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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To want to know something you've experienced that current/future generations won't.

547 replies

BobcatDreams · 09/03/2023 19:10

I'm throwing in the disgusting smell of telephone boxes.
Smoking and/or drinking at work

OP posts:
Thread gallery
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newtb · 09/03/2023 22:30

Another one
Staying in a log cabin on virtually the edge of the Grand Canyon.
Walking around the petrified forest, and being able to buy bits as souvenirs.

Saddogmum73 · 09/03/2023 22:30

The truck coming round on a Sunday evening with lots of crates on the back where you could buy bottles of limeade, Cherryade, cream soda and all sorts of weird and wonderful things. Once the bottle was empty you’d hand it back the following week to get pennies off your next bottles.

newtb · 09/03/2023 22:28

@Bobcat it was like great big heaps of soapflakes. It was brilliant shuffling through it.

WarningToTheCurious · 09/03/2023 22:26

Our first colour TV had a button you could press to make everything black and white again. Not all TV programmes were in colour anyway.

Cosyblankets · 09/03/2023 22:21

Driving a car with a choke

Original poster
BobcatDreams · 09/03/2023 22:20

Waiting for the television to warm up.

OP posts:
cormorant5 · 09/03/2023 22:18

We had gas lighting in our house, the pop as it lit, the hiss that continued.
Taking the accumulator to be charged (A big battery) that we used for a radio.

Original poster
BobcatDreams · 09/03/2023 22:16

@newtb The frozen sea, what a sight that must have been to see.

OP posts:
newtb · 09/03/2023 22:10

£.s.d
The 'trunks' operator, before STD
Boat trains across the Channel
Steam trains as part of regular services
Northgate railway station
Sung 'amens' at the end of hymns
Chanting psalms for the day
The sea being frozen in winter - 62/3
Buying a tortoise as a pet
Hearing distress rockets for the lifeboat crew - they all have pagers now

WarningToTheCurious · 09/03/2023 22:10

Cadburysucks · 09/03/2023 22:05

Driving through central london without restrictions.

Oh, I remember that! Getting a bit lost and finding myself at the end of Downing Street and hurriedly trying to work out where I need to go on the London A to Z.

Mannymoomin · 09/03/2023 22:10

Going out on Halloween for trick or treat…. Dressed up in a bin bag 😂

And then when Christmas came it was going out carol singing.

WarningToTheCurious · 09/03/2023 22:07

Taking a photo and that’s it - no filters, no photoshopping.

Timesawastin · 09/03/2023 22:06

Seeing two Concordes on the ground at Heathrow Airport.

Cadburysucks · 09/03/2023 22:05

Driving through central london without restrictions.

Mannymoomin · 09/03/2023 22:05

Whatfreshhellisthisss · 09/03/2023 22:03

Getting a free toy in the Rice Krispies

You’ve just triggered a memory of the money in packets of walkers crisps.
I once found a fiver in a packet of ready salted.

Wishawisha · 09/03/2023 22:04

lovemycbf · 09/03/2023 21:35

No central heating and sash cord windows which froze on the inside in winter 🥶

Oh but sash cord windows aren’t gone. We have them and so do all of the houses in our street and we wouldn’t be able to get rid of them even if we wanted to - the council would say no. You even see Estate Agents listing sash windows as a selling point now.

I relate to so many of these but especially sitting in the boot of the car as a “treat”. Absolute madness but also a very happy memory.

Whatfreshhellisthisss · 09/03/2023 22:03

Getting a free toy in the Rice Krispies

usernotfound0000 · 09/03/2023 22:01

One of my dad's side hustle was delivering the yellow pages. Me and my sister used to go out in the van with him age probably 6&8 and help deliver them all over. I think we did it twice a year maybe. We were allowed a bacon butty from the sandwich shop as our payment - fond memories

Whatfreshhellisthisss · 09/03/2023 22:01

Answering the phone by saying the number “hello 4498”

Original poster
BobcatDreams · 09/03/2023 22:01

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g I remember having also a very thin book of dialling codes. For some reason it felt like magic I could know such information.

OP posts:
Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 09/03/2023 22:00

Teachers drew maps, diagrams etc on blackboard with coloured chalks and we spent half the lesson copying them into our exercise books.

SocksAndTheCity · 09/03/2023 21:59

Having to load the games for my Spectrum from a separate cassette player and it taking ages, then not working so I had to start again.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 09/03/2023 21:58

XenoBitch · 09/03/2023 21:32

Taking a photo and having to wait until it came back from the photo shop to discover whether I'd had my thumb over the lens

Haha, you would have one of those little stickers on the photo, telling you how you fucked up.
I remember going on a school trip, and I took a photo of a friend, when really I was getting a sneaky one of my crush that was sat behind her. Photo came back all red with one of those damn stickers. I was most upset 😅

If your film was too old, it was no good. Taking a photo cost money as you had to buy the film and then you had to pay for it to be developed. No endless selfies!

Ginmonkeyagain · 09/03/2023 21:57

Pubs closing in the afternoon.

Being locked in the car with a packet of crisps, a can of coke and a comic while your parents went to the pub for a drink. If you were lucky they would have a beer garden you could sit in instead.

Buying the Christmas Radio Times and entering protracted negotiations over Christmas viewing.

Yes to stinking of smoke after a night out. Sometimes it was so bad even your shoes would smell of smoke.

ButterCrackers · 09/03/2023 21:54

Having to hand write everything