BS: Old Farts Thread

Subject: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Rasener
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 02:18 AM

This thread is for old farts to moan about the current generation, and remenisce over old times and generally be an old fart. Any old moan is allowed LOL

Rememeber the good old days when law and order was law and order.
Remember the days when hospitals were clean and run efficiently.

Go on have a good old moan!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Raggytash
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 03:28 AM

We used to dream about the good old days, your good old days were not a patch on the one's before that, come to think of it, the one's before that were even better.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Micca
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 03:43 AM

Thats the trouble with Nostalgia...........its not what it was!



But it will be again, someday....

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 03:44 AM

Remember the days when a Fender Strat, complete with the rectangular 'Tweed' case, cost £153/15/6d (and it was a PROPER American one because they ALL were!)?

Remember the days when schools made and enforced rules?

Remember the days when parents and pupils understood and accepted the need to obey rules?

Remember the days when going home and telling your parents that you'd received a punishment at school for disobeying the rules resulted in you getting further (and usually harder) punishment from your parents?

Remember the days when 'We' and 'They' were more important than 'I' and 'Me'?

Remember the days when doors could be left unlocked all night and all your possessions (ALL?? Perhaps I mean 'what few possessions you had') would still be there in the morning?

Remember the days when people read books and wrote letters, and could write proper sentences using complete words which were correctly spelt (or do I mean 'spelled'? D'oh!) and punctuated?

Remember the days when young people expected to start work at the bottom, and to climb the ladder step-by-step by dint of honest diligence and effort?

Remember the days when the boss told you to do something and you did it because he was the boss, and had the right?

Remember the days when a person was allowed to have their own thoughts and ideas, their own likes and dislikes simply because that's how they felt, and they weren't required to justify themselves and answer to the Holier-Than-Thou-PC-Wazzocks when they had the temerity to express them?

Remember the days when there were no Holier-Than-Thou-PC-Wazzocks?

I could go on and on and on and on and...................zzzzzzzzzzz!

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Raggytash
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 03:47 AM

When I were a lad the times were so bad
but not quite so bad, as when me dad was a lad
but when me dad were a lad, things were nearly as bad
as when me dads dad were a lad

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Rasener
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 04:44 AM

>>Remember the days when doors could be left unlocked all night and all your possessions (ALL?? Perhaps I mean 'what few possessions you had') would still be there in the morning?<<

LOL We had no possessions, but we would never leave door unlocked. Not in Birmingham.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: David C. Carter
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 04:48 AM

We never left our doors unlocked.

They'ed all been stolen!

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Folkiedave
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 04:56 AM

Form a club!!

The old farts of the Sheffield Folk Music scene (retired that is) meet monthly, go for a superb meal at the local college's catering department where a fantastic three-course lunch costs £5.15 and we somehow manage to get the bill up to £12.00 each.

Of course the staff are mainly trainees and they have been known to make amusing mistakes. We were once asked what wines we wanted and looking around the table there were two or three who could be identified for various reasons as being non-drinkers on that day. So we asked for "one red, one white". Along came one glass of red and a glass of white.

"Bottles dear, bottles......."

Dave Eyre Founder member Curmudgeon's Club.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Andy Jackson
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 05:00 AM

Today is tomorrow's rose coloured yesterday.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 05:00 AM

Hence the move to The Backwoods, Les?

I was serious, BTW - me old Gran NEVER locked her door, day or night, in or out. Nothing ever went. In those days it was said that it was a point of honour amongst burglars that they never burgled their own class. I think it was more a case that 'working-class' people had nothing worth stealing!

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Rasener
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 05:07 AM

I beleive you John. A move anywhere from Birmingham was good enough LOL Actually my first move from Brum was Graingmouth in Scotland. Hoots mon.

At our old address in Market Rasen 2 years ago, we left our front doors open the whole day and left things like bikes in the front garden. Even forgot to lock the doors at night most of the time. We never got broken in to or anything nicked.
Shame we don't feel the same way at out new address in Market rasen.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Michael
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 05:10 AM

When we were all out we locked the door (back - front doors were for funerals) and hung the key on the nail in the coalhouse. Thats what EVERYBODY did. We never put the nail there, presumably houses were built with one in!

Mike

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 05:36 AM

Deal me in.

Remember Black Sambo bubbly gum (am I allowed to say that ?) - Black Jacks at 4 for a penny (1d !) Fruit Salad ditto ; hard Spanish ; 2oz of kali for 3d ;

Childrens' Saturday matinees at the pictures, and the posh kids - those who didn't wear pumps in summer and wellies or clogs in winter - were the ABC minors and sat in the ninepenny seats ;

Proper football boots that had to be dubbined ; scooters with large wheels for Christmas ;

You got a door key on your 21st birthday and not a second before ;

Polices on foot ;

Penny candles for farting matches and for going to the petty in the dark at end of yard ;

Mam saying to Da - how many times have I t tell you to bring the plastic bucket up - that enamel one makes too much row !

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Rasener
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 06:20 AM

Oh the memories Bryn,

The gollywog on Robinsons Jam. Whatever happened to that?

