Nostalgia Corner

[PS_RalphW]

Born in 62 so I went through the winter of 63. My mum says she would wake up and find me blue with cold in my cot.

My memories of the swinging sixties were limited to nine months at a 'progressive' infants school where the kids were allowed free expression. In my case, that meant being beaten up regularly by the school bully...

We had black and white TV until I was 14, no phone until I was 16. I was still timid on the phone when I started work at 22...

I got my first LED watch at 16. The battery lasted 2 hours.

Punk was a fun period in 76. One of my mates got a parental police visit because he kicked a plastic parking cone... we lived in a quiet area Mind you, my brother nearly fried his brain with LSD.

It went down hill after that. My nephew got his jaw smashed by a drugs gang fell foul of in the 90s. He's still a layabout at 25.

[adam2]

This video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl4pJwcE7JI
Is interesting, proper winter weather, and proper trains.
Modern trains dont work in the snow, but in the good old days rail routes often remained open when roads closed.

Most long distance trains in those days had restaurants, a handfull still do today, and not just for MPs !

[RenewableCandy]

Poor blokes shovelling snow and working metal kit without gloves! Mind you, people ate more calories in those days, at proper works' canteens.

[biffvernon]

Marvellous film. We had the right sort of snow in those day.

[JohnB]

I hadn't seen it for years. Not a hi-vis jacket anywhere. It's a long time since anyone was allowed near a railway without being dressed in orange!

[RevdTess]

What a fun thread. I'm another nearly-40-year-old (born Jan 71). I'm glad to hear the sort of life I enjoyed growing up managed to persist into the 80s according to Adam_K. I do remember the summer of 76 with the stand-pipes in the street but I also remember the winter of 76 when I lost my mittens in snow that probably came up to my thighs (well, I was 5).

Amazing to think I've only been an adult for 20 years or so. I could have another 40 years of this! Hard to believe the 70s even existed sometimes. We even had rag-and-bone men in horse drawn carts. What was that about?!

[kenneal - lagger]

Born in 62 so I went through the winter of 63. ..........

I remember the first snow flakes falling through the glow of the street lamp outside my house on Boxing Day evening of 1962. I only really remember the fun we had for those few months; the four foot diameter snowball we made and hollowed out; sledging down the hill in our local park.

I have vague memories of huddling around a 1kW electric convector heater in my bedroom with a hat and scarf on while I did my homework but that seemed to be every winter. I also remember the bare lath and plaster and roof timbers in the loft. Absolutely no insulation in those days so perhaps that's the reason I go for 450mm now.

[Aurora]

I was born in the early fifties and can vividly remember:

Hand made, ill-fitting, woolly jumpers.

Darned socks.

My mum's larder which was always full of goodies.

My dad's first car - a light blue Triumph Herald estate (Were they all the same colour - hideous blue?).

My first new bike - a light blue Raleigh (does the company still exist?).

The cane at school (even for fairly minor misdemeanors - the b*******).

Our first TV - a gargantuan Decca in a beautiful wooden case with sliding doors.

Dr. Who - in black & white, featuring the incomparable William Hartnell.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Latin lessons. Aaaaarrrrgh! I'm sure our teacher was Hitler in a curly wig.

(rose tinted specs on) Hot summers (rose tinted specs off) spent playing on the beach and 'mountain' - our house overlooked the sea.

Gardening with dad until it was too dark to continue.

Tadpoles. Sticklebacks. Frogs. Newts.

Leather footballs - complete with inner tube and laces.

My first rugby try. My first rugby tackle. My first rugby injury.

Sinclair LED watches and calculators.

Happy days!

[Norm]

To counter the above notion of 'Happy Days', I was born in the first half of the last century! Rationing, housing shortage, no hot water in the house, outdoor WC, smog, poverty, poor schooling, log books & slide rule, hard work and a hard life. I never want to go back to those days.

[2 As and a B]

I remember the winter of '63. My dad built me an igloo. I was so chuffed!

No central heating; ice on the inside of the window; no carpet, just bare floorboards in my bedroom; my mum's home cooking; my dad's vegetable sowing; still-warm farmhouse loaves from the bakers; eggs and occasional chicken (all free-range, of course) delivered by a local farmer on Saturday lunchtimes; my mum giving the order for the following Saturday; the coal lorry arriving down the drive and the men in their soot-laden clothes; the local coach firm (based down the hill, next to the coal merchants); the cafe next to them where my mum would stop to have tea or coffee and cake on the way home (before tackling the hill) - homemade cakes arriving on a stand; taking any one of four ways to school over rocks and along wooded paths; sitting around on the churchyard style waiting for cubs to start; running round town remembering a message for a cub badge; sweets in coin-operated dispensers; locally-owned shops selling all sorts of wonderful goods, especially the toy shop with a vast array of plastic model planes, ships and cars and of course the sweet shop, conveniently on the way home from school; Bilko on TV; early bedtimes; deep sleeps.

[JohnB]

Hand made, ill-fitting, woolly jumpers.

You should have had my aunties, and to a lesser extent my Mum. They were experts at knitting well fitting ones. They always used the same basic pattern, but varied the neck, and some had squiggly patterns down the front. I've still got two of them, but the knitters are long dead now.

I've started scanning my photos, and recalling the events. Nearly all undated of course, and mostly from the 80s and 90s at the moment. The older black and white ones will come later when I've sussed out how to fit them into the scanner.

[RevdTess]

To counter the above notion of 'Happy Days', I was born in the first half of the last century! Rationing, housing shortage, no hot water in the house, outdoor WC, smog, poverty, poor schooling, log books & slide rule, hard work and a hard life. I never want to go back to those days.

My mum (born '45) has always made it plain to me that her desire for 'all mod-cons and comforts' was rooted in the discomfort of her childhood and early adulthood. Myself, having been born in a bubble of comfort and convenience, only sees the attendant isolation from community and the earth (and from God, if you like). Odd how one person can build their life around gaining comforts, and another can build theirs around learning to do without, and both think they're making progress.

[Aurora]

To counter the above notion of 'Happy Days', I was born in the first half of the last century! Rationing, housing shortage, no hot water in the house, outdoor WC, smog, poverty, poor schooling, log books & slide rule, hard work and a hard life. I never want to go back to those days.

.... and you also died in the last war for the likes of us, right?

[JohnB]

To counter the above notion of 'Happy Days', I was born in the first half of the last century! Rationing, housing shortage, no hot water in the house, outdoor WC, smog, poverty, poor schooling, log books & slide rule, hard work and a hard life. I never want to go back to those days.

My Dad was born in 1902 and Mum in 1914. They certainly had a harder physical life than most people have now, but I don't think they really suffered that much. Dad spent most of WW2 in Egypt where he was an engineer, and not fighting, and I'm sure that wasn't good. If someone living now found themselves living their life I'm sure they would feel they were suffering, but maybe future generations looking back on our lives would think the same. If it wasn't for the looming EOTWAWKI!

My parents were pretty ancient when I was born!

[nexus]

Tess said:

We even had rag-and-bone men in horse drawn carts.

Yep I'm around the same age and I remember them.

I was pretty shocked when they started back up about two years ago. The only thing round our way that's changed is that they drive a truck.

They still sound a klaxon and then shout something incomprehensible, which if you listen carefully is actually 'rag and bone'.

I think it's interesting that the current price of scrap metal has made it economically viable again. Loads of people use it instead of paying the council to take away large items.