A genuine question for the over 40s on the BBS

I played with myself a lot, rolled up copy of razzle hid in the top of the wardrobe.

Times have really changed.

 

Ye ya rite...mid week was work and listen to music endlessly...one of the radio 1 DJs used to call it...waitin for the weekend...
used to be the odd tv prog to look forward to...niva missed TOTP.
big thing wer swoppin records an listening to summat new.....a good top shelf mag niva went amiss tho.......

 

Tbh it was boring sometimes without money. We used to go for walks I like reading.Definitely better now with the internet ,

 

Reading, played football ( even if your close mates weren’t available there was usually a game going on you could join) fishing, latterly video games on things like Spectrums and Atari’s

 

I agree with this list, also what’s wrong with doing nothing actually? We’ve become a society where we have to be busy all the time - I get sucked into it myself.

 

I seemed to be getting coal in for loads of different people in Shafton to get a few quid to be able to get to Wigan casino for the all-nighter great days although it doesn’t sound it

 

W@nking. And lots of it.
Knew you'd done too much when, after 6 or 7, all that came out the end was a puff of smoke.
Used to squeeze a bit of football and snooker/pool in, but, ultimately, I spent my teens steaming my bedroom windows up with Kay's catalogues lingerie section.

 

Littlewoods was a good un an all. Its no good these days, had a look other day. No bush, no party.

 

My dad played chess against a little computer thing, against himself in a board or read up on tips. He did puzzles from a book or played on the original consoles. Joined a snooker club. Watched Leeds. The only thing he watched on TV was countdown. That was pretty much it besides working.

My mam read, watched sporting events on tv (tennis, boxing, snooker) and soaps. And talked, a lot. Growing up, my brother and I weren’t allowed to be in our rooms during the day as we had to be sociable and talk to her.

Although thinking about it, that would have been their 30s not early 20s.

 

Not in my 40's, but not far off. The internet didn't really become a widely used thing really until my early 20's, and even then we only used it every now at that point. Up until having kids, our lives revolved around drinking. It's all most of us really did, work, then go and get pissed. We drank every night except Tuesdays as it was gay night in town(we even braved that some weeks).

Monday night was the Hedonism where it was £1 a drink until 11pm(so we all paid for £20 of bottles each and just necked what we wanted all night. Wednesday night was in Butterfield's where it was 3 for 1 on all drinks and always packed. Thursday night round 'Tarn was a brilliant night back in the day. Friday night we went round Monk Bretton and ended up in the Norman's "disco" side(before it was made into a restaurant/pub). Saturday was 'Tarn from bout 7pm(or all day if there was home match) and Sunday was an all dayer round Monk Bretton, finishing up in the Pheasant for a lock in and Big Bazza Robinson's Karaoke). Didn't leave much time for anything else to be fair.

 

Ovver 70 can I join in

 

Walk fo miles, lovely countryside rahnd Gt Houghton, sometimes av a walk t top of Houghton muck stack, what a view. All for free may I add.

 

We just had a reyt keg

 

Being brought up in jump never had a problem of no mates around. football, football. Football . Cricket. Snooker.

 

I'm not surprised people bring up music as it really is I think one of the areas that has changed the most.

If you were in Bands into indie/ alternative music then it was often difficult to get hold of music you night have caught on John peel or something like that. Or it was too expensive ... So it was a major event to take around even a cd in that period to your mate's house. Physical copies of albums made music feel totally different in my opinion - you cherished it as a physical thing- the artwork, lyrics everything . Took it with you when you left a house. Perhaps that's why music was more tribal then, there wasn't the same exposure to anything you wanted to hear.

TV was a big difference too obviously- if you were young and stayed up late then you were at the mercy of what was on limited channels of TV. So there was a sense of everyone in the country watching more or less the same things at the same time which you don't have now. I was reminded of this when the world cup was onlast year and I could see family across the street jumping up when England scored. You would have to video things you loved so you would have a chance of seeing it again.

In general there was more space and more boredom which I miss and you'd have to get around and see people, make things happen- be around them to interact with them not in some online space. I miss it ...

 

My mam and dad...cheers for that JD!

 

Working at pit plenty of overtime. Also doing shifts prevented a lot of boredom .
Never short of mates as Local WMC or pubs with plenty people in with reasonable beer prices .
Was in pool team, darts team, panel games. Played snooker cards . Sea fishing club. Family days out and holidays .club trips . Horse racing trips . Gardening . Walks in countryside ,
Never bored tbh but took for granted can’t walk in a pub now and always know someone,club trips mostly gone where whole community came together. Knew All my neighbours and beyond .
I’d say there’s more to do now but with less people to do things with imo, I think everything has to be arranged more nowadays whereas you could do most of these things I’ve mentioned but on cuff knowing someone you knew would be there.

 

The OP's post has brought up an issue that really worries me actually. With the advent of the internet, social media, messaging apps and phones unlimited calls/texts, the younger generations don't socialise in the same way those born before/during the early days of wide internet use do.

Out of my kids, only one really goes out to socialise with his mates, and that is only to play football. The other sees her mates at school, and thats it. They just sit sending each other **** texts, memes and emojies. When we were kids, the only way you could really speak to your mates for longer than a few minutes was meeting up. Even phone calls had to be brief because they were pay per minute and mi mother used to go mad if I was on the phone for any amount of time.

I'm honestly worried that the human race will turn into a race of recluses, who's only interaction with one another is via a video call or the like.

 

No I'm married.