Trevor S 2,003 Posted February 18, 2015 Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1930s,40's, 50's, and 60's.... First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank Sherry while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos... They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, bread and dripping, raw egg products, loads of bacon and processed meat, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer. Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention the risks we took hitchhiking.. As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle. Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds , KFC, Subway or Nandos. Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on a Sunday, somehow we didn't starve to death! We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this. We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Toffees, Gobstoppers and Bubble Gum. We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter, milk from the cow, and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because....... WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!! We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of old prams and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and dens and played in river beds with matchbox cars. We did not have Playstations, Nintendo, Wii , X-boxes, no video games at all, no 999 channels on SKY , No video/dvd films, or colour TV No mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms...........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them! We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no Lawsuits from these accidents. Only girls had pierced ears! We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns at Easter time.... We were given air guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays, We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them! Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet because we didn't need to keep up with the Jones's! Not everyone made the rugby/football/cricket/netball team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! Getting into the team was based on MERIT Our teachers used to hit us with canes and gym shoes and throw the blackboard rubber at us if they thought we weren't concentrating .... We can string sentences together and spell and have proper conversations because of a good, solid three R's education. Our parents would tell us to ask a stranger to help us cross the road. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of...They actually sided with the law! Our parents didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kiora' and 'Blade' and 'Ridge' and 'Vanilla' We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL ! We had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good. PS -The big type is because your eyes are not too good at your age anymore 24 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ayupmeducks 1,730 Posted February 18, 2015 Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 Yeah did all that, and over stateside, friends who were brought up in the 30's 40's 50's and 60's used to take their .22 calibre rifles to school and put them in their lockers, so that after school they could bag a rabbit or two for dinner. Odd thing was they never had school shootings back then either. And don't forget, how many fat kids did we ever see in the 50's?? Attention deficit disorder???? Not many rude kids back then either, as you got reported to your parents who dealt with you harshly when you got home. 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
carni 10,094 Posted February 18, 2015 Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 We was Brung Up Proper. I bet nearly every one of us on here can relate to your post Trevor. I know I can! One thing for sure, I would never change my childhood for the Elf and Safety ruled one of today. A bit of muck never hurt anyone. 13 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
NewBasfordlad 3,599 Posted February 18, 2015 Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 Remember sitting on the kerbs edge and Ma shouting "Ger away frum that fever grate" 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Blondie 1,392 Posted February 18, 2015 Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 I can relate to Trevor S as I was born in 1945 in Hucknall............The one thing I would not like today is to be young again in these times..........I always felt safe and happy............. 6 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bubblewrap 3,815 Posted February 18, 2015 Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 A bit of muck never hurt anyone. I used to get that mucky my mother made me have a wash before I had a bath 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
carni 10,094 Posted February 18, 2015 Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 I can understand that, thinking back to the colour of any bit of our skin that wasn't covered in clothes. I used to get fantastic tidemarks round my neck and up my arms where the water had run. The kids today wouldn't know what a tidemark was. Perhaps a dirty little mark on the end of the finger that taps the phone or computer keys. abit like mine at the moment. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bubblewrap 3,815 Posted February 18, 2015 Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 Our neighbours were that poor they sold pegs to the gypsies :) 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ayupmeducks 1,730 Posted February 18, 2015 Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 We used to walk all the way to Colwick Woods and spend the day playing up there, Victoria Park was another place, the clay pits up top end of St Anns Well Road. My late Mum would have had a "dicky fit" had she known what we got up to. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cliff Ton 10,464 Posted February 18, 2015 Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 Playing in Clifton Grove, sliding down the incredibly steep banks which went down to the river's edge; it was amazing that you managed to come to a stop on dry land before momentum carried you on into the river. When I think about the dangerous stuff we got up to in the Grove, it's amazing I'm here to write this. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
