Random musings and general banter.

[Jazzydrury]

I remember in my teens (during the late 80s) getting my first job and earning some cash. Bought myself a 'gold' watch and ring from Argos, thought they were awesome! I still have the ring but alas I must have thrown the watch out at some point

This might not make sense but I don't think you ever truly re-capture the way you look at products when you're younger compared to in later life. I remember buying what was no doubt quite a basic Casio LCD watch when I was a lad but I thought it was brilliant! Even things like the stop-watch and side light made me think 'wow!'

Happy days ...

Yes I agree I remember having a Casio LCD Digital Watch, and to a 10 or 11 year old girl, it was the best watch EVER

 

[stratobuddy]

I remember years ago on a live QVC show, Dale started to say "In an Ideal World" then suddenly stopped and said "Wash my mouth out with soap", I thought it was very funny at the time.

 

[JeepSwensonfan]

I wanted one of those telly watches, I believe Seiko made them.

Probably crap signal on them, but fun.

Or the remote control one.

 

[Jazzydrury]

I wanted one of those telly watches, I believe Seiko made them.

Probably crap signal on them, but fun.

Or the remote control one.

As a teenager I had one of those 2inch portable TVs, Don’t think I ever got a suitable picture out of the bloddy thing, Also had a Camera which took the Disc Cartridge if any of you remember them

 

[Hammy60]

I remember in my teens (during the late 80s) getting my first job and earning some cash. Bought myself a 'gold' watch and ring from Argos, thought they were awesome! I still have the ring but alas I must have thrown the watch out at some point

This might not make sense but I don't think you ever truly re-capture the way you look at products when you're younger compared to in later life. I remember buying what was no doubt quite a basic Casio LCD watch when I was a lad but I thought it was brilliant! Even things like the stop-watch and side light made me think 'wow!'

Happy days ...

Makes perfect sense, also you have to figure in not just your age but times were changing, tech was changing, for so long mechanical watches had dominated and it was mostly adults that had them (we didn't have watches when we went to school, had to rely on the clocks in the classroom for time), then quartz revolution started and then Casio came out with these cheap rugged LCD watches (Like the F91-W at the end of the 80s which is still selling today) that everybody could afford, great for kids and adults, full of all kinds of functions, as a kid i'd imagine you'd think it was a watch from a sci fi series like Star Trek.

PS

As a big kid now, have 4 Casio watches and still go wow.

I always laugh when we look back to when we were kids and say things like 'Happy Days', cause strangely they were, even though it would have been nice to have some of the modern conveniences that kids today take for granted.

 

[Muttley]

I have got an old Argos catalogue from 1980 but I can't find that one at the moment. Here is a toys and games shot from my 1977 Grattan Catalogue. These things are actually one of the finest photographic and written records of British social history over the last 50 or 60 years or so. You learn so much just by browsing through them about how we lived our lives back in the 1970s and 1980s. What was important to us to try to make our lives better. They also aren't cheap to buy now, with this catalogue costing me over £100. It's not on typical now for catalogues from that era to fetch £200 to £300 pounds plus. Makes you wish mum had never thrown them away!View attachment 26294

We always had catalogues although my mum wasn't a huge shopper. The sheer joy of looking in October for what toys you wanted for Christmas. That really takes me back to the days of Etch-a-Sketch, Fuzzy Felt and Spirographs. And of course my Sindy Dolls and all the furniture. We didn't have much money as a family but my mum and dad always saved up for Christmas so we did alright.

 

[PhaedrusR]

Some 1980 Argos watches to make Ideal World jealous.

View attachment 26298View attachment 26299View attachment 26300

Nah, you don't want them.

You want this Casio...

Casio Watch (Blue Limited Edition 1 Of 1) | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Casio Watch (Blue Limited Edition 1 Of 1) at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

(As mentioned via the amusing Ben's watch club YouTube channel).

 

[PhaedrusR]

Nah, you don't want them.

You want this Casio...

Casio Watch (Blue Limited Edition 1 Of 1) | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Casio Watch (Blue Limited Edition 1 Of 1) at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

(As mentioned via the amusing Ben's watch club YouTube channel).

World Expensive Casio Watch (Purple Limited Edition 1 Of 1)​

£30,000.00
Free postage
Est. delivery Fri, 18 Aug - Tue, 22 Aug
Estimated delivery Fri, 18 Aug - Tue, 22 Aug

Condition
Used


Buy it now



Think it might be an in-joke or to wind up watch collectors like Ben!

 

[Lunokhodtoo]

Some 1980 Argos watches to make Ideal World jealous.

View attachment 26298View attachment 26299

Some 1980 Argos watches to make Ideal World jealous.

View attachment 26298View attachment 26299View attachment 26300

View attachment 26300

Item 10 (Argos code 250/4638) from the 1st image (Omega Automatic Watch (Swiss)) at £119.00) looked interesting, but the picture would be on the previous page of the catalogue.

