To ask what you miss the most about the past?

[Appalonia]

Been thinking recently about how much we've lost due to the internet, although of course there are lots of amazing things too. For me, I think I miss things like record stores, long conversations on the phone with friends, so many high street shops that are now gone forever, online shopping just isn't the same, especially as you can't try something on, mix tapes, seeing a film in a big cinema, bookshops, lots of independent shops, so much is commercialised now, department stores, in my city, there was only Debenhams and now that's gone, I miss going into town and browsing, there's nothing left other than pound stores, it's so sad.

What do you miss that modern life has robbed you of?

People.

My first love and my youth 😂

Ladies, you want to be careful because plenty of over70s voted for Brexit on this kind of nostalgia - except it was the 50s and 60s they were nostalgic for- pre EU- without realising what they were actually nostalgic for in most cases was their youth -

However there's no denying a lot of towns and cities have gone to shit somewhat- particularly in the past 12 years - which doesn't help

Stuff I genuinely miss in a nostalgic way

Looking through piles of holiday brochures every January

The excitement of being 'asked out/chatted up 'by some fresh faced youth face to face and planning a date - what to wear etc! Usually then followed through with a browse around Chelsea girl or Richards shop etc with a mate

Going into pubs on a Friday/Saturday night with mates when 17 and standing around just laughing and gossiping - No one spending all night looking at their phone etc

Reading through the thick local weekly paper with pages of marriages and births etc and knowing lots of people.

A labour government

A feeling that their was some kind of order to life, you worked hard, got a job, left home, could get a home you could afford , in many parts of the country it's becoming very difficult to either buy or rent on average incomes - certainly as a single person

Most of all I miss feeling that the future is all stretching out in front.

Yes! I think a lot of people of a certain generation thought that the UK would magically return to how it was in the 50s and 60s, with fewer forriners, £sd and the rest of it and are now miffed that it didn’t but they now have to queue for ages just to go through passport control and there are fewer doctors and nurses!

The entire point of this website is that its asking for her opinion. And mine. And the OP.

She's bang on. People are talking about being YOUNG, not about the actual past. OF course you had more fun at say 17 than 40, ffs. OF course Xmas was better and so was shopping and so on, because you were young with no responsibilities, and you dibn't have a fucking clue.

She's bang on. People are talking about being YOUNG, not about the actual past. OF course you had more fun at say 17 than 40, ffs. OF course Xmas was better and so was shopping and so on, because you were young with no responsibilities, and you dibn't have a fucking clue.

The actual title of this thread is "AIBU: To ask what you miss the most about the past?" Nowhere does it ask for opinions from people who are hell bent on trying to convince us that now is such a wonderful time in comparison. Surely people being YOUNG was in the actual past, so why shouldn't people discuss the time when they were young and what they miss about that time. If people like you can't enter into the spirit of the thread then why don't you just move on to another one?

Proper milk floats and the sound they made in the street. Coal smoke. Sunday school. My grandparents. Quality high street shops selling really good stock, with knowledgable and experienced staff. Hand written letters. TV programmes that were gentle and slow. A less sexualised culture. A politer society. Proper cottage gardens.

That's right. The question was about what we miss. The answers are mostly nostalgic about childhoods or people who are no longer with us.

Yes we're often guilty of viewing the past with rose tinted glasses, myself included. 'Twas ever thus. We don't need explanations as to why it wasn't actually great or is better now because of 'x y z' as we know that.

Another thing I miss is the large variety of subjects which could be studied at local authority evening classes, such as practical skills like cooking and sewing, to learning a language, to A levels and above. So much funding has been slashed. Newly retired as I am I would love to do some of these courses now. They were quite cheap too and free if you were on benefits.

Going to the library to research topics as a kid.

I got locked in the library as a teenager! I was alone upstairs in the reference section looking at encyclopedias or something. I didn’t realise the library closed for lunch and when I wanted to leave I couldn’t get out.

I could have drawn willies on all the dictionaries and I would never have been caught.

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Whoah, I didn't mean to do that.

I read that there's a reduction in funding there. A real shame.

