You know you are old when....

[historymystery]

I agree, Maisie. And when I got married, with a bit of luck you could afford to buy a house after saving up for a year or so - neither OH nor me had fantastically well-paid jobs, but we were still able to get a mortgage and have a holiday every year, and the job market was good. You could walk out of a job and into another one. We couldn't go mad with the money, but you got by, and my heart goes out to the younger ones of today, what with sky-high house prices, astronomical rents and little or no job security, they've got it tough and I feel for them. OH has a niece who has been trying to get her foot on the property ladder for years - she's now been told (in a roundabout way) that she's too old - at 40!

I think we oldies are the lucky ones because life was much easier in those days. We played outside until bedtime making our own fun with skipping ropes, playing with a tennis racquet and ball against a neighbour's gable wall (and running off when she came out to chase us away) hopskotch, and climbing walls to see into backyards!! Enid Blyton's books were brilliant when the weather was bad we were never bored always found something to do.

Parents were stricter too I think, well in my case they were, even at the age of 16 or 17 I had to be home by 10 0'clock or suffer the consequences. Our role model was Twiggy we all wanted to look like her and paint eyelashes below our eyes. The Kardashian look of today would have horrified us (I'm still horrified - grotesque) we all wanted to be skinny but never really achieved it.

So I have come the conclusion that us baby boomers, who grew up with less that the kids of today, are the lucky ones and lived to tell the tale.

 

[historymystery]

Come on, admit it, shopperholic - you were copying the Bay City Rollers look! The truth will out!!! :smirk:

Oh my word, I've just remembered my "Birmingham Bags" (trousers) I'm ashamed to say at aged eight I had a dark cobalt coloured pair, they had pockets by the knees that were so big if I wore them today I could carry a weeks worth of shopping home in them, the flares were huge too, they had to issue weather warnings because a strong gust of wind could carry you off for miles (ok they didn't issue one but they should've :mysmilie_17

 

[shopperholic]

Come on, admit it, shopperholic - you were copying the Bay City Rollers look! The truth will out!!! :smirk:

Aw ok :mysmilie_15: yeh got me :mysmilie_15:

 

[Lemonsqueezy]

Do you remember the dentist's gas mask for tooth extraction and the days when a filling was done with no local eeek...horrifying!!

I remember my sister and I walking everywhere on stilts and my friend sustaining a wrist fracture from a Clacker injury!

Also my bike was a Mini moulton and my best mate had a yellow chopper-which I was so envious of

 

[Anna]

Do you remember the dentist's gas mask for tooth extraction and the days when a filling was done with no local eeek...horrifying!!

I remember my sister and I walking everywhere on stilts and my friend sustaining a wrist fracture from a Clacker injury!

Also my bike was a Mini moulton and my best mate had a yellow chopper-which I was so envious of

Oh yes I remember a gas mask for extraction - I was so sick afterwards. Had stilts too - my Dad made them - oh and a pogo stick was good fun. My friend had a chopper bike too - mine was a hand me down from my sister.

 

[loveallthingsitalian]

I know young people find it hard to buy a home now but it wasn't easy for us either. For a start we didn't take it for granted that you would automatically move into a fully furnished top of the range house straight away after a big wedding and an expensive honeymoon.

We expected to rent and scrimp and save for a deposit whilst living on beans and considering a day away or night out as a real treat.

I work with young people in their early 20's and they all own their own homes, go on at least 2 holidays per year and are out every other night as well as spending a fortune on clothes, hair and makeup. They also drive brand new cars.

Our first home (rented) was furnished with hand me downs from all and sundry.

With us it was either/or with them it is everything. But they seem to be able to do it so knowing their salaries they must be either in debt or it is the bank of mum and dad which didn't exist for most of us as our parents didn't have it to give and wouldn't take out second mortgages to give their offspring a very high standard of living. It was very much a case if standing on your own two feet.

 

[Julius]

I remember when there used to be the test card on TV with that girl and that clown doll. It would always be accompanied by some sort of orchestral music. Some of if was by Quincy Jones and was amazing. That test card was the best thing on TV! I also remember Teletext. On page 446 there used to be an agony aunt page and a feature called Josh's / Debbie's Diary.

