Things from your childhood that feel like ancient history now

[Echobelly]

• 3 TV channels
• Everything shut on Sunday (and local shops often shut Wednesday afternoons for some reason?)
• 1/2 pennies
• Only asking 'What does your dad do?'
• A lot of people having black and white tellies
• Holiday brochures

These are some of the things that I think will seem inexplicable to my kids!

Coal was delivered either in bags when the coalman would carry it high up on his back then tip it into the bunker, or if you ordered a ton it would come by lorry and be tipped onto the pavement outside the house for the house owner to then wheelbarrow it to wherever they wanted it.

School assembly. Listening to classical music, then a moralising story then singing hymns..

Dad working away on contract and mum taking us all round to the phone box on the green mid week at a prearranged time, so that he would call and we all took turns to talk to him.

Playing with board games and toys, reading books, and generally being quiet on sunday afternoons. Then salad for tea with an obligatory slice of buttered bread which, if you didn't eat it you weren't allowed cake.

Going out as a family for a drive into the countryside, or visiting someone. 3 times a year we'd visit granddad who just happened to live by the sea.Then driving home at night with me and my brother laid down on the back seat with pillows and blankets.

Visiting my other grandad who had a farm, and milking the goats with him. We'd make cheese, butter, and icecream and sell it from his road side shop long before it became fashionable.

A bath once a week.

People - usually the women - being judged if washing wasn't out on the line by 8am or thereabouts.

Catching the bus, and if the conductor didn't ask for your fare (4p) you'd buy a 4oz or quarter bag of sweets - usually pineapple chunks or rhubarb and custards.

Calling neighbours/all adults by their formal title/surname, so eg, my friends mum was always called Mrs Williams.

Whole class spelling tests on Friday afternoons, then swapping papers with your partner when marking them.

Being allowed to play on the school field when the grass had been cut, and gathering it up to build walls, or just cover each other in it.

Daisy chains.

An uncle who had a beat up landrover. We'd all pile in the back - me and my cousins, then he'd drive around the bumpy field at the back of his house. We'd be falling and rolling around and having a great time.

@Echobelly

- 3 TV channels

• Everything shut on Sunday (and local shops often shut Wednesday afternoons for some reason?)
• 1/2 pennies
• Only asking 'What does your dad do?'
• A lot of people having black and white tellies
• Holiday brochures

These are some of the things that I think will seem inexplicable to my kids!

🤣 I live in a town where all the local shops still shut on a Wednesday. Dont know if they are keeping it up after covid though, I haven't noticed.

Mine are

Massive computers and dial up connections.
House phones
Black boards ( all interactive and white boards now)
Videos and tapes (actually cds and dvds now aswell)
Being left to amuse yourself. Apparently children don't do that anymore.

I'm having a sleepless night - can you tell!

All school work marked with a red pen and sometimes getting a gold star.

School dinners with 'seconds' often available.

Disappearing off out for hours after first being told not to be late home for tea, and being given a sixpence to buy pop and crisps.

Family bonfires on Guy Fawkes night. 3 of my aunties lived on our street so we'd take it in turn each year to host. There'd be trays of parkin, pie and peas, toffee brandy snaps. One year our neighbour donated his 'old' Ercol furniture to throw on our bonfire as they were buying some new modern stuff called Stag!

On bonfire day our headmaster would have the whole school taken onto the field an hour before school ended. A bonfire would be lit which we all stood around, then there would be a firework display. No H&S rules then.

Adverts on the tv warning us not to play with fireworks, then close up, and to us, gruesome images of what happened if you did.

Jumping jack crackers that when lit, seemed to follow you around - bit nerve wracking.

Skipping ropes tied to a lampost - one of us twirled the rope whilst the other jumped.

String pushed through tin cans to make long handles - you then stood on the cans holding the string handles whilst walking along.

Being told off by neighbours for some real or imagined crime. They would then report your misdemeanour to the parents who, when you finally arrived home, told you off all over again.

Having to stand in the corner at school for crimes such as talking when the teacher was.

Police walking the streets

Avoiding cracks in the pavement - if you stood on one you were an elephant apparently

The statically charged bedsheets from Brentford nylons as advertised by Alan Freeman.

No such thing as playdates - you just turned up at your mates house and asked if they were coming out to play. You were never allowed to stay in and play, you were booted out into the garden or street.