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: topical tom
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 07:23 AM

Ah, Big Little Books, pulp magazines, the old grammaphone (remember that term?), The Lone Ranger, Amos and Andy and so many more radio programmes!



    God bless the "good old days" and selective memory!

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: David C. Carter
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 07:35 AM

Helping the milkman on school holidays.Do they exist anymore over in the UK? Milkmen,that is!
Sticking my head out the carriage window.Getting a face full of smoke.
My mother giving the chimney sweep a cup of tea when he'd finished cleaning the chimney.
The smell of the Sunday roast cooking whilst listening to the Navy Lark,Billy Cotton,Familly Favorites etc.
Going to the "oil shop"to buy bamboo sticks to make bows and arrows.

I'm gone for Kleenex!
David

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 08:00 AM

"The gollywog on Robinsons Jam. Whatever happened to that?"

Fell victim to the baying pack of Holier-Than-Thou-PC-Wazzocks, Les.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: A Wandering Minstrel
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 08:16 AM

At least Janet and John are back!

but I still miss Maltona Drops and ISIRTA!

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 08:31 AM

OK, here's my gripe. By the way, it seems everyone who has posted so far is British. Mine is an American problem. Does this happen in Britain, too?

Once upon a time people used to obey speed limits. Then, during the 1973 oil crisis the US government imposed a national speed limit of 55 mph. Before that, speed limits were a state and local concern.

The new limit was obeyed at first, then speeds gradually crept up. It got so that, if the posted limit is 55, people think they have a right to go 65. If the limit is 65, they think they can go 75. And they get away with it. The police wouldn't DARE to try to enforce the limits as they are posted.

In fact, a lot of people treat the limit as if it were a lower limit. If you obey the limit, people will honk at you, tailgate you, zoom past you at the first opportunity, and blame YOU for creating a traffic hazard.

This really pisses me off, but I don't know what to do about it.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 08:49 AM

Remember the days when children didn't get shot to death in school playgrounds ?

I despair

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Rapparee
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 09:18 AM

I remember being beaten up on the way to school, at recess, and after school. During school the teachers hit me and at home I was spanked for the least little thing. We never had enough food and our clothing was rags cast off by beggars and tramps. Everyone obeyed the law, however, and that's how I got my first good meal: I was arrested for straying outside the crosswalk and sentenced to thirty days in jail and they served me watery gruel and moldy bread but boy! was it good.

In school (if we weren't eaten by a saber-tooth tiger during the forty mile walk we had, through partially frozen quicksand and hot molten lava) we learned about tensor calculus, quantum mechanics, fractals, reading, and memorized the complete works of Shakespeare. In second grade things got hard.

Oh, the memories! The memories!

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: KB in Iowa
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 09:48 AM

I had to walk five miles in the snow to school every day.
Uphill both ways.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 10:06 AM

Jim, my 'speed-limit' gripe is those who, whilst driving in a 60 limit, insist on only doing 45. Then, when they enter a 30 limit, they insist on still doing 45.

Mr. or Mrs. Constant-Speed is what Mrs. Backwoodsman and I call them.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 10:08 AM

"Remember the days when children didn't get shot to death in school playgrounds ?"

The truth is that the VAST majority, maybe 99.999999%, still don't! But I know what you mean - one is too many.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Midchuck
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 10:19 AM

It got so that, if the posted limit is 55, people think they have a right to go 65. If the limit is 65, they think they can go 75. And they get away with it. The police wouldn't DARE to try to enforce the limits as they are posted.

In fact, a lot of people treat the limit as if it were a lower limit. If you obey the limit, people will honk at you, tailgate you, zoom past you at the first opportunity, and blame YOU for creating a traffic hazard.

This really pisses me off, but I don't know what to do about it.

1) Eliminate speed limits, for a short time, and clock all the cars' speed.

2) Set new speed limits at the 85th-percentile clocked speed, i. e. the speed that 85% of the drivers voluntarily drive less than. The logic is, if more than 15% want to drive faster, you can't enforce the limit anyway.

3) (This is the hard part) Set up drivers license exams that really test ability to drive - not just point the vehicle.

4) Outlaw automatic transmissions. If a person needs an automatic, he can't really drive anyway. If he can use a standard shift but doesn't want to, it means he doesn't want to be bothered paying attention to his driving, so he shouldn't be driving.

5) Set the same penalties for using a handheld cell phone while driving a car, as for drunken driving. Statistics show they're equally dangerous. (Yeah, it's true, statistics can show anything you want them to, but in this case my own feelings about the matter agree with the statistics.)

6) Forbid anyone from driving a car with a horsepower greater than his age in years. Since people would turn to very light cars in order to be able to get up to highway speed, there'd be a tremendous energy saving.

I'll think of more later.

Peter

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 10:32 AM

Frozen Jubbly at 4d a go.

Flying saucers (the kali ones, not the aliens' transport).

Mnnchester City reserves for sevenpence ha'penny.

Farthings in change.

Mild beer at 10d the pint.

Rudies with Maureen in the park shelter.

Park-keepers who put a stop to rudies . . . )

Rudies on the railway cutting..

