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Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

What can you remember that makes you seem ancient?

685 replies

CormoranStrike · 08/12/2018 19:36

I remember us getting our very first colour TV.

I can remember a rag and bone man coming up my granny’s street - can’t remember if it was a horse drawn trailer or not.

Granny had an Anderson shelter.

I remember not having to wear seatbelts.

When everyone used to smoke at work and in pubs.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
7
Orchiddingme · 08/12/2018 23:28

Doing my 'O' levels. Only really old people have 'O' levels!

Laughing so much at the 'personal lightening storm' of nylon sheets. They were so rough, ours were washed 100's of times due to unnamed people (not me!) wetting the bed.

Really greasy hair- you hardly ever see teens with super-greasy hair but in the 70's and early 80's some parents were sticking to the once a week bath when others had moved towards more frequent washing. That was actually quite cruel by the age of 14.

bebesequin · 08/12/2018 23:28

Princess Anne's first wedding
Jimmy Sovile doing seat belt ads -clunk click every trip
Summer of 76
Elvis dying
Punk
Jubilee
Party lines
Angel delight
Colour tvs
Channel 4 starting (Brookside!)
Mobile phones size of a brick
Car with power steering being a novelty
Mortgage rates at 16% - oh yeah....
When celebs had real hair real teeth real boobs and looked slightly more human.....

Queenofthedrivensnow · 08/12/2018 23:29

Freddie Mercury dying and the special assembly we had. Must have been close to Ayrton Senna too.

Reebok pumps

My mums Vauxhall nova

Chocolate bars being 25p

Smash hits with the song lyrics printed on them. Moving on to buying the NME and feeling beyond grown up and cool.

Agustarella · 08/12/2018 23:29

Ah the Saturday Superstore number - I think my parents still have the ancient address book where I'd crayoned that. I can't remember anything about that show except that it had a phone number which I was both desperate and terrified to ring, a bit like writing to Jim'll Fix It. Whenever we went to Roundhay Park, or maybe it was Goldenacre Park, my grandmother would say "Watch out and you might see Jimmy Savile!" which sounds like some blood-curdling threat now, but at the time we adored him. The north seemed really exotic then to me because when you got to Sheffield there were these unbelievably enormous towers that seemed to take an age to drive past, and then there were slag heaps and all sorts of tall coal mining whatchamacallits. Now it's got a boring shopping centre and looks like anywhere else.

Orchiddingme · 08/12/2018 23:29

Having to guess how much money you'd spend on a weekend and take it out on a Friday, as no cash machines. Borrowing a tenner off each other was our favourite pastime!

Queenofthedrivensnow · 08/12/2018 23:29

Oh gosh yes non airbrushed celebs gosh I miss them

thenightsky · 08/12/2018 23:31

Really greasy hair- you hardly ever see teens with super-greasy hair but in the 70's and early 80's some parents were sticking to the once a week bath when others had moved towards more frequent washing. That was actually quite cruel by the age of 14

You were lucky. My mum only let me wash my waist length hair once a fortnight! And never on a period.

LoniceraJaponica · 08/12/2018 23:33

Eking out photography because the camera had a film that could only take 36 photos. Then getting excited when collecting your holiday photos a week later.

surreygirl · 08/12/2018 23:33

My Nan's house: early 1970s....

..no central heating just a coin operated gas meter with a gas fire in her back room. Paraffin heater in the bathroom.

Twin tub washing machine.

Her Izal loo paper and Camay soap.

Sitting with Nan and waiting for the girl and clown BBC testcard with James Last music to disappear and "Play Away" or Saturday afternoon black & white film to start on BBC2.

Iced fancies as a treat from BHS food hall or a box of 'Weekend'

Spent Saturday's with Nan as Mum worked for C&A, Dad always at football!

I was born in 1968..

Queenofthedrivensnow · 08/12/2018 23:34

Having to rely on newspapers etc to book thing. I can't imagine not being able to find out instantly when a concert is on for example

Orchiddingme · 08/12/2018 23:37

thenightsky that was quite cruel! At least you weren't alone...

Going to bed with wet hair was considered downright dangerous. Mind you, given the ice on the inside of the windows, it probably was!

Osirus · 08/12/2018 23:37

I still have some tapes with the Top 40 from the 80s on them!

I remember getting out first VCR and the first video we had was the Scott and Charlene Love Story from Neighbours! I think I still have that video somewhere too!

I remember in my early teens not knowing what an email address was, despite hearing it many times on kids TV.

What I miss from times past is the anticipation of going to the library to look stuff up rather than heading straight to Google. Everything is so instant now and that’s sad in a way. Waiting for things was fun.

MrsPatmore · 08/12/2018 23:42

We didn't have a tv until I was 7 and it was black and white. Or a phone. Outside toilet (we lived in a back to back house) and were very poor. Loved the little bottles of milk at school with the creamy plug! Everyone smoked everywhere and I used to sit on my mums lap in the front seat of cars with no seat belts! Icicles on the inside of our windows as there was no central heating but one gas fire in the 'sitting room' which we'd all huddle around to get changed. Never ate out at all. Ds can't believe how we lived in the 60's/70's and I can't quite believe how much life changes.

