Do you recall,,,,,,,

[ianwright]

,,,,,,,those dear dead days beyond memory when we/us/our side made mistakes too?
When it wasn't always the other bloody fools fault.?
When doing it differently to us was not proof of mental incapacity and evil intent?
When racers didn't hate crusers nor cruisers racers, when the owner of a big motor boat was also the owner of that nice little cutter on the next mooring.
When we all knew that it took years to gain experiance not just cash and a course?
When there was no internet for folk to offer illinformed predudice as fact.
When someone who was not a Gentleman would try to behave as though he was because it was the right thing to do.
Change is not always a good thing is it,,,,,,,,,

IanW.

Vertue 203, Patience

 

[Twister_Ken]

When Oilskins were made of semi-rigid PVC which ended up wetter on the inside than the outside.

When electronic navigation meant waving a RDF loop around while listening on cans to fizzes, whistles, crackles and the occassional dot and dash (was that dah dah dit dah dit dit or dah dit dit dah dit dit?)

When mildew was a fact of life.

When thermal gear was a woolly pully your mum had knitted in your last year at school.

When yacht clubs wouldn't let you in without a collar and tie.

When taking a shower in a marina posed a significant health risk.

When you had to carry a half-dozen headsails and be prepared to go up to the pointy end whenever the windspeed changed by 7kts.

When turning on the engine was preceeded by arcane rituals and not a little prayer.

Progess is a two edged sword.

 

[sailbadthesinner]

nope
because those days were total fantasy



Maybe, just once, someone will call me 'Sir' without adding, 'you're making a scene'.

 

[ccscott49]

On my boat, those rules, standards and rituals still exist and will remain as long as I'm her skipper.

 

[ianwright]

Apart from the collar and tie (I don't own a tie) not much change there then.
My ' oilies' are a waxed cotton smock, very comfy over the sweater my wife knitted fifteen years ago. The Locata is still aboard (must get a new battery next season, just in case.) My five headsails are no trouble and ventilation plus a cabin stove keep the mildew at bay.
I was thinking more of attitudes and manners though,,,,,,,,,,
a chap on a jet-ski waved at me a couple of weeks ago. I waved back,,,,,, was I wrong?
IanW


Vertue 203, Patience<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by ianwright on 24/10/2002 12:21 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[steve_cronin]

But then....

.. along came the regulators with their swinging penalties into our working & residential lives so we started extending this "Blame Culture" reasoning (& lack of common sense) into our recreational time (Sorry ref! Never mind sorry sonny, you're booked! Driving over the limit in an urgent search for a shithouse were we sir? Well you've just found one!)

Stev e Cronin

 

[l'escargot]

Smile as you remember...

I know I did

Take two minutes to read through this and I promise it will cheer you up (bits of it have been known to make some grown-ups misty-eyed!)...

Close your eyes and go back in time....

Before the Internet or the Apple Mac.
Before semi-automatics, joy riders and crack....
Before SEGA or Super Nintendo...

Way back...

I'm talking about Hide and Seek in the park.
The corner shop.
Hopscotch.
Butterscotch.
Skipping.
Handstands.
Football with an old can.
Fingerbobs.
Beano, Twinkle.
Roly Poly.
Hula Hoops, jumping the stream, building dams.
The smell of the sun and fresh cut grass.
Bazooka Joe bubble gum.
An ice cream cone on a warm summer night from the van that plays a tune:
Chocolate or vanilla or strawberry or maybe Neapolitan or perhaps a screwball

Wait......

Watching Saturday morning cartoons.... short commercials, The Double Deckers, Road Runner, He-Man, Tiswas or Swapshop, and Why Don't You or staying up for Star Trek.
When around the corner seemed far away and going into town seemed like going somewhere.
Earwigs, wasps and bee stings.
Sticky fingers.
Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, and Zorro.
Climbing trees.
Building igloos out of snow banks.
Walking to school, no matter what the weather.
Running till 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.
Water balloons were the ultimate weapon
Football cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle.
Choppers and Grifters.

I'm not finished just yet...

Eating raw jelly. Orange squash ice pops.

Remember when...

There were two types of trainers - girls and boys, and Dunlop Green Flash - and the only time you wore them at school was for P.E.
You knew everyone in your street - and so did your parents.
It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends.
You didn't sleep a wink on Christmas Eve.
When nobody owned a purebred dog.
When 25p was decent pocket money.
When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny.
When nearly everyone's mum was at home when the kids got there.
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 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 being sent to the head's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited a misbehaving student at home.

