I used to think the comment "do you remember when" and "back in the day" was exclusively the province of the elderly. Thinking back, "I can remember when" as relatively young men we used to reminisce about days gone by. I find when talking to friends, we will often dredge up events and people from the past. **I can actually remember when crisps actually had a blue paper twist in them containing salt**, not a sachet, but a bit of twisted blue paper. I even remember my very first packet and coming across this contrivance, having to be shown what to do. Untwist, shake the bag, of course with the level of motor control of a very small child, this usually ended badly. Within a very short period they changed to "ready salted"…and innovation, then came flavours, starting with salt and Vinegar…which I swear tasted better than todays artificial version. Or perhaps you remember the time when gas cookers had a pilot flame (permanently on) in the centre and a little gas wand on a tube (clipped to the side of the cooker) with a button. You lit the wand from the pilot and then used it to light the oven or overhead grill. Incredibly dangerous, especially as it was coal gas, but no one thought anything of it. As a small child I wasn't allowed to touch the gas wand…My mum had a Parkinson Cowan like this, right up to about 1975, [upl-image-preview url=//i.imgur.com/GeL7IuH.png]

God, this thread is made up for old timers! I can remember when a Mars Bar was 2d and you needed two hands to hold it. The chocolate was soooooooo thick! My neighbour (I was around 4 or 5) used an Isetta Bubble Car for her everyday drive. In winter, you woke up (pre central heating) to chipping ice from the inside of thesingle glazed windows and you wore jumpers indoors. You ran downstairs when it snowed to find the bloody Blue Tits had pecked through the silver top milk bottles and had stolen the inch or so of cream that used to settle on the top. I remember watching the first episode of a new cutting edge drama, Z Cars.......I could go one and on! Tell you one thing though, life was simpler but were they really the good old days?

@"dfk41"#p2934 Definitely remember the ice on the inside of the windows and as a kid dragging my cloths into the bed to warm them up. Big old cottage with no central heating brrrrrrrrr.

Do you remember Spangles? When Curly Wurlys were massive, you could use them for a ladder. Bri Nylon shirts. Nylon bed sheets! Some shops still had Lamson pneumatic tube systems that would shuttle away your payment and bring back your change.

> @"Gagaryn"#p2938 Do you remember Spangles? > > 1. Bri Nylon shirts. > 2. Nylon bed sheets! > > 3\.Some shops still had Lamson pneumatic tube systems that would shuttle away your payment and bring back your change. Spangles, yes..my favourite sweet, I like the old english ones too, but only certain flavours…the red one was to die for.. 1. Mum thought it was a brilliant idea for school, I hated them. I think it was the stain resistance and one shake they were dry. Remember the little blue sparks that came off them in a dark room in the morning. 2. Nope, I refused to sleep in those…absolutely refused…used to make me itch like mad all night 3. Bentalls used to have those back in the day, always fascinated me as a kid. Shluwooop, pshhhhh. I always wondered where they went and they used to come back with the recpt as well I think. We had another shop near us, Digbys general store, like something out of 1920…used a system of wires, The stuff was put in a tube on the wires, then a sharp pull on a handle, and it went flying across the roof of the store. Those cheap bastards kept the store the same and the system going until the mid 60s..open sacks of flour, beans, tea in large cases, butter pats etc.. Can you imagine how well that would have all gone down now. [upl-image-preview url=//i.imgur.com/bY3zuoy.png ] [upl-image-preview url=//i.imgur.com/HbHmfM2.png ]

@"Gagaryn"#p2938 If ever you go to Beamish Museum, my friend provided the tube system they use in the shop. To carry on, card with starter handles although by my time they were more of a standby than actually needed on the modern car. Telephone kiosks with the old A & B system for putting your money in (ask your parents!), bus conductors!

Sharing your phone line with the neighbors "party line" I think it was called. Picked the phone up and you caught half their conversation - nuts!

> @"Lake_M"#p2943 Sharing your phone line with the neighbors “party line” I think it was called. Picked the phone up and you caught half their conversation - nuts! As a kid my parents had one…It always puzzled me how both phones didn't ring when an inbound call came in, and it was only years later I found out how they did it.

Does anyone remember these…. Once a month a man would come round and empty it and if there was more than what the monthly payment was, my mum would get back what was over. It was the only way we could afford to have a telly. Mind you, it was a bit frustrating when you'd be watching a really good programme and the chuffin thing would click off because the timer ran out, and mum and my older brothers would be scrambling around to quickly find a two shilling piece (two bob bit) to put in it. [URL=https://i.imgur.com/ot7CJ0u.jpg][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/ot7CJ0u.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

We had a telly like that but mercifully without the prototype pay per view box! Old English flavour Spangles were the best boiled sweets ever. Nobody ever knew what actual flavours they were but they were the best variation of Spangles for sure. I liked the light brown opaque one and the deep red translucent one best but they were all nice. I had a 'piggy bank' from Lloyds that was a black plastic horse head. Anyone remember those 'chocolate vending machine' piggy banks where you loaded them with Neapolitan sized chocolates and had to put a coin in to get one out?