 

[shopperholic]

Oh yes I remember a gas mask for extraction - I was so sick afterwards. Had stilts too - my Dad made them - oh and a pogo stick was good fun. My friend had a chopper bike too - mine was a hand me down from my sister.

If I think about it I can still smell the disgusting combination of gas and rubber, oh my word I feel nauseous now at the thought. I remember they started the process by holding it by your chest for a few seconds, gradually moving it up and placing it on your face obviously by then you're drowsy. It must've been so traumatic for children, I know it was for me.

 

[shopperholic]

Remember Playaway! or play....a....way! It was the only thing on on a Saturday afternoon for kids, it was on BBC2 about one followed by a crappy film, BBC1 was full of sport till about 5pm when the footy results come on, you always knew what the score was going to be because the mans voice reading them would go up if the team won, down if they lost with that little typewriter thingy bobbing across the bottom of the screen typing out the results.

 

[Little Jan]

I'm the year after you Brissles so the same memories came flooding back! My technology stretched to a Kodak Brownie 44A Box Camera which I was given one Christmas and it was fab. Also had a two-tone green Dansette Record Player and my parents became the proud owners of a Stereogram Music System which was the size of a sideboard....enormous compared to today's offerings!

Fashion consisted of several brilliant Crimplene dresses (remember the static?!) and my Dad was proud of his drip-dry nylon shirts, none of which needed ironing so it reduced Mum's workload.

Omg I remember those nylon shirts , mainly because a bloke in work wore them and they made him sweat
Also remember Brentford Nylon
God forbid if you wore one of their nighties and had the bedsheets any kind of friction and Sparks would fly
:mysmilie_13:

 

[Little Jan]

My sister sprayed the perfume "Gingham" from top to toe when she was in her teens, you could barely see her through the mist.

That was my mums favourite perfume

 

[Little Jan]

I loved Aqua Manda. They re released it a few years ago but it isn`t anything like the original.

I used to get Aqua Manda gift sets from all the family but the scent gave me a head ache
I was brought up to be grateful what I was given so could not tell people I did not like it
Ended up with a box full under the bed

 

[Little Jan]

Does anyone remember the shops where they put the money in a cylinder and it went on overhead lines to the accounts office.

My first job was in an accounts office and we had a really posh one which went down tubes all over the building rather than overhead.

Oh yes I remember that
We had a big store near seven sisters road in Tottenham called Wards that used that system
The money went in the tube and you had to wait for it come back with your change

 

[Little Jan]

This has got to be one of the best threads ever on ST, unfortunately I can remember most of the things/times mentioned. One of my great memories was collecting green shield stamps until I had enough for a matching tea/dinner service... I felt like a millionaire.

I remember green shield stamps in fact I still have a white and blue coffee set by mum got and never used
My brother got the matching dinner set

 

[shopperholic]

That was my mums favourite perfume

It's funny how things you haven't thought about for decades just suddenly pop into your mind. I remember Gingham was a nice smell.

 

[loveallthingsitalian]

It's funny how things you haven't thought about for decades just suddenly pop into your mind. I remember Gingham was a nice smell.

Who made Gingham? Was it Miss Dior? I remember liking a Miss Dior one which might have been called Gingham.

 

[shopperholic]

Who made Gingham? Was it Miss Dior? I remember liking a Miss Dior one which might have been called Gingham.

You know what LATI I can't remember, I remember it being in a brown chequered box (I think) I don't think it was a designer perfume, but could be wrong. For some reason I'm thinking Yardley along those lines, not sure though.

 

[Vienna]

According to google Gingham was made by Innoxa

 

[China Girl]

I still use my kitchen scales that I got with green shield stamps.
Loved Vienna's story of Madame Edith, we had a similar place on the high street. Everyone had their hair done in a curtained off cubicle, so no one could see each other with hair dye on.
I had to be in by 11pm at age 16, and my dad used to shout after me 'don't come back here pushing a pram' which was his way of telling me to 'behave myself' :smirk:

 

[iloveshopping]

Who made Gingham? Was it Miss Dior? I remember liking a Miss Dior one which might have been called Gingham.

I googled it and I think it must have been made by Innoxa. It rings a bell