that generation to enjoy the last real childhood.

 

[Stitcher]

Graham, of all the threads/postings about our childhood days, I think this one of yours has stirred up more memories than any other.
Trevor.

 

[Graham]

Graham, of all the threads/postings about our childhood days, I think this one of yours has stirred up more memories than any other.
Trevor.

Trevor, thank you for that reaction I know it came from your heart.

Thank you Cadeau for reminding me that I was of that generation to enjoy the last real childhood.

Arkrite, well said and you're very welcome.

 

[negritaspider]

.....walking our dog for hours trying to find the bakers van - cause I had a crush on him (11 years old)
.....walking the dog for hours trying to find the milkman - cause I had a crush on him (12 years old)
.....missing half a dozen buses to school - and being late - 'cause I was waiting for a special busdriver - cause I had a crush on him (13 years old)

AND KNOWING THAT IT WAS ALL JUST DREAMING CAUSE MOM WOULD HAVE BOXED ME EARS AT THE THOUGHT THAT I WANTED A BOYFRIEND AT THAT YOUNG TENDER AGE!!!!!!

 

[Graham]

.....walking our dog for hours trying to find the bakers van - cause I had a crush on him (11 years old)
.....walking the dog for hours trying to find the milkman - cause I had a crush on him (12 years old)
.....missing half a dozen buses to school - and being late - 'cause I was waiting for a special busdriver - cause I had a crush on him (13 years old)

AND KNOWING THAT IT WAS ALL JUST DREAMING CAUSE MOM WOULD HAVE BOXED ME EARS AT THE THOUGHT THAT I WANTED A BOYFRIEND AT THAT YOUNG TENDER AGE!!!!!!

So that's why my daughters always loved walking the dog! (as if we didn't know

, lol)

 

[john knight]

And what about toffee apples with real wood sticks,hopscotch chalked on the pavement,scratchings from the fish shop,bags of broken crisps, and biscuits,
all the way round the outer circle with a bottle of water and jam sandwiches,hanging from the back of a horse and cart down Rupert St., and later fom an ank(who remembers those)-happy days.

 

[Stitcher]

Cadeau, a stick of ruhbarb from my dads veggie patch and a small dish of sugar my mom had crushed with a milk bottle gave me more pleasure than kids today get from £400 electronic game consoles.
We would walk to redditch or warwick from Acocks Green and if/when we got thirsty would knock on a door for a drink of water. We always got a glass of pop and a biscuit.

 

[Jayell]

During the war when sweets were on ration, my Mom used to give my sister and me a small cup with cocoa and sugar in it, to dip our fingers in and lick.

Judy

 

[Stitcher]

Jayell, I remember it well, and I can still see my mom making a tray of toffee apples.

 

[negritaspider]

Crikey Jayell, I'd forgotten all about that one!!
I used to make myself whole cups of it when no-one was looking!!
Did you ever add in dry porridge?? Glorious!!

 

[sjjones]

Even nostalgia isn't what it used to be.....

Seriously though did anyone else ever go on "Adventure Walks?"
I used to hang about with my older brother and his friend, much to their annoyance probably and we'd often take ourselves off for most of the day on these walks.
The idea was to find something new and go somewhere we hadn't been before and although we got up to mischief occasionally, such as scrumping, or pinching the steralized milk bottles off peoples door steps so we could get the penny deposit for sweets, we never did any real harm.
I was only about 9 or 10 at the time and don't ever remember Mom being worried about us when we were gone for most of the day, which I'm sure she would have if she thought there was any danger in what we were up to, as she was such a loving and caring Mom.
Can you imagine loving parents letting their 9 or 10 year olds out like that on their own today?

 

[Graham]

Talking about 'adventure walks', when still at school in the 50's I used to organize long Sunday walks with my class mates. At the crack of dawn I'd lead them to the nearest canal tow path and drag them all to Tritiford aqueduct where we'd set up camp. I have everything with me, including the kitchen sink! Then I'd show them how to build a camp fire, starting it off with dry stinging nettle stalks. I'd make them all bring something to eat and drink then get my old A&N billycan out have a fry-up with bacon and eggs on bread. Those were some of the best days in our life and no 5 star Michelin restaurant of today can equal or replace those meals.

In the autumn we'd catch the train at Small Heath station and get off at Knowle & Doridge, where there were numerous Horse Chestnut trees, fill our pockets to last us through many months of mighty 'conker' fights and bruised knuckles. If we got hungry my mates would knock on farm doors and beg for food and drink.

Graham.

 

[Stitcher]

Who remembers the army greatcoat on the bed during the winter?

 

[jean nesbitt]

great our kid just great thank you...but what about the perry winkle man and old clothes to the rag and bone man for a goldfish. I also remember running errands for a penny best one was to the bread shop with a piece of paper and two bob ..it was really the betting shop haha

 

[maggs]

I remember the grey army coat on the bed and the fleas or was it bugs that were sprayed with Flit in that strange pump thingy. Also Periwinkes on a Sunday afternoon, I hated the salty gritty things, pulled out with a pin..YUK! The rag and bone man too, who used to give a Goldfish that quickly died. One of my friends in New Spring St got a little chick off the rag and bone man, I was so envious, we didn't have a garden, but she did and that little chick grew to be a healthy hen.

Maggs

 

[Arkrite]

Who remembers the army greatcoat on the bed during the winter?

I do. My dads greatcoat on my bed kept the winter cold at bay for many a year. After that it kept the engine from freezing up on my first car. That coat far outlasted Hitlers 1000 year Riech.

 

[rosie]

This old thread bought back some very happy memories and some sad ones....Mom's coat on the bed because there was ice on the inside of the windows, spiders in the outside toilet and going there in the dark. Happy ones...Summer days washing dolly clothes outside in a little tub with a toy mangle, my toy trike rescued from the tip and painted.
rosie.