I had an unusual childhood so ancient history to me is somewhat different. Like conversation with my mother and relatives in French. Flying to New York on my own aged 12. My fathers housekeeper teaching me Spanish. Gas Stations. The Mail Man. Houses with flags outside. Baseball boots. Soccer ( I confused everybody by calling it football )

Having 4 TV channels.
I remember being a pre-schooler and home with my mum and we had to wait for Playdays to come on. Watch it then turn it off coz there was no more children's TV.
Singing all the classic hymns in primary school assembly
Having the TV wheeled into classrooms at high school to watch a VHS.
Having a tuck shop at High School selling loads of cheap sweets that you could eat at break and lunch times!
The teacher taking a paper register then choosing a child to run it up to the office.
Dial up internet when I was an early teen. Having to make sure no one was on the phone before you could use the super slow internet.
Everyone's packed lunch being a ham sandwich, a pack of walkers crisps and a penguin or a club bar.
TV adverts! I kinda miss those now everything is streamed.
Toys in cereal boxes! I remember when wheetos did the little trolls that you could put on the end of your pencil - I loved collecting those!
Playing out in the street with the neighbours - someones mum was watching but it was pretty free and easy.

June, 1953, my grandparents bought a12inch black and white tv,to watch the Queens coronation, lots of family came to watch it, even though they lived a few miles away., and even a few of grandparents neighbours, various chairs were all set up in rows, like a cinema.some neighbours had to bring round their own chairs, My grandmother got up at the crack of dawn, to make load of sandwiches and cake,and pots of tea for everyone, Some of the men had beer, and just three elderly ladies. had a small glass of sherry, to toast the queen..

I can't remember how many people were in the sitting room, it was chock a block,as no one else in the road had a telly.

Music while you work, a radio programme,,played in the mornings each week day,it was especially for all the housewives,to keep them all happy.and maybe singing, whilst they went on their merry way,doing all the dusting,ironing and cleaning the front steps of their houses, etc

I remember phoning my friend from the landline during the Easter holidays in the day time and we had a long call.

My dad hit the roof because it was "peak time" and long distance so cost £25 quid. She lived fifteen miles away.

@Musication we are definitely the same age! I had forgotten about trolls and wheely TVs.

@garlictwist I had loads of trolls! I had forgotten about peak time for phone calls haha.

Tellytext/ceefax

Nokia brick phones but thought I was so cool with one.

Petticoat under my school dress

Pogs (those collective disc things)

Glass milk bottles for break at infant school.

Inflatable chairs
Inflatable backpacks

Mk one.

Dream phone

Mr Pop

Sega mega drive with the 6 games on one cartridge. (Sonic, columns and mortal combat etc)

Really corny and cheesy boybands

Mix ups (that's what we called the pic n mixes in northern Ireland)

Snickers for 20p.

Freddie bars for 10p.

Panda pops. The blue flavour.

Sugar magazine with a lipgloss inside and crummy advice pages.

Girl talk and mizz magazine too.

Buses that were high up and has.to walk up like 6 steps to pay the driver and get a long ticket.

£2 ticket for the pictures. Haven't been to cinema since 2012, and then it was like 15 quid to see the bloody Lorax. I dread to think how much it is now.

Trisha Goddard talk show

Blind date and Gladiators on a Saturday

Eldorado, some weird soap opera

Where the heart is from early 2000s

Wizadora on ITV

Tiny tots

Rosie and Jim

Sooty and sweep

Rainbow

Plastic wallet bus passes to go to school

Friendship bracelets made of multicolored thread

School mufti days, where you would plan your outfit in advance.

Going to the corner shop with one pound and getting loads.

Index, a version of Argos that didn't last long.

Jacqueline Wilson's first books

Everything closed on a Sunday.

Walkmans with the really ridiculous headsets that looked like they were.made for robots.

Being scared of wizard of Oz 2. Return to Oz with Fairuza ball from the craft. The guys on wheels and headless queen made me want to hurl.

That computer with the green screen. Amstrad or something

Snake on the brick phones

Tennis on the brick phones

McDonalds happy meals were cheaper than what they are now.

School dinners, a carton full of chunky chips, a chocolate milkshake and a huge coffee and chocolate cake all for £1.20. How I wish I could that now!

I'm a 90s and early 2000s child and teen.

Now I am 34 and still wish for an inflatable chair lol for my daughter who is 7.

