Monday 25 November 2013

I Remember When....

  • We were thirsty we drank from the hose.  Or the tap.  Nothing bottled.
  • To meet guys you actually had to go out to a bar or club.
  • A mobile phone meant having the 40c in your pocket to go to a public phone to call home while you were out.
  • A computer was something that they had on Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, or, Star Wars.
  • Pong was cool.  Space Invaders was cooler.
  • To talk to people overseas you had to have a pen pal.  Mine was a girl in Savannah, Georgia.  She was a lovely person.  I often wonder how life has treated her.
  • Assignments were handwritten, or at best, typed on a ribbon typewriter.
  • A mix tape was the bomb.
  • Joan Collins was on her first round of wigs.
  • If you fell over at school, you got given a band-aid and told to be careful.  Your parents didn't launch a law suit against the school.
  • Manners were the rule, not the exception.
  • We had 5 channels on TV and that was enough.
  • If you weren't at the table when dinner was served, you didn't eat.
  • The belt was a tool of discipline and not just something to hold up trousers.
  • A parent said no, that was the end of a discussion.
  • There was no such thing as a naughty corner or "talking it out".  
  • You respected adults.
  • You knew EVERYONE in your neighbourhood.
  • EVERYONE in the neighbourhood knew you and your mum knew EVERYTHING you did before you told her.
  • Going to a "movie with a friend" was code for hooking up with your new boyfriend.
  • Being "fresh meat" was fun and non-threatening.
  • People at a gay club/pub actually talked each other rather than judging each other via text.
  • The Gay community was ONE community.  Not this PC LBGTQIA thing we have now.
  • Being gay was still an exciting secret to have.
  • Lynda Carter / Wonder Woman was cool.  And all the boys at school - gay and straight - wanted to be/have her.
  •  Pocket money was earned.
  •  VHS was the bomb.  Beta sucked.

4 comments:

MAC said...

Awesome post... thanks for the stroll down memory lane.

XOXO
MAC

Damien said...

MAC - my pleasure. How times changed tho huh?

Mike in Asheville said...

Careful Damien, whole lot of wingnuts lament about how great things USED to be, citing many similar notions you cite. Alas, while remembering the fond memories, you have missed the evil:

women were the property of their husbands;
racial minorities suffered institutionalized discrimination;
gay men were arrested for having consensual sex;
no abortion rights;
divorce limited;
women rights, WTF?;
Vietnam!

****
I'll take today, good and bad, over yesteryear's good and bad.

Anonymous said...

Actually VHS was inferior to Beta. If you looked at television stations in the 1980's and 1990's before the jump to all digital you'd have seen huge tape robots with thousands of beta tapes on tap.