Nostalgia is it a thing of the past?

also remember those irritating "Snap-Its" - little paper twists of sand soaked in silver fulminate... throw 'em at the ground and they'd go off with a sharp "crack"... of course, if ONE makes a sharp crack, we reasoned, what will the contents of 50 of them, packed into a bit of copper pipe and struck by a spring-bolt do....

yep.

How the hell did we survive, all the additives in the food, all the lead in the paint, all the explosive devices we made...
 
TheBigYin said:
How the hell did we survive, all the additives in the food, all the lead in the paint, all the explosive devices we made...
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Don't forget the asbestos in the classroom walls and ceilings (y)
 
TheBigYin said:
I certainly remember sitting down to something that loosely resembled this... the bender being that thing wrapped around the Tomato...View attachment 247636
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My mother worked out how to 'bend' a saveloy to save us the 10 mile bus ride to our nearest Wimpy. The location is still an eaterie and only changed the white and red colour scheme recently and re-branded itself as a coffee shop.
 
Cobra said:
Don't forget the asbestos in the classroom walls and ceilings (y)
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Scooters with little heel operated brakes that you could never find before you slammed into a hedge. :LOL:
 
DK602 said:
Chemistry sets - well known to be completely dangerous now but great fun as a kid :)

I remember trying to make fireworks with them but was never successful!
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I read what happens if you mix Potassium Permanganate (in 60s chemical set) with glycerine, so decided to try it in the hall on a tiled floor.
It self ignites producing reasonably safe sparks like an indoor firework.
I overlooked that all the purple smoke billowed upstairs filling half the house in seconds.
 
dmb said:
My mother worked out how to 'bend' a saveloy to save us the 10 mile bus ride to our nearest Wimpy. The location is still an eaterie and only changed the white and red colour scheme recently and re-branded itself as a coffee shop.
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Oddly enough a completely new Wimpy 'restaurant' opened in Bicester last year. Wierd.
 
viv1969 said:
Scooters with little heel operated brakes that you could never find before you slammed into a hedge. :LOL:
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Using a large hard backed book,( Usually a Beano or Dandy annual) or a piece of wood, sitting on a roller skate ( I was a lot smaller then :D ) hurtling down a hill, and stopping by piling into the bushes at the bottom :D

ancient_mariner said:
Oddly enough a completely new Wimpy 'restaurant' opened in Bicester last year. Wierd.
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viv1969 said:
Same in Sittingbourne last October.
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According to Google, it seems our Wimpy ( never even knew "We" had oneTBH) is now a top diner - American.
And a very similar menu. Maybe its a re-brand ..
 
Awesome Christmas presents,

Raleigh Chopper,
TCR, the racing set that had the button on the hand controller that allowed you to overtake,
A black and white portable tele, with a turny dial thing to change channel, like tuning the radio.

Those were the days.
 
Dale. said:
Awesome Christmas presents,

Raleigh Chopper,
TCR, the racing set that had the button on the hand controller that allowed you to overtake,
A black and white portable tele, with a turny dial thing to change channel, like tuning the radio.

Those were the days.
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I had a purple chopper when I was 10/11.
Loved it. Broke my nose after watching evel knievel doing stunts, and thinking it would be a good idea to try and cycle off a home made ramp and clear a pile of logs. I went first because it was my bike.
Chopper landed front wheel first and the bars spun round and hit me in the face, knocking me out and breaking my nose.
Funny how none of my pals wanted a go after that. :)
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
I had a purple chopper when I was 10/11.
Loved it. Broke my nose after watching evel knievel doing stunts, and thinking it would be a good idea to try and cycle off a home made ramp and clear a pile of logs. I went first because it was my bike.
Chopper landed front wheel first and the bars spun round and hit me in the face, knocking me out and breaking my nose.
Funny how none of my pals wanted a go after that. :)
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Lol, I came a cropper a few times on mine too, still have the scarred elbows and the odd bit of grit comes out now and again. I was spared unconciousness though. :LOL:
 
Cobra said:
Using a large hard backed book,( Usually a Beano or Dandy annual) or a piece of wood, sitting on a roller skate...
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I remember seeing two boys taking turns to ride down a hill on an Action Man scout car... Until the axle broke and the wheels fell off.
Bobsyeruncle said:
I had a purple chopper...
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The design of the saddle made the chopper perfect for towing rollerskaters, but potholes were a problem.

Then there was the kid sending his wind-up Evel Kenevel across the road to jump the drop-curb, until Evel got hit by a passing car.
 
A trolley built from a plank of wood and pram wheels. Steered by a piece of string. Took turns pushing.
 
Tyres on a bit of old rope, tied to a tree by a river. Great fun.
However...
1. Kids aren't that good at tying knots.
2. There was a reason that bit of old rope got dumped.

