...milk used to be in glass bottles, summers lasted longer and there were fewer cars on the road.
What you got?
You could spot dog shit at night, because it was white.
You could spot dog shit at night, because it was white.
Unless your front door and letterbox were also white.
As a child would I rather grow up now or in 1970.
I would take 1970.
Hedgepron
Technology was easier to understand.
Boredom was a thing. It lasted hours, days even.
It wasn't what happened to you in the 5 seconds before you could press "Skip Ad"
You only needed one bike.
Technology was easier to understand.
10 PRINT "YoKaiser"
20 GOTO 10
Stinky finger under a tree in the park.
10p mix
a quarter of pineapple chunks
Technology was easier to understand.
Ha not in my house. That kid on the advert that could get it to collect an apple was a genius.
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jimmy saville, rolf harris, etc
Proper Transformers, not like the CGI rubbish you get these days.
This is why the Costa del Sol exists. So like minded aged people can flee the ghastly modern world and seek easier, better times with other like minded people. Bloody immigrants etc.
Stinky finger under a tree in the park.
I suspect this still happens!
Playing in the woods, building dens, tarzan swing, catching sticklebacks, shooting bottles with the Black Widow slingshot, etc all before riding home for 'tea' ie baked potatoes and sausage. Then retreating to mission control to chat to girls in neighbouring, er, neighbourhoods (via brother's CB Radio in shared bedroom) - or a quick blast on Star Raiders on the Atari. After 9pm began parent-haggling to get to see Hammer House Of Horror.
Of course I needed a bike to get about
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70s - Half penny chews and a pound note was a massive amount of money. Star Wars at the cinema, without CGI nonsense!
Being able to go out on your own from age of 7 and not expected back until dark (or at least had to say which friend's house you were going to be at, but probably were off somewhere else mucking about).
80s though... Seeing the ZX Spectrum in WHSmiths for the first time, and programming rude words to flash on the screen.
Unless your front door and letterbox were also white.
This is getting funnier and funnier 😆
I had a red Tomahawk, and the Chopper that replaced it was a thing of beauty. Black with holographic decals (flames coming out of the exhaust decal on the chain guard), I loved that bike.
I also had a Tomahawk but my favourite bike was this:
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Far cry from small boys in the park, jumpers for goalposts. Rush goalie. Two at the back, three in the middle, four up front, one's gone home for his tea. Beans on toast? Possibly, don't quote me on that. Marvellous.
*gasp*
EverReady lights!
EverReady lights!
Yep - the ones whose batteries were rather unlikely going to last long enough to see you home.
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And a wired speedo that at any one point could be reading 10mph or 30mph irrespective of actual speed 🙂
I also had a Tomahawk but my favourite bike was this:
I just sold one of those Bombers!
I agree I grew up in the 70's and 80's and I look at the freedom we had ( and the danger we put ourselves in) compared to the cossetted lives my kids live. They have no idea on what they are missing out on. Life for me was a bit like a very working class version of the famous five where with load of playing for days on end in the countryside or on bikes but Dorset was replaced with building sites and open cast waste heaps
On the otherside they do things in their holidays and weekends that I never dreamed off (we had no money) and their friends and cousins don't experience. Plus they have access to technology we couldn't imagined.
But in balance life for my kids now is like growing up in a really nice prison with lots of great supervised trips out.
I just sold one of those Bombers!
How much for? I sold mine for £20 to a college mate circa. 1987
[url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-original-Raleigh-Bomber-/132100717003?hash=item1ec1d0f9cb:g:0j0AAOSwd0BVtRi5 ] 8O[/url]
I agree I grew up in the 70's and 80's and I look at the freedom we had ( and the danger we put ourselves in) compared to the cossetted lives my kids live. They have no idea on what they are missing out on. Life for me was a bit like a very working class version of the famous five where with load of playing for days on end in the countryside or on bikes but Dorset was replaced with building sites and open cast waste heaps
I agree with this - when I was a kid we had an old air raid shelter we played in and that was just across from the derelict house with a piano in it. We found stuff to do rather than be given things to do.
About £250
I think people are getting their childhood and the past mixed up. Sure childhood was great, no job, no cares etc. but would I want to go back to my childhood era to live as an adult? Nah, never have we had it so good than as now thanks.
Ricketts
Diptheria
You're not selling the past to me. These bike reminiscing are all well and good but they weren't better than bikes that are available nowadays. Are they?
These bike reminiscing are all well and good but they weren't better than bikes that are available nowadays. Are they?
Course they were better.
You'll never appreciate life more than you do when you realised that you've survived, immediately after riding down a coal bing on a Raleigh Chopper.
Ricketts
Diptheria
Ah yes, they were the days!
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^^^ Diptheria is a cruel disease right enough 🙂
*This*, this is another reason why yesteryear was pretty good.
Edit: let me change that for a UK car.
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matt, why is that car any better than the GTIs available now?
objectively: no power steering, no central locking, wind down windows, no abs, no cruise control. etc. Just because you have fond memories of bombing about in one with your mates does not make it better....
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(1990, 6am on an August Monday morning, Pooley Bridge to Glenridding, it wasn't big, it wasn't clever, I will not post the time it took, but it was less than it should have been.)
jekkyl - Membermatt, why is that car any better than the GTIs available now?
objectively: no power steering, no central locking, wind down windows, no abs, no cruise control. etc.
Which of these things make a car fun to drive? None of them would make a Proper GTI into a better car.
(OK, obviously this will now deteriorate into an STW Driving Thread)
I dunno, safer = better for me. That thing with the cruise control where it actually brakes the car is pretty cool.
If we're talking bikes,
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I was never allowed a bike as a kid. My mum reckoned I was dangerous enough on foot. I had a car before I had a pedal bike.
I see your Grifter and raise you a Boxer...
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like a BMX, but much shitter
matt, why is that car any better than the GTIs available now?
Well it looks better for a start. Most new cars just look like generic safety-blobs. Whether they're worth 6k or 60k.
I see your Grifter and raise you a Boxer...
No, the Boxer was definitely lower.
My mate at the time was into his bikes, he and his brother had a Grifter and two Boxers between them. As my mum wouldn't let me have a bike for safety reasons I spent years hacking about on their cast-off Boxer, clearly it's far safer to be hurtling down hills on an old ill-maintained bike with no brakes or guards (you could 'brake' by putting your foot up on the back tyre).
I had a Grifter. Wasn't it made out of cast-iron? Got a Raleigh Burner after that which was my pride & joy. Until it got nicked. Something broke inside me that day 😥
