The Good Old Days!

[Guest Squitters]

Hi guys :-)The good old daysIf you lived as a child in the 60's, 70's or 80's, looking back, it's hardto believe that we have lived as long as we have...As children, we would have ridden in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Our cots were covered with bright coloured lead-based paint. We had nochildproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cupboards, and when we rodeour bikes we had no helmets.We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors.We would spend hours building go-carts out of scraps and then ride down thehill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes afewtimes we learned to solve the problem.We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were backwhen the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. Nomobile phones. Unthinkable.We got cut and broke bones and broke teeth, and there were no law suits fromthese accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame, but us.Remember accidents?We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned toget over it.We ate bread and butter, and drank cordial, but we were neveroverweight...we were always outside playing. We shared one drink with fourfriends, from one bottle and no one died from this.We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, video games, 65 channelson pay TV, video tape movies, surround sound, personal mobile phones,Personal Computers, Internet chat rooms ... we had friends. We went outsideand found them.We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or rungthe bell, or just walked in and talked to them. Imagine such a thing.Without asking a parent!By ourselves! Out there in the cold cruel world! Without a guardian - howdid we do it?We made up games with sticks and tennis balls, and ate worms, and althoughwe were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did theworms live inside us forever.Footy and netball had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those whodidn't, had to learn to deal with disappointment.....Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. No one to hide behind.The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of. Theyactually sided with the law - imagine that!This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problemsolvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years has been an explosion ofinnovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success andresponsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.And you're one of them. Congratulationscheers,Steve

[Guest Scott Campbell]

(sigh)...now I'm depressed.Let me add:To drink: Fizzies, Squirt, Duffy's in dozens of dazzling colors and flavors, Hires home-made rootbeer, real sarsaparilla.The milkman left a gallon of milk, a half-gallon of real cream, a dozen eggs on the porch in that square, little white box.Easy-bake ovens. That plastic-melting thingy that burned the heck out of you as it poured all over your hand. Erector sets for less than the price of your bike that had a banana seat, that weighed 200 pounds, and had only 3 speeds - stop, go, and fall over on your head.Floss?Oil-eating contests to see who got the most pimples.Drive-in theaters with all your pals in the trunk.Condoms used only to prevent pregnancy.Standing out on the observation deck at the airport, watching people walk out to the plane - which had the engine running.Steak tar-tar and drinking raw eggs - and not getting sick from e-coli or botchelism or some strange skin-eating disease.Someone leaving a box of fruit on the patio and you ate them because it was just damn nice of them, whoever they were.Knowing your neighbors and actually having a conversation with them without threatening a law suit.Gas being less than 45 cents a gallon.And I'm only 41.

[Guest Squitters]

Hi Scott :-wave"(sigh)...now I'm depressed." :-lol yep it had me reaching for my zimmer frame and ear trumpet :-eek and I'm only 43.5 cheersSteve.

[Vulcan 14]

Ah...those were the days.When most people understood the forumlafreedom = resposibilityToday the ethic of a lot of people seems to be'Blame someone else'and/or'Pass the buck'

[Guest]

I remember too, and I'm only 32 :-waveThose were the days, when you could trust politicians and lawyers. When there was a common enemy, a true Cause to live for (we lived about 10km from several places sure to be on the nuclear first strike list of the USSR...).Parents weren't chastised for driving their kids to school (heard recently that doing so is very bad indeed for the mental health of the kids. Never noticed it in myself which may on second thought mean I'm incapable of noticing things wrong with me :-lol).Speedlimits were enforced by police in fast cars wearing leather jackets and helmets (rather than sitting in a comfortable sedan by the side of the road in shirtsleeve with a lasergun), people could respect police like that.The days when stealing from the cookiejar was unthinkable because you knew you'd be punished and couldn't go to the police and report your parents for torturing you if they slapped you on the wrist.When youth crime was low because children were learned that you respect other people, they learned discipline and social skills rather than just egoism and paranoia.

[Splash_One 0]

Hmmm...What To Say About Being 14...We must walk on sidewalks or cops will stop and talk to us and talk to our parents,we are lectured about drugs every week in school for an hour, over and over abiut the same thing. Then those "Drug Free" people show us these disguting images of what a rotted liver looks like on drugs.Then later that day you see them outside a few blocks away smoking drugs..There are so many steroetypes of teenagers, how we live, gangs, parents worried we will kill ourselfs with drugs, were not like that... we gotta check in ever few hours to make sure im/were (with friends) still live and kicking, gotta be quized by airport security why I am going there. (IU was going to KBLM for the first time, as my old airport closed, and the secuirty guard at the gates said no child play allowed and rudley asked me why I am here, later to find out Im a all-life aviatiopn enthusists, and soon-to-be student pilotat this airport.. You guys lived the good lives, not many worries, you could feel safe pretty much anywhere, you didnt have to worry if your mom or dad will make it home alive from work (My dad worked in the WTC, he camer home 2 days later, all bloodied and duirty) Ill leave it here, I didnt mean to go on that far, sorry about that :(Happy Flying...

[Guest Fortress]

Oh halcyon days Squitters!! And the difference when compared to today make it seem a lifetime ago. I can identify (and remember!) everything you wrote - and for a moment I was back there again.Cheers for that!Paulhttp://www.strontiumdog.plus.com/sbird.jpgOfficially licenced by British Airways plc for use of name and logo

[Guest]

You forgot to add...The best music came from back then. Bands such as The Beatles, The Who, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Chicago, Cream, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Fleetwood Mac, Rolling Stones, CCR, The Doobie Bros...The list goes on and on. My personal favorites: - Lynyrd Skynyrd- The Who- ChicagoThe thing that ruined music: The 80's (but we'll leave it at that, hehe)----------------------------------------------------Jeff M.