banjo48 928 Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 Absolutely spot on ! #1. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
terence12 725 Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 TrevorS #1, absolutely brilliant, short answer WE LIVED LIFE, no wonder the big prog to watch on tv today is about zombies, compared to what we had, thats just about what folk is today. oh and about the blackboard rubber, me too. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bilbraborn 1,594 Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 SPOT ON!!!!!! At the age of 5 I used to walk half a mile to my friend's house after school and play for an hour. No phones to check if we were alright. At the age of nine I used to cycle to Stapleford to see my mate who had just moved there. And that was when Derby Road carried all the Derby traffic because they had not yet built the by-pass (or the M1). At 11 I used to cycle from Bilborough to Trent Station near Long Eaton for trainspotting. And we used to go cycling or hiking through our teens and stay in Youth Hostels. No adult was ever called by his first name by children. And I had a nice little earner fetching cigarettes from the shop for neighbours at 3d a time. Happy Days. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tomlinson 879 Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 All good stuff but I've seen posts from 30 to 40 year olds saying the same about their younger days. All a matter of perspective. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TBI 2,351 Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 #14 You're right of course, it is a matter of perspective. But I thought Trevor's comments bought back many childhood memories of great times. The natural response is then to make comparisons with today, but for me, that misses the point. There doesn't really need to be comparisons. What we had, we had. And we were lucky, they were truly great times weren't they? 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MargieH 7,599 Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 I used to make mud pies using soil from our garden, decorating them with tiny pebbles, then drying them on baking trays in the sun. I loved doing that and was really pleased that my youngest grandchild's reception class last Summer had a 'muddy kitchen' alternate weeks, where they mixed mud pies outside on the school field - only difference was that it was sterilised soil and didn't have any worms in! They were asked to bring suitable clothing and wellies. The weeks inbetween they went on a 'woodland walk' , looked at insects and other wildlife and collected different leaves to take back. I suppose we are lucky to be living in a village where this sort of thing is possible. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TBI 2,351 Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 Sterilised soil and no worms in Margie? I bet those mud-pies didn't taste as good as the ones you 'baked'. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
loppylugs 8,429 Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 Remember sliding down the old piles of rock and cinders where the Colwick loop road now is. We used to find old tin bathtubs out there they slid great. Went home with all kinds of bumps and grazes but a great time was had by all. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MargieH 7,599 Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 TBI, I never ate them! They were just beautiful to look at and the joy was in the making... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TBI 2,351 Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 Oh I see, Margie. That explains things. My sister and her friend made some and invited me to a 'tea-party'. I thought they tasted a bit funny! 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ayupmeducks 1,730 Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 Can you imagine this generation of kids in 50 years time??? We used to play Playstation all day, not like todays lot always in the into the make believe holoroom playing make believe....LOL 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MargieH 7,599 Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 TBI, you'd have cracked your little teeth if you'd bitten into the rock cakes I'd made! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
terence12 725 Posted February 20, 2015 Report Share Posted February 20, 2015 i remember one day, i was about 13 yrs, me and a pal David Soul cycled from Bilborough to Matlock, took us about 3 hours, after looking round matlock bath we got to Cromford and walked the bikes up that big hill toward Worksworth cycled on till we got to Duffield, this was about 01:30 am David could not go on any longer, we were lost frightened and had no money, A policeman phoned Davids dad after he saw us sitting against a wall, his dad picked up my dad and following what the policeman had told him where we were they came to collect us, the policeman knocked up a woman who lived in a house opposite the phone box, Dad said he was really proud of me for not leaving David, then clipped me round the earhole for fetching him out. Next day dad and Davids dad got the bus to derby then to Duffield collected our bikes and rode home, now my dad had not ridden a bike for about 30 years so when he got home he was a bit wobbly and knackered for about three days, more clips round earhole. God i miss those fantastic days. 7 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
katyjay 5,091 Posted February 20, 2015 Report Share Posted February 20, 2015 If it's the clip round the ear'ole you are missing, I'm sure we can form a line, taking turns, and oblige! 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
terence12 725 Posted February 20, 2015 Report Share Posted February 20, 2015 her who is idolised has the teapot ready buttered toast and teacakes if you wish, says she can't wait. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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