Cycling everywhere with no fears.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Wesley S
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 10:39 AM

KB in Iowa - sorry you're mistaken - that was my dad that had to walk uphill in the snow to get to school. With holes in his shoes. And that was springtime in Duluth.

I remeber wing windows on cars, looking forward to the next issue of the Flash or Green Lantern and being able to ride my bike anywhere.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Rapparee
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 11:38 AM

Ha! I had to walk five (5) miles UPHILL BOTH WAYS through snow up to my eyebrows just to use the Internet!! And it was text-only, too!

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Bert
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 11:54 AM

I think we should start a speed limit club. A convoy of friends who drive through downtown or on the freeway at the speed limit at rush hour. The congestion would get so bad that they would have to set reasonable limits instead of speed traps.

Remember when we had a bus pass and went to school on the regular bus along with the grownups. We got a whacking once from the headmaster for singing on the bus.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Sooz
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 12:08 PM

ISIRTA is on BBC7, Wandering Minstrel.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Rasener
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 12:51 PM

Do you remember the arrowroot sticks, that tasted like liqourice and made your jaws ache.

When Cinemas were called fleapits.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: David C. Carter
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 01:07 PM

And they played the National Anthem at the end of the evening,accompanied by a stampede of people rushing for the exit.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Rasener
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 01:15 PM

LOL I remember that.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Donuel
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 01:25 PM

Jim D.

There is nothing you can do, but if you are whacky enough to do as I do you can get a init that charges up cars and has an inverter for plug in appliances like stereos. Mount speakers and sub woofers in the grill (damn the radiator) or uner the rocker panels. connect the stereo ,with a CD player mounted in the front seat, to the speakers.

When the speeders pass you release pause of the sound effects http://www.a1freesoundeffects.com/vehicles.html of car horns skidding, crash impacts or train horn complete with the pitch distortion caused by motion.

With enough distance you can sit back and enjoy the self absorbed speeder rubber neck himself into a broken neck.

A similar effect can be done with holography at night but it is a bit pricey.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: David C. Carter
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 01:38 PM

I can still recall the groan that went around the cinema when PEARL & Dean adverts came on the screen.

And the Ice cream lady.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: GUEST,Winger
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 02:43 PM

... and white dogshit in the streets.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 03:21 PM

4) Outlaw automatic transmissions?

I remember the "good old days" when it was legal to buy a car with a manual transmission anywhere in the US. Sometime ca. 1970 or so, the move to legislated emission limits led to the virtual outlawing of manual transmissions in California. The extreme lean mixtures used to lower emissions led to a tendency to violent "knock" if one "lugged" the engine, and rapid destruction of the engine was a main result.

Since an automatic transmission can be "profiled" so that it can't slow the engine down to the "hard knock" range, it immediately became completely impossible (and illegal since none were "certified") to purchase a new car in California with a manual transmission. Elsewhere in the US, manual transmissions became much less popular with the auto makers, and manual transmissions were "deprecated" in many areas.

There's still little (less) choice for buyers in the US, except to some extent in the "big hunkers" that are so popular here.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Kampervan
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 03:29 PM

And playing marbles in the gutter.

Scabs on your knees where you'd fallen over on the road.

Carts made from pram wheels, a plank, and a pair of little wheels at the front. You were a king if you had a set of good pram wheels.

Pea shooters and dried peas.

Being scared of the police cos they'd clip your ear, or worse, tell your Dad and then he'd do the same.

Not being afraid of the police if you wanted help.

Your Mum and Dad packing a picnic when you went on a drive fromGrimsby to Leicester, cos it was going to take all day. (O.K), so maybe that hasn't changed much!)


Bananas being delivered to the greengrocers in big coffin-shaped wooden boxes.

Butter arriving from Denmark in wooden tubs and sold loose at the corner shop.

The list goes on............

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Big Phil
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 06:24 PM

The Groat, Farthing, Half Penny, Penny, Three Penny Bit, Tanner, Shilling, Florin and the Half Crown, I remember them well.

When a quid would take you and the girlfriend out for a drink, get a bag of chips to share, and have money left for a gallon of petrol for the motorbike, those were the days.

When tatty picking [ half term to the PC brigade ] was spent on the local farm, up to your eyeballs in mud, picking the spuds.

Long days spent on the Farms after school haymaking, following the Corn Binder and stacking the corn sheaths, and if you were lucky, and she was willing, a quick grope of the farmers daughter on the way. Those were the halcyon days of our lives.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Folkiedave
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 06:43 PM

Do you remember the arrowroot sticks, that tasted like liquorice and made your jaws ache.

Damn - I thought they were liquorice!!

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Rasener
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 07:21 PM

The Coronation and bonfires in the street and everybody being nice to each other.
Letting off fireworks and eating hot chestnuts.
When British Industry was the best in the world and we didn't have unemployment.
When Gary Sobers hit 6 sixes in one over at St Helens in Swansea. Nobody mentioned the fact that it was the shortest boundary. I know because I have failed at short point on that ground and I was on the boundary.
When we could tell jokes about the Scotsman, Irishman, Welshman and Englishman and nobody would bat an eyelid.
When Syphilis and gonorrhea were the worst sexual diseases you had to worry about. Oh the shame LOL
Where you threw blotting paper soaked in Quink Ink at the teacher when his back was turned.

