To say I was born in the early 70s

[Jumell]

So..

proper Gen X …

the thing that mark my generation out are this :

free school milk at breaks then said milk being taken away

music we were into typically Duran Duran, Wham, Culture Club

common for Dads to drive but not mums

The domestic sitcom - e.g Terry and June being popular when we were prime TV watching age

being at the cusp of the O Level/CSE / GCSE transition

SOME* Less academic kids did YTS - some of the more academic kids looked down their noses at this option

Disco Roller skates in vogue 🙌

VERY un PC language at school

if anyone’s a similar age to me, what are your memories!!

oh and we loved Swap Shop and a good annual !

Liverpool FC winning everything

Spiral perms
blue mascara
cartoon jackets
Tartan jeans
Kids from Fame - Starmaker
Jelly shoes
The sweater shop
Athena man and baby poster
Pods, kickers amd palladiums
Colours by benetton
Jazz/Kouros for the boys
Hooch
Poison
Ski jackets (not on the slopes)
Smelly rubbers
posters on school jotters
The national anthem every night on TV
Gobstoppers
Live Aid
The school computer (singular) that made it into your classroom about twice a year
Come and Praise
The Royal Wedding and all the street parties
Terry towelling short shorts
Big belts and matching plastic jewellery
Tenko
The excitement of the video shop 😉

I actually feel sorry for kids today!

Freedom. I roamed around with other kids from a young age. Our mum had no idea where we were. No tech or phones.

My mum was a relative rarity as she worked, so I used to walk about 2 miles from my primary school and let myself in.

Packed lunches were a sandwich on white bread, wotsits or skips crisps and a fizzy drink.

Riding my gold bike for miles. I loved that bike.

5 kids in the back of car without seat belts. I then Remember seat belts coming in. I think the driver only had to wear them.

Getting a bag of sweet for 10p.

Half pence.

Forever by Judy Blume.

Stock, Aitken and Waterman music.

Kylie and Jason.

My sticker collection.

Pepe jeans

I was born early 70s too. Was into Wham in early teens, but then into The Smiths, The Cure etc and then in the 90s became a raver which was the best time ever. The 90s was a fantastic decade in retrospect.

Found my compulsory 501s the other day! Wouldn't fit over one thigh now. If only I'd appreciated at the time how slim I was!

Brilliant memories. I still say crystal tips when I'm out in the rain in reference to what wet does to my straightened hair

Oh yes massive belts and jewellery. My mum seemed to wear nothing but that.

And BBC at close down. The anthem only stopped I believe when BBC News 24 came in and BBC One would switch over to that.

Loved going into Xtravision at the weekend and picking out two or three films. We've almost got it too easy now. We can watch anything on our tablets, iPads, phones etc. It's like having Christmas every morning. The magic is gone.

Stock, Aitken and Waterman... has there ever been more forgettable music? And the 80s was the best decade for music!

I say that about SAW despite owning a Jason Donovan record ('ten good reasons' iirc). Also got this Jason single at Christmas.. "Over London town", always remember that line.

The Neighbours thing was unbelievably massive then. Kylie and Jason jackets at school. There was also the fantastic Angry Anderson single "Suddenly" from the wedding which just about everyone on these islands watched. That soap gave them the biggest leg up imaginable.

Are these still a thing ?

Supermousse they were delicious!

We still get beautiful fern patterns on the outside of our velux windows upstairs sometimes. A couple of times every winter. I always take pics - they're astonishing.

Lateish 70s baby and recognising so much of this.

Buying clothes being a real treat. I had a Dash dress aged 10ish and really rated myself in it.

My parents having seatbelts fitted in the back seat of their car - although I couldn't have been more than 6 I knew somehow that they were thought of as massively overcautious for this.

Going to Aunty Joan's (neighbour, no relation) and her smoking in her kitchen.

Terrifying firework safety PIFs shown among the adverts on children's ITV.

Getting a teletext TV. OMG, height of sophistication. I loved it.

Pifco London lights on the artificial Christmas tree.

School Christmas craft fair with a Santa's grotto. Got a mini Etch-a-sketch from there one year.

Jelly bags and jelly shoes.

Remember Childline launching. Strapline 'for children in trouble or danger'. It seemed like a huge step forward at the time.

No uniform in primary. Uniform incl tie in secondary but you could wear anything the right colour. A Head schoolbag was essential.

The R1 breakfast show had a segment called School Report where they read out messages from schoolkids (I think) with the Benny Hill theme or the music from Tales of the Riverbank playing. I'm sure they reported snow-day closures on there as well, although that's very local info really.

Agree with some of that - but, this Generation X girl preferred Saturday Superstore and Tiswas to Swap Shop! Also, while everybody else was singing along to Duran Duran, Wham! and Culture Club, she was loving Shakin' Stevens!
Generation X girls at my school wore very pink lipstick - either the palest pink possible or hot pink! We also loved jelly shoes and bags, scarves with our favourite pop stars on them and fingerless gloves!
Totally loved a good annual though - favourites included Blue Jeans, Jackie, and Smash Hits!
The biggest thrill in our city was when Oxford United won the Milk Cup!

Getting a new outfit to wear on Christmas day and that then became your 'best' for the year.

Thinking a Cornetto was the poshest ice-cream ever. Ditto Vienetta.

On the subject of desserts, on Sundays we sometimes had instant whip for pudding. I loved it. And Greens packet cheesecake. If we ever had cream with anything it was always Dream Topping, never actual cream.

Fighting over who had the cream off the top of the milk. Watching top of the pops in my pyjamas. Blowing through my fingers to summon a cloud like 'Monkey'.

Oh, you just reminded me of my best friend and I hitching up our leggings and pinning them so they were calf-length, worn under a little skirt to look like Belinda Carlisle.

Loved Saturday Superstore and Shakin’ Stevens but never really ‘got’ Tiswas!!

No, I never 'got' Tiswas either, but loved Lenny Henry and his impression of David Bellamy.

Tiswas was too chaotic for me.

To be fair, I preferred Saturday Superstore, but Tiswas was fun and was normally on for half an hour longer, so I'd always catch the last bit! Also loved Number 73 (with Sandi Toksvig) which was usually shown when Saturday Superstore was not airing (but on ITV not BBC!).

The one with the helicopter- Blue Thunder?
The one with motorbikes - CHIPS?

Oh, Belinda Carlisle was wonderful - I loved her! She was so beautiful!

The one with the helicopter - are you thinking of Airwolf?!

I went to a girls' school and the computer room was mainly used to play Chucky Egg

the A Team on a Sunday afternoon

Famous Five TV series

Meeting friends at W H Smiths on Saturdays at a prearranged time to trail round Benetton, Etam, Miss Selfridge, HMV abd everyone turning up as arranged.

going to the Body Shop to cover oneself in the contents of the perfume bar

bath beads

Findus Crispy Pancakes

Krona margarine, I used to love the taste of it

my mother serving a full, sit down high tea on Sundays only a few hours after a two course roast. Religiously every week. My dad picked up my two grannies and brought them here for the day then dropped them back early evening. I now appreciate how free she must have felt when they both died. Mind you she didn't work unless you count 3 hours 3 mornings a week.

Famous five tv series..I've got the theme tune in my head now..