Older 'n Dirt!!

[motv8tr]

Older 'n Dirt!!

 

"Hey Dad," one of my kids asked the other day, "What

was your favorite fast food when you were growing up?"

"We didn't have fast food when I was growing up," I

informed him. "All the food was slow. "C'mon, seriously. Where did you eat?"

 

"It was a place called 'at home,'" I explained.

"Grandma cooked every day and when Grandpa got home from work, we sat down

together at the dining room table, and if I didn't like what she put on my plate

I was allowed to sit there until I did like it."

By this time, the kid was laughing so hard I was afraid he was

going to suffer serious internal damage, so I didn't tell him

the part about how I had to have permission to leave the table. But here

are some other things I would have told him about my childhood if I

figured his system could have handled it:

Some parents NEVER owned their own house, wore Levis ,

set foot on a golf course, traveled out of the country or had a credit card.

In their later years they had something called a revolving charge card.

The card was good only at Sears Roebuck. Or maybe it was Sears AND Roebuck.

Either way, there is no Roebuck anymore. Maybe he died.

My parents never drove me to soccer practice. This was

mostly because we never had heard of soccer. I had a bicycle that

weighed probably

50 pounds, and only had one 1 speed, (slow).

I was 13 before I tasted my first pizza, it was as called

"pizza pie." When I bit into it, I burned the roof of my mouth and the

cheese slid off, swung down, plastered itself against my chin and burned

that, too. It's still the best pizza I ever had.

We didn't have a car until I was 15. Before that, the only car in

our family was my grandfather's Ford. He called it a "machine."

I never had a telephone in my room. The only phone in

the house was in the living room and it was on a party line. Before you

could dial, you had to listen and make sure some people you didn't know

weren't already using the line.

Pizzas were not delivered to our home. But milk was.

All newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys

delivered newspapers. I delivered a newspaper, six days a week. It cost 7

cents a paper, of which I got to keep 2 cents. I had to get up at 4 AM

every morning. On Saturday, I had to collect the 42 cents from my

customers. My favorite customers were the ones who gave me 50 cents and told

me to keep the change. My least favorite customers were the ones who seemed

to never be home on collection day.

If you grew up in a generation before there was fast

food, you may want to share some of these memories with your children or

grandchildren. Just don't blame me if they bust a gut laughing.

Growing up isn't what it used to be, is it?

 

MEMORIES from a friend:

My Dad is cleaning out my grandmother's house (she died in

December) and he brought me an old Royal Crown Cola bottle. In

the bottle top was a stopper with a bunch of holes in it. I knew

immediately what it was, but my daughter had no idea. She thought they had tried to

make it a salt shaker or something. I knew it as the bottle that sat on

the end of the ironing board to "sprinkle" clothes with because we didn't

have steam irons. Man, I am old.

 

How many do you remember?

Head lights dimmer switches on the floor.

Ignition switches on the dashboard.

Heaters mounted on the inside of the fire wall.

Real ice boxes.

Pant leg clips for bicycles without chain guards.

Soldering irons you heat on a gas burner.

Using hand signals for cars without turn signals.

Older Than Dirt Quiz:

Count all the ones that you remember not the

ones you were told about Ratings at the bottom.

 

1. Blackjack chewing gum

2. Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water

3. Candy cigarettes

4. Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles

5. Coff ee shops or diners with tableside juke boxes

6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers

7! Party lines

8. Newsreels before the movie

9. P.F. Flyers

10. Butch wax

11. Telephone numbers with a word prefix (OLive-6933)

12. Peashooters

13. Howdy Doody

14. 45 RPM records

15. S&H Green Stamps

16 Hi-fi's

17. Metal ice trays with lever

18. Mimeograph paper

19 Blue flashbulb

20. Packards

21. Roller skate keys

22. Cork popguns

23. Drive-ins

24. Studebakers

25. Wash tub wringers

 

If you remembered 0-5 = You're still young

If you remembered 6-10 = You are getting older

If you remembered 11-15 = Don't tell your age,

If you remembered 16-2! 5 = You're older than dirt!

I might be older than dirt but those memories are the

best part of my life.

 

Don't forget to pass this along!!