Those were the days.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Bert
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 09:34 PM

Oh! and the Doctor's Spanish (liquorice) that was a hard black stick that lasted for ages.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 20 Oct 07 - 04:14 AM

"When tatty picking [ half term to the PC brigade ] was spent on the local farm, up to your eyeballs in mud, picking the spuds."

Never heard of Tatty Picking, Phil. It was 'Spud Bashing' here in The Backwoods! :-) :-)

"Letting off fireworks and eating hot chestnuts."

Yes Les, and on ONE night of the year only - Guy Fawkes (or to give it its 'proper' name here in The Backwoods, "Bonfire") night, 5th November - and it had to stop at 9pm. Let fireworks off any other time and that big red-faced police sergeant ALWAYS showed up, confiscated your fireworks, gave you a thick ear, and told your dad so that he could give you one the other side. Unlike nowadays, when brain-dead wazzocks let off fireworks on any flimsy excuse, at all hours of the day and night, on any day of the year. Dickheads, the lot of 'em.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Rasener
Date: 20 Oct 07 - 11:49 AM

Couldn't agree more BWM

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: bobad
Date: 20 Oct 07 - 11:57 AM

In my day if you came home after school and told your parents you got whacked by the teacher, you'd get another one because you must have done something to deserve it. Nowadays the parents would be launching a lawsuit against the school and teacher.

"Mercy, mercy me - things ain't what they used to be"

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: GUEST,Beachcomber
Date: 20 Oct 07 - 01:05 PM

O Tempore, O Mores,
Sic Transit etc..
What the ----s gone wrong?

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: GUEST,Andy
Date: 20 Oct 07 - 01:11 PM

When school teachers wore tweed jackets with leather patches on the elbows. Spangles and Omo washing powder. When all 'respectable' women scrubbed and donkey-stoned their front doorstep and black-leaded the firegrate. Washing day was Monday and took all day, with blue bags and starch and the kitchen was full of steam from the copper boiler. Fish on Friday and The Ovalteenies. Happy days.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Peace
Date: 20 Oct 07 - 04:36 PM

Jujubes at four for a penny (one cent).

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: David C. Carter
Date: 20 Oct 07 - 06:58 PM

Fish and chips wrapped in newspaper.

Spring,Summer,Autumn and Winter.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Ebbie
Date: 20 Oct 07 - 09:45 PM

Man. You all had idyllic childhoods. It is sad that your present- day lives are so dangerous and fearful.

I must say, though, that it strikes me that the "happy days" were from your perspective, not that of the adults, i.e., "When all 'respectable' women scrubbed and donkey-stoned their front doorstep and black-leaded the firegrate. Washing day was Monday and took all day, with blue bags and starch and the kitchen was full of steam from the copper boiler. Fish on Friday and The Ovalteenies. Happy days." Right. Downright halycon.

When I was a young'un, we were a large family with a huge house with five exits; so far as I know we didn't have a door key.

Before we moved to the 'big house', we lived in a small house and attended a one-room country school two and a half miles away. I was in first grade and I and the sister who was five years older than I had to leave home much earlier than the four other kids because I walked too slow.

One day a neighbor stopped in his pickup truck and offered us a ride to school. My sister was aghast but I agreed shyly and climbed happily in. We got to the school house a half hour before the teacher got there who gave us a stern lecture. And a scolding from our parents later that day.

But oh, I remember that forbidden fruit! Growing up as I did, I rarely got to ride in a motor vehicle. (Yep. I too walked in snow up to my arm pits, uphill both ways. And sideways, too.)

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Michael
Date: 21 Oct 07 - 04:03 AM

Does anybody (UK) remember when for some reason (Strike?) - late 50's - there was no school milk and we got Horlicks Tablets instead?

Mike

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Micca
Date: 21 Oct 07 - 05:22 AM

Do you remember when certain foods were Seasonal? there were only Strawberries, Fresh peas, Raspberries and other fruits and New potatos available for a few weeks each year, now they are almost year round, they dont taste of anything much, but are available.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 21 Oct 07 - 05:32 AM

We used to dream about eating a banana when we were kids.

eric

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 21 Oct 07 - 05:40 AM

Fireworks in the back yard - and anywhere else you could get away with it!

Remember when you could play your instrument properly?


:-P

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 21 Oct 07 - 07:00 AM

I think it all started to go wrong about the time Pukka Pies started to be sold in chip shops. I chart the moral decline of our nation from the first chicken and mushroom pie - that was the start of all this fast living. Too much too soon - and then beast of carnal desire was loose amongst us. 1971, I think it was.

When my uncle came to visit us from the USA in 1965, he asked for some pizza pie when we asked him what he wanted to eat - and of course we had no idea of which he spoke. I think Americans have always been a bit racier and more flamboyant in that way than us.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Rasener
Date: 21 Oct 07 - 12:42 PM

Stirling Moss and Graham Hill

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: John J
Date: 21 Oct 07 - 01:46 PM

Re: unlocked doors, I remember that we didn't have a lock on our back door - so it couldn't be locked!

