update

Some of my old blogs were rather serious and open.I got a reaction from someone that left me a little uneasy so i decided to delete them.Three of my small band of readers were very encouraging and i than yous for that.But in a rage i decided to delete them. I have them saved somewhere as i have some of their blogs so i can read them when off line. I'm going to keep blogging and hopefully my warped humor will come out again and hopefully gain one or two new followers. Now I have nothing against it and all that but 8 times out of 10 when i hit next blog it is some religious thing-anybody else get this? I wonder does some devout Christian (or whatever) hit next and get one like mine and sprinkle holy water (or whatever ) over their keyboard

And another thing...

When I was a lot younger I steadily heard from my elders how good we had it and frequently heard a monologue beginning “In my day…..” I always hoped I would never get like that-but I have, But not just at the younger generations-my own sometimes. I can’t abide the reliance on the car for the shortest of trips-well that’s about it for everyone in general.

Things today are pretty good in general but for some things the old days were much better.First the bad things about the days when I were a lad.

BAD PAST

1 Smoking-you could smoke anywhere and everywhere.Even in the waiting room at the doctors.A night in the pub,disco(night club) had you needing to surgically clean your clothes to remove the smell of stale cigarette smoke-and I’m a non smoker.Even working in an office it was torture and having to look at a mountain of buts in an ashtray-which was “the cleaners’ job to empty and clean.”

2 The 11-plus-this was a British thing.An exam for 11 year olds on their final year at primary school.It was SUPPOSE to decide which type of secondary school you were suitable for. But if you didn’t get the mark for a Grammar School( a posh one) you were labelled a failure for the rest of your life. I know quite  a few “failures” who have proved this wrong. But the stigma is still there today. I “passed” this exam, and you all know my story.Incidentally the hateful exam is only just being done away with in Norn Ireland as I type.And some people are against this-i always hated this exam.

3 Everything took ages. You had to fill out countless forms for almost everything and they had to be signed, countersigned sent back and fro a few times.

4 Falling down dead moments after you retired. I noticed when the older ones then retired they were dead practically before someone had replaced them.People actually looked a lot older then.

5 Stereo –back then is was a relative new thing and you could hear a singer in one ear and the instruments in the other-no wonder I wore a “Back to mono” badge.

6. Going for a drive-the entire family was bundled into a cramped car to go somewhere we didn’t even like-usually through rain coming at various angles –and we were never allowed an ice cream or sweeties when we did get out .

THE GOOD

1 No Satellite TV-Back then we only had 3-5 channels on TV and the shows were never repeated endlessly like they are now-so that way it actually mattered more when you only had one chance to see it. Documentaries were much better back then too-they actually told you something.And when it’s only on once everybody sees it.

2 Sunday closure.OK you can get a pint of milk now.BUT I am not religious but I do believe everybody needs a time to relax and why not have a day when EVERY BODY is off?There seems to be a buy,buy,buy thing now.The Sunday car trip is now a Sunday car trip to some super sized shopping mall-I feel really sorry for the poor people in those stores.

3 Fan Clubs –for a paltry amount of money you could join your favourite band/singer’s fanclub-and you got loads of goodies too.Today it’s bloody twitter.

4 Letters-a great way of reconstructing the past.Unfortunately all of mine are dumped.But still it’s great to get a hand written letter through the post.Much better than “hop ur well cu soon”Even emails are being replaced by sodden messages on facebook

5 Saturday morning kids TV –cartoons,pop videos,phone ins were you could insult some pop star you did not like and hang up, Zoe Ball-and now? Bloomin’ cookery shows

6 Paying at the door-go to a big concert? Just turn up on the night.Now you have to get the tickets almost 6 months in advance.

7 Record shops-the little record shops were great going to them was almost a social experience.Well in saying that shops in general –all the shops are the same now,bloody chain stores everywhere and they are all identical

8 Boredom-yes folks .There seems to be some 24/7 thing to entertain us at all costs-which is usually worse.It was much better when you had to find your own way of entertainment-and usually resulted in entertaining other people too.

End of moan