For those of you born before 1986

According to today’s regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s probably shouldn’t have survived, because:

Our baby cots were covered with brightly coloured lead-based paint which
was promptly chewed and licked.

We had no child proof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on doors or
cabinets and it was fine to play with pans.

When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just flip-flops and fluorescent ‘spokey dokey’s’ on our wheels.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or airbags - riding
in the passenger seat was a treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle and it tasted the same.

We ate chips, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy juice with sugar in
it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.

We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or can and no-one
actually died from this.

We would spend hours building go-carts out of scraps and then went top
speed down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.

After running into stinging nettles a few times, we learned to solve the
problem.

We would leave home in the morning and could play all day, as long as we
were back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us and no one
minded.

We did not have Play stations or X-Boxes, no video games at all.

No 99 channels on TV, no videotape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no DVDs, no Internet chat rooms.

We had friends - we went outside and found them.

We played elastics and rounders, and sometimes that ball really hurt!

We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones but there were no law suits.

We had full on fist fights but no prosecution followed from other parents.

We played chap-the-door-run-away and were actually afraid of the owners
catching us.

We walked to friends’ homes.

We also, believe it or not, WALKED to school; we didn’t rely on mummy or
daddy to drive us to school, which was just round the corner.

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls.

We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore our coats by only the hood.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of…They actually sided with the law.

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem
solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years have been an explosion of
innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and
responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all. And you’re one of
them. Congratulations!

This my friends, is surprisingly frightening…and it might put a smile
on your face:

The majority of students in universities today were born in
1986…They are called youth.

They have never heard of we are the World, We are the children, and the
Uptown Girl they know is by Westlife not Billy Joel.

They have never heard of Rick Astley, Bananarama, Nena Cherry or Belinda
Carlisle.

For them, there has always been only one Germany and one Vietnam.

AIDS has existed since they were born. CD’s have existed since they were
born.

Michael Jackson has always been white.

To them John Travolta has always been round in shape and they can’t imagine how this fat guy could be a god of dance.

They believe that Charlie’s Angels and Mission Impossible are films from
last year.

They can never imagine life before computers.

They’ll never have pretended to be the A Team, RedHand Gang or the Famous Five.

They can’t believe a black and white television ever existed.

And they will never understand how we could leave the house without a
mobile phone.

Now let’s check if we’re getting old…

You understand what was written above and you smile.
You need to sleep more, usually until the afternoon, after a night out.
Your friends are getting married/already married.
You are always surprised to see small children playing comfortably with
computers.
When you see teenagers with mobile phones, you shake your head.
You remember watching Dirty Den in EastEnders the first time around.
You meet your friends from time to time, talking about the good Old days,
repeating again all the funny things you have experienced together.

Yes, you’re getting old!!

100% gold…

Yes I’m getting old but I cannot think of anything there that wasn’t true…

It just seems a real shame that no-one is going to get to experience/understand that anymore…

Brilliant piece!

Yeah … nice one Chuffster … so true!!

Kids nowadays don’t know they’re born!! he he!

Like that post!

I’d just like kids today to walk or cycle to school, - rather than have their blind flid of a mother drive them in some 4x4.

Apologies to those forum members who have blind flids as mothers!

the only time roads are anywhere near ok is always on school holidays…

That is so true, we did have a great time as kids.

What do they have now fack all, it makes me think about my first motorbike when it broke I fixed it, now most kids today go its facked I will get a mechanic to fix it mummy and daddy will pay or they nick a new one

I was born 8/1/1980 so remember big party in january all are invited SH*T im 26 feeling old now

The girlie pictured below in the kitchen was born in 1980.

When I first started seeing her, she didn’t get a lot of our TV related gags!

She hadn’t even seen white dog **** FFS!

how very true! falling out of trees, crashing my grifter (remember them?)

no claims direct , compensation culture back then!

can you also remember trying to organise a night out before mobile phones?

A web site for anyone who used to play on the streets in the late 70’s early 80’s!

http://www.thebullockdynasty.btinternet.co.uk/

Great post Chuffster, I think about this from time to time, seein as I’m so old I can actually remember the moon landings on the black and white telly!!!WTF?

We all got our Appolo airfix kits and glued them together lol

It seems we’ve lost so much, everything seems so innocent back then.

Maybe it gets like that for every generation - but the 20th century is unique in the rate of change/progress that went on.

I’ll never forget watching the final Concorde flights go out from Heathrow - on the way to museums around the world, and this right at the beginning of the 21st century??

Funny old world innit?

So true, you made me feel old though :’(

Nice one chuffster! So I’m not as young as I first thought, boo hoo… hehehe… spokey dokeys, loved em! Oh my youth… Sounds like we were tougher and smarter as kids than todays.

Even coming from a very different background I have to say that most of it fits the bill to me!

Well damn, I was born in 1987… I guess I didn’t understand it then

-Hennessy

i was born 82 but most fits me, love the bit about playin out all day and bin back befor its dark the good old days

Hey Streetgang, I had a grifter … that sucka was heavy but just about indestructible! … I had so much fun with it!!

excellent. those were the best days!. i had a grifter too (silver). remember the colours for gear changes?.

i was born in 71.

Yellow green red were they not?

My little bro had a Grifter, I was stuck on my (even then) Commando - which was like one of those American bikes the rugrats from ET rode.

I was born before 1971…

“I was born before 1971…”

Yep we gathered that but how many decades before?

cheeky scrote

1966 if you must know. 3rd Jan if you care.

If you do the maths, that means Im in my last month of being a 30something.

At least most surveys have a 35-44 age bracket