Especially to all your really OLD friends...

 

"Senility Prayer"...

God grant me...

The senility to forget the people I never liked

The good fortune to run into the ones that I do

And the eyesight to tell the difference."

 

Maureen

[easton13th]

Man now I am depressed But I did show my kids this on the Internet. SO I am modernizing....They still think I am Old and maybe even more now!

[ryanheritage]

Black jack gum? ? ? never heard of it! but I do remember blackbart gum! lol I think yer alzhiemers kicked in there Motov8tr.lol Just teasing... Ah don't feel bad I am only 31 and I remember that stuff. Just alot of advances in technology FAST!!!! Remember when kids came door to door collecting bottles for change? How about a radio flyer? Don't worry at least you got your .. uhm... well.. your wisdom! lol

[Loonietoon]

Thanks for the MEMORIES Mo... They were the Great times Now were did I leave that gun

[Clampet]

I got one fer ya..

I know of a small restaurant in East Toronto, where one can buy a three decker clubhouse sammich made with real chicken and bacon fer $1.95!! Two people can each have a Clubhouse and a pop and the bill was under $6.00!!

[Heybud_e]

the miller bottles with the bottle cap twister on the bottom...(was it miller) ?

[danc]

Cork liners on the inside of a bottle cap.

[Roy]

Dang, I remember all of those...VIVIDLY! BTW, Blackjack gum was made by Adams. the same same folks who made Beeman's...it's probably still around. Thanks for the memories.

[Roy]

Most kids under ten have never seen a bottle opener AKA a church key.

[Whopper]

Cork liners on the inside of a bottle cap.

 

I didn't think you were that old Dan

 

 

Not going to tell ya how many of those I remember

 

Whopper

[Roy]

Not to mention the weekly Yo-Yo championships at the local drug store.

[ryanheritage]

BLACK BART !!!! BLACK BART GUM you old fogies!!!! lol too funny.

[Daplumma]

I dont remember any of that stuff.I must be young,tanx Mo!

Joe

[douG]

My memory is just fine, and goes back at least that far.

 

I don't remember.

[nelly]

These were great like my friend Tony the Tiger would say.

 

Clamp-It, Is it Ted's Rest. on old Kingston Rd/Highland Creek?

[BLACKFISH88]

this sounds like my life (20 years later than yours )or ten no offense.although it was later and I know I am younger but also was up at 4 and 5 to put together my toronto stars rode my bike to deliver them and carried the paper bag on my forehead !you flashed alot of memories in my head with what you've said. My grandfather made me a cart for winter with wheels and for anyone who ice fishes we all know how well wheels work in winterthey were worse (smaller)than lawnmower wheels ,but none the less it did work because I made it work. I look back on my grandfather because he taught me how to make this work with determination and perserverance which nowadays is hard come by. I'm just glad I can pass the same tradition to my girls and my family that I had and I hope they will continue to do the same.

Edited April 10, 2007 by BLACKFISH88

[Bob]

I remember. Not only milk delivery but ice for the icebox too. Deliveries made with horse-drawn wagons and this was Scarborough. Believe the dairy was Acme Farmers. The corner store had a pop cooler with racks that the bottles hung from and you had to slide the bottle to the end of the rack to get it out. Bottle of pop was 7 cents and you got 2 back for the bottle. Bought my first bike delivering the Globe & Mail, dollar down and a dollar a week. Cigarettes at 33 cents for a small pack and 41 for large and if Mom sent me to the store to buy some for her, no questions were asked. I remember the first tv set we had, 21" Admiral that had doors that closed over the screen. I think that was about '54 and one of the first in the neighbourhood. All the local kids wanted to come over on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons and the serials (Remember those? The hero was certainly dead at the end of the show but when they replayed the final scenes the next week, he miraculously escaped.) Ah, my brother and I were likely the most popular kids in the 'hood then, all because of a tv.

78 rpm records before the 45s, Dad's first car that I remember was a 1929 Hudson. I remember Packards too and Henry Js. Jeeps were made by Willys Motors. I could probably keep adding to this forever.

