Smoking in pubs, free speech, having a laugh

[Wannalivewithcommonpeople]

Aibu to miss all this? The relaxed, laid back FUN of the 90’s to maybe maybe late 2010
ish?
I don’t smoke or take drugs anymore, hell I haven’t been able to drink in 21 months, due to long covid, but sat here watching 90’s & 2000’s music videos whilst Dh takes toddler out and thinking of the past.
Aibu to just bloody miss the simplicity and fun and to hate these times?

@DaphneDeloresMoorhead

Didn't someone like Pauline in Eastenders drink a G&T.....now she was old!!! (She was probably only 40 at the time!!)

This thread is a perfect example of why @Wannalivewithcommonpeople wants to go back in time.

Haven’t RTFT OP but yes I agree with you

Remember it fondly.

@Getyourjinglebellsinarow

So long as you were one of the people oppressing others it was great. I always judge people who miss the times they could say what they wanted and do what they wanted. It just means you were a dick. Life is better for the many now and I hope it continues in the same direction.

This.

I would not want smoking back in pubs, it was grim. I do miss the freedom we had then, we will never get it back, and it is brilliant that people are more mindful of health and going out all the time, But, and this is my personal opinion I do believe that a lot of mental health problems are being made worse by staying in and staring at the phone , rather than meeting pals. In the nineties we had two choices, phone a friend or meet them. I also hate being contactable all the time-I remember a time in which it was normal to leave your mobile at home when you went on holiday, because you were on holiday-this would be unthinkable now. Things were not better then, just different problems to now, but they were a lot simpler, and easier.

@OverTheRubicon

Going to the pub and enjoying yourself without social media and COVID times etc. doesn’t mean someone was oppressive. What a ridiculous post and just means you’re a dick to suggest so (your words).

So long as you were one of the people oppressing others it was great. I always judge people who miss the times they could say what they wanted and do what they wanted. It just means you were a dick. Life is better for the many now and I hope it continues in the same direction.

Yeah, I remember how oppressive I was when I talked about my endometriosis and how doctors don’t take female health seriously. Thank goodness I’ve been put in my place so that the real vulnerable victims like Eddie Izzard and Sam Smith don’t have to listen to my hateful words.

Smoking inside is objectively vile but the fecking decadence of it! Smoking after dinner at a restaurant I'd love to go back and do it for one day (then burn all the clothes I was wearing and scrub my hair)

@JaneJeffer

This thread is a perfect example of why *@Wannalivewithcommonpeople* wants to go back in time.

Yup.

For the pp saying nobody's clothes set on fire, not quite fully on fire but in a club someone's fag melted a hole in my slinky, cheap and nasty Lycra type top and I only noticed when it burned through to my skin. So I don't miss worrying about that every night out til the smoking ban!

I just miss the variety of 90s music, prob as I'm old now but everything in the charts sounds the same to me. I put the radio on in an effort to stay current and hear what sounds like the same Ed Sheeran song about 8 times an hour.

This thread is a perfect example of why @Wannalivewithcommonpeople wants to go back in time.

Other things too. It’s an example of the vociferously expressed polarisation of opinion around mask-wearing, vaccination, lockdowns, Brexiting, Remaining etc etc.

One side is describing their worries and fears caused by the actions of others. The other side is lamenting a loss of freedom involved in assuaging those worries/fears.

Everyone vying for supremacy. No compromise, no leadership. Just who can screech the loudest. So destructive.

Something has fundamentally changed since those bad old days all I can see is mediocrity around me, mediocrity in charge, and more mediocrity making the rules to ensure that mediocrity remains.

Egads - I can only hope it's a phase.

I miss smoking in nightclubs, the last time I went clubbing was right after the ban came into place. It was shit, there was hardly anyone inside the clubs dancing, they were all crammed into the smoking areas on the roof or on the balconies like sardines! It was better than being inside where now instead of everything smelling like smoke you could smell all the other wonderful nightclub smells like piss and vomit and far too much cheap body spray all mixed together. That night out put me off for life.

I also miss the days where not everyone looked like clones of celebrities and spent all their time pouting into a phone.

Haven't read anything, but not sure about the remarks about casual racism/homophobia/misogyny. In the circles I moved in they were definitely unacceptable- it was the 1990s, not 1836.

I bloody loved smoking in pubs.

*everything

I miss the time when they played songs where they didn’t blank out every minor slightly risqué word ffs

OP you have made my heart hurt......I miss those carefree days, amazing music, barely any social media, pubs didn't always have kids ending riot in (I'm a Parent now, and it still winds me up), rolling in at 5am and in work, fresh as a daisy for 9am, doing 3 nights out on the bounce, drinking dubious 'cocktails' and 10 L&B 💕

@Hospedia

What you're missing is youth.

This. I feel the same about the 1970s.

@DoctorSnortles

Haven't read anything, but not sure about the remarks about casual racism/homophobia/misogyny. In the circles I moved in they were definitely unacceptable- it was the 1990s, not 1836.

I bloody loved smoking in pubs.

Bet you're white and straight. I hear this kind of thing all the time from white friends, and after a while it gets too exhausting to challenge, not least because most white women, are more hurt by any suggestion of even mild past racism/lack of noticing of racism than we are allowed to be by actual racism.

This kind of rose tinted view of the past is how the 'make America great again' crew get to prosper.

I miss free speech the most. I hate the fact that it’s only DH, my mum and two friends I feel comfortable talking freely about things. Although one of the two friends I wouldn’t talk politics with as she’s quite opinionated. My sister, I can’t talk to about anything. It’s basically her kids, her Instagram account and work 🥱 Nothing else and it’s boring frankly. Years ago you could say pretty much anything to anyone and it was fine.

Don’t miss smoking in pubs though.

Thank Christ you can't smoke in pubs anymore. Hated coming home with sore eyes, sore throat and my clothes stinking.

I hate smoking so glad that bit is gone. However,, yes those decades were a lot of fun. Now everything is a fucking drama if you dare to have a different opinion. Luckily this is fast going down the hill and will disappear as radicals never stick for long.

It’s just a dream, can never go back, bloody miss it though!

Even this thread has caused drama. How dare we miss the 90s...how bloody dare we!!!

Tories weren't in power all the time either, that helped.