For the 30-something's amongst us.

[ajwolf01]

For the 30-something's amongst us.

Close your eyes and go back in time... Before the Internet or the Apple Mac.
Before semi-automatics, joyriders and crack... Before SEGA or SuperNintendo

Way back........

I'm talking about Hide and Seek in the park. The corner shop.
Hopscotch.Butterscotch. Skipping. Handstands. Football with an
Old can.

Fingerbobs. Beano, Twinkle. Roly Poly. Hula Hoops, jumping the
stream,building dams.

The smell of the sun and fresh cut grass.Bazooka Joe bubble gum.
An ice cream cone on a warm summer night from the van that plays a tune:
chocolate or vanilla or strawberry or maybe Neapolitan or
perhaps a screwball...

Wait... Watching Saturday morning cartoons... Short commercials, the Double Decker's, Road Runner, He-Man, Tiswas or Swapshop, and Why
Don't You – or staying up for Star Trek.

When around the corner seemed far away and going into town seemed like going somewhere.

Earwigs, wasps and bee stings. Sticky fingers. Cops and
Robbers, Cowboys And Indians, and Zorro. Climbing trees. Building igloos out of snow banks.

Walking to school, no matter what the weather.
Running till you were out of breath, laughing so hard that your
Stomach hurt.
Jumping on the bed. Pillow fights. Spinning around, getting
Dizzy and falling down was cause for giggles.
Being tired from playing....remember that?

The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team.

Trading Star Wars cards and eating the slim stick of gum.

Playing an arcade game in your local chippy, and going back a week later to find it’s been changed.

Water balloons were the ultimate weapon. Football cards in the spokes
transformed any bike into a motorcycle. Choppers and Grifters.

I'm not finished just yet..... Eating raw jelly. Orange squash icepops.
Remember when... There were two types of trainers - girls and
boys,and
Dunlop Green Flash and the only time you wore them at school was for
P.E.You knew everyone in your street - and so did your parents.

It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends.
You didn't sleep a wink on Christmas eve. When nobody owned a pure-bred
dog.

When 25p was decent pocket money.
When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny. When nearly everyone's
Mum was at home when the kids got there.
It was magic when dad would "remove" his thumb.

When it was considered a great privilege to be taken out to
Dinner at a real restaurant with your parents. When any parent could discipline any kid, or feed him or use him to carry groceries and nobody, not even the kid, thought a thing of it.

When being sent to the head's office was nothing compared to the fate that
awaited a misbehaving student at home. Basically, we were in fear for our lives but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs,gangs etc.

Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! - And
Some of us are still afraid of them!!

Remember when.... Decisions were made by going "Ip Dip Dog Ship"(yeah I know).

"Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest.

Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in "Monopoly".

The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was germs.
And the worst thing in your day was having to sit next to one.

It was unbelievable that British Bulldog wasn't an Olympic event.

Having a weapon in school, meant being caught with a catapult.
Nobody Was prettier than Mum. Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better.

Taking drugs meant orange-flavoured chewable aspirin. Ice cream was considered a basic food group. Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true.

Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors.

If you can remember most or all of these, then you have LIVED.

Pass this on to anyone who may need a break from their "grown up"
life...I DOUBLE-DARE YOU.

Alan.

[LeeT]

I've read this on another retro forum somewhere...

[ajwolf01]

So did I but I enjoyed it and want to share it with everyone again.

[koopa42]

i'm 29, sorry

[AndyH]

Excellent list, some things to add -

Action men, LEGO, Matchbox cars, 10p mix, 1/2 penny sweets, Snaps at 5 or 7p, pea-shooters (short for close combat and long sniper ones for that added sting) and a bag full of dried peas (and no one worried about getting shot in the face!).

[andy vaisey]

Excellent list, some things to add... LEGO...

Anyone else noticed that most of LEGO today already seems prebuilt? You seem to snap a few specially moulded pieces together and the model is built! Not like when I had spaceship stuff and had to build everything from scratch!

[AndyH]

hehe -some things are but most is like it used to be...just that the LEGO company have finally got their head out of their arse and have a wider selection of brick types - so curves are now possible !

Mega-blocks on the other hand (like the Mutant Turtle stuff) has a lot of snap-click, you're done type models. Although saying that last year we bought a mega block aircraft carrier - many thousands of bricks and a week to build

[andy vaisey]

...the LEGO company have finally got their head out of their arse and have a wider selection of brick types - so curves are now possible !

Curves and LEGO?!?!?! The mind boggles!!

[Morkin]

...a screwball...

Ooh, I can taste it now. And hear the little tune being played by the van.

[Hungry Horace]

A few more...

-The EPIC Crash Christmas specials that took most of December to read.
- Rough Rider AA battery powered cars
- Spud guns
- Being allowed to stay up until 10 to watch The Sweeny, Minder, etc, and thinking it a real treat
- Marathon BEING Marathon; Opal Fruits, etc
- Milk at breaktimes at school
- Madballs
- Eagle Eye Action Man, complete with dodgy beard and six phrase pull-cord
- Simon (beep beep boop bleep blomp...repeat)
- Being scared of teachers as real authority figures

[merman]

...the LEGO company have finally got their head out of their arse and have a wider selection of brick types - so curves are now possible !

Curves and LEGO?!?!?! The mind boggles!!

Back in the late 1980s I went to a LEGO exhibition, they were building things with curves back then - by offsetting the brick a small amount, you could create a "curve" out of straight pieces. I also remember the superb stop-motion videos of LEGO models...

[AndyH]

Some more -

The tuc shop, Tank Command and other MB/ Waddingtons board games, Eagle, Beano and Dandy annuals, six week holidays, marbles, ...

[Wil]

Some of that stuff's for 40-somethings, too!

[Morkin]

Has anyone mentioned the Six Million Dollar Man ? I used to love that show & I even had my own Lee Majors.

[AndyH]

How could we forget the rubber jonny arm with electronic implants... My wife has got hers next to her desk, the rubber is still in good condition which is surprising (we're still talking about Lee Majors here ).

Anyone here had problems with their old action men's heads coming off? The problem with all of mine was the rubber/elastic that holds it in place perishing.