Ah, the good old days...really?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

looksee wrote: »

Er, lads, just for the sake of appearances, do ye think ye could keep the chat on some sort of topic. I mean, you could have all this chat in the off topic thread, but at the moment we have three rambling threads I don't mind really, but you never know when we might get an audit or a mystery shopper.

Yes, this morphed into the weather thread, which has rambled way beyond the weather event it, in turn, was designed for.
We're old, we're inclined to ramble. But like most of our generation we comply with reasonable requests without grumble.


While flicking through the TV channels I thought how deprived we were years ago with just a couple of channels, in black & white, that we had to get up and turn a dial to tune in. Vertical hold slipping, horizontal hold then waltzing, and the long wait for the set to warm up.
The wireless wasn't much better.

Good old days? Never!

looksee

Do you remember the truly horrible early attempts at colour - and the brief earlier phase of a coloured transparent thing that you stuck in front of the screen and it pretty much randomly coloured bits of the picture?

Graces7

looksee wrote: »

Do you remember the truly horrible early attempts at colour - and the brief earlier phase of a coloured transparent thing that you stuck in front of the screen and it pretty much randomly coloured bits of the picture?

Our posh neighbours had that! and their TV was huge and in a highly polished wooden cabinet

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Graces7 wrote: »

Our posh neighbours had that! and their TV was huge and in a highly polished wooden cabinet

We hadn't the colour transparency but my fist tv had wooden rolling doors like a bureau but vertical - very stylish!

Jellybaby1

When we got our first colour TV I didn't like it very much. I kept getting headaches watching it and my eyes felt strained. I wanted to go back to Black and White. Himself said 'stick with it, it'll settle down eventually"! Wasn't sure if he meant the TV or the headaches.

looksee

I remember at the time thinking I would rather have good black and white than the horrible, garish colour.

Graces7

What is this thread about again? Oh yes, the good-maybe old days! Right at home here with that. Basic it is ! No modern junk! Well, except the laptop but hey that does not count!

My brother made a cat's whisker radio.. now that was clever ...

Box brownie was THE camera, black and white... Poor peacock was disgusted..

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Graces7 wrote: »

What is this thread about again? Oh yes, the good-maybe old days! Right at home here with that. Basic it is ! No modern junk! Well, except the laptop but hey that does not count!

My brother made a cat's whisker radio.. now that was clever ...

Box brownie was THE camera, black and white... Poor peacock was disgusted..

Yes, had the homemade radio in a shoe box too. And the box brownie & older.
But give me most of the modern "junk" any day. Crystal clear reception on the DAB radio, with specialist channels. Digital TV - love it!
The digital camera I can take or leave but must admit it's versatility is astounding and we wouldn't have any of the incredible uploads of photos on the Nature forum without it. I prefer the 35mm SLR myself.

Hence 'good old days - really?'.
Simpler- yes, easier - probably not overall.

I have to say, for me, the comforts of modern life trump most of the nostalgia. I threw out the rose coloured glasses years ago.

Ah, the rose coloured glasses....remember them?

looksee

Yes, we got them as a wedding present...

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

looksee wrote: »

Yes, we got them as a wedding present...

Always useful in a marriage.

Rubecula

I have to be honest here I am something of a Luddite. Despite being trained to work on aircraft I wish I had stayed in a lower technical role.

Graces7

Rubecula wrote: »

I have to be honest here I am something of a Luddite. Despite being trained to work on aircraft I wish I had stayed in a lower technical role.

accidental , cirumstantial or deliberate luddite?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Stepping in to the house, having felt the chill settling in to the evening while in the garden, I threw a switch and within minutes the house was warm. Reminded me that years back you'd have to put a match to the fire (assuming it was set), wait a while and then one room would be warm. I still light the fire but those days of chilly rooms, frost inside widows on a winter's morning, and a general dampness about the house can all take a running jump to the dark cupboard that holds the not so good old days.

garancafan

Maxine Clean Barefaced wrote: »

Stepping in to the house, having felt the chill settling in to the evening while in the garden, I threw a switch and within minutes the house was warm. Reminded me that years back you'd have to put a match to the fire (assuming it was set), wait a while and then one room would be warm. I still light the fire but those days of chilly rooms, frost inside widows on a winter's morning, and a general dampness about the house can all take a running jump to the dark cupboard that holds the not so good old days.

Ah yes. I remember chilblains and slacked fires and arriving 20 mins early for my piano lessons so that I could thaw out my fingers. All of this was before the arrival of the Aga. Ah the Aga - it changed our lives!

looksee

I almost never put on the heating upstairs, I prefer cooler bedroom - and I have just remembered that the small window in my bedroom has been wide open all day. Still the house is rarely very cold. In the house I grew up in there was (naturally, it was a while ago) no central heating, no insulation etc, and while kids are very adaptable and I did not think anything of it at the time, the bedrooms were arctic! Cold lino under your feet first thing! And the frost patterns on the windows. I have no desire to give up the heating!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Looking back, I wonder where my mother stored all the heavy winter coats, that were strewn on the beds in Winter in an attempt to keep us warm, when summer came. We hadn't much in the way of wardrobes nor storage and I can't recall ever seeing them anywhere but across the beds.

