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Post by Phantom of London on Nov 20, 2021 13:03:47 GMT
Not the god awful musical, but this thread may show you age, certainly will with me, I’m middle aged 48.
Prompted by another thread, when Lynette said ‘this may show my age’.
I was speaking to a young colleague of mine who is in his twenties and opined that when you bought something electrical like a Washing Machine, Hair Dryer or maybe a Hi-Fi. When the appliances made it home it would never work as it never had a plug on, you had to put a plug on before using it., electrical items came without a plug. When disposing of an electrical item, you always cut the plug off to reuse it (recycling didn’t exist then.) My colleague just looked at me as if I was certified mad.
Speaking of Hi-Fi people used to have these in the house and maybe several, it came in sections with a record player on top, with a twin tape player below, a radio player below that and a amplifier underneath that, that was connected to two speakers. I had a a Pioneer one.
No such thing as IPhone, people had a Walkman, which you put a tape cassette in and had to turn over to play the other side.
To play any tape or record, there was no Amazon, we shopped for music in Our Price, WH Smiths, Virgin Megastore or maybe Woolworths.
None of these could be bought on a Sunday as all shops closed, except for Corner Shops or Petrol Stations. However the Top 40 was essential listening, which was a list of the top selling songs, with the best being at number one in the charts, they used to play all songs and it came on at 4pm.
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Post by nick on Nov 20, 2021 14:29:11 GMT
Phones
1960s - popping out to the phone box. A and B buttons - can't remember which way it was - press A if the person answered?
1970s - phones in the home - what luxury. But you had to rent them from the Post Office.
1980s - early on still renting phones from PO but answering machines appear - still rented from the Post Office.
1080s - But big changes as the decade goes on - British Telecom appears, you can use phone cards in public boxes (and collect them), Maggie privatises BT
1990 - modems!! Tie up your phone for hours and pay per minute for internet access. I was lucky my work paid for a second line.
2000 - aaaaand mobiles.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2021 16:52:04 GMT
Speaking of Hi-Fi people used to have these in the house and maybe several, it came in sections with a record player on top, with a twin tape player below, a radio player below that and a amplifier underneath that, that was connected to two speakers. HiFis are still a thing for anyone who cares even the tiniest bit about quality. What's changed is that people used to play records on them and think that the hissy, scratchy, clicky mess was "high fidelity". Then CDs arrived. Then many years later people thought "digital music is great and all but I just wish it sounded like crap" and vinyl was back.
Something else that is now (mostly) long in the past: before the rise of the ubiquitous USB connector every house had a drawer filled with old power supplies, all slightly different and suitable for one device and one device only. For most of them nobody could remember quite which device went with which supply, and nobody dared throw one out in case the paired device suddenly turned up later. And so the collection grew...
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8,159 posts
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Post by alece10 on Nov 20, 2021 17:00:43 GMT
Food.
In the 70s there was no such thing as a ready meal.
A Frey Bentos pie would feed a family of 4.
You didn't do a weekly shop. Shopping was done on the basis that you bought what you needed for the next couple of days.
Milk was delivered and not bought in a supermarket and bottles recycled.
Same for fizzy drinks. They were delivered weekly by the Corona man who charged a deposit for the bottles which you got back when you returned the bottles the following week. Full of sugar but great flavours like Cherryade, limeade, Cidrax and ice cream soda.
Fruit and vegetables were seasonal and you could not buy them out of season. No such thing as Kiwi and I don't remember avocados in the 70s either. My parents used to buy a box of apples (cox's orange pippins) for Christmas. The box was kept in a cold place and lasted all winter.
You could buy frozen veg loose and was sold by weight.
Kids were left in the car of pub carparks with a bag of crisps and a bottle of pop whilst parents were inside.
Cafes had a machine that dispensed "ice cold milk" as a drink.
For your 16th birthday you would be taken to a Berni Inn for a celebration meal and you would have prawn cocktail or orange juice (yes it was actually a starter in those days), steak and black forest gateaux. It was a real luxury treat.
Families ate together at meal times and if you didn't eat your meal you were made to sit at the table until you finished it or it was brought back for you to finish at the next meal.