So I searched for '250/4638 Argos' and someone (Retromash) has put that whole Argos catalogue, and various others, on a website called issuu.com. (Link is https://issuu.com/search?q=retromash)

The watch turns out to be an Omega Seamaster and, if it was actually automatic, would appear to be a very good price (cumulative UK inflation since 1980 is approx 450%). I was too busy in 1980 to look through Argos catalogues but, if I had known that they sometimes sold Omega watches, then I would have made time.

 

[Deleted member 21838]

We always had catalogues although my mum wasn't a huge shopper. The sheer joy of looking in October for what toys you wanted for Christmas. That really takes me back to the days of Etch-a-Sketch, Fuzzy Felt and Spirographs. And of course my Sindy Dolls and all the furniture. We didn't have much money as a family but my mum and dad always saved up for Christmas so we did alright.

Exactly the same (er..except for the Sindy Dolls…and The Fuzzy Felt..). I was always on at my mum to stop getting the thin, boring catalogues with nothing in them - that would interest me at least - and to apply for the big, thick ones full of interesting stuff.

Finally, she moved on from the pamphlet type likes of Ambrose Wilson and Marshall Ward and got a nice 1000 pages plus huge one (Burlington, I think it was). Those were the days when catalogues in the UK even sold firearms. Can you imagine that today? Plus, the winter edition had loads of musical instruments, toys and games and bikes and Christmas food and other stuff you implored your mum to take 52 weeks terms at 50p per week on, that she always replied: “Never a Borrower or Lender Be“ to shut me up. Not a bad philosophy she had really, and most others from her era, which I learnt the hard way in the end..

From the 1977 Grattan Winter Catalogue…

 

[Deleted member 21838]

Flogging some plastic Darth Vader looking type mask on the Channel of Jewellery today. Very much an Ideal World esque scenario with a stated massive difference between the £3000 or so price between what the manufacturer sells it for on their own website, and the £180 The Jewellery Channel is knocking it out for. Lyndsay (could never stand her and her relentless family references on Ideal World) explained the massive differential being due to them (TJC) being Opatra’s ‘Brand Ambassador’. Why that knocks £2800 off, I don’t know, when the brand is also its own brand ambassador on its own website? I didn’t get to hear what this mask actually does, but I assume it must offer you the eternal fountain of youth for £179.99 or eternal life, or health or wealth (- £179.99)…

 

[merryone]

As a teenager I had one of those 2inch portable TVs, Don’t think I ever got a suitable picture out of the bloddy thing, Also had a Camera which took the Disc Cartridge if any of you remember them

Me too, and it was virtually impossible to pick up anything, when you did manage to tune it into a channel (usually one you didn't want to watch) the signal would drift out every 5 seconds - They weren't cheap to buy either. I was lucky enough to get mine free from a cadbury's caramel winning wrapper, back in the day when the wrapper simply told you whether you'd won or lost. Nowadays you have to go online, register your details accept a whole bunch of junk emails, key in a code before they tell you "sorry you are not a winner this time". I'm not generally lucky so I was very surprised to win, such a shame it was so disappointingly rubbish!

 

[merryone]

Flogging some plastic Darth Vader looking type mask on the Channel of Jewellery today. Very much an Ideal World esque scenario with a stated massive difference between the £3000 or so price between what the manufacturer sells it for on their own website, and the £180 The Jewellery Channel is knocking it out for. Lyndsay (could never stand her and her relentless family references on Ideal World) explained the massive differential being due to them (TJC) being Opatra’s ‘Brand Ambassador’. Why that knocks £2800 off, I don’t know, when the brand is also its own brand ambassador on its own website? I didn’t get to hear what this mask actually does, but I assume it must offer you the eternal fountain of youth for £179.99 or eternal life, or health or wealth (- £179.99)…

I find these channels that hover on some ridiculous plucked out of the air starting price for about 20 minutes solid before they start drip feeding us lower ones every 10 minutes or so, until eventually it reaches £14.99 are so tedious to watch I just don't bother. What's wrong with giving the price at the start, talking about the goods and movin' on? I couldn't give a $hit how many they've sold either, if I'm interested in something and the price is right, I'll listen to what they've got to say about it and if I want it I'll order it. I'm not prepared to sit through hours of waffle and bull$hit!