Not able to use the phone whilst someone is using the broadband

Reminding back on a video to a hilarious part

Having to get up to turn the tv over or adjust the volume.

Trolls.

Cheap funfair

Getting cable and finally thrilled to have the Disney channel to watch Pepperann and bear in the big blue house

Calling my school friend after 6 to talk about what happened at school

Watching WWF and cheering on the Rock

SMtv with Ant and Dec.and Cat Deeley.

CD UK again with Cat Deeley

Light up trainers with wheels (am confident they're still around)

Soft plays that the people who ran it looked after you and watched over you while.parents went off shopping. So odd.

Rag and bone man yelling weird noises down the street as he came to collect peoples crap.

Ice patterns on the bedroom windows on winter mornings
Shared party line telephone
Green shield stamps
Being served fruit in jelly with evaporated milk at my grandma's
Taking my sister to school on a public bus when she was 5 and I was 8
Chilprufe vests in the winter
Sitting in a hot bath with freezing cold shoulders in the winter
Folding sheets and feeding them through the mangle with my mum
Cleaning the brass with Brasso
My mum collecting the rag and bone man's horse's droppings from the road to put on her roses
Gypsies knocking on the front door selling wooden clothes pegs
The knife sharpener man travelling around by bicycle
Being able to get on and off Routemaster buses when they stopped at the lights or at crossings
Really painful times at the dentist
No seat belts in cars, my auntie had a Mini traveller and all the children used to fight to travel in the boot
Eiderdowns on our beds in winter
Toasting crumpets and toast in front of an open fire

Lots of happy memories :)

@PopsicleHustler

Tellytext/ceefax

Nokia brick phones but thought I was so cool with one.

Petticoat under my school dress

Pogs (those collective disc things)

Glass milk bottles for break at infant school.

Inflatable chairs
Inflatable backpacks

Mk one.

Dream phone

Mr Pop

Sega mega drive with the 6 games on one cartridge. (Sonic, columns and mortal combat etc)

Really corny and cheesy boybands

Mix ups (that's what we called the pic n mixes in northern Ireland)

Snickers for 20p.

Freddie bars for 10p.

Panda pops. The blue flavour.

Sugar magazine with a lipgloss inside and crummy advice pages.

Girl talk and mizz magazine too.

Buses that were high up and has.to walk up like 6 steps to pay the driver and get a long ticket.

£2 ticket for the pictures. Haven't been to cinema since 2012, and then it was like 15 quid to see the bloody Lorax. I dread to think how much it is now.

Trisha Goddard talk show

Blind date and Gladiators on a Saturday

Eldorado, some weird soap opera

Where the heart is from early 2000s

Wizadora on ITV

Tiny tots

Rosie and Jim

Sooty and sweep

Rainbow

Plastic wallet bus passes to go to school

Friendship bracelets made of multicolored thread

School mufti days, where you would plan your outfit in advance.

Going to the corner shop with one pound and getting loads.

Index, a version of Argos that didn't last long.

Jacqueline Wilson's first books

Everything closed on a Sunday.

Walkmans with the really ridiculous headsets that looked like they were.made for robots.

Being scared of wizard of Oz 2. Return to Oz with Fairuza ball from the craft. The guys on wheels and headless queen made me want to hurl.

That computer with the green screen. Amstrad or something

Snake on the brick phones

Tennis on the brick phones

McDonalds happy meals were cheaper than what they are now.

School dinners, a carton full of chunky chips, a chocolate milkshake and a huge coffee and chocolate cake all for £1.20. How I wish I could that now!

I'm a 90s and early 2000s child and teen.

Now I am 34 and still wish for an inflatable chair lol for my daughter who is 7.

Your memory is amazing! We are the same age and I had totally forgotten about inflatable chairs. I had a massive pink one. My mum wouldn't let me have a backpack!

Gladiators on a Saturday with my siblings - that was so good.

Ask Jeeves

The magic roundabout

Being treated like a liar by the school nurse

The nit nurse

Going to the library to look something up for homework.

Traipsing round town every single Saturday with £5 Pocket money and going into Boots and Superdrug doing lipstick samples all up my arms.

Tamagotchi

Polly pocket

Cindy dolls

Toys in cereal boxes.

Always having a coupon or voucher for something.

Flared Jeans with embroidered patterns on them.

Embroidered handbags

Snap shut purses

Crash bandicoot

Glitter hair spray.

Wow. Thank you @musication

I had a pretty horrible childhood. But those certain things are good to remember!

