Things Ain't What They Used to Be.

[Red-Robbo]

7 minutes ago, BigTone said:

What was the name of the shop on the same street selling Hornby trains etc ?

 

I think it might just've been called The Model Shop.  It was one of my most desired locations when my family took us "to town".  Stock up on Airfix. 

[BS2 Red]

38 minutes ago, Open End Numb Legs said:

Our first TV remote control worked, not by light control but by sound waves. When it was 1st delivered our Dad hid the control unit in his pocket and pretended he could change channels by some sort of magic trick. We were impressed but the family cat was not as the frequency range, although outside human hearing scope, was definitely in hers! If you changed channel with the cat sat on your lap the claws drew blood as she jumped off and ran away.

I remember our first VHS recorder had a remote control. But it wasn't very remote as it was attached to the machine by a cable. 

[BigTone]

1 minute ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

I think it might just've been called The Model Shop.  It was one of my most desired locations when my family took us "to town".  Stock up on Airfix. 

Think it was called something else before that. Sold Scalectrix as well.

[Port Said Red]

1 minute ago, BS2 Red said:

I remember our first VHS recorder had a remote control. But it wasn't very remote as it was attached to the machine by a cable. 

I was about to post something like that myself, I remember going to someone's house and they had one like that. Crazy.

 

[Robbored]

2 hours ago, Port Said Red said:

I wasn't really looking to make a thread on nostalgia, more about what we used to do that seems odd to the current generation, and to be honest sometimes even to those who lived through it, but it is quite fun to hear some of the stories on here.

3 television channels, one of which was part time, and would all shut down around midnight by playing the national anthem! That sort of thing. 

I remember working nights in the late 70s and once the patients were all in bed, watching tv and all available channels (3) stopped broadcasting at midnight - the screen disappeared into a tiny dot.

Then it was read my book time!  Over months I read the Hobbit and Lord of the rings for the first time. I couldn’t put them down.

[BigTone]

19 minutes ago, BS2 Red said:

I remember our first VHS recorder had a remote control. But it wasn't very remote as it was attached to the machine by a cable. 

Getting a Mighty Joe remote controlled tank for Christmas but remote attached by a cable also. Fired bullets but was a bit feeble. Soon learnt if you removed the barrel it became more lethal and could take out the neighbours cat from 30 paces.

[BigTone]

1 hour ago, Robbored said:

I remember working nights in the late 70s and once the patients were all in bed, watching tv and all available channels (3) stopped broadcasting at midnight - the screen disappeared into a tiny dot.

Then it was read my book time!  Over months I read the Hobbit and Lord of the rings for the first time. I couldn’t put them down.

Didn't that make emptying the bed pans problematic?

[Northern Red]

4 hours ago, Port Said Red said:

I wasn't really looking to make a thread on nostalgia, more about what we used to do that seems odd to the current generation, and to be honest sometimes even to those who lived through it, but it is quite fun to hear some of the stories on here.

3 television channels, one of which was part time, and would all shut down around midnight by playing the national anthem! That sort of thing. 

 

 

 

I do recall one of our apprentices at work being amazed at being told that we only had 4 channels when we were kids, he having grown up in the era of Freeview and Sky Digital.

[Northern Red]

I recall my Nana had a black and white portable TV that you had to turn the tuning knob to change channel on, and she was able to pick up a signal from a Sky dish (pre digital days) that one of her neighbours had, although obviously she could only watch what they happened to have on.

Edited December 15, 2022 by Northern Red

[Port Said Red]

2 minutes ago, Northern Red said:

I do recall one of our apprentices at work being amazed at being told that we only had 4 channels when we were kids, he having grown up in the era of Freeview and Sky Digital.

My brother in law works in a small printing firm and they are allowed to take it in turns to provide background entertainment. One of the older guys brought in his record player and a selection of vinyl.

One of the young lads there took a liking to one of the Led Zeppelin albums and kept playing it. "It's really good isn't it?" He said to my BiL, "yes it is but why don't you play the other side?" He said. "The other side?"

With a little training he was shown how to play side B on vinyl. 

[Northern Red]

On the subject of TVs in shop windows, that was how I first found out about the 9/11 attacks. A few of us had gone from school to Leeds University for an open day, and as we were walking back through the city centre to the station for our train home, we passed Currys or Dixons and saw a load of people crowded round the TV on display in the window, which was showing the breaking news of what was going on.

Edited December 15, 2022 by Northern Red

[Robbored]

2 hours ago, BigTone said:

Didn't that make emptying the bed pans problematic?

Not at all. If they shit the bed the day staff would clean them up and change bed sheets. If I got a bollocking the following night I claimed that I didn’t know……. despite being able to smell it……….

[BigTone]

15 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Not at all. If they shit the bed the day staff would clean them up and change bed sheets. If I got a bollocking the following night I claimed that I didn’t know……. despite being able to smell it……….

NHS at its caring best

[italian dave]

4 hours ago, BigTone said:

What was the name of the shop on the same street selling Hornby trains etc ?

 

4 hours ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

I think it might just've been called The Model Shop.  It was one of my most desired locations when my family took us "to town".  Stock up on Airfix. 

Wasn’t there a very good model shop in Lawrence Hill too? My Dad loved his model trains and I can remember going there with him a couple of times. 

[Red-Robbo]

3 minutes ago, italian dave said:

 

Wasn’t there a very good model shop in Lawrence Hill too? My Dad loved his model trains and I can remember going there with him a couple of times. 

 

Another great one was down the bottom of the hill in Bath. 