Down Memory Lane

Doram

DavecUK I always thought the fax was invented in the 80s, Imagine my surprise when I found out it was in the 1840s.

Quite amazing this. Other extraordinary things where invented ahead of their times. I Just saw something about an in-car navigation system in 1909…

Sat nav is another one. The military had it since the early 1980’s, but we mortals used maps till the new millennium. Personally I have no sense of direction. My wife used to be in charge of the atlas, but when I was on my own it was a always a nightmare. First time I travelled with a borrowed sat nav from my dad (cost him a fortune) I was in total awe. This was a game changer for everyone, but for people like me it was a life saver.

Gagaryn

Doram The US military started using sat nav in the early 1960’s I think. The 1980’s were when they started to allow civilian use. I worked with the Ordnance Survey in the 1980’s and 1990’s and used GPS kit then, it was a massive backpack and was deliberately hobbled - although it had the capability to accurately plot to, I think ,10cm, that live of accuracy was restricted to military use. Civilian use accuracy was limited to 2m from memory. It was still remarkably impressive.

LMSC

We still remember driving all over GB for our daughter’s table tennis matches having printed directions. We always had hard copies of the GB map and London map!

I thought we had a better understanding of directions at that time than now. It was equally difficult if we lose our way as there were no auto redirects. We have had to pull over and desperately working out the how. The nightmare of dealing with strangers putting us on the wrong foot! 😂

Yes, technology is absolutely fantastic and saves time as we no longer have to look up the physical map.

DavecUK

Gagaryn In 1979 thru to 1981 I worked for Amoco Europe in Seismic Data Processing. When the ships all went out to shoot a seismic sections (air guns, water guns, or dynamite in the early days), Decca was used for positioning. Accuracy was pretty good when 3 stations were used…I think 50m, which at the time was remarkable. Obviously required for the oil industry, as it cost a lot to pop a wildcat out and check for oil.

I never thought about it much at the time, it was just normal to have accurate coordinates. The fact that we can now pinpoint our location within a few feet, is incredible…let alone be navigated to our destination, something that was the subject of a “Tomorrows World” program. I used to love that show….du, du, du, deeeeeee, de dada 🙂

Gagaryn

Yup, I love Sat Nav. I bought one of the first Tom Tom’s in about 2000 as I was having to drive to random NHS and Council office buildings in towns all over Scotland for my job at the time - it was remarkably stressful trying to follow printed directions in the dark in the car on my own to arrive somewhere on time. I still habitually use satnav in the car now - even when I know the way!

dfk41

The fax machine was a great invention but totally redundant until someone else bought one…………back in the late 1980’s I was an HGV driver. I remember on a Friday night trying to get to a builders depot before 4pm in South London but I cannot remember where exactly. I arrived at 3.30 and they still refused to unload me. This meant a really short day (paid by the hour) and it meant a long day on the Saturday to get home cutting down time with my family. I asked where the hell I could park up and they directed me to a municipal car park. it was £16 to park over night which was a lot of dosh in 1988. It was a Friday and I only had a few quid left anyway.
A lorry pulled up next to me me and we chatted. He said being a Friday, he doubted any officials would come round checking for tickets but during the week they definitely would. I mentioned that I had not had the chance that week for a shower and he pointed out Municipal Baths on the other side of the road. I paid by money (cannot remember how much) and was shown to a wooden cubicle where the assistant ran a really deep bath, put some strongly smelling but pleasant powder in, closed the door and said stay as long as you want!
Believe me, for a driver this was absolute luxury! some time later I emerged out with clean clothes on feeling champion. Found a pizza restaurant where I ate well for a couple of quid. I often wonder if the Municipal Baths still exist but a definite reminder of days gone by

Waitforme

dfk41

“Feeling champion” not heard that from anyone other than my late mum.

Down memory lane indeed 👍

DavecUK

dfk41 . I often wonder if the Municipal Baths still exist but a definite reminder of days gone by

A mate and I were in Brighton and under one of the causeways I think it was, there was a public baths..

A long corridor, rooms left and right, you got shown in, locked the door. In the room was a massive (I mean huge), cast iron enamelled bath with a teak surround for soap and bits n bobs.. The attendant shouted it’s our last day today we’re closing down after you guys, so you can have extra time and extra hot water, just ask. There were foot levers outside which he must have kicked on and a huge spout started filling this bath….the flow rate was as huge as the bath and literally in minutes this thing was half full of lovely hot water. I took my soap, placed it on the wide wooden teak rim, hung the towels up, put the mat down and stepped in. The bath was at least 3.5 ft deep the water was almost 2.9ft and I literally floated around the thing…most incredible experience. Water was just right first time too.

I thought public baths were going to be naff, but it was very clean and the best bath I ever had in my entire life. We left, tipped the guy and as the building doors closed, that was it…we were the last 2 people ever to bathe there, a great shame!

dfk41

Now you embellish upon my story and having a far better memory!) the baths I used were the same. Wooden surround on the bath, the feeling of floating and scrupulously clean!

