Can anyone remember when it was like this?

A LITTLE NOSTALGIA FOR US ALL FOR THOSE BORN BEFORE 1986



According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 60's, 70's and early 80's probably shouldn't have survived....



Because our baby cots were covered with brightly coloured lead-based paint which was promptly chewed and licked.



We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on doors or cabinets and it was fine to play with
pans.



When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just flip-flops and fluorescent

'spokey dokey's' on our wheels.



As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or airbags 鈥?riding in the passenger seat was a treat.



We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle and it tasted the same.



We ate chips, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy juice with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.



We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or can and no-one actually died from this.



We would spend hours building go-carts out of scraps
and then went top speed down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into stinging nettles a few times, we learned to solve the problem.



We would leave home in the morning and could play all day, as long as we were back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us and no one
minded.



We did not have Play stations or X-Boxes, no video games at all. No 99 channels on TV, no videotape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no DVDs, no Internet chat rooms.



We had friends - we went outside and found them.



We played elastics and rounders, and sometimes that ball really hurt!



We fell out of trees, got cut, and broke bones but there were no law suits.



We had full on fist fights but no prosecution followed from other parents.



We played knock-the-door-run-away and were actually afraid of the owners catching us.



We walked to friends' homes.



We also, believe it or not, WALKED to school; we didn't rely on mummy or daddy to drive us to school, which was just round the corner.



We made up games with sticks and tennis balls.



We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore our coats by only the hood.



The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of...they actually sided with the law.



This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all. And you're one of them. Congratulations! Pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow as real kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good.



For those of you who aren't old enough, thought you might like to read about us. This my friends, is surprisingly frightening......and it might put a smile on your face: The majority of students in universities today were born in 1986........they are called youth.



They have never heard of We are the World, We are the children, and the

Uptown Girl they know is by Westlife not Billy Joel. They have never heard of Rick Astley, Bananarama, Nena Cherry or Belinda Carlisle.



For them, there has always been only one Germany and one Vietnam.



Michael Jackson has always been white.



To them John Travolta has always been round in shape and they can't imagine how this fat guy could be a god of dance.



They believe that Charlie's Angels and Mission Impossible are films from last year.



They can never imagine life before computers.



They'll never have pretended to be the A-Team, Red Hand Gang or the Famous Five.



They'll never have applied to be on Jim'll Fix It or Why Don't You?



They can't believe a black and white television ever existed. And they will never understand how we could leave the house without a mobile phone.



Now let's check if we're getting old...



1. You understand what was written above and you smile.

2. You need to sleep more, usually until the afternoon, after a night out.

3. Your friends are getting married/already married.

4. You are always surprised to see small children playing comfortably with computers.

5. When you see teenagers with mobile phones, you shake your head.

6. You remember watching Dirty Den in EastEnders the first time around.

7. You meet your friends from time to time, talking about the Good Old

Days, repeating again all the funny things you have experienced together.

8. Having read this mail, you are thinking of forwarding it to some other friends because you think they will like it too...



Yes, you're getting old!!

Tammy.....I was born in the 50's and when i was about 10 or older we went out to play and only came home at meal times. it was all innocent play and our parents had no worries about us causing trouble for anyone.
Pity is wasn't like that nowadays

Lol at the memories! Those were the days...

I was born in 1961, and life was so different then..

We lived next to a pit, which had been closed a few year and we would play there for hours, going home hacky black! Making dens and keeping warm from the pockets of gas escaping from the top of the pit! We weren't supposed to be there of course but we had no fear and would use an old skate fastened to a old back of a beano and slide down the steep bank of the pit! It was fab...

R sweet memories... Thanks for that :)

now i do feel old. lol.

Okay, so I'm getting old. I really did not need you to tell me this. That said, yes I know what you mean.

It was even BETTER in the 50s'. I'm glad Ii was born then and not in the 80s' or 90s', they had NO IDEA how to have good old fashioned innocent fun, no idea what imagination was. We had a whale of a time from dawn 'till dusk and never hurt, damaged or interfered with anyones' property or another person. Might be getting old, but rather that than to have grown up in 'modern times'.

love it !!!!very cool and yes i am "old"

i loved that thank you and all you said is exactly right

thanks again xxx

Lol, Elsie! Anyone who remembers all this is a survivor and I have even reached my age without liver disease, allergies or obesity!

I am with you, and can go further back to being a teenager in the 50s.
We actually respected the opposite sex and knew very little about drugs. We were grateful the War was over, that our Dads were home again (if we were lucky) and that rationing was being phased out.
It was a different world, not run by PC, self-seeking, numpties. Risks were there to be challenged, not feared and banned; politeness was normal not something to be sneered at and children were subject to discipline.
The emphasis was on responsibility not rights.

