I grew up in Tasmania in the 60’s and 70’s.
I remember we had a black Bakelite Phone and we had a 3 digit Phone Number.
No such thing as a Pop Up Toaster. You had to stand there and remove the toast before it had a chance to burn.
The sides folded down, the toast had to be turned after one side was done.
Living beside a Creek one of my favourite past times was Tadpole hunting.
A few of us would spend time in the creek scooping up Tadpoles and taking them home to be deposited into a fish tank.
Watching them grow into frogs then we would release them back into the creek.
Rubiics Cube was a source of frustration for me.
Never once did I achieve completion. In fact, I gave up after no more than a minute each time. My brain seemed not to be wired that way. I am a marvel at crosswords, sudoku? Blah.
ABBA came onto the scene in 1975, I was 13 and prime for being swept up in the mania that continues for 7 years.
Keep fit, or more precisely, get fit promotions began to make an appearance on TV.
One of the first campaigns was “Life. Be In It” in 1975
With “Norm” taking Center Stage.
Norm’s message was to “Get up, Turn off the Tellie and Go For a Walk”
Norm, was a Middle Aged Man with a “Beer Gut” and was meant to represent a “Normal” Australian.
My Parents had a huge collection of “78” records.
These were made from a hard Shellac Resin, really solid, but brittle.
“78” meant that the record spun at 78 revolutions per minute.
Later, Vinyl Records replaced the Shellac Records. These were designated “33 1/3” and “45”
The 33 1/3 were LP’s, Long Playing, a complete Album on the record.
The 45’s were “Singles” a single song on each side
I ended up with about 200 LP’s and 450 singles.
What happened to all those “78’s”?
Being children we eventually used them as a sort of Frisbee but we never played catch with them, We had competitions to see who could throw them the farthest.
When the records hit ground, they shattered.
The huge amount of bomb sites in south east London
The hardships of food rationing
Losing my father to bowel cancer at the age of seven and losing my older brother to Nephritis seven years later.
Not a happy childhood at all.
WWII has a huge lot to answer for EZ. It turned my mother loopy and I lost my father within a few days of him returning from Palestine during 1948. Luckily, my paternal grandparents took me in and raised me from the age of 5 when they lost their only daughter to polio.
This question brings me back memories of my local library in the borough of Islington, I looked it up on Google maps to see if it still exists, and yes it does
As a youngster I read a lot and I was a member, my friend and I would go every three weeks to borrow books, we lived nearby. Our school was just a few streets away too and they would also take us there every now and then. I really loved that library’s children’s section
The Liverpool trams and the overhead railway which ran the length of the docks.Mum used to take me on it to see the ships. I was heartbroken when they closed it. The trams disappeared soon after
h yes, if I remember well I used to drive down Liverpool Road to get to Chapel Market on a Sunday.
According to my parents, I was born in the Royal Free Hospital in Liverpool Road, before it was eventually closed down to be rebuilt in Hampstead.
Wow, 90 quid! How times have changed
I’ve heard that housing costs are outrageous nowadays in London.
My childhood was odd really. We had summer get aways every year mostly Devon and Cornwall and not really mixed much with other family members.
Was a rare get together for my Parents Wedding Aniversay maybe 25 years being Silver. Never felt like a family get together more just well lets get through this Again!
I think maybe if the so called close family acted like they liked each other maybe just maybe things could have been more Normal…
Over time though I could feel, tell that nothing was going to make these people want to spend any time together…
My parents were very strict, remember 1 evening went out and dad make sure you take your key as if not then don’t knock me up, so me said yer forgot my key and slept on door step as too frightened to wake up dad, got in at 7am when my brother was going off to work lol
Play 45’s on my record player until my parents were sick of hearing the songs.
Playing kick the can out on the neighborhood street after supper, until dark, or rather “be home when the street lights come on”.
Visiting friends on the weekends and go bale-hopping as a competition who could make as many jumps in a row before falling off.
Helping the neighbors milk cows, separate the cream, and make butter in a hand-turn-jar.
Weekends, going out with multiple family neighborhood families in the early fall for berry picking sessions with 30-40 adults & kids each with their empty ice cream bucket, jumping from berry patch to berry patch.
Traveling on the bus by my self in my pre-teens every Easter holidays to go stay with relatives in the next province for Easter holidays.
Using old car hoods as group sliders tackling the largest of hill slopes for family sliding parties that always ended with bonfires and a wiener roast.
So many more… Seems different for the young’in today, technology has taken away the pleasures of the outdoors and nature at some level it seems.