Didn't that feel good?

Just to go back and say, Yeah, I remember that!

Remember when....

Decisions were made by going " Ip Dip Dog Ship." (Yeah I know)
"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 germs.
And the worst thing in your day was having to sit next to one.
It was unbelievable that British Bulldog wasn't an Olympic event.
Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a catapult.
Nobody was prettier than Mum.
Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better.
Taking drugs meant orange-flavoured chewable aspirin.
Ice cream was considered a basic food group
Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true
Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors

If you can remember most or all of these, then you have LIVED.

Pass this on to anyone who may need a break from his or her "grown up" life...

I DOUBLE-DARE YOU

 

[davel]

I can't get past the "close your eyes" line !

Dave L.

 

[ccscott49]

That brought tears to my eyes, we do forget dont we! I remember all of those things, only my pocket money was half a crown!

 

[Guest]

Post deleted by danfoley

 

[steve_cronin]

But, But, But, you forgot....

..the gingham cotton dresses tucked into the navy blue knickers' leg holes for P.E.

and...

the silver tops sitting on top of the frozen "cream" pushed up from the cratefull of 1/3 pint bottles of milk left out in the playground.

Steve Cronin

 

[davel]

And what about frozen Jublees and rainbow drops and black jacks and penny bars and flying saucers and when tinned peaches and carnation milk was the best "afters" you could wish for?

Dave L.

 

[sailbadthesinner]

Re: its true

nostalgia ain't what it used to be.

Maybe, just once, someone will call me 'Sir' without adding, 'you're making a scene'.

 

[Robin2]

You are obviously quite young, then

 

[Guest]

Cowboys and Indians

and a cowboy suit !!!!! and your best pal had an indians outfit and you ran around shouting BANG BANG !!!!

Absolutely !!!

Nigel ...
Bilge Keelers get up further ! I only came - cos they said there was FREE Guinness !

 

[Viking]

Re: And-and.....

You got a whole shilling! posh! kid hey!
Yes the Eagle came out on Tuesdays and the Lion on Saturdays. Airfix kits were 2/6. Or or looking for bubblegum cards, you always wanted Bobby Charlton or Jimmy Greaves but always seem to get either Brian Clough or Ron Flowers.
In winter you were Bobby C. and in summer Denis Compton (who in later in life became my next door neighbour)....are we getting old?? sigh!

 

[Opinionated]

You must be a youngster...

Saturday morning pictures (cinema, not telly, hadn't happened yet)
Sunday - Sunday School at the church.

A banana was only identified by the imitation pre-war models in the greengrocer's.
Chips were bought as a penn'orth, "and some crackling, please mister".
Ration-books made out of pale dun-coloured paper this side of cardboard.
Air-raid shelters with all your family and a lot of smelly other people.
Doodle-bugs, falling on someone else's house, thank God.
Everyone huddled close to the Bush, to listen to Mr Churchill.
Dripping was collected off all the meat, and spread deliciously on toast.
Eggs were a special treat, twice a week, scrambled, made from (USA) dried egg.
The pavement outside your houses was a safe play area.
The milkman and the coalmen used horses to pull the wagons, and poo ruled OK.
Horses on the towpath of the Grand Uniion canal.
Girls were ostracised and had to move if they got pregnant.
Divorce was a rarity.
Sex was unmentionable.
There were such things as 'Dirty Words' and you didn't ever say them.
Policemen were the nearest substantive thing to God.
Songs started 'Hitler has only got one ball,...'


Eh, lad those WERE the days....



IMHO, of course.

 

[ccscott49]

Somebody get this old duffer a bath chair and ear trumpet!

 

[ccscott49]

Re: And-and.....

you are definitely getting old, I wonder, do they still have the eagle, best techinical "see through" pictures of tanks and things ever!

 

[halcyon]

Your young, was at work for Tiswas etc.

Ice cream came as vanilla, or vanilla,
chips went up to 4d fish and chips 1/- (5p),
who remembers there first advert on tv, singing Suncrush oranges and Colgate toothpaste in block of ice,
proper fog,
deposite on all bottles,
trollybuses,
it was your job to follow the hores up your bit of street to collect the manure for back garden
Dustman took just dust,
shopping came in paper bags
sweet shops made the sweets
you could catch a train anywere, and it stopped at red signals automatically
we did things modern kids would be shot for.
nobody had a phone, fridge or washing machine, let a lone a car.
food rationing ends, and it's a fact that kids in the 50's had a better diet and were healthier than modern ones.

it goes on and on


Brian