Things that make me realise I'm actually ancient (lighthearted)

[lightlypoached]

I don't consider myself 'old' but a few things popped into my insomniac mind that made me think, 'blimey I've been around a while, and probably longer than I realise' (like saying 'blimey' for starters!). Others include :

• Saturday job at WH Smith where I sold red wax sticks for sealing documents, car in paper, and typewriters. We used one of those slidey machine things with 3-layer paper receipts for the very rare credit card transactions.
• I learned how to use a slide rule at school for my maths O level
• when I carried on working after getting married at 24, was called 'a career girl' (mind you that was old fashioned even then I think)
• taking delivery of a PC at work and saying 'yes, it's very nice , but what exactly is it for?'
• having paper rail and bus tickets, and travelling on bushes with a bus conductor (who had a fascinating ticket machine and a leather pouch for all the money.

(I'm 55 with teenaged kids).

What are yours?

Ooh yes, bomb sites!

So many where we lived (SW London) in the 50s - I am very ancient.

And in the summer they were all a riot of rose bay willow herb.

Four ‘chews’ for a penny was another thing. ‘Four farthing chews, please.’

I recall recording top of the pops on a reel to reel tape recorder in front of the tv and everyone had to shut up so it didn't record their voices.

And the Banda ? printing machine at school which printed off copies which were often illegible, purple and stank of ink.

@tenredthings

And the Banda ? printing machine at school which printed off copies which were often illegible, purple and stank of ink.

Oh my god I loved that smell!

That and marker pens are gateways to Tippex thinner

Microfiche reader in libraries, and bookshops.

My friend said she knew she was getting old when a football player who's career she had followed since he started retired and started commentating instead.

I'm older than her and realised I'd seen a few I liked retire from football, go on to commentate and then retire from commentating as well.

@wanderings microfiche! Amazing !

@StCharlotte that made me laugh.

@theconstantinoplegardener I remember the coffee pot. Is it still there?

@lightlypoached Sadly not. It was retired in 2001.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_Room_coffee_pot

@Aroundtheworldin80moves
I was trying to explain the concept of penny sweets to my DD yesterday.

When I was a kid we used to be able to buy 4 Black Jacks and Fruit Salads for an old penny - and we'd pay for them with Threepenny Bits and Sixpences! (An old penny was worth 0.4 of today's penny.)

When I was a young boy I'd be able to take a book of green shield stamps and get a football so we could play after school

@ImpassiveVoice

cc and bcc.

Wow! Never twigged that one.

You learn something new every day .

I think of many of these things as normal,I’m 38. Does anyone remember Teletext holidays? My mum and I used to love a weeks girls only holiday,we would idly scroll through teletext and choose a holiday-the only information was the destination,the star rating,and the cost. We would then phone the number given and see how much extra it would be to fly from our closest airport. We went on a few of these holidays in the late 90’s/early 00’s.The thought of it these days is utterly absurd!

Thought of another one.

When you mention a website that you’ve visited recently to someone and you have to resist the urge to tell them “www.” etc including the full domain name rather than it’s called say, Lakeland. Because how would they find it otherwise

@Snooks1971

Thought of another one.

When you mention a website that you’ve visited recently to someone and you have to resist the urge to tell them “www.” etc including the full domain name rather than it’s called say, Lakeland. Because how would they find it otherwise

I remember people on the radio saying you have to go to:

http:\bbc.co.uk and pronouncing the h, t, t. p colon back slash back slash

@SpinningBob I remember those. Booked a cracker of a holiday in Greece once. It was a bit of a lottery though. I had a blind colleague once who had talking teletext. Awesome.

As well as green shield stamps there were petrol station vouchers you could collect, and claim some delightful 'real' Cristal glass sets. Or little statues / stickers of footballers.

I'm 39 and now can't wash my hair and go out otherwise I get a really bad cold. That has made me feel really old, I've never heard that from anyone under my grandmother's age

@breatheslowandtrust and you definitely shouldn't sit on anything cold and damp or you'll get piles 😂

@SpinningBob

I think of many of these things as normal,I’m 38. Does anyone remember Teletext holidays? My mum and I used to love a weeks girls only holiday,we would idly scroll through teletext and choose a holiday-the only information was the destination,the star rating,and the cost. We would then phone the number given and see how much extra it would be to fly from our closest airport. We went on a few of these holidays in the late 90’s/early 00’s.The thought of it these days is utterly absurd!

Had a week in Turkey for £109 on a teletext holiday. The catch was flying out of Birmingham and back into Cardiff. Extra annoying as I lived within walking distance of Heathrow!

Great trip though

Ronex machine in primary school. I, too, loved the smell of the spirit!

Cards in tea packets, on a theme. You then sent away (with a SAE...) for a special book that you could stick your cards in.

I think there were cigarette cards, too, that you could swap for goods?

I recall my dad bringing home from his engineering job a calculator to show us, very late sixties. It was a Hewlett Packard and worked on 'reverse Polish' whatever that was. He told us it was worth £2000...! About the price of a house.

Great thread 😊

Latch-key dogs roaming the estate and it being seen as acceptable

Kiwi fruit being so exotic and newly available, and Carefour having a unique, massive, supermarket near my town.

I remember the time when bottled water first arrived in the shops and honestly wondering who in their right mind would buy something that you could get straight from the tap. How wrong I was, unfortunately.

Slam doors on trains, which to open from the inside you’d have to open the window and reach the outside handle as there wasn’t one inside.

1/2p sweets. Asking for a “10p mix-up” from the local shop and getting loads in a paper bag.

2p for the phone box as it was unusual to have a home phone

Black and white TV. I was 12 when we got a colour one and I thought it was magical watching snooker in colour rather than shades of grey. And it was rented.

When I'm reminded that the '90s (my heyday) is THIRTY YEARS AGO, and not last week
So much this. When I listen to my favourite music and realise it’s from 30 years ago and I have no idea what’s popular now.

Benson and Hedges gratis points. I think they stopped when I was a teenager in the 90s so must have caught the tail end of them. I used to know friends parents who had used them to purchase household items. Unthinkable now!

The first time I ever saw/used/heard of the internet and email I was 23 and at Uni....only one person I knew had an email address because it was still so new. It blew my tiny little mind.

During my last optician appointment the optometrist said 'I think it's time we moved you into varifocals.'

My best friend, who is exactly the same age as me to the day, became a grandmother recently.

I'm 46....