Stuff that didn’t seem weird at the time but when you tell someone younger they think it’s nuts

[MildGreenDairyLiquid]

Just that really.

The other day I explained to my 11 year old niece that when I was at junior school we used to have a small bottle of milk with a straw every morning, and she looked at me like I’d lost my mind.

The fashion for teen girls where I am (Sydney) is slicked back ponytail - what we used to call a “spam” ponytail because if you had your forehead totally on show, someone would slap you on it and shout “spam” at you 😄

It is not flattering at all, only a very few girls can pull this severe style off.

I was in the hairdressers the other day and the young woman washing my hair had two French braids and some clips in and I showed my age and said how nice it looked.

Over here the boys seem to spend more time on their hair than the girls!

Yes this is more my era. We subscribed to LoveFilm before it was bought by Netflix! (And now as an adult hearing ‘lovefilm’ just makes me think of a condom 😄 think Netflix better choice really.)

Would say dumb phones but i see those making a comeback amongst my friends with tweens and teens, which is good!

OP my kids still get milk at school, do most not? I did. I see cartons of milk in cafes all the time! Or do you mean a glass bottle because yes that would blow my 34 year old mind too.

It was just to ensure that children were getting calcium in the post war years. Carried on until people's overall diets were better. Why would she think it nuts? Doesn't she realise that people didn't always have what we have today?!

I remember at that time you could search for a celebrity on there e.g. Madonna, and it would bring up items they sold which were either the same or lookalikes of something she’d recently been papped in 😂

It's not 'nuts' though? There was no social media and people had newspapers?

Yes, kids sat in the boot of estate cars. If you had a full car, kids would even sit in the footwells for short journeys.
The law to put your seat belt on only came in in 1984 and, as you say, most cars didn't even have seat belts in the back.
It was also common to leave children in the car with the engine running. I remember my DF who was generally extremely law abiding, getting caught for this by a policeman.

I do t understand this thread? Times change. I can go with didn't know, hadn't resisted, but these things weren't 'nuts'?

OP I actually had a milk song that I sang whilst drinking <rank, warm> milk from the bottle in primary. It went 'drink your milk, milk, milk, drink it fast and drink it slow' (there's much more - sung to the agadoo tune)
I think it entertained people the first few times. Then I probably became incredibly annoying. But failed to notice, as I was 10...

They were often pre-teen kids though and I don't think children that age can work these days.

Ha yes, ASOS! There was a raging debate as to whether it was ‘As Seen On Screen’ or ‘As Seen On Stars’. I thought the latter because you could search by star, but I think I was wrong.

Very true! I find that rhubarb needs no encouragement, mine grows like a damned weed and it's impossible to split without something like a ballistic missile.

It's interesting to think of things that were totally normal in the past, but now not so much.
Of course, some of the things, like phone boxes, haven't actually disappeared, but are less common now.

I think we've also had a thread about what is normal now, but won't be in a decade or two, which is also quite interesting.

I mean yeah, it just sounds like you’re not in the mood or this thread is not for you. That’s fine! Mumsnet does not have a personalised algorithm.

I was just thinking surely the stretch from a carton of milk today from a small glass bottle years ago isn't that crazy. And they were cartoons in the 80s by us so not even modern.

I did have to explain about cameras and putting the film in etc so no retakes but we print physical photos out still and of course those cameras are still available, just extortionate!

I was amazed that my mum knew Tom was grey and Jerry was brown before seeing it in colour.

My Dad used to watch Pot Black, the snooker programme, in black and white but he knew all the colours!

Grandparents having tubs of dripping kept unrefrigerated on kitchen table

References to popular culture that people can understand.
One I often mention is finding the name John Thomas funny. People over 40 get the joke and people under 40 don't, generally.

I worked in an office using a typewriter, and if copies were needed of documents you had to put a sheet of carbon paper in between two sheets of paper to make a copy. The carbon was often reused and the copy became illegible.

I still know my first boyfriends home number ! Didn't even realise until I just recited it😂

This was obviously before photocopiers were invented.

I lived pretty far north as a child and in daycare they used to have us stand around a UV lamp for a few minutes for vitamin D

I have an entire silver plated cutlery set obtained from my Nana who smoked herself nearly to death on Kensitas to get it. I used to have to polish it every Christmas. It's still in the original boxes with red labels on.

Every year when I was small and she had enough coupons, usually around Christmas I think, there would be a grand day out by train, which was very exciting, to London, to cash in her coupons. I think this was an essential part of her Christmas shopping.

I have photographs of a little chubby me in a "smart" coat and hat at about 6 absolutely covered in pigeons at Picadilly Circus.

I also have a slide viewer and boxes of tiny transparencies. I really must sort it all out at some point. Hopefully before I inherit my Dad's memorabilia on top....

The joy of queuing outside the actual venue for gig tickets overnight in the 80's. Die hard fans actually got the best tickets in thise days. Touts weren't quite as bad.

Aga

My mums had one for 30 years, its brilliant and keeps the kitchen warm - they generally turn it off in the summer and use normal oven - But,,,,,,,If you forget you have put food in the oven it will just keep cooking and burn away. We were driving back from a days shopping and suddenly my mum gasped, i said whats wrong, she said I put some veg in the Aga yesterday to make some soup and completely forgot about it, was just ashes left on the dish when we got home, you can't smell anything burn

https://www.dissironworks.co.uk/product/aga-er7i-100/?attribute_pa_colours=dartmouth-blue&utm_source=Google%20Shopping&utm_campaign=Cookware&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=116692&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw1Yy5BhD-ARIsAI0RbXaIk3FqGB_2GugDgsNeMaqfHNxXm1ntxFtXlIpajiKKHk4cp_uiBSoaAjLiEALw_wcB

Are phone boxes in your area actually usable? Where I am, phone boxes are used as toilets for drug addicts and homeless people to pee in. The stench from them is unreal and you'd probably catch a disease if you touched the handset to use it