Elsie that was brilliant. I did all of that as a kid and wish I could do it all again.

Well I liked it!!! but it means I am getting old (or maybe I'm already there!!!) ...makes you feel sorry for kids of today.. and kind of horrified that these people who have been wrapped up in cotton wool and have never really known what consequence is.. they are going to be running our country in a few years!!!! ...argh!

edit: Adam... do you really only remember the bad things? do you really think it is any better in today? or in the nineties? if you carry around all the bad you may as well be dead.. bad things happen everywhere and in each decade/ century but we have to have fond memories to... there would be no point in living otherwise.. xx

lol, now I feel my age.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n6chxpEI...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOU8GIRUd...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQahvFdQV...

I'm getting old too !! Remember parkers (coats) that had real rabbit fur trim on the hood - I suppose that wouldn't be allowed now and converses (or whatever they're called now!!!) were called baseball boots and they only came in black.

Yes we had a brilliant childhood and a lot lot happier

I spent a lot of my youth having adventures in the bombed out ruins and on the banks of the Thames in the thick mud when the tide was out.

heck, I remember when herbert hoover made his 5cents cigar speech.

i am a 60's child.. and can remember family times.. and my parents actually spoke to me.. weren't afraid of me.. and didn't have to buy me.. with all the latest fashions and gadgets..and i lived on a farm , and it was great.

I was born in the 60's. My dad bought me and my brother up. There was no social services to speak of back then and my dad had no choice but to take us to work with him - he was a builder so we spent most of our time as toddlers before we went to school literally playing on building site - the other builders would take it turn to "keep an eye on us"! We both survived but can you imagine that happening today! I remember sitting in the back of my dad's bedford van - me on one wheel arch and my brother on the other - hanging on for dear life!

Brilliant!! How ever did we manage to still be alive lol...
I was born in 1971 and I remember all of the above....I wish it was still like that for my kids to enjoy..

Songs that remind me of what you wrote include Golden Years by David Bowie, Old Days by Chicago, Time Passages by Al Stewart, and even Stepping Out by Joe Jackson(we, are young but getting old before our time). Anyway, your post is spot on! You should rent Radio Days. I remember the baby boom of the early 60's , when my mom would take me into the local playground, where all the pregnant wives were sitting in the Sun, with there baby carriages.

I was born in 1947 and remember walking to school with a crowd of friends. We would walk home for lunch and Mom was always there with a warm meal. I guess for me that is the biggest difference between then and now Mom was there. Kids today don't know how great it was to come home from school and find Mom, who would give us a snack and send us out to play. Not down the hall to our rooms to get on the computer or to watch TV. Outside and she did not want to see us again until dinner time. Life seemed richer than. Yes, I am getting old but I have great memories of being a child. Hope my grandchildren get some great memories for when they are old.

Yep I am old lol. I remember all of it. Those were the days when us children were safe and all the neighbours looked out for you, when playing was playing oh and on a Friday the Rag and Bone man came round. All the kids were lined up with whatever we could get our hands on, to swap it for a balloon !

What went wrong ??

i will add my bit we went round the bomb sites in the east end of London where i lived looking for treasure i remember those days well

Very good Elsie.

Elsie

That brought back soooo many memories - it really made me smile, thanks.

Rose tinted glasses I'm afraid.

Well that made me smile!...How times have changed ( now that does make me sound old) Kids these days really don't know how to amuse themselves, electronic gadgets do that job. They don't have the freedoms we had and it is a shame that they are wrapped in cotton wool now. It's all this bleedin elf an safety!

Fantastic!! I have seen this before but love it each time I read it-how I miss those times. I feel sorry for children who will never experience that same sense of innocence, freedom and fun. x

Question too long and posted in the wrong section. DOH!

I agee with Guardian, and anyway that was on the radio the other day, and was much more interesting than your posting!

Do you expect people to read all that???

I have no nostalgia for the 1960's living in two rooms, sharing a toilet with neighbours, no hot running water, no bath, no TV and an old bed full of fleas. I have no nostalgia for the 1970's seeing a playground of white kids chasing a poor asian child and kicking him half to death becuase of his colour and a teacher just standing watching, being punched full in the face by a teacher for mearely forgetting a sports bag. I have no nostalgia for the 1980's seeing a man beaten to a pulp by little would be skin heads on the basis he was thought to be 'queer'... there is no uptopia in the past only sad sad stories.