how it used to be.

[el dub]

This is how it was when I was a kid and the world was a better place.



Someone 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!






'Mom cooked every day and when Dad got home from work,






We sat down together at the dining room table, & 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.






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.







My parents never drove me to school. I had a bicycle that weighed probably 50 pounds, and only had one speed, (slow).







We didn't have a television in our house until I was 10. It was, of course, black and white, and the station went off the air at 11, after playing the national anthem and a poem about God. It came back on the air at about 6 a.m. and there was usually a locally produced news and farm show on, featuring local people...

I never had a telephone in my room. The only phone 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 & so was bread.






All newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys delivered newspapers -- my brother delivered a newspaper, six days a week. He had to get up at 5AMevery morning.







Movie stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least, they did in the movies! There were no movie ratings because all movies were responsibly produced for everyone to enjoy viewing, without profanity or violence or most anything offensive.

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:







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.
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. Candy cigarettes
2. Coffee shops with tableside juke boxes





3. Home milk delivery in glass bottles
4. Party lines on the telephones
5. Newsreels before the movie
6. TV test patterns that came on at night after the last show and were there until TV shows started again in the morning. (there were only 3 channels!! If you had a TV!!






7. Peashooters
8. Howdy Doody





9. 45 RPM records






10. 78 rpm records
11. Hi-fi records 33 1/3 rpm
12. Metal ice trays with lever
13. Blue flashbulb
14. Cork popguns





15. Studebakers





16. Wash tub wringers
<>
If you remembered 0-3 = You're still young
If you remembered 3-6 = You are getting older
If you remembered 7-10 = Don't tell your age, &
If you remembered 11-16 = You're older than dirt !!! THAT'S ME!!!

I might be older than dirt but those memories are some of the best parts of my life�.


Don't forget to pass this along!!
Especially to all your really OLD friends!!!



They forgot a lot of stuff: Blackjack & Clove gum, steam locomotives, douche bags hanging in a bathtub, etc.....L

[green69rt]

Me dirt!!

I also remember getting an allowance of 25 cents a week which was enough to go to the movies to watch a double feature, newsreel and a cartoon, plus buy candy.

I also remember Packard cars, Nash cars,  Hudson cars.   Candy stores where you bought it buy the piece, sometimes 2 pieces for a penny. Remember the 1/10 cent coins ( I think they were called mils ( for 1/1000 of a dollar?)  Sometimes you actually got them as change!!

Remember light switches on the wall that were push buttons, one for on and one for off?

[polywideblock]

what about 20 cents worth of mixed lollies that filled a brown paper bag and lasted all day ( or until you were sick)

  or cop shops that shut at 5pm

or having to be home before (as) the streetlights came on           

  children washed and wiped the dishes (not packed the dishwasher)

                                                                                                                     

[el dub]

How about the washing machines. After the clothes were washed you ran them through the wringer by hand. Then go hang them on the clothes line.

[green69rt]

What about oil in cans and you had a big metal spout that you pierced the lid with and when you poured it in the engine it leaked all over.   No paper towels back then, just wipe it on your clothes (Mom used to get really mad.)

[polywideblock]

the only ZOMBIES on the TV were  on Milton the monster 

[69rtse4spd]

Dirt here to, Sammy Terry out of Indy. late night Sat. horror show host. 

[skip68]

This is great el dub and guys.     
This thread should be started in the off topic section.     
We have lots of seasoned and seasoning members on here that would really get a kick out of some of these stories.     

[Tilar]

I remember all of those.  

How about the washing machines. After the clothes were washed you ran them through the wringer by hand. Then go hang them on the clothes line.

I have one that I use in my shop to wash all my shop rags. Still works great!  

[HPP]

Don't forget deposits on glass bottles.  After delivering the newspapers at 5am, we used to scrounge around behind the local bars, clubs, and stores to find stray bottles. Find four and they were worth a trade in on a new full one.

[500Jon]

OMG I thought that stuff only happened in England!!!

We were all told that all American's had a Jetson's lifestyle...................

If progress isn't halted soon, all that stuff will come back again, once we get outta caves after the MELTDOWN!!!

What's an i-fone do???

[Road Dog]

What about oil in cans and you had a big metal spout that you pierced the lid with and when you poured it in the engine it leaked all over.   No paper towels back then, just wipe it on your clothes (Mom used to get really mad.)

When I worked a gas station we had those and I counted back peoples change like you are suppose too and got the change from a counter I wore on my belt.

[warpspeed]

I know it wasn't that long ago, but, how about pulling up to the gas station and some local kid would wash your car windows and PUMP your gas.  Gas was $.25 gallon and when it hit .29 we all thought it was outrageous!

[polywideblock]

what about "bob a job day" when the local scouts would come door knocking and clean your yard/wash your car etc etc for a couple a bucks 

[MAC]

I remember 100 octane gas for 32.9 cents per gallon
Going to the neighborhood store @ 8 years old & buying my dad 3 packs of pall mall for a dollar and 5 cents
coca colas were 5 cents
we had color tv tho (black & white) and 2 nites a week I was the remote control and 3 nites a week I was the antenna tuner  while my brother took his turn at the remote I turned the pole of the antenna to the proper direction was needed for 1 of the 3 channels we could get.
My old man only watched westerns after the news Matt Dillon (before it renamed Gunsmoke) Rawhide, have gun will travel and bat Masterson.
Sunday nites was Lawrence Welk & Ed Sullivan .... Red Skelton .... gawd I wouldn't trade my child hood days for nuffin

[el dub]

Ha ha. you must be the same age as I am. But, to buy cigs for mom, I needed a note.