Those were the good old days

[conny]

Conny you forgot about getting the ferry to New Brighton.

And Woodside or Seacombe and hiding in the bogs so you didn't have to get off!
Or if you had to get off mingling with a family and sneaking through with their kids!

a johnny seven gun

Now THAT was the ultimate! My cousin, same age, got one. Sadly I got a Secret Sam brief case with all the gizmo's.

 

[conny]

How about the cotton on the door knocker trick?
Or collecting ALL the milk bottles in the road late at night and putting them all on the one doorstep?
Changing the notes that said "2 Today Please." to 12?

Do you remember when you could buy those oyster shell ice creams from the van?
Or those stainless steel gadget that allowed you to make your own wafers?
Broken biscuits from Melias?
Fades, (bruised fruit), from Waterworths?
Cough Candy?
Putting the shilling in the gas meter and having to twist the key till it dropped in?
Polishing your shoes on a Sunday night ready for school on Monday?
Catch the girl, kiss the girl?
Climbing trees and NOT getting told off!
Rolling in the grass and mud playing cowboys and Indians or war?
Knockout football?
Gonna have me tea now.
Think of some more later.

 

[dave1953]

And when you got to New Brighton the fun fair both inside and out and that outdoor swimming pool with what seemed a 100 yard high top diving board.I never had the bottle to climb it and dive off but now it's all gone I can safely say I definately would go back and have a go.

 

[conny]

Funnily enough Dave that diving board is the reason for my marriage!

Spur of the moment decision by a mate to go to New Brighton baths instead of Austin Rawlinson in speke where I used to live. On the bus from woodside to NB we get chatting to 2 girls. Turns out they are going the baths as well so we end up spending a freezing afternoon in a freezing outdoor baths with these 2 girls. When we getting ready to get out I asked the one I had spent the afternoon with to go out for a drink with me on the way home, (I was only 16 &1/2 so was chancing it). She said she would but only if I went off the top board. Cocky little sod I was I climbed up.
"Oh ****!"
It wasn't THAT high up from down there!
On the way up I had visions of doing a graceful swallow dive. When I got there it took all my balls, (and they had shrivelled up because of the cold!), to walk to the edge and just 'walk' off!
I don't know what was worse! The freezing water or the fact I must have compressed about 6 vertebrae because I didn't bend my knees when my feet hit the bottom!
Anyway, we went for a drink, I got served, and we celebrated 34 years of (happy ), marriage last month!

 

[Space cat]

Jumping on the bed. Pillow fights.

Some things haven't changed all that much.

Being tired from playing.... remember that?

Yup! I woke up again at 35 past midnight.

The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was germs.

-- and that hasn't changed either!

But this is my all time favourite:

"Do you remember when love was just a handful of sticky conkers?" (Mike Harding)

 

[dave1953]

Nice story connie, I was in the Bluecoat school at the time and my auntie used to take me to N.B as and when she could, I'll never forget it, really happy memories.

 

[Blasphemous]

What about the 'tellings off' you got back then?

I'll wipe that smile off your face me lad!

You'll be wearing that smile on the other side of your face in a minute!

I'll tan ya backside!

Happy days eh?

 

[oompah]

What about the 'tellings off' you got back then?

I'll wipe that smile off your face me lad!

You'll be wearing that smile on the other side of your face in a minute!

I'll tan ya backside!

Happy days eh?

I got you'll feel the back of my hand in a minute.

 

[Blasphemous]

Yeah heard that one too oompah.

What about:

I'll take my hand off your face in a minute lad?

 

[conny]

Have you seen the dirt behind your ears?

Look at the state of your face!

You want a what???
Where do you think you are? Your grandma's?

And the usual,
"Just wait till your father gets home me lad!"

 

[Blasphemous]

Eat your dinner up. Think of the starving people in Africa. And like all kids did, I stupidly said... 'well they can have it!'

I'll clip you round the ear!

Another weird one but not a 'telling off' was:

If the wind changes your face will stay like that!

Eat your crusts. You'll get curly hair!... I didn't want curly hair, why would that make me eat the flamin things?

 

[conny]

"Eat your carrots, they'll help you see in the dark."

I did eat them but I still need glasses!

