In my day ...

[olbriar]

I remember when McDonald's first came to town. There was no indoor dinning or drive through window. You walked up to the window and gave your order. You could buy a hamburger for a dime, a cheese burger for twelve cents, and fries were twelve cents. They also sold sodas, malts, and fried pies. It was an all male staff that always got your order correct. Griff's Burger Bar hit town about the same time as McDonald's. Their prices were the same but the food was a bit better. Goes to show you what marketing can do. Griff's didn't make it.

In my youth the stop signs looked like this.

Yes... yellow!

One of my earliest memories was the major construction of a four lane highway running through my state. It was to be funded by being a toll highway for a few years. Sixty years later it's still a toll road.

I remember when these were the keys to a good time

For opening a soda bottle or a canned beverage.

Used to adjust and tighten your skates.

I enjoyed the ability to strike this anywhere I cared to.

The first car I drove had a small fan attached to the dash. It could be directed toward the windshield for defrost or toward the driver for cooler travel. And the windshield wipers were vacuum operated so they all but stopped working when you stepped on the gas. Gas for the car was regular or ethyl. Regular cost between seventeen and nineteen cents a gallon. The gas was dispensed from a pump similar to this.

 

[mikedt]

In my day, a "tweet" was a sound made by a bird.

 

[mikedt]

In my day, helmets for bicycles didn't even exist.

They still don't do they?

 

[Zigman66]

When I was young I thought the TV was simply a device to watch Walter Cronkite on. I didn't know for years that there WAS anything else to watch. Then we got to see the first moon landing. I couldn't even fathom what I was seeing

 

[Clementine_3]

Speaking of TV's, in my day I (and my siblings) were the remote!! For ALL 3, maybe 4, channels. Oh, rabbit ears. Yup.

I do remember when we first got cable, the remote had push-buttons and a toggle and was wired to the cable box. But wow! That was something for sure, super modern.

 

[Member2035261]

^^ ninja:d on the TV theme as I wrote

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In my day, there were colours only in my local area and anywhere my parents drove to on the weekends.

I really didn't want to visit America or England until around 1969/70 when finally colours were introduced globally. It looked like a drab and dreary world. up til then

Tennis players could finally see the ball better at Wimbledon, I remember that was the first thing I noticed on the TV.

 

[olbriar]

The first thing I saw on color TV was the rose bowl parade. A neighbor had recently purchased a color TV and invited everyone over for the big parade. Parents in lawn chairs and kids on the floor we beheld the new wonder of color TV.

 

[lunatic59]

My father brought home a 13" RCA portable color TV in July of '69. The first thing I remember watching on it was the broadcast of the lunar landing ... which was ironically broadcast in black and white.

 

[Member243850]

In my day you could walk onto an airplane and you were allowed to see the cock pit of the plane to see the pilots and get to see all the tons of kick ass controls and I loved it! But was always scared I might accidentally push the wrong button / lever or something so usually like the chicken I am just took a quick look and happily went to my seat

I remember it well when I was a super small fry / lightie.

I was very young I think like 7 years old (and a little bit undisciplined) as well and I did some small experiments of frames of reference running up and down the plane isle and was extremely lucky because there were like only 2 people on the aircraft (I am literally not kidding! XD don't ask me why it was so vacant and why there were so little people lol I have no idea lol haha) in Dubai so I started running up and down the center isle feeling the speed increase as I ran "against" the plane and then struggling with strain to go forward "into" the plane.

It was very fascinating lol

But then the air hostess started yelling at me hahahahaha getting all cross with me XD but it was lots of fun though

It was just my brother and I and the sitter we had to look after us on the plane (my only sibling / brother is 2 years older than me so we were very very young) and I'd say about another 2 or so people ... I wonder why it was so extremely vacant / empty? But very interesting thought isn't it as to why the plane was so vacant?

And nope this is not a dream lol it was for real hehe

I got a very rare opportunity to actually do that kind of experiment with frames of reference running up and down the plane hehe - it was so awesome!

haha lol funny story

I don't think you'd be able to do this today though

 

[dontpanicbobby]

In my day "I'm Done!" meant I've finished. Now "I'm Done!" means I'm frustrated?
Welcome to opposite land.

 

[olbriar]

In my day, every boy could make a kite out of sticks and yesterday's news. The news today is far to heavy to fly.

We all had one of these and would fight them in a ring.

One of these

And a bag of these

Simple innocent times. I wish the children today had such a world.

 

[mikedt]

In my day, our toys didn't have these phrases, warnings and approvals on them.

In my day when I was 3 or 4, this is how I made music.

With it's lovely red high lead content paint.

 

[olbriar]

It's a wonder, Mike, that any of us lived to tell the tale of all the leaded paint we chewed on as kids. I never had a toy piano. I did have a small harmonica that was a lot of fun. We all had a whistle. We made them from the metal strapping that crates were banded with back in the day. The strap had a hole in it every inch or so. We'd bend the strap at one hole and break it off at the other two holes. Putting the strap in one's mouth and a bit of practice you could produce a heck of a shrill whistle. What a memory lol.

 

[mikedt]

In my day, battery operated toys didn't require screws to hold the battery covers in place.

 

[olbriar]

I had but only a few battery operated toys. I recall a car that had a cable from the rear to a flashlight like battery controller. You turned it on and it's headlights came on and it moved forward. What was really clever about it was the trunk opened and within was a jack, tire iron, and a spare which could be used to actually change the tires.

One of my favorite toys would be far too dangerous for the market today. It was a wood burning set. It consisted of an electric iron much like a soldering iron. You could place different shaped/sized tips on the iron and you used it to burn art into wood disks... or your arm.

Speaking of burning... a little known fact: The lens from a discarded bathroom scale held at the perfect angle on a sunny day can reduce an ant to ash in nothing flat.

One last interesting fact: A really ripe watermelon will split open when slapped sharply as it sets in the field. I learned to slap, eat, and run very quickly in my day.

 

[Clementine_3]

One of my favorite toys would be far too dangerous for the market today. It was a wood burning set. It consisted of an electric iron much like a soldering iron. You could place different shaped/sized tips on the iron and you used it to burn art into wood disks... or your arm.

I loved that wood burning set! And yeah, a few blisters never stopped us. It is a wonder, such safe toys and no supervision! Well, no helicopter parents like today.

My mom had a vague idea where we were but not really haha

 

[olbriar]

I loved that wood burning set! And yeah, a few blisters never stopped us. It is a wonder, such safe toys and no supervision! Well, no helicopter parents like today.

My mom had a vague idea where we were but not really haha

It was a great toy. I think they advertised it on the Woody Woodpecker Show. My sister landed a charcoal art set with easel, paper and coals of different shades that same year. That was our exposure to the arts and crafts lol.

And your mother didn't have to know exactly where you were every minute years ago. Certainly a different time.

 

[SolApathy]

In my day...we had less than 30 genders.

 

[Clementine_3]

In my day...we had less than 30 genders.

You just came really close to owing me a new laptop!! Yep, that was a coffee spitter

 

[SolApathy]

lol. you are welcome

 

[Unforgiven]

 

[dontpanicbobby]

None of those left in the parts of Boston I frequent. Even the wall modules are disappearing

 

[Member243850]

In my day our house didn't talk to us!

 

[dontpanicbobby]

Really?

 

[lunatic59]

In my day our house didn't talk to us!

Ours did, but it was poltergeists, not Google or Alexa.