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

Taping the Top 40
Blancmange
Jack Frost on the windows
Bros and wearing Grolsch bottle tops on our shoes

I went from Twinkle, to Mandy and then the frankly amazing Misty magazine.

Some weirdo used to leave his porn mag stash (lots of naturally hairy ladies) in a "secret bit" of our local footpath. Me and my cousin used to nick them and rent them out to boys at school! With our illgotten gains we paid a local lad to go buy us red thunderbirds which we would neck.

Absolutely nobody batted an eyelid at our 15 year old selves, slathered in our best electric blue mascara, ordering snakebite and black at the pub. The landlord stood us pints on our 18th birthdays!

There were proper subcultures and proper places to go. By 16 i was a proper metal head at the peak of "hair metal" and my mate, who was a goth, and I used to be able to see live bands every weekend in a smalltown. There was an "alternatives" pub full of metals, goths, skins, ska, reggae fans and it was fabulous. Nowdays, teaching at secondary for 20 plus years, everyone looks the same. When I see a kid going for a "look" I love them.

Jack Frost - the beautiful frost flowers on the windows.
Haven't seen those since 1980's.

They were so magical, graceful ferns and fronds.
Are winters warmer now? The must be.

Central heating probably makes a massive difference.

Snow-washed jeans
Perms
Rats tails
Mullets
Leather jackets with fringed bits and shoulder pads
Ankle boots
Iced Champink lipstick from the Avon lady
Renée and Renata at number 1
Buying single fags from the corner shop in school uniform

I'm late 70s and agree woth all of what you said other than that GCSEs were well established by the time I got there. We were the first year 7 intake (instead of Y1 seniors) and took the first pilot sats in year 9.

Remember body shop whote musk and Heather shimmer Lippy. Along with Chatlie red and So?

Just 17

Original Quality Street

Miss TV show ' We are The Champions'

Nostalgia for foil ceiling Christmas decorations and homemade paper chains, although I doubt I'd put them in my own home!

And all kids parties were at home, pinning the tail on the donkey, musical chairs/statues/bumps etc

Kiss and or Knicker chase in the playground 😱

The thing I most miss about the 70s is bus conductors whistling on the bus.

Also, my mum put a lock on the phone. But if you were quick you could use the black "pips" and hammer out the number that way.

We had the best of times.

Riding a pony hatless and in sandals, along a road, and no thought to health and safety.
''Rabbone'' the rag and bone man- they had a horse and flat bed trolley then.

Yes, I think so. My parents still live in the same house and double glazing and central heating have banished Jack Frost to the history books.

Constance Carroll lipstick
Boots No17 lipstick called Pinking Shear
Blue Jeans magazine
Marathon and Opal Fruits
Jumpers for Xmas knitted by Aunties and Grandmas

Tales of the unexpected
Murder Mystery
Freeman Hardy Willis
malory Towers
St Claire’s
The Secret Garden
Comic Strip
no phone calls allowed before 6pm
fun,friendship,laughter, freedom!

@Jumell thankyou! I’d forgotten Girl magazine. It had free gifts when it launched and one was a seahorse shaped comb that I loved. I think there was a necklace as well.
I forgot magazines used to do that, free stuff taped to the front!

51 states jeans
Jelly shoes and bags
Real catalogues (Freemans)
10p mixture
Single cigarettes from the ice cream van
Boys with mullet hair cuts and the back permed.
Prawn cocktails as starters for parents dinner parties

Saturday TV - Dr Who, Generation Game, Dukes of Hazard, Mork and Mindy, PJ and the Bear, Hawaiii 51something. DALLAS! Dynasty.

I've still got a pink comb that came free with J17 magazine - there was a thread on here a while ago about teen magazines and I was amazed to find quite a few on here also still had their J17 comb!

Butterscotch angel delight

That sauce you put on ice cream that went hard like chocolate when it set

Brat pack films

We still did things like woodwork and cooking (home economics) at school

Trying to remember to keep change in case you needed to call someone

Day of the Triffids - which my dad let me watch and it gave me nightmares 😂

Being sent to buy cigarettes for my mum and dad. You could also buy 'singles' and no-one questioned your age.

In winter, being sent to buy paraffin for our heater. I was about 10!

Pink Panther chocolate bars.

Christmas selection 'stockings' with the white netting on the front.

Tudor fried onion flavour crisps.

School finishing at 4pm

Long-forgotten comics - Whizzer & Chips, Beezer, Cor!, Sparky, Knockout, Topper etc.

Scrap books. (tho essentially sticking pre printed scraps on a bit paper-i genuinely adored mine)-sorta escapist/imaginative dare i say cave man pintrest lol
hubba bubba
Scabby knees
Watching (any)musical once (on tv\pre video) and you ,sister,rest of street had all the words learnt dance routine sorted(thanks pans people/hot gossip)by the following weekend. sound of music,mary poppins,peter pn.etc
Flambards
Fame
wasnt actually til i got teenage/older mates but became aware a "housephone "wasnt a given. lol ds1s dads +family drove me daft cos they all felt they had to put finger in spare ear and literally yell response "down the line". quite sweet now think on it
20pence coins invented

The Box of Delights on TV
Cabbage Patch kids
Blue Peter
RaRa skirts
Wearing odd fluorescent socks on each foot (one green, one pink)

@tolerable Caveman Pinterest is exactly right!

I keep popping back with more as I'm doing other things but loving the trip down GenX memory lane. This is a great thread 😁

Matey bubble bath
Adidas unisex perfume
Tucker boots
Watching Eastenders omnibus on a Sunday even though you'd seen it through the week
White dog poo
Mouth ulcers
'Backing your books' was the first homework for every class in September

We used to call them 'Freeman Hardy fall to bits' cos they only lasted five minutes lol

One of my clearest memories of childhood was getting my Collectors badge in Brownies. I had spend hours and hours carefully curating my scrapbook. All the double page spreads were themed with "beautiful calligraphy" 😂 done in felt pen by 8 year old me in 1974! Simple pleasures from a simpler time.

That sauce you put on ice cream that went hard like chocolate when it set

Ice Magic 😊

I had a Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer scrap book. One of my friends also had one and we used to compare pictures!

We also had Panini sticker books, we collected World Cup football and I think I had a dinosaurs one.

I used to love playing Top Trumps!

And Dicky Davis, the fella with the tash (and Mallin streak!) Was on ITV World of Sport on a Saturday afternoon. If a fella on BBC Match of the Day it will have been "dishy" Des Lynam!