[Guest]

How about building treehouse without the threat of a tree hugging left wing enviormentalist or the city code enforcment officer taking a intrest in your project for one reason or another.

[Guest]

Jeff, Wow are you with the Cia? lol Ive been to see just about all of the groups you listed in concert. These are truly class acts. This crap they listen today drives me up the wall. So much for the enforcement of noise disturbance laws. I know when we were growing up and listened to our music. The parents probably thought the same thing about the music. At least we knew when to turn it down if we saw a patrol car coming. The only thunder one will hear coming from my house is when a Nascar race is running. What ever happened to the saying " I fought the law and the law won?":) Tony

[Guest]

Tony,Hehe, I am only 16! Though I am very mature for my age, and love to listen to all that with my dad... I listen to his old 45s all the time, with endless music from the Beatles, Cream, Chicago among a few. I'd give up anything for a chance to see the original Lynyard Skynyard. - Ronnie Van Zant - Steve Gaines - Allen Collins - Artimus, Billy, and the rest!I have seen The Who, unfortunatley it was AFTER John Entwistle's death. The "OX" was my facorite... though I also loved Keith Moon (from what I've read and seen).To live one day in the 60's as a kid would be so awesome. It is one of my dreams. I feel as if I belong there! Oh well.Well, off to the music...------------------------------------------------Jeff M.

[Guest dkukla]

OK, now you did it! You got me back there also. Gonna show my age here but have a few things to add to your list from a Aircraft/Airport perspective.I grew up in Chicago, a warm Sunday drive to the old Midway airport with Mom and Dad, go up on the roof Observation Deck, smell the kerosene, watch all the prop (recip) aircraft loading, taxiing, and taking off! Still have some old 35mm slides of the old Braniff liveries stashed somewhere.Sitting in the backyard and watching old TWA Constellations fly over heading to the new O'Hare Field. Tons of DC3's and others. Back when there were no noise avoidance restrictions and you could always catch a "connie" flying over the house at 2AM heading somewhere. The birth of the "Red Eye". Noise problems around O'Hare, give me a break, the cows and chickens never complained.Never flew in any of them till I was probably in my teens but I did spend a lot of time building plastic models! Lots of "WAR" planes, P51's, B17's, B24's, etc. and had them all hanging from thread(s) from my bedroom cieling. Crooked decals, some sloppy paint, but I could lie in the bed and look up, and dream!I remember the neighbors all running out onto the front porches pointing skyward when the unique sound of the Goodyear Blimp was heard nearby. Ah yes!Add about a decade to this and you can include: jet aircraft (old 727's) that would knock all your pictures sideways from all the noise and left a trail of black smoke in their wake. 707's that did about the same. Little packs of cigarettes they gave out free on every flight that had 4 Winstons in it. Smoke anywhere on the plane, booze was free in the 2oz bottles.... stewardesses (Excuse me "flight attendants") were all "foxes" , people actually got dressed up in suits and dresses to travel, and sparks flying out of the cowling was OK.All the pilots looked like WWII heros, tanned, healthy, weathered, and you envisioned the white silk scarf blowing in the breeze during the pre flight. They were also the ones that pointed out everything enroute, the cities, rivers, canyons, and ex girlfreinds houses. Kinda made you feel real comfortable up there!Yup, enjoyed those days, things sure have changed!

[Guest Leesw]

>I grew up in Chicago, a warm Sunday drive to the old Midway >airport with Mom and Dad, go up on the roof Observation >Deck, smell the kerosene, watch all the prop (recip) >aircraft loading, taxiing, and taking off!I grew up in the '60s right beside CYVR. Me and my friend used to ride our bikes over to the airport and spend the day wandering around. There were no fences in a lot of areas so you could walk right onto the tarmac and around the hangers and the GA and business aircraft without anyone caring much, as long as you stayed clear while aircraft were taxiing. Once we hand-turned the prop on a Cessna and a mechanic with a couple of missing fingers told us that was not a wise move.One day we took an 8mm movie camera and walked around the tarmac below the main terminal making movies of the DC-8's and 707's at the gates, until someone shooed us away.If we were really adventurous we would occasionally go inside larger aircraft if the doors were open. Once a Pregnant Guppy made a stopover there for a couple of days. We just climbed in and wandered around the aircraft. We sat in the crew seats and pretended to be pilots. People saw us but nobody bothered us, I guess they figured we wouldn't be able to fire up the engines. I still have some pictures of that Guppy.

[Guest Joe]

Ahh, yes! The simple days. There are many things I miss. Though, I'll never miss not having air-conditioning.Had a window fan and screens on the house. That kept the air moving and the skeeters out. But, 80-85 degrees with 95% humidity at night would be hard to go back to.Joe Sumrall[big]B[/bIG]USH [bIG]F[/bIG]LYING [bIG]U[/bIG]NLIMITED ...at home in the wild

[Guest]

Being a child of the 60's-70's I can relate. My home was abutting an airport where you could peer out the back windows with binoculars and watch just about everything going on the field.As kids we could burrow through the fence and play army in the field between the neighborhood and the taxiways. The area we played in was full of gulleys and disposed of concrete drainage boxes that made for neat outposts. Dirt clod fights were cool and you were always on the lookout for the airport maintenance people called to chase you off. If you got caught it was very uncool. Today you would be in federal court.The noise of an F-101 or F-4 taking off was nothing. Today people complain about a 757 at 4000 ft.You rode your bike everywhere, and to get real adventurous you took the major excursion - a 3 mile ride to McDonalds. You didn't have much money to spend when you got there but it was the journey that mattered. We lived and died for baseball, both plastic and real "hardball" versions. To have a basketball goal made you the envy of friends.They were great times and great experiences and yes, the music was much much better. Thumping bass was a fishing term.