JJ

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: JennieG
Date: 21 Oct 07 - 10:51 PM

Our house had one key and it was kept on the high shelf outside the back door, whoever got home first let themselves in. Mind you it was in a country town and not The Big City where I now live.

Geez.....I wouldn't do that now!

Like Ebbie I remember wash day every Monday - boiling the copper to get hot water and my mother in a bad temper all day. And if the wooden stick holding the clothesline fell down and the clean washing dragged on the ground it was best to keep out of the way for a while.

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: theleveller
Date: 22 Oct 07 - 03:27 AM

Personally. I'm still looking forward to creating a lot more nostaligia for the future - that's why I started the GODS (Growing Old Disgracefully Society). Anyone over the age of 50 can join. All you have to do is - well, I don't have to tell you, do I?

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: theleveller
Date: 22 Oct 07 - 08:45 AM

"When all 'respectable' women scrubbed and donkey-stoned their front doorstep and black-leaded the firegrate. Washing day was Monday and took all day, with blue bags and starch and the kitchen was full of steam from the copper boiler."

Hmmmm. That describes my grandmother and she died when she was 59.

A couple of years ago our prat of an MEP suggested that he made his wife clean behind the fridge. It hit the national press and there were reporters camped outside his house for days. Hopefully, he won't be standing again (and not just for parliament if his wife's got anything to do with it).

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 22 Oct 07 - 09:06 AM

The great thing about white dog shit was that you were never short of something to chalk a wicket on a wall.

Spangles, did somebody say ?

Adventure, The Rover, The Wizard, The Hotspur.

Penny chews, and the consequent trip to the dentist to have the filling replaced.

An injection ? Are you a pansy or something ?

The Cisco Kid. Ninepenny comics - Kit Carson, Buck Rogers.

Cap guns, and penny bangers that would blow a milk bottle apart.

Long trousers when you were 15 and not a day before.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: The PA
Date: 22 Oct 07 - 09:20 AM

Best thread for ages! Everything I can think of - someone else has just beaten me to it!
Except for putting pennies (old ones) on the railway line (steam trains of course) and seeing them flattened when the train went over them.
Oh and the smoke at Snow Hill station in Brum. Milk being delivered by horse and cart. Mom swares thats where I get my passion for horses from, and taking over 12 hours to get to Cornwall and not minding at all.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Rasener
Date: 22 Oct 07 - 09:32 AM

>>Oh and the smoke at Snow Hill station in Brum<<

I remember that PA and the nightclub underneath the arches of Snow Hill (can't remeber the name of it now).

Aston Villa the only Birmingham Team LOL

Ansells & M&B Breweries.

Massive GEC site at Witton Birmingham

Same for Lucas & Fort Dunlop

West Indian & Jamaican bus drivers & conductors on the buses of Birmingham after WW2.

Cadburys & HP Sauce

The Bull Ring and old market.

Speedway Racing at Birchfield Harriers when Whacker Hunt was the supremo.

Aston Villa beating Manchester United in the 1957 FA Cup final

The very sad Munich air disaster.

Ahhh those were the days in good old Brum :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: The PA
Date: 22 Oct 07 - 09:59 AM

Ha Villan, the Queens Hotel, bet you cant remember where that was !!

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 22 Oct 07 - 10:03 AM

Riding on the running boards of Dad's very old car Ford Model A 1927 which he owned when when we lived in our second house between 1959-66.

Bread being delivered! And eating the soft bits when we got the half loaf wih the extra bread (I wonder what the folks did who got the other, smaller half of the loaf!)

Folks up the road getting TV. This was a few years after TV started in Oz (1956) & everyone visited to watch it.

Bofires on the paddock next to us (we were surrounded by Green Belt land, set aside for a highway built about 20 years after my parents bought the house). Our bonfire was bigger & our cracker night was always better cos Dad managed a garage & brought home tyres & other good stuff. The Gough St gang tried to steal our tyres, but us William St kids defended them. I assume we didn't steal anything from their bonfire cos ours was better, but ya never know, with memory being what it is.

Our home & the few nearby were not sewered cos of the expected highway, so I also remember the Dunny men coming weekly to remove the full can from the dunny down the back. Naturally the dunny did not have a light & was surrounded by trees & bushes & spiders, not the place to visit late at night. I can also vaguely remember Dad burying contents of said can if it filled too quickly.

We even had a creek down the road & kids came from everywhere the day someone saw a dead sheep floating in the creek. After that it was always Dead Sheep Creek. The creek was later tamed into pipes & is buried somewhere under the highway.

I can't go back to childhood houses as they are all gone - the house Dad's father built in 1916 was burnt & ready for demolition the day we saw it about 10 years ago. Our next house went when the highway was constructed in the mid 70's & our last house also went under a later section of that highway in the late 70's/early 80s.

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Rasener
Date: 22 Oct 07 - 11:45 AM

Don't remember the Queens hotel. Wasn't it knocked down in the early 60's?