Lefteye

Dumnorix my dad had a marina too. Brown. Leatherette retractable sunroof that leaked a bit I seem to remember. Also lovely velour seats. I remember he upgraded the car aerial to a remote one with a switch he’d wired into the dash. Took about 2 minutes for the aerial to go up and down.

DavecUK

Lefteye I remember he upgraded the car aerial to a remote one with a switch he’d wired into the dash. Took about 2 minutes for the aerial to go up and down.

The marvels of modern tech back then….although, in fairness, I was listening to A Dab+ station on the radio, turned on rear screen heater, no radio station, turned it off, back it came….My car a BMWi3, shocking really, that 45 years later, and I can’t listen to the radio with the rear screen heater on!!

Lefteye

DavecUK true. Every time radio 5 goes to the news my car dab radio loses signal for a couple of seconds. Only on radio 5. No idea why.

MediumRoastSteam

DavecUK shocking really, that 45 years later, and I can’t listen to the radio with the rear screen heater on!!

Same on other cars. In my cases, the aerial is part of the rear screen heater lines. Often the first two at the top. The engineers, in their infinite wisdom, never thought of the very likelywood of interference. On DAB, it completely dies. On FM, unless you are listening to a strong signal, it becomes very patchy.

Lefteye Every time radio 5 goes to the news my car dab radio loses signal for a couple of seconds

Radio 4 is exactly the same. If you quickly switch between the FM and DAB counterparts, you find that for the news they are actually in synch. Not necessarily during other programs.

PS: I only listen to BBC Radio4. So I have no idea about other stations. 😉

Lefteye

That’s really interesting. Thought it was some issue with switching to different masts for bits but that makes sense!!

DavecUK

When I were a nipper back in 1968, I wanted Scalextric so bad I could taste it, come Christmas day and I got this.

You can imagine the crushing disappointment, but we were poor, and my parents couldn’t afford it. I still remember what was written on the box “To David for Christmas for being a good boy, Love Mum and Dad”. I didn’t show my disappointment for a moment and tried to make the best of it, actually it was pretty good for what it was. I played with it a lot because I know they struggled to even afford this, which was a major present. It was a racing car that took a C-cell battery, you switched it on, and it drove the wheels, but only forwards, no radio control, wires or anything. 2 years later **I finally got a Scalextrics set…but I always remember the Trick Trak more fondly, funny eh..**Video below, I didn’t have the daredevil set, I had the cross country road rally.

-Mac

I had a similar Xmas thing. I wanted and Atari console and got a knock-off called a ‘Rowtron’ with 50 versions of Pong-type games on a cartridge. I managed to disguise my tears of disappointment as tears of joy.

dfk41

I had rose tinted memories of sneaking into the kids room 25 years or so ago and trying to play Sonic on what was then the most advanced Megadrive. I was never a gamer and always gave up after 10 minutes or so. Last Xmas I saw a new version of the Megadrive with a whole shed load of games built into it, with wireless controllers. I bought it with the intention of spending hours in front of it. I used it once for 5 minutes before realising that what we thought was advanced technology then, certainly is not now!

Rob666

Trik-Trak doesn’t look too bad! I had Airfix which was fine. Later bought second hand Revell from someone at school. Much better! Still have it somewhere. As an aside, slot car racing became a bit like high end coffee. If you wanted the fastest cars for the local raceway the prices tended towards the stratospheric! Only the rich kids could afford to keep up. I certainly couldn’t. Had a lot of fun out of them though.

CafeNoir

Rob666 Oh heck, more memories…I started with a Minic HO set, moved to Scalextric before hitting the “hard stuff” - scratchbuilt 1/24 scale racers with hand built “floating” chassis, ridiculously huge rear tyres, stupidly powerful motors and weighing about as much as a sparrow…even using Magic Marker with hairspray as paint on clear plastic bodies…probably ugly as sin but so much fun.

Recently tried to recapture a bit of it with the Ninco range, but in the end it was all best left in the past, lol - still managed to get my investment back out this time round though, lol

Pompeyexile

What about the stick on Smith’s foil heated elements for the car’s rear window?

Spyrograph! If you did it too hard you’d go through the paper. Everybody did an owl.

Chopper Bike with the central gear stick gear change - I had an orange one.

Kids TV in my time - Watch with Mother, The Woodentops, Andy Pandy, Crackerjack, Animal Magic, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, The Banana Splits, The Double Deckers, Lost in Space, Land of the Giants, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and of course not forgetting Dr Who. Hartnell ,Troughton and Pertwee being the Doctors of my youth.

CafeNoir

Pompeyexile Chopper bike, oh yes, very flash - had to settle for metalflake purple banana seat on my bike, lol

CafeNoir

Pompeyexile Oh lordy, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea…or Bathtub as we smartass young’uns referred.

Gunsmoke, Laramie, Lost In Space..Banana Splits in those cool buggys..Vintage Coro St with Ena Sharples, Get Smart, Early Dr Who and the Daleks with William Hartnell, the Man from UNCLE, McHales Navy, StingRay, Thunderbirds et al.

LMSC

Blackberry, which was one the default corporates’ pride and handset!

Nokia 101 in 1992, Motorola 8000X and Ericsson’s backlit phones.

Some nice write up here!

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