Your showing your age when . . .

[Rick Petrie]

I can remember(doesn't seem that long ago) when my father used to give my brother and I 20c(2 shillings or 2 bob) to go to the afternoon matinee(pictures).
This was our afternoon's entertainment:-
11 pence fare into the movies(pre show cartoons and serials and 2 movies with intermission where we used to swap comics)
1 pence worth of lollies(bag)
12 pence for a hamburger for lunch.
and we used to walk to and from the theatre( Berala to Lidcombe in Sydney)
And I don't think I'm really that old.
(must be kidding myself)
My first beer (later of course) 1 shilling a middy(10c) 1/6 pence (15c) a schooner.

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

I remember lining up at school to recieve our FREE bottle of Milk.
This milk was stored in a small brick box out in the Sun, so in Sydney's stinking hot Summer the milk was already off when you got it, and often hot.
In Winter the milk slowly froze and started to rise up out of the bottle like 1 inch wide toothpaste, and perched right on top of this strange white worm was the foil lid.

Amongst these several hundred bottles of milk there was only ever about 10 bottles of chocolate flavour and about 6 Strawberry.
Lots of pushing and shoving to get to the front to get FLAVOURED hot, sour or frozen milk!

Remember packing the Grease Gun to grease the nipples on your car?

TV started at 6pm, and finished at 11pm with the National Anthem (God Save the Queen).

Chemists and Banks were only open weekdays, and banks opened at 10am and shut at 3:30pm.

Some supermarkets and shops were open Saturdays till midday.

Every shop, including supermarkets, shut at Easter from 12 midday Thursday and didn't re-open until 9am Tuesday.

Pubs shut at 6pm, and then were eventually allowed to stay open till 10pm, but remained shut on Sundays.

Going through school learning your Pounds, Shillings and Pence, then all of a sudden having to forget everything you learnt and now learn Dollars and Cents!

Being Gay meant you were carefree and happy.

Being sent home to watch the Apollo 11 moon landing because the school didn't have a TV,
and taking about 8 kids with me coz they didn't have TV's either!

Sitting in school staring at a wooden speaker box on the wall belting out another ABC Radio school documentary program.

Cars didn't have seat belts! (except the expensive imports: Mercedes, BMW etc)

There was only 3 TV stations, (ABC, 7, 9) then eventually Channel 10 came along.

Brown Corduroy trousers were cool.

Hearing "Good Morning world, this is John Laws" every morning while eating breakfast.

Having to wait until after the Dunny-Carter had been so he didn't come while you were in there.

Taxi's finally got rid of '3-on-the-tree' Holdens and went to Automatic Transmissions.

No seat belts in Taxi's either!

Double-Decker trains were introduced, making it fun to avoid the Train-conductor. When he went downstairs checking for tickets we went upstairs. When he went upstairs we went downstairs.

You were'nt cool if you didn't ride a Dragster.
Preferably in Green, and it had to have the T-bar gear changer, metal-flake vinyl seat and super high sissy-bar.

It was legal to catch Penny-Tortoises down the creek.

Looking forward to seeing Leonard Teale, Alwyn Kurts, Charles Tingwell, and John Fegan and their '65 XP Ford Falcon police car in another new episode of the Australian TV series 'Homicide'.

Seeing Abigail do Australia's 1st Nude scene (top half only) on TV in 'Number 96'.

Seeing Deborah Gray do Australia's 1st full-frontal Nude scene also in 'Number 96'.

Streetlights were just pale light bulbs hanging under a white porcelain cover that looked like a Dinner plate.

The fantastic heavy mechanical sound of the dial returning back to zero on big heavy black Bakerlite home phones.

Pushing buttons 'A' then 'B' after inserting the coin into a Public Phone.

Spunky and Tadpole was a Cartoon Show on TV (eventually banned).

the 'New' Calga Tollway (Sydney to Newcastle) cost 20 cents each way.

Pinball Machines had real Bells and rolling numbers on the mechanical scoreboard.
You were'nt cool if you played Pinball after you turned 13 y.o.

Chemist shops sold Slingshots and Spud Guns!

Fireworks were for sale almost everywhere.

Cracker Night was enourmous! People had Bonfires, large sky rockets, and the mighty explosive Twopenny Bunger (pronounce tuppny bunger) also known as a Thunder. It would blow a letterbox or toilet bowl to smithereens.

People didn't think a little kid was a complete idiot if he wore a Plastic Beatle wig. It was almost cool.

Showbags had LOTS of stuff in them.

Shutting down the whole suburbs of Paddington and Moore Park for the Royal Easter Show, making residents and shopkeepers move out for the duration of the Show.

Enjoying a day at the original Paddy's Market at Haymarket.

Enjoying a drive in a new EK Holden. The Holden with Fins.

Being excited about going shopping at night when Thursdays 'Late Night Shopping' was introduced.

Watching NRL Rugby League played in Mud!

Watching the rescue mission at the Granville Train Disaster.

Trying to work out how to play the different sides of a Cassette in the new invention, a Cassette Player. Was the tape at the start or at the end.
Then trying to find the start of a song on this Cassette Player.

That'll do for now

[CraigS]

Great one Ken !

On Firecrackers:

It was legitimate practice to assert one's dominance over the local street kids by possessing the most powerful firecrackers. Those kids possessing chemistry sets and having mysteriously been endowed by nature, with the enviable knowledge of making their own weapons of mass destruction, were revered throughout the known Universe.

The same legendary status was enjoyed by those having the most powerful magnets.

The downside was of course, that these kids were also made to wear body-shirts and platform shoes, by their mothers .. thus restoring the balance of power in the neighbourhood.

