One for the 'Oldies'

[strokebloke]

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL MY FRIENDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE
1930s, '40s, '50s, '60s and early '70s!
(Not sure about the '70s.)
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos..
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, raw egg products, loads of bacon and processed meat, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.
Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags..
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonald's , KFC, Subway or Nando's.
Even though all the shops closed around 5:30 and didn't open on Sunday or Wednesday afternoon, somehow we didn't starve to death!
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy toffees, gobstoppers, bubblegum and some bangers to blow up frogs with.
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in, but we weren't overweight because......
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. And we were OK.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of old prams and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and dens and played in river beds with matchbox cars.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii , X-boxes, no video games at all, no 999 channels on SKY ,
No video/DVD films,
No mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no
lawsuits from these accidents.
Only girls had pierced ears!
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
You could only buy Easter Eggs and hot cross buns at Easter time...
We were given air guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!
Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet!
Football and cricket had tryouts and not everyone got in the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment... Imagine that!! Getting into the team was based on
MERIT
Our teachers used to hit us with canes and gym shoes and bullies ruled the playground.
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.
They actually sided with the law!
Our parents didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kiora' and 'Blade' and 'Ridge' and 'Vanilla'
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO
DEAL WITH IT ALL !
And YOU are one of them!
CONGRATULATIONS!
You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good.
And while you are at it, forward it to your kids & their kids so they will know how brave their parents & grandparents were.
PS -The bold type is because your eyes are not too good at your age anymore.

[mikeysaling]

[Jonny2morsos]

That perfectly describes my childhood!

In comparison my stepson has in his bedroom - A wide screen TV on the wall, XBox, Playstation, Wii, Playstation handheld (PSP), Computer with WiFi. Laptop computer.

Therefore he spends pretty much all of his time shut in his bedroom and if he does have a conversation with anyone it is on Facebook or online gaming.

Pretty much all of the above technology has been provided by his grandfather who seems to want to compensate for the fact he does not live with his biological father.

I am trying to encourage my daughter to be different. We go on walks and bike rides looking at nature and then go home and cook together. Am I hoping too much for this to last? (she has just got an iPod Touch).

[strokebloke]

Am I hoping too much for this to last?

Enjoy it whilst you may, John. Children (& grandchildren) pursue their own course, often dictated by their peers. As we did, of course - but there wasn't the technology in our day - we made our own entertainment & sometimes got into trouble for doing so

[retropic]

Thanks Jack. That brought back some happy memories! These days I stay in at night with my 40" flat screen TV + Sky; have 4 iPods, an iPhone, a Macbook Pro, a mac desktop and I use Facebook constantly and tend to text rather than speak to friends. Oh and I drive to the supermarket. Does this mean I'm actually young, despite the evidence I see in the bathroom mirror each morning and night. I do drive a 1930s vintage car so I make some concession to being a fogey.

You missed nicking Dad's car, aged 14, and driving round the block whilst he was at work. Or was that just me?

[strokebloke]

You must have come from a wealthy family.
My Dad didn't have a car when I was 14. He went to work on a bike - the same as me
If he'd had a car, I would probably have tried going off in it.
But he would probably have caught me at it. I wasn't at all bright when I was 14.
I'm not even sure how I'd score on that point even now. I'm just more worldly wise, I think. Bright? Questionable.

Which 1930's car do you drive?

[retropic]

Ha ha! Not sure they were that wealthy since the cars I remember were a VW Beetle 1500 and a Hillman Husky. The Beetle was the one I learned to drive in and I always assumed that "Husky" was a reference to its noisy, wheezing engine, rather than a resemblance to something Roald Amundsen might have used at the South Pole.

Bicycles are a healthier alternative. And hopefully you're bright enough to fathom out that origami pdf that was supplied on the other thread

My car is a 1935 Austin Ten, which I've had for 25 years.

[strokebloke]

My car is a 1935 Austin Ten, which I've had for 25 years

The first car I ever rode in was an Austin. I have no idea which model - I was only about 8 at the time (so, 1955)
It had a rear window which was split in two, so that looking out of the back of the car was like looking through two portholes.
I wasn't allowed in the front seat. (that's where adults sat), but I loved to watch the road disappearing behind us as we drove along, through my 'porthole'. It had leather seats (cracked, but smelled lovely) the front doors opened at the front - hinged on the B post. That's all I can remember ~ oh, except that I was so proud of my Dad, because he could drive it.

[retropic]

Austin Ten Cambridge perhaps? They were built from about 1937. I always get confused when production actually stopped and there was a model upgrade sometime during or shortly after the war. The Ten was replaced by the A40 in 1947.

This is a Ten Cambridge

[strokebloke]

That's the one. And what a super photo too. Thank you.
Now that really brings back memories

[prospero]

What all these young scallywags don't appreciate is that it was the oldies that invented and developed all these gadgets.

[strokebloke]

Not me. Perhaps that's why I get confused with anything that hasn't got three pins on it to plug into the wall

[Not your average framer]

My first car was an Austin A40 complete with moss growing at the bottom of the windows. At least the modern cars are better at starting in cold weather.

Does anyone remember the Ford Zephir Zodiac? That had leather seats, bench seat at the front, a V6 engine and a three speed gearbox, with a column mounted gear change. The car radio had valves, not transistors and took a minute or so to warm up and start working. There was also a cranking handle for starting in cold weather. Petrol was about 2 shillings a gallon, the open road really was open and every road side cafe had a juke box. Ah, those were the days!

I suspect that I am now showing my age. As a young man, cars with bench seats in the front were a particular favourite as your young lady could cuddle up to you while you were driving.

[prospero]

When I was a lad.....

My auntie's boyfriend had a sit-up-and-beg Ford Pop. He used to have to start it with a crank handle more often than not. My little sister used to say "Uncle Ken is winding his car up again!".

A mate's dad had a Zodiac. Great motors.

[strokebloke]

My boss, when I started work, had a Zephur Zodiac. I remember it well. I had to clean it every Friday afternoon
Gorgeous motor. I thought he'd gone mad when he traded it in for a Vauxhall Cresta. He wanted big 'wings' on the back.
That was all the Cresta had going for it I think. I'd never realised, until then, that corrosion was a process you could watch happening.