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: The PA
Date: 22 Oct 07 - 11:50 AM

Well now, The Queens Hotel would have been just to the right of the 'ramp' which now takes you up to the shopping centre above New Street Station. So, I suppose if you stood with your back to New Steet and the back entrance to the Midland Hotel it would have been just in front of you. But my memory goes back to the early 60's for the Hotel and the mid 70's for the directions.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Midchuck
Date: 22 Oct 07 - 11:53 AM

"Texas 1947" by Guy Clark:

Now bein' six years old, I had seen some trains before,
so it's hard to figure out what I'm at the depot for.

Trains are big and black and smokin' - steam screamin' at the wheels,
bigger than anything they is, at least that's the way she feels

Trains are big and black and smokin', louder'n July four,
but everybody's actin' like this might be somethin' more. . .

. . .than just pickin' up the mail, or the soldiers from the war.
This is somethin' that even old man Wileman never seen before.

And it's late afternoon on a hot Texas day.
somethin' strange is goin' on, and we's all in the way.

Well there's fifty or sixty people they're just sittin' on their cars,
and the old men left their dominos and they come down from the bars.

Everybody's checkin', old Jack Kittrel check his watch,
and us kids put our ears to the rails to hear 'em pop.

So we already knowed it, when they finally said 'train time'
you'd a-thought that Jesus Christ his-self was rollin' down the line.

'Cause things got real quiet, momma jerked me back,
But not before I'd got the chance to lay a nickel on the track.

Chorus
Look out here she comes, she's comin',
Look out there she goes, she's gone,
screamin' straight through Texas
like a mad dog cyclone.

Big, red, and silver,
she don't make no smoke,
she's a fast-rollin' streamline
come to show the folks.

Look out here she comes, she's comin'
Look out there she goes, she's gone,
screamin' straight through Texas
like a mad dog cyclone.

. . .Lord, she never even stopped.

She left fifty or sixty people still sittin' on their cars,
and they're wonderin' what it's comin' to
and how it got this far.

Oh but me I got a nickel smashed flatter than a dime
by a mad dog, runaway red-silver streamline. . . train

Chorus

This means Guy is just a few months older than me. I was 6 in the late fall of 1947. Cool!

Peter

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Donuel
Date: 22 Oct 07 - 12:11 PM

Everything that was old is new again.
Especially in the new great Depression.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Rasener
Date: 22 Oct 07 - 12:22 PM

Down the middle of the station ran Queens Drive. One entrance was in Hill Street and the other in Worcester Street. Queens Drive serves the modern New Street Station but the Hill Street entrance is in a different place. The entrance near the Bullring is close to where the old one was, however. The splendid Queen's Hotel, an LMS station hotel, was on Stephenson Street and survived until at least 1966 before being replaced by what is now known as The Pallasades.
Here is a great website with one on the photo's showing the hotel.
Photo's of New Street Station

My brother worked for George Wimpeys at the time and worked on the Rotunda from start to finish.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: fat B****rd
Date: 22 Oct 07 - 01:01 PM

The Sun and Comet comics with Red Indians who went Aiyeee !
The Bumper Bundle on Family Favourites.
Burl Ives "Big Rock Candy Mountain" and "I know An Old Lady" on Childrens' Favourites.
Buddy Holly on The London Palladium.                                 The Everly Brothers on the Perry Como Show
On a darker note, The Christie trial and execution. There was a boy in our class called Trevor Christie, poor kid suffered for a little while. Aren't children cruel?.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: GUEST,Winger
Date: 22 Oct 07 - 01:30 PM

Do you remember the arrowroot sticks, that tasted like liquorice and made your jaws ache.

Damn - I thought they were liquorice!!

Damn - I was told they were Cadbury's!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: skipy
Date: 22 Oct 07 - 03:29 PM

I'm Home!
Skipy.
I'll have good moan later

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 04:12 AM

Yes, and comics where the good guys (British Tommies, of course) said

'Take that, Squarehead!',

and the response from the bad guys (German soldiers, of course) was

'Ach, you Englisher pig-dog'.

Trains from Withington and West Didsbury Station to Edale for seven and fourpence return

Workmans' bus fares.

Bus guards (conductors).

Sherbet lemons. Kali suckers with hollow lickrish 'straws'. (Coughing fit optional).

Fabric boxing gloves.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: David C. Carter
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 04:20 AM

Sherbert Dabs

Toffee apples

Bike clips.On Guy Fawks we used to ram as many"penny bangers"as we could in a drainpipe, and stand back and wait for the terrific"thud"as the lot went off at once.

Desperate Dan and Cow Pie.

David

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 04:35 AM

The 'Eagle' with Dan Dare and Luck of the Legion.

Plastic catapults for sixpence that broke at the first pull.

Fountain pens for a shilling. School ink made from ink powder
(I was the ink monitor).

Cock fighting at school (trying to pull one another's privates off).

'Seasons' for marbles ; conkers, of course ; pea shooters ; etc.

Slides when it had snowed - the Health and Safety police would be out with salt, today.

Leather case-balls ('caseys') for soccer and netball which also had to be dubbined.