 

[Jazzydrury]

Also at Argos As a kid I always found it frustrating, when you would choose a toy, parents or grandparents, would put the code in the slip.only to get to counter and them say haven’t got. Nearly as bad as going to Woolworths picking a cd, then after about half an hour of them searching through the draw only to say we can’t find it

 

[Deleted member 21838]

When I was 17 and an angst ridden accounts clerk with Eastern Gas in Enfield, I’d spend my misery induced, solitary lunch hours wandering the streets of the Town. There were two exciting lunchtimes.… One was Tuesday, when the new Top 30 was released by the BBC on the Johnnie Walker show (I’d ring Mum from a call box and get her to hold a transistor radio to the phone), and the other was Thursday when Woolworths would put the singles that had just dropped out of the Top 50 in a box, inside a box…(that‘s enough ABC) on the counter. You could get them for 40p each, I think, as opposed to around 80p, which I believe they were in 1979. It was especially good if you could pick up a picture sleeve and/or a coloured vinyl, or….the holy grail - a picture disc inside that box of discounts.

Also, memories of queuing at Green Shield Stamps’ showroom in Seven Sisters Road in north London with my dad in the early ‘70s. With a stack of stamps books, trying to get whatever it was. Unfortunately, whatever it was was usually whatever it wasn’t, because it wasn’t there. No way of checking online beforehand, because there was no online either. I think it was something like 500 books for a colour TV. And the amount of shopping you had to do to get 500 books of Green Shield Stamps would cost you many times more than the television itself…

 

[Jazzydrury]

When I was 17 and an angst ridden accounts clerk with Eastern Gas in Enfield, I’d spend my misery induced, solitary lunch hours wandering the streets of the Town. There were two exciting lunchtimes.… One was Tuesday, when the new Top 30 was released by the BBC on the Johnnie Walker show (I’d ring Mum from a call box and get her to hold a transistor radio to the phone), and the other was Thursday when Woolworths would put the singles that had just dropped out of the Top 50 in a box, inside a box…(that‘s enough ABC) on the counter. You could get them for 40p each, I think, as opposed to around 80p, which I believe they were in 1979. It was especially good if you could pick up a picture sleeve and/or a coloured vinyl, or….the holy grail - a picture disc inside that box of discounts.

Also, memories of queuing at Green Shield Stamps’ showroom in Seven Sisters Road in north London with my dad in the early ‘70s. With a stack of stamps books, trying to get whatever it was. Unfortunately, whatever it was was usually whatever it wasn’t, because it wasn’t there. No way of checking online beforehand, because there was no online either. I think it was something like 500 books for a colour TV. And the amount of shopping you had to do to get 500 books of Green Shield Stamps would cost you many times more than the television itself…

You didn’t see Peter Simon in either of those

 

[Deleted member 21838]

He was working in McDonalds then, wasn’t he?

 

[Muttley]

Exactly the same (er..except for the Sindy Dolls…and The Fuzzy Felt..). I was always on at my mum to stop getting the thin, boring catalogues with nothing in them - that would interest me at least - and to apply for the big, thick ones full of interesting stuff.

Finally, she moved on from the pamphlet type likes of Ambrose Wilson and Marshall Ward and got a nice 1000 pages plus huge one (Burlington, I think it was). Those were the days when catalogues in the UK even sold firearms. Can you imagine that today? Plus, the winter edition had loads of musical instruments, toys and games and bikes and Christmas food and other stuff you implored your mum to take 52 weeks terms at 50p per week on, that she always replied: “Never a Borrower or Lender Be“ to shut me up. Not a bad philosophy she had really, and most others from her era, which I learnt the hard way in the end..

From the 1977 Grattan Winter Catalogue…

View attachment 26303

Firearms!! And my mum was totally against borrowing money as well and would rather wait a bit and save up. We did rent our TV but that was probably normal in the 1970s when prices were high. I remember going with my mum to Radio Rentals to pay the weekly subs in school holidays when she did her shopping. Would have always wanted more when I was growing up but looking back I can't say I went without. And my uncle had a caravan so we had good holidays.

 

[Muttley]

Also at Argos As a kid I always found it frustrating, when you would choose a toy, parents or grandparents, would put the code in the slip.only to get to counter and them say haven’t got. Nearly as bad as going to Woolworths picking a cd, then after about half an hour of them searching through the draw only to say we can’t find it

In my local branch of Woolworths they weren't capable of putting the correct vinyl record in the sleeve. When I was a child I bought the Muppets album but when I got home they had put in the Mamas and Papas!! I soon learned to check before I left the store because it was a regular occurance, they weren't the brightest bunch in my branch.

 

[Deleted member 21838]

DER for us. 22 inch colour TV in a teak effect wooden cabinet with sliding door. Three channels, no remote control and I thought it was spellbindingly brilliant. Counting the minutes to get home from school to see it for the first time. I think it was the cricket that was on the first time I saw it. Couldn’t believe it, it was amazing. The thing was, we were satisfied with so much less than today’s generation - both adults and children. I’m not going to say life was better back then, because there were many elements of it that clearly weren’t. But what I will say, is that people had much more certainty and acceptance of their lot in how they lived their lives then, with their expectations being less, and far more relaxed about their current situations, without constantly feeling they wanted and DESERVED more and more. The sense of entitlement displayed by so many people today in general is overwhelming compared to back then.