nelly Posted January 14, 2008 Report Posted January 14, 2008 Another old gem I came across while deleting old e-mail. Nostaglia For Those 50+ Close your eyes...and go back in time...before the Internet or the Mac. Before semi-automatics and crack. Before Sega or Super Nintendo, Shopping Malls...way back... I'm talking about hide-and-seek at dusk. The Good Humor man. Red light, green light. The corner store. Hopscotch, butterscotch, double dutch, jacks, kickball, dodgeball. Mother May I? Red Rover and Roly-Poly. Hula-hoops. Running through the sprinkler. The smell of the sun and licking salty lips. Wax lips and mustaches! An ice cream cone on a warm summer night; chocolate or vanilla or strawberry or maybe butter pecan. A Cherry Coke from the soda fountain at the corner drug store. Wait... Watching Saturday morning cartoons...short commercials...Fat Albert, Road Runner, He-Man, The Three Stooges, and Bugs. Or staying up for Gunsmoke. Or back further, listening to Superman on the radio. When around the corner seemed far away, and going downtown seemed like going Somewhere. A million mosquito bites. Sticky fingers. Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, Zorro. Climbing trees. Building igloos out of snow banks. Walking to school, no matter what the weather was. Running 'til you were out of breath. Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt. Jumping on the bed. Pillow fights. Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for giggles. Being tired from playing...remember that? The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team. War was a card game. Water balloons were the ultimate weapon. Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle. I'm not finished yet -- eating Kool-Aid powder. Fruit Stripes gum. Remember when... There were only three types of sneakers for girls and boys: Keds, P. F. Flyers and Red Ball Jets. And the only time you wore them at school was for "gym." It wasn't odd to have two or three "best friends." When nobody owned a purebred dog. When a quarter was a decent allowance, and another quarter was a miracle. When milk went up a nickel and everyone talked about it for weeks. When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny. When you got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped, without asking, for free, every time. And you didn't pay for air in the tires. And you got trading stamps, too! When laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the box. When nearly everyone's Mom was at home when the kids got there. When it took five minutes for the TV to warm up, if you had one. When your Mom wore nylons that came in two pieces. When it was magic when Dad would "remove" his thumb. (When it was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents). When girls neither dated nor kissed until late high school, if then. When all of your male teachers wore neckties, and female teachers had their hair done. When any parent could discipline any kid, or feed him, or use him to carry groceries, and nobody -- not even the kid -- thought a thing of it. When they threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed, and did! When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to what awaited a misbehaving student when arriving home. Basically, we were in fear for our lives, but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, terrorists, etc. Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! And some of us are still afraid of them! Didn't that feel good? Just to go back and say, "yeah, I remember that?" Remember when... You carried your marbles in a Crown Royal whiskey bag your Grandfather gave you because Dad couldn't afford the good stuff. Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo." Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "do-over!" "Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest. Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in "Monopoly." The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was the "cooties." It was unbelievable that dodgeball wasn't an Olympic event. Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot. Nobody was prettier than Mom. Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better. Taking drugs meant orange-flavored chewable Bayer aspirin. Ice cream was considered a basic food group. Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true. New abilities were discovered because of a "double-dog dare." Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors. (YES, the Toronto Maple Leafs did actually win afew Stanley Cups). If you can remember most or all of these, then you have lived! Yup....the good old days. You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids.
danbo Posted January 14, 2008 Report Posted January 14, 2008 (edited) How 'bout watching Popeye cartoons,Captain Kangaroo,razzle-dazzle. Playing Nicky-nicky-9-doors. Playing Knockdowns with Hockey cards, Making Chestnut whackers, Road hockey,tackle frisbee. Sunday School, pond hockey,tobagganing,boy scout night..mojo's taffy & Black cat gum.. Man those were the days.. Edited January 14, 2008 by danbo
misfish Posted January 14, 2008 Report Posted January 14, 2008 Black cat gum I thought I was the only one that loved that stuff.
lew Posted January 14, 2008 Report Posted January 14, 2008 Streamers & mud flaps were cool on your bike The best yo-yo's had diamonds in them Shooters & aggies Topsies Transistor radios.......10 was the best Flavor straws The Texaco man wore a rubber bow tie TV tubes Slieghs Milk, bread & ice came by horse & wagon & the driver let you ride the horse Mouth off to the teacher & you got the strap....OUCH !!!!!!! Horizontal & verticle hold.....but on your TV Your house had a milk box The sheenee man picked up your junk Ice tongs for your icebox Coal shutes & burlap bags Horse hockey Go balls & purple lights Dad had a pheasant or deer painted on his tie Mom had a poodle on her skirt Saddle shoes & white bucks Duck tails Your belt buckle was on the side What the heck is marijuana ?? Riding in the rumble seat.......and seat belts hadn't been invented yet My dads 12 cylinder Lincoln Zepher with the red wheels The train in Eatons at Christmas Freak shows at the Ex Ovaltine sucked Coal klinkers in the school playground Candy cigarettes Penny loafers The Bulova Tower Beanies King of the castle Bullets bounced off Superman but he ducked when they threw the empty gun at him Toronto had a hockey team.......believe it or not ........Yup, if you were born after the 50's, you were too late........