Jellybaby1

I have no idea where you are all coming from with your lovely warm homes these days. Our heating used to be great but recently just doesn't do the job so we are going to have to have it checked out soon - its gonna be expensive I bet. As a child I was rarely cold in my parents' home as our mum would have been up early and had the gas fire on so we could get dressed cosily. She was the one who braved the cold on our behalf. On returning from school the open fire would be lit and the room lovely and cosy just for us. Mums were, and are, wonderful!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Just remembered that old Billy Connolly joke.

Mrs Connolly had the parish priest visiting and having tea. There's bedlam in the room upstairs.
"Will you be quiet. I'm trying to talk to father Flanagan."
"It's him, mommy, He has taken more than his fair share of the coat."
"What are you talking about, coat. There's no coat in there. The coats are all in the cloakroom. It's an eiderdown, you stupid Boy"

Some time later Bedlam, bedlam, bedlam,
"Will you stop that, in there! I won't tell you again."
"It's him, mommy, it's him again."
"What's he doing this time?"
"He is shoving his legs through the sleeves of the eiderdown."

Jellybaby1

I remember that joke very well. Hilarious!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

I have no idea where you are all coming from with your lovely warm homes these days. Our heating used to be great but recently just doesn't do the job so we are going to have to have it checked out soon - its gonna be expensive I bet. As a child I was rarely cold in my parents' home as our mum would have been up early and had the gas fire on so we could get dressed cosily. She was the one who braved the cold on our behalf. On returning from school the open fire would be lit and the room lovely and cosy just for us. Mums were, and are, wonderful!

La De Dah with your gas fire! We didn't even have gas.

Jellybaby1

I can beat that! We didn't even have plumbing! If we are going down that road my friend I can beat you every time.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

I can beat that! We didn't even have plumbing! If we are going down that road my friend I can beat you every time.

Neither had we. I put the water and toilet into my parents house when I started working and earning a few bob.

Them were't days!

Jellybaby1

Maxine Clean Barefaced wrote: »

Neither had we. I put the water and toilet into my parents house when I started working and earning a few bob.

Them were't days!

House? House? You were lucky! We didn't even have a house. Seriously.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

House? House? You were lucky! We didn't even have a house. Seriously.

Did I say house?

I meant a paper bag in the middle of a septic tank.

garancafan

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

I can beat that! We didn't even have plumbing! If we are going down that road my friend I can beat you every time.

Oh no - we're not back to the whips again, are we? Is there a fetishist loose amongst us?

Jellybaby1

Maxine Clean Barefaced wrote: »

Did I say house?

I meant a paper bag in the middle of a septic tank.

Here we go again!

Graces7

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

I have no idea where you are all coming from with your lovely warm homes these days. Our heating used to be great but recently just doesn't do the job so we are going to have to have it checked out soon - its gonna be expensive I bet. As a child I was rarely cold in my parents' home as our mum would have been up early and had the gas fire on so we could get dressed cosily. She was the one who braved the cold on our behalf. On returning from school the open fire would be lit and the room lovely and cosy just for us. Mums were, and are, wonderful!

Echoing this.. same here now. The solid fuel stove is my only heating. And the sun on the kitchen window later in the day

I like it this way.

I well remember waking to the terrible bed companion of a cold hotwater bottle, and not daring to stretch out to the icy arctic of cold sheets

And I was on fire duty as I was first home from school,,

looksee

I'm in the early stages of building a house and am looking at air-to-water with underfloor heating. Looks interesting, though I am not sure its going to be as easy on electricity as I am promised. I might have to get a windmill in due course! The whole housebuilding thing is so different now than it was even a few years ago, with the rules and regulations and requirements. On the whole I think it is good, but its proving very expensive. It will be a very modest little house!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

looksee wrote: »

I'm in the early stages of building a house and am looking at air-to-water with underfloor heating. Looks interesting, though I am not sure its going to be as easy on electricity as I am promised. I might have to get a windmill in due course! The whole housebuilding thing is so different now than it was even a few years ago, with the rules and regulations and requirements. On the whole I think it is good, but its proving very expensive. It will be a very modest little house!

One of my daughters has underfloor heating. I wouldn't be a fan. It never seems as warm as it should in the house, it's certainly not very controllable and seems harder on electricity. Have a long look first and talk to people with it.

looksee

I won't take this discussion any further away from 'the good old days' Srameen, I am investigating though, thanks for your comment.