You'd see the occasional soggy person squelching home to face the wrath of their parents. Peer response was just to put the word around to look for more rope, and another tyre.
 
Tori_T said:
Tyres on a bit of old rope, tied to a tree by a river. Great fun.
However...
1. Kids aren't that good at tying knots.
2. There was a reason that bit of old rope got dumped.

You'd see the occasional soggy person squelching home to face the wrath of their parents. Peer response was just to put the word around to look for more rope, and another tyre.
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I cancstill hear that straining, stretching noise the rope made.
 
Cockney said:
A trolley built from a plank of wood and pram wheels. Steered by a piece of string. Took turns pushing.
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Mate, where I grew up, that was a state-of-the-art go cart! :D
 
Can you still hear the commiserational cheering that always accompanied a rope failure? Drowning.gif
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
I had a purple chopper when I was 10/11.
Loved it. Broke my nose after watching evel knievel doing stunts, and thinking it would be a good idea to try and cycle off a home made ramp and clear a pile of logs. I went first because it was my bike.
Chopper landed front wheel first and the bars spun round and hit me in the face, knocking me out and breaking my nose.
Funny how none of my pals wanted a go after that. :)
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my grandad bought me a chopper for my birthday...he thought he would have a go before wrapping it up...he fell off it and broke his hip :whistle::whistle::whistle::whistle:
 
I remember trying a friend's chopper - damn thing was all show & no go, with very marginal cornering ability compared to a proper bike (yes, I ended up in a heap). Looked really good though.
 
Cockney said:
A trolley built from a plank of wood and pram wheels. Steered by a piece of string. Took turns pushing.
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Ah yes I had one of those, and a convenient hill so no pushing required (y)
The useless brake, a bit of wood, screwed to the side and applied to the rear wheel, never worked.
The bushes at the bottom worked better ...
Well it was either that or shoot across the road :D
 
Cockney said:
A trolley built from a plank of wood and pram wheels. Steered by a piece of string. Took turns pushing.
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Cobra said:
Ah yes I had one of those, and a convenient hill so no pushing required (y)
The useless brake, a bit of wood, screwed to the side and applied to the rear wheel, never worked.
The bushes at the bottom worked better ...
Well it was either that or shoot across the road :D
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Wow! you had a Go-Kart....... we had a good hill........but were content with a roller skate (the type you strapped to your shoe) and The Beano Annual strapped to it. I only remember the fun and the risk to "barked knuckles" hitting the ground as you held onto the book while turning.

The things I/we did that risked life & limb when we were kids :D oh, that hill!
 
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Cobra said:
Ah yes I had one of those, and a convenient hill so no pushing required (y)
The useless brake, a bit of wood, screwed to the side and applied to the rear wheel, never worked.
The bushes at the bottom worked better ...
Well it was either that or shoot across the road :D
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We had a modified bike brake with the lever mounted on a bit of broomhandle, blocks stopped a back wheel a treat.
 
Smacking your knuckles on the floor as the spanner slipped with your hand under it, after that you always pushed the spanner down towards the floor with your hand above.
 
My sister had a big old metal dolls pram. We removed the carriage part and added a board to sit on between the wheels. Another brake was added so we could use both to steer. Luckily we lived at the top of a hill in cul de sac so rarely came to grief.
 
I remember a freebie in the Beano (I think or it could have been the Dandy, I preferred Cor!! anyway) that consisted of a folded over piece of cardboard and some brown paper. You held it up and with a chopping motion brought it down and 'thwack' the brown paper made a satisfying sound before it inevitably broke a little later. :)
 
Cartus said:
I remember a freebie in the Beano (I think or it could have been the Dandy, I preferred Cor!! anyway) that consisted of a folded over piece of cardboard and some brown paper. You held it up and with a chopping motion brought it down and 'thwack' the brown paper made a satisfying sound before it inevitably broke a little later. :)
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Yeah I remember them !
 
I remember having a couple of spud guns, one you just pushed into the potato and the barrel slid like a pump and pushed the 'spud' out.
The other was like a revolver that you put caps in and loaded the 'bullets' by pushing them into a spud i think you had 5 shots with that type. Mums used to go mad because our clothes got little white spots from the starch and the butchered potato in your pocket.
 
MatBin said:
Smacking your knuckles on the floor as the spanner slipped with your hand under it, after that you always pushed the spanner down towards the floor with your hand above.
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In a like vein making my sure to wrap your thumb over your index finger when hand cranking a car........if it happened the compression kick-back could be brutal if the thumb was wrongly placed ~ oh boy!!!

PS being reminded of that I recall an old school chum at that time who bought himself a decent condition Morris Minor and the told us how it easy it was to handcrank........and who of us who had cars with need to crank that were difficult must have a problem. Suffice to say we pointed out his error by explaining his lack of compression was bad news on his "pride & joy" :LOL:
 
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