Hope you and your family are well....
I loved the inflatable things. They should still do them now! Haha

Did you see my 2nd and 3rd list @musication?

Should bring back some memories!

@PopsicleHustler

Did you see my 2nd and 3rd list *@musication*?

Should bring back some memories!

tamagochi! loved mine. must have been so annoying for those year 6 teachers! Polly Pocket I loved - I have a DD who also likes it but the new ones are nothing like as good as the old ones! I wish I had kept them for her.

Glitter hairspray haha. Do you remember hair mascara? what a mess that was!

Sorry you had a crappy childhood but you're fab at remembering all the good stuff!

I remember glitter hair mascara, messy and gunky.
Also remember sparkly body rub to wear to the school discos.
I'm from down south. Originally from Belfast, but live down south now near London and so we would also take day trips to the beach on a coach that went all round the house before finally getting to the beach at like half 5. And the last coach back to Hampshire was 6. So one ride at the fair and take the fish and chips with you on the coach, no time to stop and eat them on the beach lol. Quite hilarious when I look back. Half hour day out to the beach. Thank god for the car.

Dial a disc - being shouted at for ringing it and raising the phone bill.
Speaking clock - same
Butcher’s, co-op, fish and baker’s vans visiting our rural home weekly.
When you were off school sick, being left alone all in the house all day with a bowl of stewed apple covered in a tea-towel. TV was schools and colleges, midday news, watch with mother - something like Andy Pandy or Trumpton - then the test card until Playschool came on to herald the beginning of the day’s children’s tv (followed by Jackanory, usually a dramatised children’s book like ‘Kizzy’ or ‘The Tomorrow People’, Blue Peter twice a week, Crackerjack on Fridays - it’s Friday! It’s Five o’clock! It’s Crackerjaaaaaaack!!! - and the a short programme like Magic Roundabout or The Herbs before the early evening news.)

And wrestling at 4pm on Saturdays! Go Giant Haystacks!

Wow,amazing. How old are you @AtlasPine

Mobile phones did the things... Text and phone calls. Text messages cost 10p each. To top up, you went to the newsagents, bought a card, then typed in the number. I got my phone by saving ring pulls on cans.... But we had to save for my brother's first as he was older. Before that we shared a phone with my parents. (Until we were 14&16... Now loads of my 9yo friends have smartphones)

Penny sweets. Getting 10p off your mum, putting 10 in a little paperbag, then the post office man counting them (then the quiet scandal when the post office Counter) had to close in the late 90s early 00s..

Actually having space to play on the road outside your house. Now it's all cars!

Living in 3bed houses. 4bed houses were for people with 4+ kids. Now it seems that everyone wants 4beds... (I'm pretty sure the 3 bed we just bought is bigger than the 4bed new build we considered.)

@PopsicleHustler

I remember glitter hair mascara, messy and gunky. Also remember sparkly body rub to wear to the school discos. I'm from down south. Originally from Belfast, but live down south now near London and so we would also take day trips to the beach on a coach that went all round the house before finally getting to the beach at like half 5. And the last coach back to Hampshire was 6. So one ride at the fair and take the fish and chips with you on the coach, no time to stop and eat them on the beach lol. Quite hilarious when I look back. Half hour day out to the beach. Thank god for the car.

PopsicleHustler I am originally from the Portsmouth area. One of my (less good) memories is endless school trips to the Isle of Wight having to make coloured sand to donate to our poor parents and then freeze our butts off walking to that bloody Tennyson Monument. Must have done that trip 4 or 5 times!

I miss ceefax so much ! Bring it back ( and the bambozal quiz on there )
Bus conductors would also be good to bring back. You had a bit of decency on a bus knowing they were around and felt safer too.
I Loved my bright mauve Walkman.
Actually knowing who was number one in the ' hit parade'

Shillings, tanners, the lovely shape of the thrupenny bit and all the rest of predecimal currency

Being woken to watch the moon landings

Transistor radios and trying to pick up Radio Caroline

The three day week and homework by oil lamp

Party lines (telephones, that is)

Jack Frost patterns on the windows in winter

Continental quilts being the big new thing

The first arrival of the microwave, the VCR, the Walkman, and so may other gadgets now taken as standard or even obsolete. And of course the ZX81, the BBC computer and Pong

Having a World Cup winning soccer team

The botulism scare looks less me small fry now!!