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[Tony H]

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.

Seems you lead a very sheltered life

[ians]

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WHO WERE BORN IN THE

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

...
 

1940's - was that when you last had a haircut..?

[jonnycool]

I had  a Raleigh Grifter when I was a kid, a bike which was heavier than my current car. Pulling a wheelie on that thing took superhuman strength. Rode it some miles though, in those days I used to in out in the morning (summer hols), play football all day, ride my bike to get around and come home when it was dark. Can't actually remember how I fed myself, but I must have somehow 

[unlucky mark mv6]

One thing that was forgot in that article,that in my opinion made the world a better place is that drugs was hardly heard of then,shame the world has had to come to this now ,oh and does anyone remember one of the first bmx bikes,the raleigh piranah with yellow mag wheels,you were the dogs danglies if you had mags back then. 8-)

[Hannah Judes Dad]

I had  a Raleigh Grifter when I was a kid, a bike which was heavier than my current car. Pulling a wheelie on that thing took superhuman strength. Rode it some miles though, in those days I used to in out in the morning (summer hols), play football all day, ride my bike to get around and come home when it was dark. Can't actually remember how I fed myself, but I must have somehow 

You're not kidding,they felt like they were made from pig iron! I hammerited mine it lasted me up until 1985 (5 years of ownership and it was second hand when I got it) Three speed Sturmey Archer hub gear was the order of the day from nearly every bike made by Raleigh back then!

[chunk]

I was born in the mid fifties. Yes it was fun although life was a bit tough for some of us. But have'nt we contributed to how the kid's live today by tryng to make their lives easier than our's?  :-?

[v6fletch]

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

is that all you could get in your viva? we lived on a farm an my parents fostered kiddies, the funniest thing i remember about our viva was one day coming out of SLady bitshorpe , my dad stopped for a hitch-hiker, he counted how many were in the car an waved us on !! but i guess he had sense (unlike my dad ) as there were ....my mum an dad in the front ,me ,my brother my sister , two foster sisters , one foster brother ....AND a goat ,YES a "pregnant" goat in the back, wed been to do our shopping and taken the goat to the vets for a check up on the way.this happened in the late 70's , somehow dont think we'd get away with it now lol

[cem_devecioglu]

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

 

and we didnt have to buy fruits , they were ready in the neighbours garden

[tigers_gonads]

my grandad had a vw transporter flatbed when i was a kid 
me and my sister used too sit on the back on a bit of old carpet when we went out to the seaside 

best bit was standing up aand hanging on to the top of the cab while driving along 

great days 

[Chris_H]

I had  a Raleigh Grifter when I was a kid, a bike which was heavier than my current car. Pulling a wheelie on that thing took superhuman strength. Rode it some miles though, in those days I used to in out in the morning (summer hols), play football all day, ride my bike to get around and come home when it was dark. Can't actually remember how I fed myself, but I must have somehow 

You're not kidding,they felt like they were made from pig iron! I hammerited mine it lasted me up until 1985 (5 years of ownership and it was second hand when I got it) Three speed Sturmey Archer hub gear was the order of the day from nearly every bike made by Raleigh back then!

Ah Yes!!  The OP didn't mention landing on the crossbar when you got a false neutral!!

[Hannah Judes Dad]

One thing that was forgot in that article,that in my opinion made the world a better place is that drugs was hardly heard of then,shame the world has had to come to this now ,oh and does anyone remember one of the first bmx bikes,the raleigh piranah with yellow mag wheels,you were the dogs danglies if you had mags back then. 8-)

There were several Raleigh Burner BMX's in the early eighties including the Super Burner,Mega Burner,Ultra Burner and Mag Burner the latter didn't set fire to magazines but did have the all important yellow mag wheels.

[jonnycool]

One thing that was forgot in that article,that in my opinion made the world a better place is that drugs was hardly heard of then,shame the world has had to come to this now ,oh and does anyone remember one of the first bmx bikes,the raleigh piranah with yellow mag wheels,you were the dogs danglies if you had mags back then. 8-)

There were several Raleigh Burner BMX's in the early eighties including the Super Burner,Mega Burner,Ultra Burner and Mag Burner the latter didn't set fire to magazines but did have the all important yellow mag wheels.

Seemed to remember that there was a rumour that if you ever buckled a mag wheel, you could get it back into shape by putting it in the freezer overnight. How you were supposed to get a wheel in your freezer, I don't know 

[mudflap]

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. 
my mum  never smoked or drank (only rationed tea)
 Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints.
cut my teeth on my cot   
 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.
good game raiding the cupboards for "sweets"
 As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.  rode in the back of the van
 We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle. or any convenient puddle or playground fountain
  Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds , KFC, Subway or Nandos.
 2 penn'orth of chips
 Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open at the weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death!
 had a well stocked larder, made stew from the leftovers
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.   
all for 3d ! 
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.
in by teatime
 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.
true - good character building
 We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii , X-boxes, no video games at all, no 999 channels on SKY ,
 no video/dvd  films,   
model cars, train set, soldiers and comics, BBC and ITV
no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
 and had fights with 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.
good immunisation technique
 You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns at Easter time...
...and were hidden all around the garden! 
We were given air guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays,
had some great battles with those catties
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!
then ran away !
 Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet!
 she had all the washing, ringing and scrubbing to do
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
i hated sports day
 Our teachers used to hit us with belts or canes and gym shoes and bullies always ruled the playground at school.
 ...or a well aimed blackboard rubber 
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.
got a damned good hiding instead  
 They actually sided with the law!
true
 Our parents didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kiora' and 'Blade' and 'Ridge' and 'Vanilla'
no, only dull names like Colin, Kenneth, David or Micheal  :-/
 We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL !
 
 And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS!
 
 

and what a lot of decent well-adjusted adults we all turned out to be...