There is absolutely nothing stopping you from writing a letter on paper with a fountain pen if you want to.

Oh pipe down. The world has changed and Christmas isn't the same for today's kids.

My main present one year was a calculator. You can get calculators in the pound shop now. Presents for children of school age just don't have the impact they used to, because we had so much less to begin with.

Christmas Radio Times? Kids don't give a toss. They don't watch television.

Hot chocolate with a marshmallow? Had it five times at cub camp.

Coca cola with Christmas dinner? Who cares, we get that ten times a year at birthday parties.

Etc, etc. Christmas is still what you make it, but we no longer live in a world where new pyjamas and watching a film are a major treat.

I miss getting a fiver off my dad and running to blockbuster to get the film and munchies deal with my siblings

I miss going to HMV and getting the three for £20 on DVD's

I miss knowing neighbours and having a community

I miss not having social media. I know it's a choice but often times it's not. I have to have Facebook messenger for example for DC's hobby as that's how they all communicate, most local businesses only use social media and don't have websites etc

I miss the relative freedom I had as a child but I miss it for DC if that makes sense? I used to go out on my bike and just had to come one when the street lamps came on. No mobile phones.

Outside isn't the same for them as it was for us (millennial)

@MorrisZapp a lot of truth there- it's hard to make things particularly special when we do what would have been seen as 'treat' stuff throughout the year as part of day to day living.

Yes, I was thinking just the other day how much I miss this. I'm in NZ, but it's the same here. At the beginning of each year a booklet would be delivered with all the available courses, and going through it to find one to sign up for was a highlight of the year for me! They were all free, unless you needed to buy materials for the course.

It's not just about being young, for me it's about remembering living in a pre internet world and the huge changes that has brought, and many not for the good. I'm 57 so over half of my life was before then. One day there will be only pp who have NEVER known many of the things pp have described on here, and I think it's important to acknowledge what a massive change pp have lived through.

Agree with previous point about the desolation of shopping areas eventually reaching more well off areas. A wealthy town near me is now starting to feel v rundown, Debenhams, House of Fraser and the M&S clothes store have all gone in last 2 years. Where this will all end, I don't know...

Going to the library by myself as a young teen, getting out a YA thriller, sitting by my window to read and not feeling I should be doing anything else.

My late grandmother's garden, her house and her interesting and magical things - those paddles for making butter! An antique bedpan! Lace gloves!

Walking through the long grass in the west of Ireland, half believing there were snakes!

But most of all I miss the people: grandad who didn't trust phones, silent great uncles who would light the fire at daybreak, my dad - the clever but whimsical man who could always get the joke.

Ah this thread is making me sad!

I suppose I miss the lost ways of the older generations which are largely gone now.

people whom i do not know not presuming to address me by my first name.

Yep, major mistake. I taught accounting to adults at our local HE college until the Blair/Brown govt which forced such colleges to concentrate on 16-18 year olds which is where funding was concentrated. Our entire "business and finance" dept was closed down as it was geared towards adults and professional (AAT) exams rather than 16-18 year olds. The college virtually overnight became a sixth form! I'd previously studied a couple of extra A levels there for fun as an adult, my OH had done some extra GCSEs as an adult to change career - all that's stopped, they don't do adults anymore.

@Kazzyhoward I also used to do various evening classes as a leisure activity, used to enjoy reading the brochures each autumn and trying different things. Computer programming, self assertion, local history, different languages, (I have only retained 'Where is my suitcase?' in Russian 🙂). Frivolous maybe but I think that any education broadens the mind. Also did qualifications related to my job.

It's such a loss to society that this no longer happens. Didn't realise it was the Blair /Brown government that caused this. So much for 'education, education, education', eh?

Having full freedom to do exactly what I want after work; shop, go to the gym, get a takeaway 4 nights in a row, stay out late. Not have to ask/ tell anyone.

Further back, homemade mixed tapes, my waterbed, being skinny.

I've started a thread about this, if nobody minds, so that it isn't lost amongst the posts here.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4719954-night-school-in-the-olden-days