One still going today,

"Who's a chubby little baby then?"

How the hell does the baby know? They've only just been born!

 

[Johnmelad502]

My mother taught me...
1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE.
"If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning."

2. My mother taught me RELIGION.
"You better pray that will come out of the carpet."

3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL.
"If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"

4.My mother taught me LOGIC.
" Because I said so, that's why."

5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC.
"If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me."

6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT.
"Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident."

7. My mother taught me IRONY.
"Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about."

8 My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS.
"Shut your mouth and eat your supper."

9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM.
"Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!"

10. My mother taught me about STAMINA.
"You'll sit there until all that spinach is gone."

11. My mother taught me about WEATHER.
"This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it."

12 My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY.
"If I told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't exaggerate!"

13. My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE.
"I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."

14. My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION.
"Stop acting like your father!"

15. My mother taught me about ENVY
"There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do."

16. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.
"Just wait until we get home."

17. My mother taught me about RECEIVING.
"You are going to get it when you get home!"

18. My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE.
"If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to freeze that way."

19. My mother taught me ESP.
"Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you are cold?"

20. My mother taught me HUMOR.
"When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me."

21. My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT.
"If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up."

22. My mother taught me GENETICS.
"You're just like your father."

23. My mother taught me about my ROOTS.
"Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?"

24. My mother taught me WISDOM.
"When you get to be my age, you'll understand."

25. And my favorite: My mother taught me about JUSTICE.
"One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you!"

If we always do what we've always done, we'll always get what we always got; and if nothing changes.....nothing changes.

 

[Space cat]

I was born in 1953 so I belong to that group who are, officially, the grumpiest in history. JohnD, you're absolutely right; there were no 'good old days'. They just appeared good compared to the days before them. But I'll take the original post in the spirit in which it was intended and stick to the good stuff.

I've tried to find something good to say about the fifties but it's not easy. The only time that comes readily to mind was my first year in school where I seemed to spend most days playing with wooden bricks. My most vivid memory is the giant dominoes that were, no doubt, intended to teach us about numbers. The greedy kids dived in and grabbed as many as they could, leaving only three for me - so I won.

With hindsight there was a lot of good stuff that hadn't existed before but we kids never knew it. We had the NHS for a start and, although we still got measles and mumps, we were among the first who would never get polio or diphtheria or TB. The war was over and we won, though our knowledge of recent history was terrible. "In 1944, we won the war --" We also knew nothing of the very real threat of WW3. I can remember jokes about 'nuclear detergent'. What was that all about?

And then there were the sixties. Now it's often said that if you can remember the sixties you weren't really there - so maybe I wasn't. It was during this decade that Dandy and Beano gave way to Wham, Smash, Pow, Fantastic and Terrific. And then they were gone. That was a sad day indeed. Radio 270 was a breath of fresh air - until that also died. I scoured the medium wave looking for an alternative but found only Luxembourg. The reception was terrible but we loved it.

There were a few things back then that today's kids just don't seem to do anymore: Riding bikes without a helmet. Charging down hills on a plank on old pram wheels. (We called them bogeys but I don't know if that was universal.) Swinging from ropes attached to trees or, even better, bridges. My one regret is that I never crawled the hundred yards through a concrete tunnel where a stream went under the park. I could see the small circle of light at the other end but was scared that somebody might block it while I was in there. Too late now; the council put grills on the end - and I wouldn't fit anyway.

Things perked up considerably in the seventies. In fact most of my happiest memories begin with the summer of 69 - the end of what is now called year eleven. No more latin, or french, or history; not in the sixth form. School suddenly got a whole lot better - and university was better still. The next ten years were a merry-go-round of discovering new things: beer, sex, discos, magic mushrooms, real ale, real sex. What had started in the sixties came to fruition in the mid seventies. The Age of Aquarius had arrived! And then -- and then -- just when the future looked rosier than a psilocybe sunset -- THATCHER HAPPENED!

And the rest is history. Nostalgia just ain't what it used to be.

 

[conny]

a plank on old pram wheels. (We called them bogeys but I don't know if that was universal.)

WE called them 'Steeries', because you steered them either with a bit of string attached to the front axle or your feet on the front axles.

Great fun indeed.