@Bangers' in the outsized comics (The Beezer, The Topper).

I'll take a back seat for a bit - didn't mean to monopolise this thread.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: The PA
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 04:41 AM

Hi Villan, I was looking at exactly the same website yesterday afternoon trying to find a picture of the Queens Hotel!! I love old pics of brum.

Back to moaning, why do people have to race everywhere? I drive at a reasonable speed. Most of my journey to work is along single track bendy lanes where you have absolutely no idea whats round the corner. Its a lovelly morning here, whats so bloody wrong with taking your time and enjoying the view. If you're in a hurry try getting up a bit earlier and leaving a bit earlier. Just stop blowing your bloody horn at me it will not make my foot press any bloody harder on the bloody peddal. And if the toddler in the Corsa behind me keeps flashing his bloody lights I'll be everso tempted to slam on my brakes and he can see what the arse end of a bloody Range Rover looks like stuffed up his nose!

Thank you, I'll have my cup of tea now.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Folkiedave
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 05:00 AM

Snobs - no, not a drift from the class thread - little squares of wood you tossed up and caught on the back of your hand. Then doing various things like picking them up one at a time whilst balancing them on the back of your hand. If you couldn't afford wood - you used stones.
Taught me hand /eye co-ordination.

Mind it taught it me badly.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Rasener
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 05:11 AM

Wasn't that called jackstones Dave.

I used to play that a lot. Great game. Shame it isn't popular anymore.
I don't know, what theses young wipper snappers miss out on these days.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: The PA
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 05:30 AM

Marlies! In our street the girls we'nt allowed to play marlies, we did skipping. What happened to skipping and the rhymes you sang in the playground. Its all make-up, piercings and hair straighteners these days.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 06:13 AM

Anyone like to start a thread on skipping rhymes they might have used ?

With me, it was a case of the girls saying 'will you turn up for us, Bryn', meaning would I spin the rope.

All those pairs of knickers - ooh - dip thi bread !

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 08:24 AM

"Wasn't that called jackstones Dave."

It was always 'Snobs'here in the Backwoods Les. Never heard of Jackstones - must be another daft Brumagem expression, summat along the lines of 'Aston Villa'. LOL!

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Rasener
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 08:39 AM

There you go BWM Jacks or Jackstones Oh you backwoods people, so uncouth LOL :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Rasener
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 08:42 AM

Is hopscotch played anymore

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: The PA
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 08:47 AM

Only on-line, probably. Imagine it, virtual hopscotch !!

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Mooh
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 08:49 AM

What I miss is the company of my family. My parents and one sister are gone, my generation is the oldest in the family, one of my kids lives away and the other is a typical very busy teen who doesn't often have time for me. The bride and I hang tough though, cellphones and email connects us with far flung siblings in a way that phones and snail mail can't. In a few short years the focus has shifted from one generation to the next, and old fart or not, we stay vital by staying with the times, accepting new folks into the family and circle of friends.

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Art Thieme
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 05:02 PM

Being old allows me to see the world and my youth through MOROSE colored glasses---and then, having the wisdom that accrues with age, I can now enjoy the luxury of insights and philosophies that sustain a person as ancient as this quite admirably!

Art

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Joe_F
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 09:23 PM

Hopscotch is still played in Malden, MA. I see the chalked patterns on the sidewalks fairly often.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Mickey191
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 09:58 PM

Love to know what happened to good manners? Since this is old farts domain--I know some or most still hold the door for people. Half never say thanks.

What's happened to shame? Now, if you one is exposed for doing some dastardly deed, people seem proud or try to blame others. Case in point: "If I did it."

Where has good grooming gone? I went to a meeting the other night and half the women looked like they just rolled out of bed or wrestled an alligator.

Everything has changed-not for the better. One last gripe--Why is it that teenagers cannot enunciate and show articulation? Don't they teach that in school anymore?

Why is it that old farts start acting like regular old farts? JEEZE!!

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Rasener
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 03:37 AM

>>Where has good grooming gone? I went to a meeting the other night and half the women looked like they just rolled out of bed or wrestled an alligator.
<<

Maybe they are folkies or just strapped for cash, or maytbe they had just got out of bed or indeed wrestled an alligator. :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: The PA
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 05:32 AM

I think good grooming is just a habit you get into. At all of my schools, from infants to leaving, uniform was not any sort of option and there were no variations. Regulation skirt, blouse, tie, cardigan, socks, shoes, gabardine mack, leather satchel etc. In working life I've always been office bound, which meant suits. When I worked at the Chamber of Commerce women were not even allowed to wear trousers! though that was a few years ago. It starts with school, and depending on how the rules are enforced, it stays with you. Its the schools you see, too bloody soft by half. Uniform should mean uniform and bloody half measures. No trainers should mean no trainers.
I didnt come from a well off family (Green Lane, Small Heath, for those in the know) but you obeyed the rules.

Are there any rules these days?

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Folkiedave
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 05:52 AM

Nostalgia is cle3arly not what it used to be.

Well somebody had to say it!