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Post by theatreian on Nov 20, 2021 17:04:07 GMT
Families ate together at meal times and if you didn't eat your meal you were made to sit at the table until you finished it or it was brought back for you to finish at the next meal. It is such a loss that this doesn't happen as much now. I remember the Party Line where our phone line was shared with the house opposite. If they were on the phone you couldn't make a call until they had finished! You would lift the receiver sometimes and hear them talking! How times have changed!! |
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Post by Phantom of London on Nov 20, 2021 17:34:06 GMT
Phones 1960s - popping out to the phone box. A and B buttons - can't remember which way it was - press A if the person answered? 1970s - phones in the home - what luxury. But you had to rent them from the Post Office. 1980s - early on still renting phones from PO but answering machines appear - still rented from the Post Office. 1080s - But big changes as the decade goes on - British Telecom appears, you can use phone cards in public boxes (and collect them), Maggie privatises BT 1990 - modems!! Tie up your phone for hours and pay per minute for internet access. I was lucky my work paid for a second line. 2000 - aaaaand mobiles. Remember the phone box with the telephone directories on a hinge, you had to lift it up 90° to read it. Also those green phone cards, I remember those. The queue at the phone box. To ring directory enquiries was free, no such thing as 118 118. Aghh that dial up internet, I certainly wouldn’t be able to type this message then!!! |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2021 17:38:19 GMT
Oh, food...
Powdered fruit juice. There was a variety that was very popular when I was at school; it came in orange and blackcurrant flavours. I think the brand was Rise and Shine.
Boil in the Bag meals. The concept is still around but they're not the same. When I was a child my parents would leave me at home while they went out to work and I'd cook myself some potatoes and a boil in the bag meal for lunch. Delicious, they were, and a week's salt intake in every bag!
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8,159 posts
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Post by alece10 on Nov 20, 2021 17:42:38 GMT
Oh, food... Powdered fruit juice. There was a variety that was very popular when I was at school; it came in orange and blackcurrant flavours. I think the brand was Rise and Shine. Boil in the Bag meals. The concept is still around but they're not the same. When I was a child my parents would leave me at home while they went out to work and I'd cook myself some potatoes and a boil in the bag meal for lunch. Delicious, they were, and a week's salt intake in every bag! And not to forget Vesta chicken chow mein with those things you fried in oil for a minute and they puffed up. Bit like prawn crackers but not. |
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Post by alece10 on Nov 20, 2021 17:44:44 GMT
Does anyone remember Tunis cake at Christmas?
A madeira cake topped with chocolate, a bit of icing decoration and 3 marzipan fruits on the top.
The chocolate used to be really thick but every year it got thinner and thinner and me and my sister always fought over who got the third marzipan fruit.
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Post by londonpostie on Nov 20, 2021 21:21:10 GMT
remember when pasta and rice were posh. I think they arrived at school dinners before my mother dared to be seen in that aisle.
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19,787 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Nov 20, 2021 21:26:48 GMT
Can I just say that you can still get Heinz Ravioli in a tin, it’s delicious and I have some in my cupboard right now. Grate some Parmesan on it… chefs kiss 😘
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19,787 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Nov 20, 2021 21:29:07 GMT
Oh, food... Powdered fruit juice. There was a variety that was very popular when I was at school; it came in orange and blackcurrant flavours. I think the brand was Rise and Shine. Boil in the Bag meals. The concept is still around but they're not the same. When I was a child my parents would leave me at home while they went out to work and I'd cook myself some potatoes and a boil in the bag meal for lunch. Delicious, they were, and a week's salt intake in every bag! And not to forget Vesta chicken chow mein with those things you fried in oil for a minute and they puffed up. Bit like prawn crackers but not.Vesta Chow Mein… still available at Morrisons. You can get them from Amazon too but will pay over the odds. They’re the only Vesta meal still in production I think. |
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Post by Phantom of London on Nov 20, 2021 22:45:28 GMT
Can I just say that you can still get Heinz Ravioli in a tin, it’s delicious and I have some in my cupboard right now. Grate some Parmesan on it… chefs kiss 😘 Used to have it with grated cheddar on toast, but now I don’t eat meat anymore… however I do the same with baked beans. Beans on toast you cannot beat. |
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Post by Phantom of London on Nov 20, 2021 22:46:13 GMT
Can I just say that you can still get Heinz Ravioli in a tin, it’s delicious and I have some in my cupboard right now. Grate some Parmesan on it… chefs kiss 😘 Used to have it with grated cheddar on toast, but now I don’t eat meat anymore… however I do the same with baked beans. Beans on toast you cannot beat. |
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Post by crowblack on Nov 20, 2021 22:47:18 GMT
How cold we were indoors, tartan wool dressing gowns, kids sitting on the carpet in front of the electric or gas fire in the evening, Teasmades because your house was Baltic first thing in the morning,'Shut that door!'
