What was absolutely, undisputedly better in The Old Days?

[Pickles89]

Back when you were young, or even before that?

I'm going to kick off with Beany Babies. The realistic style 90's ones were so much nicer than the massive eyed/sparkly/rainbow coloured monstrosities of today.

Your turn!

University - when it was free!

Humans at the supermarket checkout. A nice chat, might have your veg weighed/bags packed for you. Now it's an automated bellowing out "there is an unexpected item in the bagging area" when theres bugger all in the bagging area

Damn those windy carp

Telephone directories. They were delivered free of charge to all BT subscribers, as were Yellow Pages and Thomsons Local, and they sat on top of a cupboard or similar for a year or two until the replacements arrived. Very useful, and if you were very, very bored, also a pleasant way to pass the time browsing through.

Also, directory enquiries was free.

Terry’s chocolate orange.
Most perfume.

@cookiemonster2468

And fruit was seasonal so only peaches and strawberries in June. And not very often. Mum used to come home with a brown bag with peaches in. So exciting. We probably had 2 a year. Always so sweet and juicy

How is only having access to something in June better than having access to it all year round?

I mean I can see the anticipation/ excitement makes it special, but really? It's much better being able to get things when we want them at any time of year.

Because the fruit tastes better when it is only available at one time of year, but is perfectly fresh and ripe and from down the road, rather than ferried from the opposite side of the world, harvested when unripe and of a variety chosen for longevity rather than taste.

Not to mention that climate cost of a fruit with a huge ecological footprint.

Tomatoes
Hollywood Film Stars

Concerts. Able to watch the band without everyone filming it on their phone in front of you instead of enjoying the moment. In my day you were not allowed to take a camera in!

Travel-
Airplanes- no ID or security.
Trains and busses- just show up and buy a cheap ticket.
Cars- not much traffic, easy to park, no car seats (I have great memories of driving through Manhattan and up to Massachusetts in the back of an open pickup truck when I was about 10).
Walking- very common and expected.
Biking- crappy bikes, no helmets, lots of independence.

Perhaps it was too dangerous, but my feeling was that the pace of everything was slow, polite, friendly, and that the sense of freedom and independence was amazing.

Tizer. I don't know what they've done to it but it bears no resemblance to the 1960s product.
See also Cadbury's Dairy Milk, Whole Nut etc etc.

Summer heatwaves.

High street shops- Woolworths, bhs, littlewoods etc

Mars Bars
Cadburys Chocolate

Also, my cheekbones

Jersey royal potatoes.
Dairy milk.

People couldn't call you at the last minute to cancel when you were supposed to be going out, so they had to come out even if they were 'a bit tired' 'had a bit of a headache', were 'a bit skint' or if someone else had just asked them to do something else they were more in the mood for. And then they had a perfectly good time.

Bread
And proper cakes from proper cake shops. Like cream horns and vanilla slices.
I hate cupcakes.

Pop when there was no artificial sweeteners in it. And before anyone says it was bad for you, mainly you drank water (or tea or milk) and pop was a treat and you only had a small glass not a pint when you asked permission.
See also the bar of dairy milk dad brought home on pay day.
I think it tasted better also because it was a treat so wasn’t ruined by overfamiliarisation.

Peaches and nectarines. They actually tasted wonderful and juicy and not the hard bullets we are sold now. Ditto strawberries actually had a taste and not just the taste of cold water.

• Scrabble sets, new ones are awful!
• CDs - I love Spotify but honestly feel sorry for kids not experiencing the thrill of buying a new cd and immediately looking through the booklet; checking out the artwork/photos, having the joy of having all the lyrics (or the disgust when there weren’t any included!) and memorising the credits for each song...
• MTV

Chocolate
Polly Pocket
Micro Machines
Board games (actually properly made)
Pot Noodles
Angel Delight
Christmas
Playing out
The curriculum
5/10/50p coins

However, wine is better (and relatively cheaper) these days with less dross around and with more variety and choice, at reasonable prices.
Airplanes and airports might have been better in terms of over-crowding and ambience but it cost a fuckton of money to actually fly.
Driving is certainly worse in the 21st century but cars are miles better.

Education.

Travel around London. Being able to go anywhere on the bus for hardly any money or getting zone cards for the tube.

Saturday night TV.