Hey, you! Yes... the old fella...

I got this today and some of it made me giggle, thought I'd jsut offer it for others to see too.



According to today's regulators and beaucrats, 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 whioch 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 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 wouold spend hours building go-carts out of scraps and then went top speedy down the hill, only to find 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 Playstations or X-Boxes. No video games at all. No 99 channels on TV, no videotape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no DVD's and no Internet chatrooms.

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 lawsuits

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

We played chap-the-door-and-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 seven and wore our coats by only the hood.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law.

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever. The past fifty years have been and 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. Congratulations!

Pass this on to others who have had the luck to grwo as real kids before lawyers and government regulated our lives... for our own good.

For those of you who aren't old enough, thought you might like to read about us.

This, my friends, is suprisingly frightening... and it might just put a smile on your face:

The majority of students in universities today were born in 1986... they are called youth.

They have never heard of 'We are the World' and the Uptown girl they know is by Westlife, not Billy Joel. they have never heard of Rick Astley, Bananarama, nena Cherry or bleinda Carlisle.

For them, there has always been onlyu one Germany and one Vietnam.

AIDS has existed since they were born. CD's have existed since they were born.

Michael Jackson has always been white.

To them John Travolta has always been round in shape and they can't imagine how this fat guy could be a god of dance.

They believe that XCharlie's Angles and Mission Impossible films are only recent.

They can never imagine life before computers.

They'll never have a pretended to be the A-Team, Red Hand Gang or the Famous Five.

They'll never have applied to be on Jim'll Fix It or Why Don't you.

They can't believe a black and white television ever existed. And they will never understand how we could leave the house without a mobile phone.

Now, let's check if we're getting old...

1. You understand what was written above and you smile.

2. You need to sleep more, usually in the afternoon, after a night out.

3. Your friends are getting married/already married.

4. Youa re always surprised to see small children playing comfortably with computers.

5. When you see teenagers with mobile phones you shake your head.

6. You remember watching Dirty Den in EastEnders the first time around.

7. You meet your friends from time to time, talking about the good old days, repeating again all the funny things you have experienced together.

8. having read this mail, you are thinking of forwarding it to some other friends because you think they will like it too...

Yes, you're getting old!



Jack

I was born in 1976, yes it brought a smile to my face becuse its all true, and so real and vivid. I miss being young as a child. I went way to fast, I can only hope in my next life I take the time to enjoy it.

Thanks!

Nice! I was born in '73, although we did have that "tennis game" with the paddles and the square ball bouncing back and forth. I remember going to my (rich) friend's house to beg to have a turn on his new Atari...ahhh, space invaders, asteroids, and that one with the frogs crossing the multi-laned highway. And the original, handheld Donkey Kong.


Jackson? I remember when had 4 brothers and no-one had heard of his sisters.

The Jackson Five

Originally posted by JAK
For them, there has always been onlyu one Germany and one Vietnam.

And millions of brands of cola

They can never imagine life before computers.

Now your being silly, theres always been computers since the beginning of time.

They'll never have a pretended to be the A-Team, Red Hand Gang or the Famous Five.

I pity the fool

They can't believe a black and white television ever existed. And they will never understand how we could leave the house without a mobile phone.

I can survive without a mobile...my computer on the other hand.......

JAK, that is an awsome find!

and so so true...

I was born in 1977, grew up in the 80s... man those were the times...

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.

Hell yeah...

I was born in 1951, and it was indeed a time of innocence. All summer long, no shoes, a pair of shorts and gone 'til dark. The Age of Aquarius came with the same ideals of personal freedom. Then it all went to hell! Blatant(?) materialism and the consumption of crap won out. The world today truly disgusts me. Call me curmudgeon!!!!

I'll be the first to say that I would love to have lived that an era where you could walk more than your yard without telling your parents. I was born in 1990, so I don't remeber any of the things you mentioned but I think I'm the only one my age who would want to live in your era.

Yea I can relate seeing I was born in 59. What I find interesting is sounds you don’t hear anymore, rotary telephone rings, steam whistles and the like.

I'm also born in 1990. I would love to live back then. When if somebody hit you you didn't spend the next two hours explaining it to the principal and being called a nark for a month, you just whoop his @$$ and make sure he don't mess with you any more. If we don't start learning to defend ourselves soon, our independance on authority figures will become instinct. Then just imagine how easy it would be for them to take over the world with us eating out of the palms of their hands.

[edit on 4/29/2005 by Unknown Destinations]