Photoz Posted January 14, 2008 Report Posted January 14, 2008 I always thought 'The Lone Ranger' was a lot more exciting on the radio than on TV! Then there was Perry Mason, Sky King, Ed Sullivan, Red Skelton (remember his Gertrude & Heathcliff characters?) (Ugh h h h h) Don Messer & His Islanders, Lassie, Rin Tin Tin? How many can remember on CFRB, right after the 1:00 news . . . . . "IT'S THE HAPPY GANG!!" (About '55ish?)
Musky or Specks Posted January 14, 2008 Report Posted January 14, 2008 Getting up to change the TV, one telephone in the house, only 12 channels on the TV. Being allowed to go on all day excursions downtown with only your friends for supervision when you were grade six or all day floats down the river in your Canadian Tire blow up dinghy with no adult supervision at the same age.
Rich Clemens Posted January 14, 2008 Report Posted January 14, 2008 (edited) They sure don't make cartoons like they use to. That was 'THE' thing to do on a Saturday morning. Now ... none of the toons are even worth watching. I'm not quite 50 yet ... but I miss those good old days. We have a TV station called TV LAND that shows a lot of the old sitcoms like Sanford & Son, Beverly Hillbillies, Adams Family, All in the Family, and so forth. I spend a fair percentage of my "TV Watching", watching those old shows. Edited January 14, 2008 by Rich Clemens
lew Posted January 14, 2008 Report Posted January 14, 2008 I still remember my phone # from the 50's.......Riverdale 3331
holdfast Posted January 14, 2008 Report Posted January 14, 2008 A Yell in the school yard BRITISH BULLDOG!!!!!!!!!! not Boo Hoo he's harrassing me
motv8tr Posted January 14, 2008 Report Posted January 14, 2008 Huh, I'm not 50 and boy do most of those bring back a lot of memories Brian I think only two of you like black cat gum Yuck! , Hey Rich, we get TV Land and others similar up here...no bugs bunny or road runner though Maureen
vance Posted January 14, 2008 Report Posted January 14, 2008 How about the daily dose of COD LIVER OIL I still get nightmares over that stuff. vance
irishfield Posted January 14, 2008 Report Posted January 14, 2008 Toronto had a hockey team.......believe it or not HAHAHAHAHAHA
camillj Posted January 14, 2008 Report Posted January 14, 2008 I still remember my phone # from the 50's.......Riverdale 3331 hmmm .. was that 743331 ? Im a wee bit younger ... but I think Brampton still had a 416 'area-code' ... actually I think you had to call the operator for long distance to 'book' your call ... especially if it was overseas ... Keepsies and funzies go-carts and bundle buggies were 'modern' things everyone knew how to fly a kite
Squid Posted January 14, 2008 Report Posted January 14, 2008 Burping up the cod liver at school, yech. Using a basebal bat to decide issues, with the fingers of your hand. Intermission at the movies.
Bernie Posted January 15, 2008 Report Posted January 15, 2008 Up in my area back then I can remember (barely) having to crank the phone handle to get the operator and telling her the #. It was a two or three digit at the time. We only had 3 channels on TV up here until 1980, four if you could speak French. Thats about when cable came to town.
tjsa Posted January 15, 2008 Report Posted January 15, 2008 six channels on our TV. We had two channels, CBC and OECA(Ontario Educational Communications Authority, now TVOntario), milk was delivered to our doorstep in a wire basket in glass bottles, and you could order your groceries over the phone and someone(almost always the store owner) would deliver it to you. I remember helping my mom mix margarine, you got the coloring in a separate packet, otherwise, margarine was white. And, party lines for phones, someone else using it, you had to wait, or listen to them talk to their other party to find out when the line was free. Only a couple of years in my youth that happened, but I wasn't calling anybody then, my mom was trying to order groceries, Thankfully, I never got subjected to Cod Liver Oil. I am not quite 50+ yet, but I remember a lot of the stuff others have posted.
Musky or Specks Posted January 15, 2008 Report Posted January 15, 2008 How about living in a neighbourhood where there was enough kids to field two baseball teams for some pick up baseball? I too remember party lines and going to my grandmas and hand milking the cows and then carrying milk cans to the cooler and loading them on trucks in the morning.
TroutnMuskieHunter Posted January 15, 2008 Report Posted January 15, 2008 I remember sittin with my grandpa every Sunday night to watch the Ed Sulliven show and then watching Red Skeleton followed by the Jackie Gleason show Do you guys remember ever seeing the knife sharpening guy that would walk the streets ringing a bell and pulling his sharpening cart??
Fishingfever Posted January 15, 2008 Report Posted January 15, 2008 Those were the GOOD old days!!! We enjoyed playing outside not sitting in front of the tv or a computer!
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