to want to go on a visit to the 70s

[morningtoncrescent62]

I'm not dewy-eyed about the 1970s, and I know it was a time of unchecked sexism, racism, homophobia etc., with levels of child abuse that are only now becoming evident. I don't want everything to go back to how it was then. But I do sometimes feel left behind and overwhelmed by how much has changed since I was growing up - a bit like having culture shock when you go to an unfamiliar country. I just long to have a couple of weeks in the early 70s. I'll sing a few New Seekers songs, hang out on a picket line for a bit, do some shopping in Woolworths and C&As and then I'll come back and get on with my life here. AIBU?

The weather was better though, mostly dry summers

Not sure if you're being serious - 78 and 79 were wet and miserable. Although 75 went on to be quite a dry summer, we had sleet and snow in June that year.

Perhaps I was just lucky with the central heating where I lived.

We didn't have central heating in the house I grew up in in the 60s but my parents moved to a flat in the 70s that definitely had it. Exh and I bought our first house in the mid 70's and all the houses we looked at had central heating it never occurred to me at the time that they wouldn't.

he goes a funny green colour at the mere mention of them.

So not lieterally sick, then, really.

I was lucky - we had central heating throughout the 70s - I can remember our first fridge, too - a gas one. I can also remember the conversion from Town to Natural Gas and decimalisation :)

Whatever wasonthelist, perhaps I should have written they literally make him "FEEL" sick, but if you're determined to be pedantic...

Decimalisation! Gosh yes, I remember that.

Also remember our first colour telly and watching horse racing as I was so fascinated by the green grass!

And I remember the pop man coming and being allowed to choose bottles of cherryade, ice cream soda, dandelion and burdock etc (and yes, I do have a mouthful of fillings). Also remember the coal man delivering and the butcher's van calling.

My mum died recently and I found a whole pile of letters we'd written to each other when I went to uni in 1977. I can't believe how innocent mine were - accounts of playing monopoly and cooking with friends, going on 'nice' walks etc! Lovely to read through. Not like the hurried texts exchanged between me and ds about his clubbing and whether he's doing any revision!

How the hell do people remember what the weather was like for a few specific months of a particular year forty years ago?? 😂

Because there's never been a summer like it since then Vanilla.

If you have specific memories of something you can generally remember what the weather was like. I acquired my first boyfriend during the school summer holidays in 1975. We spent weeks on the beach (in the uk) and it was hot. I can even remember some of the things I wore (one being a short dress not a jumper and waterproof!)

Oh lovely thread.

I remember my chopper bike, getting dressed in bed as so cold, playing out until dark, coke and crisis from the 'offie' long dresses, Findus crispy tea, our first coloured TV, decimalisation and 'granny gets the point' endless public information films, smacked at school balaclavas on the boys, smoky buses, smoky everywhere, syndy doll and blue Peter, princess Anne's wedding oh so much more

I was 18 in 1976. DS2 is 18 now.
We thought the future meant hover cars. The idea that a phone could be a powerful computer was beyond science fiction.
There was bad stuff. Who remembers "Protect and Survive"?
Every house got a leaflet explaining what to do in the event of nuclear war (hide under the table) . I genuinely thought we would all die and wouldn't contemplate bringing children into that world.

Spangles, white dog shit, brown flares & Choppers....

What a time to be alive

But then there's people saying they remember that '78 and '79 were wet and dreary, Flo. I think people just remember '76 because everyone over 40 drones on and on about it and they were small children at the time so it seemed to go on forever as this glorious halcyon time

There were a couple of very long, hot summers a few years ago (don't know what years) and all I can remember about those is people going on about global warming 😂

It's like round here I used to go to a creative writing group and the older people there wouldn't shut up about the "great storm of whenever-it-was" - turns out a few trees came down, which was somehow important because it happened in The South rather than in the provinces.

Getting smacked at school! Our HT at primary had a leather belt which he used on kids' hands. Imagine.

He used to come in to test us on our times tables. He'd say your name, you had to stand up and then he'd ask you the sum. Most of us were so terrified of him, as soon as he said your name your mind just froze!

But fair enough, if you've got specific life events you can tie it to.

I just have a shit memory in general…

(I have a chip on my shoulder about the way the north has been treated… can you tell? )

in love (with a knobhead but never mind) Snap Floisme Then when I broke up with him I cried for years ( I was a bit of twit).

the 70's were a great time to be a teen. I am always sad that people only ever talk about the bad stuff.
there was a lot of good stuff. and I think life was easier then

IcedVanilla I come from the West of Scotland and I remember going on a caravan holiday at a very unfashionable coastal town Girvan. We had two blazing hot weeks in the summer of 1977. I couldn't tell you the weather of the past 10 years. It's called 'getting old'

Oh dear I hope that wasn't me in your creative writing group Vanilla

If you're talking about the great storm of 1987, I can assure you that trees came down in the north too.

Who remembers "Protect and Survive"?

I do - went and did a little non violent direct action protest at Molesworth.

Protest and Survive as we said at the time.

Perhaps the best party was when we stopped at a Little Chef to use the toilets - the manager appeared (I did feel a little sorry for her tbh) and demanded to know who our organiser was (presumably in the hope that she tell them to make us all get back in the bus and bugger off) and everyone just shrugged.

That was before Maggie (and later Blair) made the Police stop people doing legitimate protests with a note from their Mum in triplicate and 400 years notice from the Police, Army and everyone else. :)

IcedVanillaLatte

You are 100% right about the way the North of England has been (and continues to be) treated.

white dog shit

Spangles

These were the only thing we sold in the filling station (in the early 80s) where I worked that my Vegan colleague could eat - then we stopped selling them.

Flo, unless you also enthused about the virtues of cats at every conceivable (and inconceivable) opportunity, I doubt that was you I didn't last long at that creative writing group.

It probably was 1987. If so, I was one at the time (and about forty years younger than any of the other members of the group) and don't remember it! But I'm willing to bet a hundred cats that they wouldn't have remembered it if it'd been confined solely to anywhere north of Birmingham…