Batshittery that was normal back in the day

[Pleasetakeaseat]

Smoking upstairs on buses

Smoking / non-smoking areas in restaurants

Smoking rooms in hospitals

Teachers going for boozy lunches and teaching afternoon classes pissed (my English teacher was always smashed by 1pm 🤣)

Chopper bikes with that brake thing in the middle that could easily disembowel you if you weren't careful

White van men picking up their underage girlfriends from school

White van men thinking schools were a good place to pull

Little kids being sent to the shop on their bikes for their parents booze and fags, and no law against shopkeepers serving them

Worst thing I’ve read in a while 🤮

WHAT? It’s shocking to think how young that is.

race forwards towards the board and bend over... but the teacher would actually use a balled up paid of sports socks

Face, not race; and pair, not paid

I'm 55, when I was 15 I had a 19 year old boyfriend. Nobody thought anything of it, it was normal. My friend at school lost her virginity at 13 (she was desperate to lose it before she was 14 for some reason) to her boyfriend who was 30. We didn't think 'nonce', just that it was cool she had an older boyfriend. Society back then pretty much allowed paedophilic behaviour (almost encouraged it) as long as the girl was a teenager. Madness.
Smoking - one of my primary school teachers smoked in class. The staff room at secondary school was thick with smoke. I was allowed to smoke on the ward when I had a minor knee op aged 18. People smoked just about everywhere and I used to bike up to the shop to pick up 20 JPS for my dad when I was 8 or 9. Lots of shops selling 'singles' and never asked how old we were.
Drinking - I was going into pubs at 14 and buying alcohol. Never got asked for ID as long as I put makeup on.

Me and a mate at 15 babysitting and the parents left us a packet of fags to share .

Right up to the end of the 1970s I can remember shotgun weddings. Pressure was put on the man to do the right thing

Engagements were a thing with a notice being put in the paper and a get together at one of the family homes or a party

Christenings were small affairs with just his parents and immediate family invited back to the parents home for sandwiches and cake .

Half day closing on Wednesday and closing at 4 pm on Saturday. No Sunday opening.

People drinking at lunchtime then going back to work, only had time for one pint . Clocking off at midday on a Friday . Workplace social clubs and sports teams .

Periods were never talked about and sanitary towels were wrapped in paper bags at the chemist when you bought them .

Bring served in pubs underage and clubbing underage until 2am . Went with older brothers or sisters .

Most people being parents by age 25 . Right up to the 90s

Exactly what you say. And how do you think the future generation is going to view the movement which allows/encourages teenagers to get hormone suppressants and surgery cutting off their 'bits' to become the other gender...

They got married.

@SlowlyForward

*Does anybody remember the days when you could win live animals at the fair?

I remember frequently winning goldfish from hooking a duck at the fairground*

I was curious which "Animals" you meant then.

I used to get hit on the hand with a wooden ruler for talking too much. (Late 80’s, Uber catholic school) Our woodwork teacher also threw a chisel at a student when I was in year 7…. I wonder if it was the same school or just common practice 😂😂 Our science teacher used to whack a huge metal rod on the science benches if someone wasn’t paying attention… we all still liked him though. 🤦‍♀️

Oh my god why are you lashing out at people's parents 😂😂😂😂

We are saying SOCIETY was more accepting of it, SOCIETY turned a blind eye, which is true

Marital rape for example, not outlawed until 1991. DV, once something police did not really get involved in, these days its one of the things they are most busy with.

You're totally missing the point, on purpose

This! When my DM had me in 1984, she was sent from hospital to a Lodge place where she was looked after for two weeks and taught how to do everything (even though it was her second baby) and supported with feeding etc. She said they were even given afternoon tea! My parents did have to pay towards it but it was subsidised a lot by the NHS - how amazing! I could only have dreamed of such a place as a disabled mother.

There wasn't anything people could do really. I'm not sure what their parents would have done. Refuges didn't exist, the police weren't interested, there weren't DV helplines, DV law came into existence in 1976. The law of provocation meant that men got away with murdering their wives due to nagging. Women were blamed for rape and sexual assault. Women were routinely asked in court what they were wearing and about their sexual histories when they were raped. Young teenage girls were seen as fair game. Domestic abuse was seen as a private matter and divorce was deeply discouraged.

My elder DD wasn't born in the UK and I found the 5 days I had to endure in hospital afterwards hell... I just wanted to be in my own home. Yes I was looked after, but it was still noisy and busy and I couldn't relax.

This and also the absolute lack of modern parenting when even babies are given screens to keep them quiet.

Teachers going for boozy lunches and teaching afternoon classes pissed (my English teacher was always smashed by 1pm 🤣)
This might be worth bringing back, in one of the parties manifestos, to deal with the teacher crisis.

Not bat shit. But home dinners

Re : prank phone calls our fave was "Hello madam . Is your fridge running?", "Yes" . Of course followed by "well you better go and catch it" and us almost peeing ourselves laughing.
We also use to make restaurant reservations in the stupidest names we could think of.
We also did the "Is Madeline there?" 3 times at least , before the"Hi It's Madeline - any messages?" People would get so angry. It was such innocent fun though really.

Oh yes I remember tuning into pirate radio stations to hear rave music, thinking I couldnt wait to grow up and go myself one day -sadly when my time came it was all garage music and posing in them god awful pattern moschino jeans 😫😂

Raves were definitely still happening then! I was at uni at that point and the uni nights were all garage and two-step (and the awfully-titled “Asian night” because bhangra was having a moment). My friends and I were going to jungle nights and proper raves.

DH has recently been following his hobby in Italy and wine with your cheese a bread at lunchtime was the norm.

The smoking was brainwashing by big business. We were all conned into thinking it was cool. And enjoyable - a bit like alcohol now.

was watching Mad Men recently and thought about how that culture went on for so long. granted the drinking at work was in those boardrooms but the continous smoking etc. Remember going to places in the 80s and the smoke haze in the rooms and the ashtrays filled with dimps. The Office really did seem real at times.Smoking was just what you did. Smoking related illness/death was just 'unlucky' altho my mother didnt view it in the same light when she got the diagnosis

Sex education in the 60s....At secondary level in my all girls school, we learned very basic anatomy with line drawings on a blackboard. At home (aged 11), my mum gave me a pamphlet which was mainly about the sex life of a fruit fly. I had no idea what it was on about. A year or so ago, someone on Gransnet recalled being given the same pamphlet.....

Other memories:

Periods were shameful and not really talked about. Options were tampons (but frowned upon by some as they made you 'lose your virginity' FFS) or pads or, in some cases a belt which you wore around your waist to hold a pad in place. This was shown in the book my mum gave me to teach me about "the facts of life" as sex education was called then.

https://underpinningsmuseum.com/museum-collections/sanitary-belts-by-de-luxe-kleinert/#:~:text=Sanitary%20belts%20were%20most%20commonly,pins%20attaching%20to%20the%20pad.

Women couldn't get a credit card in their own name until, IIRC 1974

I remember the day rape in marriage became illegal (1990s I think)

There were very few senior women anywhere I worked, I started work in 1983.

@DoubledenimDoubledenim305 [snort] yep that too