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Post by mistressjojo on Nov 21, 2021 4:57:00 GMT
Speaking of Hi-Fi people used to have these in the house and maybe several, it came in sections with a record player on top, with a twin tape player below, a radio player below that and a amplifier underneath that, that was connected to two speakers. I had a a Pioneer one. No such thing as IPhone, people had a Walkman, which you put a tape cassette in and had to turn over to play the other side. I still have 2 Walkmans somewhere, which would still work if I had a cassette to play. To make us feel even older, iPods are now obsolete too. I recently had to replace mine (because Apple won't repair iPods any more) and they now only make the iPod Touch. |
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Post by alece10 on Nov 21, 2021 10:32:14 GMT
Speaking of Hi-Fi people used to have these in the house and maybe several, it came in sections with a record player on top, with a twin tape player below, a radio player below that and a amplifier underneath that, that was connected to two speakers. I had a a Pioneer one. No such thing as IPhone, people had a Walkman, which you put a tape cassette in and had to turn over to play the other side. I still have 2 Walkmans somewhere, which would still work if I had a cassette to play. To make us feel even older, iPods are now obsolete too. I recently had to replace mine (because Apple won't repair iPods any more) and they now only make the iPod Touch. I had a walkman when they first came out. Must have been about 1981 as I was living in Greece at the time. It was massive and you carried it by attaching a strap to it and had it over your shoulder like a man bag. I remember it being quite a talking point as no one else had one where I was living at the time. Of course, later, we had the Discman with the mini discs which was a lot more compact but that was quite short lived. |
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Post by alece10 on Nov 21, 2021 10:38:07 GMT
How cold we were indoors, tartan wool dressing gowns, kids sitting on the carpet in front of the electric or gas fire in the evening, Teasmades because your house was Baltic first thing in the morning,'Shut that door!' I lived in a council house when I was a child and there was no central heating. The only room that had heating (a gas fire) was the lounge. My bedroom was so cold during the winter that I often woke up to ice on the inside of the window. There was no such thing as a duvet so just lots of blankets on the bed to keep warm. In the winter we pulled the sofa in front of the fire and all sat around it at night. I remember as a teenager I had long hair (this was the 70s) and my hair was quite curly which I hated. I didn't have a hairdryer so used to dry my hair sitting in front of the fire. To keep the fringe and sides from curling up I used to use selotape to stick my hair to my face to keep it straight whilst it dried. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2021 11:47:15 GMT
I lived in a council house when I was a child and there was no central heating. The only room that had heating (a gas fire) was the lounge. My bedroom was so cold during the winter that I often woke up to ice on the inside of the window. The first house my parents bought had no central heating. We, too, had to get up in freezing temperatures until someone went downstairs to light a fire. We also didn't have a bathroom, and the toilet, though attached to the house, was only reachable by going out the back door and walking down the yard. I don't recall the toilet ever freezing up, though I imagine it must have.
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Post by bimse on Nov 21, 2021 14:13:38 GMT
I lived in a council house when I was a child and there was no central heating. The only room that had heating (a gas fire) was the lounge. My bedroom was so cold during the winter that I often woke up to ice on the inside of the window. The first house my parents bought had no central heating. We, too, had to get up in freezing temperatures until someone went downstairs to light a fire. We also didn't have a bathroom, and the toilet, though attached to the house, was only reachable by going out the back door and walking down the yard. I don't recall the toilet ever freezing up, though I imagine it must have.
When I was young we just had a coal fire in the living room , no other heating. I shared a bedroom with my brother and our parents would put a cylindrical shaped electric heater in our bedroom to warm it up . I hated the smell and would turn it off , preferring to dive under the blankets to get warm. I recently had to empty my mums house (a different house to my childhood home) to sell it when she needed to go into care . In the attic I found that heater , 55 years later . No idea why mum had kept it , but it brought back memories , especially that smell ! |
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Post by bimse on Nov 21, 2021 14:21:38 GMT
Black and white televisions that needed to warm up before you got a picture, with just two channels .
I can’t remember if you had to have a particular TV set to get BBC 2 when that appeared, but my auntie, uncle and cousin didn’t have BBC 2 on theirs , so they used to come round to watch certain programmes like Alias Smith and Jones. I would be furious because I didn’t want to watch .
We were the first in our family to get a colour tv . The above family members declared that to be immoral , said we’d come to no good with colour tv, but they still came round to watch their favourite programmes anyway .
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Post by lynette on Nov 21, 2021 15:26:07 GMT
Great thread though of course I am far too young to remember any of the above. Just to say that when it comes to using up the energy/heating/fuel we have today, I’m still owed.
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5,840 posts
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Post by oxfordsimon on Nov 21, 2021 15:34:01 GMT
Very soon someone is going to say that they grew up living in a cardboard box in the middle of a motorway...
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Post by Jan on Nov 21, 2021 15:38:09 GMT
When I was young if you were feeling ill you'd stay in bed and the GP would come and visit you.
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Post by peggs on Nov 21, 2021 16:29:45 GMT
I remember blankets and scarves etc always seemed to be super itchy as a kid, the last thing you wanted was for them to touch your skin. I still remember my surprise being given a soft scarf as an adult after years of refusing to wear the itchy ones and being cold.
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