Remember when

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

Ah yes, Rochdale, the Nirvana of the north! I was given a P45 by a denizen of that fair town back in '89 when he bought the company I worked for in Borehamwood and moved it to Rochdale. His centre of ops was on Kingsway. Geoff Gardiner - name ring any bells? He was tried and convicted for attempted rape in about 1992 and subsequently aquitted on appeal.

[pistonbroke]

In the whole of my school only 2 parents had cars ( vans actually )

One was Tommy Bradshaw Geengrocer son

And me Dad who had an old ex USAWD Dodge Ambulance used for the family business and personell transport .

A day at the sea side was a major expedition with the van stuffed full of uncles, aunts, cousins & friends U name it if it could fit in the back it went .

Would think  nothing to stop and repair  up to 4 punctures per trip at the roadside.

We seldom made it to the planned destination More likely we terminated at some "halfway house"

Pints for the grown up's, crisps and pop for the kids .

Summer seemed to last for years      

[pistonbroke]

He was tried and convicted for attempted rape in about 1992 and subsequently aquitted on appeal.  

Tried it meself  once or twice when I was a young lad but  the booze usually won .

Always seemed to end up asking the young lady if she "wouldnt mind doing the work"      

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

Up until I was about six, I suppose, my Dad had motorcycle and sidecar outfits. Before my time it was an Ariel Square Four, but when I came along it was downgraded to a Panther side valve. Didn't have a car (1939 Standard Nine 'Flying Standard' ) earlier partly because he didn't have a licence and, of course, the dosh would allow it either. Bit of bother that car but 'cos of watching him fix it every weekend, I learned a lot. My son has successfully avoided learning about dirty-hand work and stands around (if he's here) while I do it

[Paul Hurdsfield - Joint Manchester AO]

Ah yes, Rochdale, the Nirvana of the north! I was given a P45 by a denizen of that fair town back in '89 when he bought the company I worked for in Borehamwood and moved it to Rochdale. His centre of ops was on Kingsway. Geoff Gardiner - name ring any bells? He was tried and convicted for attempted rape in about 1992 and subsequently aquitted on appeal.

Dont know Geoff Gardner but I did work on Queensway which leads onto Kingsway for about 7 years from 93'-2000

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

Actually Paul, it was Queensway, sorry, my geographic knowledge of Rochdale is a bit rusty. He had a largish unit behind a metal railing fence - Gardiner Technology. Now owned by Risco, an Israeli company and moved away.

There's another Gardiner company (Gardiner Group and Gardiner Security)  on the Transpennine Industrial Estate, he used to own that too, but sold out in the late eighties.

[Paul Hurdsfield - Joint Manchester AO]

Gardiner tech seems to ring a bell, I worked for Quinn Shopfittings in the Harp mill at the Castleton end of Queensway, almost opposite Ryalux Carpets the guy that owns that place had some fancy cars, Astons, Jags etc

My boss 'only' had a BMW 740 coupe.

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

The building with the large forecourt in the middle of the frame and nearest to, and just south of, Queensway

[Martin Keene]

I recon its taken the human race less than 60 years to completly f**k this god knows how many billion year old planet  

The planet is quite capable of f**king itself... IIRC, Mount Pinotabu's last eruption released more CO2 in to the atmosphere than the entire human race has from the day we started walking upright...

Agreed. They say we are to blame for global warming, and whilst we probably aren't helping, who caused the last lot of global warming when the planet came out of the last ice age...

[Fat Albert]

My dad had one of these

And I remember the big freeze of '63, walking on top of a foot of snow up to the local park with a hill for sledging, throwing snow balls at the cars passing on the A1, school closed for 3 weeks

And Fruit Salads or Black Jacks, 4 for an old penny (imagine 576 sweets for £1). Flying Saucers (Yum) Love Hearts (Yeuk)

And real honest to goodness white bread toasted in front of the coal fire then covered with dripping

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

My dad had one of these

And I remember the big freeze of '63, walking on top of a foot of snow up to the local park with a hill for sledging, throwing snow balls at the cars passing on the A1, school closed for 3 weeks

And Fruit Salads or Black Jacks, 4 for an old penny (imagine 576 sweets for £1). Flying Saucers (Yum) Love Hearts (Yeuk)

And real honest to goodness white bread toasted in front of the coal fire then covered with dripping

My Uncle (who lived with us) had one too! His was a left hand drive, four wheeler. Was your Dad's? He bent it in a big freeze - earlier than '63 I think. Had my first proper (or improper) kiss sitting in it with the girl from across the back  

[Paul Hurdsfield - Joint Manchester AO]

The building with the large forecourt in the middle of the frame and nearest to, and just south of, Queensway

I think that must be further down towards Kingsway, past Pennine Honda and over the M/way link road roundabout  

[Chris.B]

... and learning German only by reading Commando books

[Paul Hurdsfield - Joint Manchester AO]

... and learning German only by reading Commando books

Gott in himmel  

[cast iron]

According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 60's, 70's and early 80's probably shouldn't have survived, because our baby cots were covered with brightly coloured lead-based paint which was promptly chewed and licked.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on doors or cabinets and it was fine to play with pans.

When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just flip-flops (or wooden

Scholls) and fluorescent 'spokey dokey's' on our wheels.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or airbags - riding in the passenger seat was a treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle and it tasted the same. We ate chips, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy juice with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.

We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or can and no-one actually died from this.

We would spend hours building go-carts out of scraps and then went top speed down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into stinging nettles a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We would leave home in the morning and could play all day, as long as we were back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us and no one minded.

We did not have Play stations or X-Boxes, no video games at all. No 999 channels on TV, no videotape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no DVDs, no Internet chat rooms.

We had friends - we went outside and found them.

We played elastics and rounders, and sometimes that ball really hurt! We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones but there were no law suits.

We had full on fist fights but no prosecution followed from other parents.

We played chap-the-door-run-away and were actually afraid of the owners catching us.

We walked to friends' homes. We also, believe it or not, WALKED to school; we didn't rely on mummy or daddy to drive us to school, which was just round the corner.

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls.

We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore our coats by only the hood.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of.

They actually sided with the law.

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all. And you're one of them.