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[Elite Pete]

Just got this in an Email, it made me laugh anyway.



CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WHO WERE BORN IN THE

 1920s,1930's,1940's, 50's, 60's and early 70's !

 
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos. 


 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 at the weekends, 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, Bubble Gum and some bangers to blow up frogs with.   
 

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in them, 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,   

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!
 

RUGBY and CRICKET had tryouts and not everyone made the 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 belts or canes and gym shoes and bullies always ruled the playground at school.
 

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 !

 
 
 
And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS!

 

[Del Boy]

  Very funny and very true at the same time.

[Matchless]

Its amazing we survived.

In my early years I was transported around the country sitting on the centre arm rest of the front bench seat in a Ford Consul 375. No seat belt of course and only a painted metal dashboard to collide with if dad had to brake hard.

[Ddraigcymro]

Nice one,
And just to ad to it my grandfather just left he was telling me of his poor man's rolls Royce (the van-dome plas) and haw it excelerated to a comfortable 120mph with no speed limits to stick to, bet the brakes weren't so sophisticated for him as they are for oure modern car`s.

[Chris_H]

Clearly I didn't read it as it is not relevant, but I suspect there were some good memories in there!

As far as I know I have never broken a bone in my body; as for brakes on a go-kart?  Are you kidding?  What were shoes for? Come to that, what were knees for? 

[Elite Pete]

Clearly I didn't read it as it is not relevant, but I suspect there were some good memories in there!

As far as I know I have never broken a bone in my body; as for brakes on a go-kart?  Are you kidding?  What were shoes for? Come to that, what were knees for? 

Yep, Mum was always going mad at me for scraping the front of my shoes 

[Darth Loo-knee]

Had a few chuckles at this post youth

The Pushbike of the 70's has to be the "Chopper" I had a yellow one, wish I still had it now "This bicycle is not made for carrying passengers" yeah right with a seat as big as that!!

Did anyone else remove their back brake from their BMX only to put your foot on the rear tyre which Mum was not to happy about as the was a big Arch in your trainer sole 

My Mum used to pick us up (Us being about 7 of us) in their Viva, we all used to get in the boot and think she was sooo cool

[Seth]

I got this email yesterday too.

Crikey Daz, I had a purple-coloured Mk2 Chopper with pink decals, and had great 'two-on-a-bike' fun thereafter. I flogged it a while later, and put the cash towards a brand-new Fidelity stereo.
Early 70's - a great era!

And talking of Vivas - my father had the HA van version with an old bus seat screwed to the floor in the back. It did us proud, taking us away on several holidays before being traded-in for a Mk.2 Cortina. I think he got 80 quid for it, part-ex! 

[Del Boy]

Had a few chuckles at this post youth

The Pushbike of the 70's has to be the "Chopper" I had a yellow one, wish I still had it now "This bicycle is not made for carrying passengers" yeah right with a seat as big as that!!

Did anyone else remove their back brake from their BMX only to put your foot on the rear tyre which Mum was not to happy about as the was a big Arch in your trainer sole 

My Mum used to pick us up (Us being about 7 of us) in their Viva, we all used to get in the boot and think she was sooo cool

Now you're talking 

[TheBoy]

The joke aspect aside, this (old) email just about sums up with what is wrong with modern society, and in particular, modern parenting techniques that parents now have to conform to 

[JamesV6CDX]

The joke aspect aside, this (old) email just about sums up with what is wrong with modern society, and in particular, modern parenting techniques that parents now have to conform to 

Agreed

I was born mid 80's - and I can relate to much of what's in there  I Was always out with mates (and dog), morning till night - no mobile phone, having fun outdoors, building dens and such,

[Tony H]

The joke aspect aside, this (old) email just about sums up with what is wrong with modern society, and in particular, modern parenting techniques that parents now have to conform to 

Fully agree T.B.

[Elite Pete]

I wonder why there's no mention of playing Doctors and Nurses

[Elite Pete]

And does anyone remember True, Dare, Kiss, Command or Promise.

[jereboam]

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WHO WERE BORN IN THE

 1920s,1930's,1940's, 50's, 60's and early 70's !

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos.  Rubbish - only true of those unfortunates who had to live in "prefabs"
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.  Never!
We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy  Toffees, Gobstoppers, Bubble Gum and some bangers to blow up frogs with.   Not in Golders Green.
 We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in them, but we weren't overweight I was because......
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!! Not me - I was always inside reading a book
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.  Not round our way - my Mum would have had the army out looking for me if I'd done that.
No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.  See last comment
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.  Nonsense.  They did that in the Beano, not in middle-class London suburbs.  Where would we have found and "old pram" - the John Lewis man would have taken the old one away when he brought the new pram.   
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii , X-boxes, no video games at all, no 999 channels on SKY ,
 no video/dvd  films, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet We had those strange things called BOOKS, which we borrowed from a LIBRARY or Internet chat rooms We had youth clubs ..
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them! Sometimes
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth No, sorry, nobody I knew behaved like this.  Beano land again 
Only girls had pierced ears! No way!  Not in NW11
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. Not in my social stratum, although, come to think of it, my brother had a thing for worms and snails - yuk!
We were given air guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays No, never had either of those.
We rode bikes Never had one or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, but only if previously agreed with parents or just yelled for them! Good Grief  - no we didn't
 Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet!  Mine did
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. The idea of any of my contemporaries breaking the law was unheard of

 

Sentimental nonsense.  Things were different, but we we weren't all straight out of Just William.

Some attitudes and social behaviours were better than those which prevail today, but viewing the past through rose-tinted spectacles like this is a waste of time.