[CraigS]

Membership in a street gang was considered as a vital 'round off' to one's education. Stone-throwing practice sessions were held regularly and non-attendance was considered a crime against humanity.

Of course, such membership was not available to females, as they were in training to accept the fact that they would not be permitted to consume alcohol with males in a public bar, once they reached the appropriate age.

[ZeroID (Brent)]

Originally Posted by CraigS

Great one Ken !

On Firecrackers:

It was legitimate practice to assert one's dominance over the local street kids by possessing the most powerful firecrackers. Those kids possessing chemistry sets and having mysteriously been endowed by nature, with the enviable knowledge of making their own weapons of mass destruction, were revered throughout the known Universe.

And Shanghai's !!! Need I say more ?

I used to be kown as 'The Prof' ( Professor ) in those days, Rockets, Bombs, all sorts of weird chemicals. Yep, fun.

[CraigS]

Women's underwear was a constant dilemma:

"To wear or not to wear ?" … now that was the true question. Regular incineration sessions were held in public places as a demonstration of how the clothes washing task could be optimised and save water in the process.

It seemed this problem was eventually solved by the introduction of enzyme action in laundry detergents.

A change welcomed by all the sexes.

[lacad01 (Adam)]

Thanks for the trip down memory lane Ken

[CraigS]

A woman named, "Madge" used to appear regularly on TV commercials advising women on how to keep their hands soft by soaking them in dishwashing liquid … 'y'know you're soaking in it ?'.

Alas, Madge lost her job and was made redundant by the introduction of the automatic dishwasher, which went about this arduous task more quietly and with greater efficiency.

[RAJAH235]

Just to re-count Ken's reference to the Show Bags....
They were free & called "Sample Bags."
Used to get heaps of goodies in'em too.
Not like the garbage you have to pay for now.

Remember the "wars" with "Double Happies?"
Penny bungers were a little too dangerous.

[Jen]

these are too funny

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Originally Posted by Jen

these are too funny

Yep, Jen

Some strange, horrible, happy and unusual things from back in those days, but all good memories.

Todays 20 year olds will be telling their grandkids about such strange tales as:

"yeah back then we had things called 'Desktop Computers' and you inserted a plastic disk called a CD, and you actually had to press numbers on a phone and hold it in your hand!"

[Geoff45 (Geoff)]

Originally Posted by taxman

I don't think my kids can imagine television that isn't colour...

Yeah, when my kids were little they came running up the stairs yelling "Daddy, Daddy, there's something wrong with the television--it's gone all grey" when the station put on a B&W movie.

[JohnG (John)]

Another couple I can remember....

Trucks being banned from driving on public streets on a Sunday...

Having to show your Drivers Licence to get into pubs on a Sunday to prove you were not a local, from memory, you had to be a certain distance from home.

Good old days

Cheers

[michaellxv (Michael)]

I'm not as old as some here but I can remember when there was more trust in the world. You put empy milk bottles on the front porch at night with a few coins and in the morning there were full bottles of milk in its place. The same for bread.

I could take a 1L empty soft drink bottle to the deli and get a bag of lollies. If I took 6 I could get a full bottle

Maths text books were confusing. They still had feet/inches pounds/ounces but we were meant to be learning cm,mm,M Kg,gm etc. Furniture and the internal dimensions of house were round numbers of feet and inches. In the end I kinda learned both.

I am old enough (just) to have a bank book (remember those) with a stamp that says 'Decimal Conversion'

[CraigS]

Ahh … yes .. another species of mythical beasts called 'Milkos' .. creatures set upon us by the Dark Lord. Their true mission was to steal us children from our beds. We of course, spent time quivering under the bed-clothes in fear that they were coming to take us away. Fortunately, the 'clink' of the milk bottles gave adequate warning, thus enabling us to run for cover.

This problem was overcome with stealth and cunning … tank-traps set up across the milko's path, through to the next door neighbour's house the night before, and strict attack training for the pet dog, should he spot them during their transit.

Then there were the garbos .. demanding Christmas presents .. "don't forget the ol' garbo !" .. they'd chant from their trucks, ringing a bell to wake you up so they could solicit beers from their clients. Fortunately these types were superseded by mighty and powerful in-sinkerator garbage disposal units .. which ended up becoming somewhat intimidating also …

[CraigS]

The solution to the newspaper delivery menace was of the utmost importance for many years.

The delivery method appeared to employ the use of beings possessed of only one arm and a slowly moving vehicle, and were to be avoided at any cost.

"The Arm" was extraordinarily skilled in targetting and flinging rolled up newspapers, at near relativistic speeds, usually destroying the front garden and any object (or kid) standing in the trajectory path.

"The Arms" were usurped by an uprising in the neighbourhood street gangs, who demanded an income stream of their own, resulting in the exalted position of 'Neighbourhood Newspaper Delivery Boys'. Unfortunately, they were in turn, defeated by the wild and vicious street dog gangs who, themselves eventually got locked up and micro-chipped as a form of retaliation for their disgraceful coup d'état.

[Suzy]

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Speaking of Milko's, when visiting Grandmothers house she would gracefully let us all know it was time for us to go home by getting into her Dressing Gown and walking heavily down the corridoor 'accidentally' rattling the empty's in the Milk Bottle carrier while speaking in a very clear and loud voice "never mind me, just puttin' the milk bottles out".

Subtle!

[CraigS]

Ahh .. Grandmothers were always part of the conspiracy against children.

Remember those puckered lips comin' at ya ???



Cheers

PS: Actually … that's not fair. Grannies were pretty cool. All those yummies were terrific !!