What do you miss from back in the day?

I'd be excited just to see a Postman (or woman!) I don't care what they're wearing!

Postmen in proper uniforms and peaked caps. Smart.

Not these hi-viz jacket and shorts combos they wear nowadays. They look so crumpled.

Once upon a time we had a very proper looking postie who had a well-trimmed beard (van Dyke style) and red braces. He was a picture.

Travelling on the underground quite late and then walking home, I don’t remember being at all worried, central London

After yesterdays episode , having to go out and get a new iron quickly, the simple go to a shop, see what you need and pay for it. End of story.

When items in shops had their price ticket and that was what you paid. Whilst you might have to save up for something, you didnt have to spend hours , checking the price here and there and trying to decide what was the best buy, best value etc. and balance the amount of effort and time spent checking and wondering if you had got the best deal!!

Saturday lunch which my dear dad used to organise.

French bread
Full fat butter
Selection of cheeses
French pate
A few juicy tomatoes
A glass of chilled wine or a bottle of Schweppes ginger beer.

Sometimes a few of my parents friends would join us.

Being young and slim

Reading all these posts reinforces my belief that life was so much better years ago. Not everything of course. Wouldn’t go back to 1950s dentistry! Or the gristly meat - ugh.
But life generally was better. Slower, kinder, more predictable.
I always feel now that we don’t know what’s coming next.

My mum and dad.
The lack of swearing in public.
Simple trust in grown ups.

As I recall the fish and chips were wrapped in a sort of greaseproof paper so never actually touched the newspaper which was just a wrapping.

Robin Starch? A definite trademark of the 1950's.

Back then, Mum had to starch Dad's shirt collars, which were those old-fashioned oddities detachable from the actual shirt. She had to mix the right quantity of starch powder with the right amount of water then soak the collars in the stuff before ironing, etc, etc.

What a palaver! A throwback to Victorian times for sure.

I know she hated it.

But fish & chips in newspaper? No thanks - God knows who's horrible fingers the newspaper had passed through before it got to the chip shop.

My good health and fitness

NanRuby I understand.

I miss safety and predictability. The football scores on TV at 5 on a Saturday, steak pie on New Years Day, calling people by their title and second name.
Church on a Sunday, washing tights in the evening. the smell of Tweed perfume.

my gran and i watching doctor kildare, general hospital and marcus welby md. the smell of fresh pancakes and fritters. my gran brought me up and most of my good memories are from living with her, the neighbours always saying helllo and having a chat. going shopping with my gran, we went to the bakers, the fruit shop, fish shop and small co op (getting to lick the stamps and put them in the book...lol). wearing my sling backs and skirt with the split (80s) would wear stockings and suspenders with it, i am 63 and i don't really like the way the world has changed so much, i don't know most of my neighbours and people are not as friendly.

Sweets from the sweetie shop, kept in jars and weighed out into a little paper bag.
I loved the pieces of cinder toffee and wine gums.

House parties, getting drunk and enjoying yourselves.

Manners

The privacy of a telephone in the hallway. Now I'm expected to make all calls in public on my mobile.

Greyduster, if you can get to Conwy in North Wales there's a shop called Ewe Felty Thing that sells wool in skeins.

Our city still has trams. They’re certainly preferable to buses!

Too much to say. Everything seems so complicated, life in general, everything and everybody.

Trams, they were so much better to ride in than buses for all who like me are martyrs to travel sickness.

valdali

Cameraderie & neighbours, yes.
I don't miss the nosiness & gossip though.
Climbing trees, making dens, being allowed to roam free, my pony & riding with my friends, climbing on the roof to get the football back.

Or kettle hunters 😂

Cameraderie & neighbours, yes.
I don't miss the nosiness & gossip though.
Climbing trees, making dens, being allowed to roam free, my pony & riding with my friends, climbing on the roof to get the football back.

Department stores
Little traffic
Hitchhiking
Walking barefoot in the street
Bus conductors
Rich Tea biscuits

One thing I had never missed until I smelt it again, decades later, on a December night in a small Yorkshire Dales town, was the smell of coal smoke from people’s chimneys. So nostalgic!