My blogging comrade Big John – himself going for the same decade as I have been – recently posted on the occasion of his 75th birthday about how things had been ‘in his day’ as opposed to that which is available (to children) now. It got me in comparison mode so I decided to put another yardstick in giving how the world was in my childhood. You have to bear in mind I was in Chelsea (when it still had council tenants) so what we had was in many respects streets ahead of those living outside ‘the smoke.’
Anyway John’s formative years involved the following:
- Television .. Just the BBC on the
radio wireless.
- Telephone .. The nearest one was two streets away on a shop counter.
- Computers .. Great fun was had playing games in the street.
- Motor car .. If a tram or bus didn’t go there, then, neither did I, unless I walked.
- Bathroom .. A scrub in the kitchen sink or a tin bath by the fire.
- Toilet paper ! .. I won’t go into detail.
- Fast Food .. Only fish and chips. ”Bring your own newspaper”.
- Holidays .. Abroad ! Where was that ? .. Well, maybe a day by the sea.
- Supermarket .. or “Can I scan your ration book?”
- Refrigerator .. Only a daily walk to the shops by my mum.
- Central heating .. Just open coal fires, even at school.
- Shoes .. Oops ! .. No .. Sorry, I got carried away for a moment, so I’ll …
As opposed to a man in his 70s I was a child of the 70s and things were different, we had moved on, evolved, advanced with almost wanton abandon, things were thus:
- Television .. Only bought when I was 13 and so my grandmother could watch the news, took up half the room in a wooden cabinet and 3 people to lift! Just two BBC and 1 ITV which I wasn’t allowed to watch because adverts were evil (this is quite correct of course!) Oh and it didn’t run in the morning except for schools programs and it didn’t come in the afternoon until 3.30 with Play School. It then shut down after the late film at around 11 and the National Anthem played! What’s a colour TV?
[Channel 4 came along in 1982 – it was such an event people took time off work to watch the opening… ceremony would be a bit strong, it started with Countdown one of the most sedentary gameshows ever!]
- Telephone .. The nearest one was two streets away in a red phone box – queues down the street on a Sunday before dinner and hoping you had enough 5p coins to beat the pips!
[Later when we moved out of London in the 80s we had a 3-digit phone humber!]
- Computers .. just came in – Yellow River on the BBC involving Xs or Spectrum cassette tapes which took hours to load and made a noise like a fax machine.
[I got my first computer in 1998 it was an Apple Powerbook Duo 280c and the snazziest system I had ever seen!]
- Motor car .. Trams? Bloody luxury, we didnt have them in my day. It was the No. 11 bus to school I had or a 20 min walk to the nearest tube station at weekends.
[I didn’t learn to drive until I was 28 and that was for a job. I don’t exactly feel the richer for it, though my 27 year old car is cool!]
- Bathroom .. Hot running water but an outside khazi still very much in evidence in the terraced housing, we had a separate toilet indoors in our flat for a while but when moved had to share a bathroom with the people above!
[Outside toilets were a nightmare, in the Winter it was bloody freezing and anything could be lurking in there and frequently was!]
- Toilet paper ! .. Unlike the Big Man I will go into detail – shiny on one side and ripped your aris to ribbons it did. Izal – I’ll never forget it, I saw some on sale not so many years ago, heaven knows what idiot still buys it.
- Fast Food .. Still only fish and chips. Newspaper provided! We did have an ice cream parlour – yes “parlour” but it was the Fulham Road you know! In the very early 80s we went ‘into town’ to a Nepalese restaurant in Euston – it was the most exotic thing we had ever done or eaten in my life. I still visit as and when I can.
- Holidays .. Calais, we were cosmopolitan and my Grandmother lived in Kent!
- Supermarket .. What? We had the grocer, the greengrocer, the butcher, the baker and knew them all by name. They’d give my mother a little extra because she was on her own and they liked my smile! (Tried that at Tescos and have another 6 months on the Anti-Social Behaviour order!)
- Refrigerator .. I got to go on the daily shop with mother!
- Central heating .. Coal? Ha you’ll be lucky, miners are on strike and all the powers off!
- Shoes .. So many choices, Clarks or Start-Rite!
If there’s anyone else who wishes to reminisce either here or on your own page then I’d be interested and perhaps amused about your decade. Feel free to share.
Song Of The Day ~ The Rifles – Shoot From The Lip
RED BARON'S WORDS 