General Chat

Well I mean...

When I was a kid adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning uphill both ways through year 'round blizzards carrying their younger siblings on their backs to their one-room schoolhouse where they maintained a straight-A average despite their full-time after-school job at the local textile mill where they worked for 3d just to help keep their family from starving to death! And I remember promising myself that when I grew up there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it! But.... Now that I've reached this ripe old age, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so bloody easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a goddamned Utopia! And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it! I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet--we wanted to know something, we had to go to the goddamned library and look it up ourselves! And there was no email! We had to actually write somebody a letter--with a pen!--and then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the flamin' mailbox and it would take like a week to get there! And there were no MP3s or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to go to the record store and shoplift it yourself! Or we had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the Beginning and mess it all up! You want to hear about hardship? You couldn't just download porn! You had to bribe some homeless bloke to buy you a copy of 'Hustler' at the local paper shop ! It was either that or the lingerie section of your mum's Empire stores catalogue!! Those were your options! We didn't have fancy stuff like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got an engaged tone! And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the the phone rang, you had no idea who it was it could be your boss, your mom, a debt collector, your drug dealer, you didn't know!!! You just had to pick it up and take your chances, mister! And we didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids' and the graphics sucked big time! Your guy was a little square! You had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you could never win, the game just kept getting harder and faster until you died! Just like LIFE! When you went to the cinema there no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy sat in front of you, tough! And sure, we never had cable television, we had 4 channels, yes FOUR channels and there was no on screen menu! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! And there was no Cartoon Network! You could only get cartoons on Saturday morning... ... D'ya hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK, you spoiled little sods! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled, I swear to God! You guys wouldn't last five minutes back in 1984!

FOUR CHANNELS, Paul? FOUR? When I was a child we only had two, and I knew some families who only had one, because commercial television wasn't educational!

Very good Paul. It rings so very true. (except the porn bit-- I never felt the need to look at ladies lingerie until I got my first bra!!) Sarah

Paul You softy! I didn't have a telephone until I was about 17. I do wish now that my dad was alive so I could say I finally understand what he was on about!!!! nell

I can remember not even having a TV and when I started school I got shoes two sizes too big so they would last

Lol.. Postie, We never had television when I was growing up. I would not swop my childhood with todays kids. We were allowed to be kids, life was simpler and we had a ball. Everybody knew everybody else, you respected your elders, said please! and thank you! and went to church on a Sunday. Listening to L.M. radio top hits of the week on Suday evening was the highlight of my week. Lindy;-)))

Telephone? Television? Inside, flush loo? You don't know the half of it young man!!!! lol, Heather

And the tv with 4 channels had NO remote control. You had to get up and push the button to view another channel!! I remember it well!!

4 channels???? I remember channel four starting. And the little girl with the chalk board test card. No programmes after lunch until the news at tea time. AND I remember being SOOO excited when my dad bought home a GIGANTIC betamax video. :lol: Talking of atari? remember the 'tennis' game with one ball and a couple of oblong cursur for bats? (I aint even that old either. Sad really)!

FOUR channels - lol! I can remember dying to go round next door to babysit because they had a colour telly, and I used to stay up and watch those Hammer Horrors... Also we had a 'radiogram' which was a fairly large piece of furniture, until Dad replaced it in about 1972 with a 'music centre' !

sorry can i just say being a younger generation... I do know i have lived! I havent also grown up with all these things, my mum always had to struggle, we never went without, but myself and my bro have had to learn alot and mature from an early age! Im not saying your wrong at all, and of course no way am i offended or anything but as i always say PLEASE PLEASE DONT TAR ALL THIS GENERATION WITH THE SAME BRUSH! Yes we have lots of luxeries these days, but lets be honest, its not just 'kids' that use these MP3 players, lots of tv channels etc, times change and technology is constantly getting better. xxx

I can remember the black and white telly. Everyday I would come home from school and plonk myself in front of it. One day I was sat there for ages watching, and finaly my Mum said Have you not noticed it's colour. My Grandad had bought us one that day and I never even noticed.

Paul... that was so funny.I cant usually get to the bottom of along article on the computer( my eyes) But for this opne I stuck with it.1984? LOL In my day we had no telly, I loved radio 2&4. my pass time was BOOKS. You couldnt hack it Paul!!!!!! Deanna :-0)

We had no telly when the Queen was crowned, I went over to the house of a friend who did. And on a frosty morning I had to scrape the ice off the inside of my bedroom window before I could see out!