Hang on there are some men in white coats at the door.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Rasener
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 06:35 AM

I was always a suit person mainly due to work. However since I am not working, I utterly detest suits, jackets, ties.
I would much rather be casual and comfortable.
The school that my daughters go to are very strict on uniform and it works. So maybe not everything has changed. They are also well mannered.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 06:59 AM

They tried to con me into 'dress casual Friday' at work.

I pointed out that i dressed casual in my own time out of work to get away from work related stress, and normally dressed with a tie at work.

So since I didn't want to ruin my personal leisure time by dressing in the same clothes I had worn on Friday at work, I agreed to compromise by not wearing a tie at work any more!

Management seemed unable to cope with this creativity!

:-)

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 07:41 AM

Limpit's new school (Secondary) is very strict on uniform rules and will send children home if they are not correctly attired - and that includes shoes and socks.

It's my ambition to be an old fart... but I'm not happy about waiting to get old first.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: The PA
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 08:03 AM

Our office does casual on Fridays, just the morning as we finish at lunchtime. Cant get used to it though.

And, when did 'tradesmen' as they are called these days, stop carrying a pencil behind their ear. It is some bloody health and safety thing.

How old do you have to be to be an 'old fart', for all I know I may not be one?

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 08:20 AM

Hi, PA

'Old Fartdom' is more a state of mind than a chronological thing, I think.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Mickey191
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 08:27 AM

The PA: You'll KNOW-Intuitively-You'll KNOW.

Someone said: Old age is when one thinks of a bed as a place to rest one's weary bones and not a FUN place!

Villan, Maybe they are folkies or just strapped for cash......

Your implying that cash poor or being a folkie means unkempt and dirty. I've been broke a few times in my life-but could always manage a comb & a clean face. I think some people just don't give a rat's ---.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Rasener
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 08:47 AM

Mickey
>>Your implying that cash poor or being a folkie means unkempt and dirty. I've been broke a few times in my life-but could always manage a comb & a clean face. I think some people just don't give a rat's <<

Have you been to a festival LOL How many folkies comb or brush their beard? I think some of them like to catch all the crumbs etc in it and save it for breakfast next morning LOL

I agree, having a shower/bath and keeping oneself clean is something everybody should do. No excuse.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Rasener
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 08:50 AM

An old fart is anybody over 100 LOL

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Rasener
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 08:52 AM

Seriously
If you look at a 20 year old and think they are good looking and wish you were 30 years younger!!! Well maybe you are an old fart.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 10:16 AM

Hi, Villan

After a week at Sidmouth, it wasn't washed I needed as much as sandblasted

(Only joking)

There was also Letterkenny F F with Red Branch Morris, and the hum off us was rare and powerful. Even Christian baptism couldn't have rescued my whites. I stripped them off and they took themselves off to the laundry basket. In those days perhaps Mickey 191 might have been right - we were too busy dancing, drinking and whoring to have given a rat's arse.

I was a young fart in they days.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: The PA
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 10:33 AM

Have added this post to another thread about answers to other peoples silly questions, thought it fitted in here too.

Just taken a phone call at work - "is Mr ********* about?", to which I answered "yes" followed by silence.

I think she meant "is Mr ******** available, can I speak to him".

She was obviously completely stumped and after a while repeated her question to which I replied, "yes he's at his desk". She still didnt get it, got in a strop and bellowed "well can i speak to him" I just quiely said "yes of course, I just thought you were enquiring as to his whereabouts".

Is this Old Fart progressing into Grumpy Old So-And-So. Hope So!

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 10:48 AM

I can do Grumpy. I can fart as well. Must be a Grumpy Old Fart.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: Rasener
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 02:39 PM

BWM just warn me when you plan to do one of those LOL

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: The PA
Date: 25 Oct 07 - 11:16 AM

Almsost slipped out the back door. They cant get rid of us that quickley. Ruddy kids.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 26 Oct 07 - 09:25 AM

I'm a Crank Old Fart.

Finally got fed up with Telemarketers and a recent spate of 'crank calls' - they hang up as soon as I answer - think it could be certain people checking to see if I'm home (I know I'm paranoid, but I do have a reason to believe this - which I won't go into)...

So I got the Message answering service - to which I will put a message that basically says - "Tough Titties - I will not be listening to any message sent."

:-)

Well the nutters will hang up as soon as the answering service answers, so they will think I'm at home!!!! :-)

and the telemarketers waste their money anyway.... I am on the Govt 'Do Not Call' list which they ARE SUPPOSED to take notice of....

:-)

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 26 Oct 07 - 09:30 AM

Ok I'm a Crank too, but I meant to say CRANKY Old Fart....

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: GUEST,Neil D
Date: 26 Oct 07 - 10:44 AM

Why is it that old farts start acting like regular old farts? JEEZE!!


    I should think an old fart would be happy to be "regular".



How old do you have to be to be an 'old fart', for all I know I may not be one?


    When you ache in the places where you used to play.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Farts Thread
From: GUEST,Jim Dixon
Date: 26 Oct 07 - 01:48 PM

I once read: "An egocentric pessimist is a person who thinks he hasn't changed, but the world has gotten worse."