SauvingnonBlanketyBlanc · 08/12/2018 23:52

Getting central heating and feeling posh,the old black outside bins with the lids that came fully off,having a pop man and a milk man,using cassettes and taping the charts off the radio.

MrsPatmore · 08/12/2018 23:53

Candle wick bedspreads where you could pick at the bits - loved that. Same with the Wood chip wallpaper.
Psychedelic 70's curtains.
Jon Pertwee kids album
Taping the Top 40/watching Top of the Pops and parents declaring every act 'rubbish'. Love to watch the reruns now and I find myself saying the same when ds is listening to the Vodaphone top 40!
Snowballs and cider
Those patchwork dolls
Tiswas
Grange Hill
Jackie Magazine
Pencil skirts with glitter bits running through and ruffle shirts
Punk
Ska
DM's
Smash Hits then NME ( loved Julie Burchill)
Xmas was always so magical even though we weren't well off. I was desperate for Tiny Tears!

Graphista · 08/12/2018 23:54

I have a winner - Gp's doing house calls!

Investigate · 08/12/2018 23:55

Little cube to put onto my camera to give 4 flash photos!
Buying “continental quilts” to replace sheets & blankets (we thought we were really modern)
Tiny white & gold drawstring bags of little chunks of chewing gum - was it called Golden Nuggets or something like that?
Buying 2 ounces of Tom Thumb drops in a little cone-shaped paper bag
Ice cream in a block wrapped in waxed cardboard which was sliced and put between 2 wafers
Ice pops
Buying an ounce of gold block (tobacco) for my dad’s pipe from the sweet shop/tobacconist, with no adult with me

Investigate · 08/12/2018 23:58

Oh and clothkits clothes, bought in kit form and cut out and sewn together by mum
Knitted trousers!!

FissionChips · 08/12/2018 23:59

Rewinding a cassette using a pencil so I didn’t waste my Walkman batteries.
Not being able to use the internet and phone at the same time.

BewitchedBotheredandBewildered · 09/12/2018 00:01

Green Shield Stamps.

Tizer lorry..

Rag and Bone man.

Being taught the Twist by babysitter.

She tried the Madison as well but I didn't like it, too structured Grin

Old pennies in phone boxes - only needed 3 I think.

Everyone being absolutely shattered at JFK assassination.

Orchiddingme · 09/12/2018 00:01

Investigate I wore ClothKits! And have the scars of the other kids laughing to this day...

Crazyladee · 09/12/2018 00:03

Born in 1972.

Saturday night TV.. The football results with the typewriter thing typing out the football results on the screen. Followed by Doctor Who and then The Generation Game. Having a bath and then supper which was rice crispies. My mum coming home from the shops and showing off a brand new thing called a "continental quilt"

My Nan ordering stuff from catalogues and paying things off at 50p a week for 50 weeks.

Clipper cards on buses. Then the inspector would jump on and check everyone's tickets.

Having a proper wash every morning in the sink as we didn't have a shower. Bath at night. Hair was washed either using a jug or those plastic shower heads that plugged into the taps.

Teachers wheeling the big TV out and then we would sit and watch the big dots disappear waiting for the programme to start. Itchy knee high patterned white cotton socks. Wearing under skirts.

Old wooden desks with ink wells. Lift the lid and there would be a deep section and a shallow section.

At playtime, the boys would play football with footballs called casey balls that would knock you unconscious if you got hit on the head. The girls would play elastics and we would stuff tights with balls and play them against a wall whilst lifting your leg.

Long assemblies at school which would start with singing Morning Has Broken or All things Bright and Beautiful. Singing whilst reading the words from huge flipchart things hung on the school hall wall. Then the headmaster would do a talk and then play classical music on an old record player.

I remember watching the Mary Rose being lifted out of the sea on TV whilst at school.

Teachers smoking in the classroom whilst teaching.

Making Xmas decorations out of strips of paper and creating chains which we hung across the ceiling. Huge garish lanterns would be the centrepiece hung in the ceiling.

Going carol singing and constantly opening the doors to carol singers

Parks with huge tall slides that went on forever and no AstroTurf

Going swimming and having coloured bands and when the whistle was blown and your colour announced, you had to get out of the pool. There was a kind of mini shallow pool separating the changing rooms from the swimming pool you had to wade through before you entered the swimming pool.

At the library, you had little cardboard tickets and your book was stamped with the date in it.

Using a telex machine at work. Smoking at your desk at work. Women not allowed to wear trousers.

Investigate · 09/12/2018 00:04

@Orchiddingme but the knitted trousers! Purple with horizontal stripes round the bottoms and a lovely polo necked purple striped jumper to match - clothkits were gorgeous in comparison

Shockers · 09/12/2018 00:05

Mars Bars costing 2 and 1/2p.

And paying with a sixpence.

MrsPatmore · 09/12/2018 00:14

Love this thread - so many 70's memories I'd forgotten about. How shocking that we used to buy our parents cigarettes st 8 years old (and picket a bit of change for black jacks and fruit salads at 1/2p for two! Crisps 2p. Remember those crisps with a little salt shaker packet in?