[Lanterne Rouge]

10 hours ago, Robbored said:

As a teenager we never had a telephone at home and we had to use the local red phone box with the A and B buttons and circular dial. Our buddy showed us how to get free phone calls - by tapping the receiver rapidity whilst the dial was rotating back…….it was easy with low numbers but 9 or 0 (10 taps) was much harder, you had to be really quick but it really worked! 

No idea how our buddy knew how to to it!

That was similar to a way round the phone lock your parents put on the home phone. If you rapidly tapped the buttons where the handset sat the number of times corresponding to the number, paused, and then did the next digit and so on you could make a call. I reckon it was so you could call 999 if there was a lock on. My old mum. bless her, never found out!

Also, anyone remember having to book calls to Australia on New Year`s Eve?

[Red Shadow]

3 hours ago, italian dave said:

 

Wasn’t there a very good model shop in Lawrence Hill too? My Dad loved his model trains and I can remember going there with him a couple of times. 

Max Williams?

[nebristolred]

8 hours ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

I think it might just've been called The Model Shop.  It was one of my most desired locations when my family took us "to town".  Stock up on Airfix. 

Not in any way as old as the other posts in this thread, but a visit to Modelmania in St George was a right treat as a kid. Fairly sure it briefly appeared in an episode of Skins once too, though it might have been a different shop.

[italian dave]

16 minutes ago, Red Shadow said:

Max Williams?

That’s the one! Wow, good memory; I’d completely forgotten the name. 

[Port Said Red]

11 hours ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

That was similar to a way round the phone lock your parents put on the home phone. If you rapidly tapped the buttons where the handset sat the number of times corresponding to the number, paused, and then did the next digit and so on you could make a call. I reckon it was so you could call 999 if there was a lock on. My old mum. bless her, never found out!

Also, anyone remember having to book calls to Australia on New Year`s Eve?

New Zealand in our case, but yes.

[Lanterne Rouge]

Just seen an advert that reminded me of something else from when I was a kid. Being sent down the newsagents to pick up the Christmas and New Year double editions of the Radio & TV Times 

[Open End Numb Legs]

Mention of the Airfix models brings back memories, something today's youth might find a bit slow to build and paint. Those decals that needed to be soaked in water, tricky. I liked the smell of the paint.

I had my own Battle of Britain suspended from my bedroom ceiling by fishing line. I don't think the real planes included a layer of dust though.

[BigTone]

On 15/12/2022 at 19:59, Lanterne Rouge said:

That was similar to a way round the phone lock your parents put on the home phone. If you rapidly tapped the buttons where the handset sat the number of times corresponding to the number, paused, and then did the next digit and so on you could make a call. I reckon it was so you could call 999 if there was a lock on. My old mum. bless her, never found out!

Also, anyone remember having to book calls to Australia on New Year`s Eve?

Worked the other way also. Remember talking to the operator in Adelaide and it turned out she lived near Nailsea before emigrating a few months earlier. Even more bizarre was I knew her daughter from school so gave me her home number. Ended up dating her for a short while (the daughter that is).

[redsquirrel]

On 15/12/2022 at 12:42, BigTone said:

Getting a Mighty Joe remote controlled tank for Christmas but remote attached by a cable also. Fired bullets but was a bit feeble. Soon learnt if you removed the barrel it became more lethal and could take out the neighbours cat from 30 paces.

bit like the game crossfire.if you wedged a bit of cardboard down the side of the firing spring,the ball bearings became bullets

[italian dave]

Anyone else remember the time when you could ring the GP surgery and get an appointment to see a doctor….?

 

[ForeverRed]

On 14/12/2022 at 08:10, Port Said Red said:

Other things that are difficult to explain or seem unbelievable today.

My mum worked part time for years in Wills Number 4 factory (now the Tobacco Factory and houses), and they would call the shift in by running the old air raid warning sirens! So much for PTSD for those who had lived through the war. 

She would also get paid part of her wages in boxes of 200 cigarettes at discount prices! Can you imagine the uproar if that was allowed today? 

My mum worked there part time for about 10 years, alongside Chris Garland's mum!!

[ForeverRed]

On 15/12/2022 at 17:09, italian dave said:

 

Wasn’t there a very good model shop in Lawrence Hill too? My Dad loved his model trains and I can remember going there with him a couple of times. 

Max Williams had three shops at Lawrence Hill. One was the Model shop, the others a Bike shop and one that sold Mopeds. I got my first bike from Max Williams and my first train set!

[Guest]

Green Shield Stamps and taking your full books to the shop by Fairfax House and jumping on and off buses was a ritual to "hang off" the back and go for it when you felt the bus was going slow enough;

Fags and pints were 1/11p when I first bought them (thats about 10p) and petrol 4/11 A GALLON first weekly wage was 77/6 though at Parnalls down lodge Causeway.....re footie think first ST in Dolman for first 2 years was less than a fiver if I remember right....have progs with info in a suitcase...somewhere.................the good old days...when you didnt need a laptop to mend a car just one each of these

 

Edited December 20, 2022 by gl2

[Lanterne Rouge]

26 minutes ago, gl2 said:

Green Shield Stamps and taking your full books to the shop by Fairfax House and jumping on and off buses was a ritual to "hang off" the back and go for it when you felt the bus was going slow enough;

Fags and pints were 1/11p when I first bought them (thats about 10p) and petrol 4/11 A GALLON first weekly wage was 77/6 though at Parnalls down lodge Causeway.....re footie think first ST in Dolman for first 2 years was less than a fiver if I remember right....have progs with info in a suitcase...somewhere.................the good old days...when you didnt need a laptop to mend a car just one each of these

 

Green Shield became Argos I think. I remember being able to use your stamps in the one in Bridgwater.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

Green Shield became Argos I think. I remember being able to use your stamps in the one in Bridgwater.

could be right cant remember, so long ago