The small things you miss from days gone by ...

Sassafras

Conversation.
Unprocessed food.
Casual, unprotected sex.

kaypeejay

thecolourbox said:

Jalapeno said:

Getting 1/3 pint orange juice bottles (same size as school milk) from the milkman

The milkman

School milk (stopped before I left primary school - thanks to Thatcher the milk snatcher)

The Corona van (on Friday) (that also did 6d returns)

Worldwide Family Favourites

"Underground" section of record shops

Record Shops

We still have a milkman

Us too. How do you think new kids are conceived?

guitars4you

Fretwired said:

Walking into a record store to buy a single or album and then running home to listen to it all the way through whilst reading the liner notes (LPs)

Airfix kits.

How true about the Album - I recall who I was with when I brought some albums in the 70's, especially when at school - It wasn't just the album, it was the memory and story to go with it

And yes I made shed loads of Airfix kits - Even brought the small toy soldiers, made a sand pit and had reenactment battles during school holidays with mates - Afrika Korp v 8th Army

Clarky

running home with a new album..
reading all the stuff on the sleeve [lyrics, instruments, where it was recorded etc etc] whilst listening to it and recording it onto cassette [so I don't wear it out]..
then spending the following days and weeks learning how to play all of the songs
it was like some sort of adventure

boogieman

hollywoodrox said:

Some kids at school had James Bond and six million dollar man watches , i yearned for these

I desperately wanted the Corgi James Bond car that fired the passenger through the roof. Never got it. 

Bridgehouse

phil_b said:

There’s still plenty of rotund people around

guitars4you

boogieman said:

hollywoodrox said:

Some kids at school had James Bond and six million dollar man watches , i yearned for these

I desperately wanted the Corgi James Bond car that fired the passenger through the roof. Never got it. 

I had one - I hope that shows my age more than been 'rich' - I also recall the Bat mobile but can't recall if Corgi or not 

guitars4you

capo4th said:

Porno mags 

assume you mean finding them near a tip, down the woods, or similar and not buying them

You can almost add 'shit' VHS versions of some porn - Ultra crap quality - Thank the Lord for pornhub - at least we have some improvements in life

guitars4you

Cadging a lift on your mates push bike - Is that the right spelling ?

Some might say a Yamaha FS1E - But my mum never allowed me to have one - She use to work in the Emergency Ward and seen to many bad accidents 

thecolourbox

phil_b said:

Isn't that how it looks today? Well apart from the weather

Sassafras

Capstan Full Strength fags. In fact all untipped cigs.
All cigarettes taste the same these days. Either that or smoking has killed my taste-buds.

Sassafras

phil_b said:

Viagra will get you back on form.

Sassafras

Proper cannabis resin.
I used to enjoy a relaxing smoke of red or gold Leb in the evening. All you can get now is that filthy skunk crap.

thecolourbox

Sassafras said:

Capstan Full Strength fags. In fact all untipped cigs.
All cigarettes taste the same these days. Either that or smoking has killed my taste-buds.

To be fair, the smokers at work all have about five spoons of sugar in their coffee so I imagine that is the case

merlin

Sassafras said:

Proper cannabis resin.
I used to enjoy a relaxing smoke of red or gold Leb in the evening. All you can get now is that filthy skunk crap.

I remember my dealer having three or four kinds of different combustible loveliness. Rocky that was compressed pollen, red and/or yellow Leb, some grass, occasionally Thai sticks, sticky black that was charas, temple balls..... 

