Growing up in the 70's

[morethanpotatoprints]

I bet there's been one of these before but who remembers stuff about the 70's, looking back to me it was all a bit weird.

So some of my memories.

Mary Mungo and midge, the music in the lift. my orange space hopper, gridsy marbles and clackers.
Dehydrated potato, free milk you had to drink at school.
Playing out from after breakfast until dark or tea.

Oh yes, I remember spangles.

We had a yellow bathroom suite.

Anyone remember Chorlton and the Wheelies?

I loved The Flumps, my favourite book was Milly Molly Mandy.

We walked everywhere or went on the train, we didn't have a car until I was 16.

Our sofa was made from a weird corduroy material, we had horrible bed sheets and itchy blankets instead of duvets.

I remember getting REALLY horribly burnt in the summer. Kids didn't really wear sun cream back then.

Long, hot summers. About an hour of kids' TV on just before tea, that was it. Home-made dresses with little flowers on them. Getting a Silver Jubilee mug at school. Ivor the Engine (parp parp parp!) and Mr Ben. Tomato soup and cheese sandwiches, or mince n' tatties.

I was a lot younger than my dsis, and I dimly remember her going out in her mg and leopardskin fake fur skinnies. She used to give me 20p to pull them straight:)
Everyone drank and smoked, and I always traveled alone on flights, mum and dad went straight down the back to smoke and drink in the rear seats party of flights in those days. I saw them at take off and landing.

My mum had a sports Capri and my dad drank and drove and NEVER got pulled over.

The lounge was brown and yellow, with swirly blue paper on one wall, and an orange sofa. They thought they were IT:)

...NYLON bedsheets. NYLON!!

We didn't have nylon sheets, we had Brushed Cotton in orange & pink stripes - lovely!

& at some point in the 70s we abandoned sheets in favour of Duvets, after sleeping under them in a trendy hotel in south Wales. We called them Continental Quilts, naturally.

Vesta meals with crispy noodles that you had to fry.

Yes, Darkest, he always signed off with '... and may your god go with you.'

It was a very troubled decade in lots of ways. Watching the news you couldn't miss that. The Troubles in Northern Ireland, IRA bombs and bomb threats in England, the war in Vietnam, Cambodia, the Cold War, expulsion of the Ugandan Asians etc etc. In 1974 there were two General Elections in one year in the UK. Then of course Mrs Thatcher won the election in 1979. That was a turning point.

Eiderdowns and candlewick bedspreads, nylon quilted ones if you were trendy, Pippa dolls and Pippa Dee parties, hotpants and flares, Sindy dolls and furniture - anyone remember these?, record players and reel to reel cassettes, John Peel and Teenage Kicks. Those were the days!

I think we might have been a bit out of synch. Kept chickens in the garden, grew our own stuff. Mum did loads of sewing and we went camping. But we were definitely working class.

Taping things off the radio when they played the charts on a Sunday night, trying not to get the DJ talking over the intro - Jackie Magazine - white dog poo - had to have 2p for an emergency phone call in my Brownie purse, in case of emergency (also had to have a piece of string, never worked out what that was for) - party line on the phone, of which there would only be one in the house, in the hall of course, otherwise it was the phonebox, but they were at the end of every road - it was pre supermarkets too, used to buy some food in the grocers and much of it in sep. shops...butchers, green grocers, bakers, etc. - Used to get a penny pocket money for every year of my age (per week) and it was enough to get my fix of sweets at the weekend

those terrifying public safety films they used to show you in schools.

My Nan bought my brother a duvet...and put in on top of sheets and blankets like her eiderdown...

Yellow River; Spirit in the Sky; Something; Bridge over Troubled Water; All Right Now; My Sweet Lord; Maggie May; Hot Love; I'm Still Waiting; Get It On; Mouldy Old Dough; Without You; Son of my Father; Metal Guru; Blockbuster; Cum on Feel the Noise; See My Baby Jive; Daydreamer; Tiger Feet; Seasons in the Sun; Gonna Make You a Star .........

Yes, I remember the summer of ladybirds. We collected shitloads of them in matchboxes, then put the whole lot on a neighbours rosebush.

The Beano arriving in the paper on a Wednesday

Charlie perfume

Bunty magazine

Watching the film on Christmas day

Pacers (like opal fruits but green and white striped and peppermint flavour)

The twin tub and then us all watching the new automatic washing machine do a whole cycle - in awe.

Thewoollyback at your train journey. I can remember it being really tough, we weren't affected but remember news reports it was bleak. I an NW.

Oh yes The Jubilee street parties.

Shool playground games.

What time is it Mr wolf, conkers, British bull dog. Hand stands against wall, marbles, hand clapping rhyme games. Cats cradle, clackers, skipping with huge robes, with about 5 in at once.

Oh yes, getting sunburn. Ow,ow. Remember revising for 'O' levels in the best summer ever, the backs of our legs were agony for days.

Duvets? Weren't they called 'continental quilts' at first?

Great thread. So many memories!

Angel Delight, Ice Magic (went stiff when you put it on the ice cream), Dave Allen, The Goodies, my family being unhappy, long hot summers, YES whoever said we just got sunburnt, Legs and Co, the Yorkshire Ripper.... Isla St. Clair wearing electric blue - all the time - Summer Special, Day Trip to Bangor....

A bath once a week on Sunday evening, clothes worn until they were physically dirty, washday was Monday..

Fingerbobs, Wurzel Gummidge, Cat Weazle, Mint Cracknel, Lime Barrels.
We had rainbow striped carpet, brown flowery wallpaper and fake black leather sofas and swivel chairs at one point. No one was allowed in the front room that had parquet flooring and red leather sofas in fact it was never used dm used to clean in there and then shut the door

Letsface - were your neighbours called Margot and Jerry?

White dog poo on the pavements
Will o the wisp, Evil Edna (crazed TV set), and Mavis the fairy
Findus crispy pancake adverts
Macrame lampshades and basket holders for spider plants