Edited April 10, 2007 by Bob

[hawkeye]

Ouch, now I really feel old. What about radio, the Lone Ranger, the Shadow, the Fat Man, Sky King. And what about the Ash men. These were the old version of trash collectors that actually came into your basement and hauled away the ashes from your coal furnace. Stuff musta weighed a ton. Beat cops that actually walked a beat, and enforced the law in their own special way, the list goes on.............................

[Eddyk]

I can remember the breadman coming to the front door every morning with his big tray of cakes and cookies and we would bugg our mother to but the good stuff. I can also remembering paying 30.9 a GALLON for gas.

[Alumacraft]

Blackjack gum is still around I see it in a local store every day. I also remember laying in the back of the station wagon while traveling on the family vacations. Also remember the oil truck coming too fill up the oil tank for the winter.And how about the guy that would drive around the neighborhood real slow ringing his bell offering his services too sharpen scirrors ,knives,or whatever.(maybe that one was just a local thing).Damn I'm getting old.

Edited April 10, 2007 by Alumacraft

[Roy]

That bell ringer is still around. He just changed territories....still works my neighborhood.

[valerie]

How about those silver bullet gums that made your lips and teeth silver or when it costed $2.50 for a pack of smokes or those huge glass coke bottles. I even had my grade 5 teacher make me go buy ciggarets for her wow that goes back 20 years.

[Bob]

Grinding wheel on a stand with a pair of wheels on the bottom and a foot pedal to drive the grinding wheel. I remember teachers calling students to class with the same kind of bell. How about the sheeney or rag & bone man who used to tour the neighbourhoods with a horse and wagon picking up anything that could possibly be recycled? I remember the coal man coming to deliver sacks of coal which he opened and dumped down the chute to fill the coal bin. Carrying ashes out to spread on the ice in the driveway to give some traction for usually bald tires. Tires got replaced when you couldn't patch them anymore. Oh yeah, no such thing as a tubeless tire and you had to be so careful not to get a wrinkle in the tube when you put it back in after a repair.

Edited April 10, 2007 by Bob

[lew]

Yeah I remember all that stuff Bob and also remember the day the milk man was stopped in front of our house and a car went by and backfired and scared the daylights outta the horse. He took off down the street pulling the milk wagon and when he turned a corner the wagon rolled over and spilled everything all over the road

 

Our 1st TV around 1950 had about an 8" screen and somebody came out with a way to make it a color set......it was a piece of colored plastic that you hung over the screen, but sure didn't work too well

 

Don't know how, but I still remember our phone # from back then.....RI....verdale 3331

 

I bought my 1st pack of smokes in 1960....Parlaiments for 39 ¢

 

Who had a transistor radio when you were a kid in the late 50's ?? Once you were able to afford the best available, a radio with 10 transistors, you were the king of the neighborhood and you'd reached the BIG TIMES. You were the one everybody hung around cause you got the best sound from CHUM

 

Canvas running shoes, ducktailed hair cuts, tucking your smokes into the sleeve of your T-shirts, hockey cards fastened to the spoke on your bike so it sounded like a motor cycle, thinking you'd won the lottery if you got a green "American" coke bottle from the vending maching........

 

Playing King of the Castle & cops and robbers & cowboys and indians. The cowboys always won because political correctness hadn't been invented yet.

 

Every kid in the neighborhood wore a gun on his hip and as far as I know, none of us grew up to be murderers

 

I took my drivers test in a 1955 Austin A-35 and for turn signals, you turned a manual switch on the dash board and lighted plastic arms would flip out from the side of the car. I pretty nearly failed my test cause the guy giving it to me had never seen those before

 

Great times back then !!!!!

[Whopper]

LOL Lew

 

I'm not as old as Lew but this story is told about once a year by my mother, I was about four years old and we had a milkman that delivered to our house everday and I hid in the back of his truck and went for a ride one day, I was probabaly missing for only about 15 minutes and I can still remember the smell from inside the truck.

 

Lew your ciggs must have been expensive because I bought my first pack out of a vending machine at the local bowling alley at fourteen and they were 28 cents. You inserted 30 cents and pulled the knob and there was two pennies taped to the pack and a patch of matches to boot.

 

 

Whopper