Those would have been the days, if I could remember them. 

thermionic

hollywoodrox said:

Going down the arcades and seeing how much money you could find in the bottom of penny shovers etc  getting 5 or 10 pennies then changing them for silver.  Collecting all the empty pop bottles on a caravan site and cashing them in. Collecting pop bottles from anywhere and cashing them in . Guy - ing on the lead up to guy fawkes night , sometimes instead of making a guy we would dress up like pirates or whatever and knock peoples doors ,saying do you remember the 5th of November the poor old guy , a hole in me stocking a hole in me shoe so could you spare a copper or two, if not a penny an happeny will do if not an hapenny well god bless you.  Trick or treating ,with a hollowed out swede lit with chopped up candles or a tea light if available , the smell of the burning swede on a cold frosty night , knowing it was soon bonfire night and Christmas and collecting enough money to buy an album if you’re lucky for about £3.50.  Using the school hymn book to go round peoples houses singing carols for change,  fruit machines that didn’t take a degree to understand them - the feeling in the pit of your stomach as it lights up saying nudge now and trying to get something to line up and win.  Getting a large dome nut like off a car wheel , tearing up a whole packet of paper caps into single dots ,pushing them in the dome nut, getting a bolt and screwing it in the dome nut , throwing it up in the air and the amazing bang as it hits the ground .  Having small fires , experimenting with burning different things , nothing destructive. Burning plastic would make amazing sounds as small molten pieces dropped off. One of my friends made some lead bars  by having a fire in this brick shed like a pig sty at the bottom of his garden , he put lead off the building site in the depression of LBC bricks and got these perfectly formed little bars of lead. He also had a pet crow and had rabbit skins curing in the garden , and a fox skin with a hole in the head where he shot it. , he also had a load of mice , his vicious Alsatian. Had to be restrained when I visited though as it didn’t like people and was loose round the back . Another friend had a vicious dog called patch with one blind eye which his dad kept On a chain , the trick to this was to flatten yourself against the wall , and even when it was strained at it’s neck on it’s rear legs it’s jaws were just out of reach if you were skinny like me as a kid , it took many weeks before I got the courage to do this but once I had it sussed it was just a minor concern . It was to dissuade debt collectors ,bailiffs , customs and excise etc .

I don’t know about you, but right now I miss... paragraphs.

Philly_Q

randella said:

The slow trickle of new music.  I dunno, streaming's great and all, but I remember getting one album and rinsing it instead of mindlessly flicking through billions upon billions of choices.

axisus said:

Buying an album 'blind' not having heard any music from it. It's so easy to pre-check stuff these days.

I remember my first - I bought Rush's Caress of Steel in 1980. None of the record shops had Permanent Waves (Spirit of Radio was riding the singles charts), and I just liked the look of the cover. The only Rush track I had ever heard was SoR.

Maybe I beat you to that copy of Permanent Waves back in 1980...

But I agree, I miss the effort that went into finding new music.  Reading reviews in the music papers, maybe hearing a track on the Friday Rock Show, then trawling around record shops trying to find a copy.

Two weeks' pocket money was just enough to buy an album, so I'd walk the 5 miles into town and 5 miles back again.

Looking through the sale sections in HMV or Virgin, picking up import albums by bands like Starz, Ozz, Marcus, The Hunt, Headpins, Fortress, Toronto, 1994:, Legs Diamond... they all seemed like discoveries from antiquity but they can't have been more than 4 or 5 years old at the time.

And in case no-one's mentioned them, Cabana and Nutty bars.

ThePrettyDamned

Pogs. I used to love them.

equalsql

Walking into my local newsagent and lusting after the Airfix kits hanging in plastic bags from the rotary display.

Buying those stencil kits where you could rub down transfers of airplane, dinasours etc on printed backgrounds.

Chips for 4p and Fish for 12p

Visiting Woolworths and gazing at the Audition electric guitars on show wishing I could afford the 13 quid for one.

Wishing I had enough pocket money to buy a Picnic bar...luxury!

Being told my the person at the till that I was cool when I bought the vinly single of You're So Vain by Carly Simon whilst most others in the queue were buying Blockbuster by Sweet

Drinking crap fake cola cos (yuk) I couldn't afford the genuine Coca Cola.

Corona!

axisus

Blue tits pecking the tops off of milk bottles for the cream. Little beggars!