Ah yes though, life was so much simpler back in the day! I'm only 34 but I feel like life has changed almost beyond recognition and what was science fiction to me during my childhood in the 80s is now reality.

Phones Back then:
- It was quite common to be asked "are you on the phone?". It didn't mean are you actually using the phone, as it would now. It meant do you have a phone? That was because many people didn't! In my class at school I think only about 2/3 of us had a phone at home.
- If you did have a phone, it was one single basic government owned handset at home. It was a fixed line connected to British Telecom (no other choice existed) and could be used ONLY to make phone calls, by using a dial to dial the number! The only additional feature was that you could dial "0" (or was it "100") to talk to an operator (who was a real person, in England!)
- Mobiles obviously were a cardboard and string contraption you hung from the ceiling to amuse babies!

TV back then:
- Everyone I knew had a TV, but usually only one in the house and often it was black and white. My family had one big colour TV in the lounge and a small B&W one in my parents bedroom, which was quite a luxury!
- The ONLY things you could watch on TV were BBC1, BBC2 and ITV. All 3 channels closed down at night, and BBC2 was often closed for much of the daytime too!
- Test cards and apology notices were a very common sight on TV due to "technical difficulties" that caused broadcasting to stop!
- The TV news was an extremely solumn and serious programme. Presenters had to wear a suit, sit at a desk, and even talk in a posh accent!
- A station announcer would often appear between each program to tell you about the next program.
- Nobody ever considered the possibility of recording TV programmes or inserting videos to watch movies when it suited you, let alone time-lapse or rewinding live TV or downloading movies on demand or interactive advertisements or video games or any of the many other things you can do on your TV now! I'm watching this website on my TV right now actually! (My TV is also my computer)

Holidays back then:
- Most people I knew in the late 70s and early 80s took their holidays in Britain. Foreign travel began to get much more common from the mid to late 80s though.

Personally I hate loathe and detest being put through to foreign call centres.

I called Sky TV back in the UK and was put through to the Indian call centre where they read or appear to read off a script. They guys English was so bad that I had to hang up and call back another day - luckily getting through to an English call centre.

I miss talking to humans, I hate having to press several numbers in order to get to where I want - 'if you have an account query press 1' - that kind of thing.

Actually I miss those days, simple - one phone company, a fixed line and no hassles.

Computers back then:
- The only 'computers' I had heard of in the early 80s were the ones in video game arcades, which were simple games like pacman and space invaders. Also some supermarkets had semi computerised cash registers, but they certainly didn't scan anything or show you what you were buying on an LCD monitor like now!
- In the mid 80s my Dad had a computer installed at his work, and I saw it once when he took me to work one day with him. It filled a large room!

Banking back then:
- Nowadays you can do your banking online, on the phone, by SMS,at the supermarket checkout, or at any ATM in the world and there is a myriad of different accounts to choose from,

- Back then when I was a kid there was a choice of Natwest, Royal Bank of Scotland, TSB or Midland Bank, and a few building societies that offered very limited services.
- All banking had to be done at the bank, which was a large and intimidating place where you stood silently in a long slow queue in a big marble lined hall while you waited for the ancient and snobbish tellers to slowly deal with those in front of you! Too bad if you wanted your money fast! And banks only opened very limited hours too, and many of them closed for an hour for lunch as well!

It all sounds like these days we have a LOT more choice and convenience, and indeed we do. Still though, I might consider trading it in if I could get back the simplicity of life as it was back then!

You make it sound as if you're 100 years old lol.

If only life was so simple

We took holidays in Spain every year starting in the 60's it was lovely, hardly anyone there and the hotels were small and friendly.
We took the bus everywhere they were big and full of people. Now I've noticed they have switched to short buses in Mums town and they only run twice and hour instead of three times.
Most of my friends didn't have phones or cars, we'd walk to the top of the street and call from the big red phone box. No idea who we called seeing no one was on the phone back then.
There were no fast food restaurants anywhere. Fast food meant buying a pork pie from the butchers shop.
All kids drank tea, Pop was for special occasions, not every time they sat down to eat.

It was a once or twice a year treat when my sister and i could go down to the off licence at the pub at the end of our road and buy a bottle of cream soda to have with our Sunday dinner!

One of the really great things about life in the 70s and 80s compared to now is how much more community oriented things were, and I'm talking about in major towns and cities in Britain.

In Bolton where I grew up, all the neighbours knew each other well enough to pop into each others homes without being invited, and they often did. Nobody locked their doors except if they were out, and at night.

When we moved into our second house in Bolton in 1986, a local policeman somehow heard we had moved in, and actually popped in for a cuppa to introduce himself! It's hard to even imagine this sort of personal approach these days!

My family all knew the owner of the local corner shop (who was English!), the ice cream lady, the milkman, the postman, even some of the dustbinmen!

Nowadays all of these services are either totally impersonal, or in some cases non-existant! Quite sad really!

Doesn't it depend on where? Family and friends who live in smaller places seem to still have some of this. Also, some of them have lived there a long time, which is part of it. People move around a lot more these days.

Sometimes around the world!

Bev

I also remember you had respect for your elders...If you were a cheeky twat, someones mum or dad came down and gave you what for, and some dads came down and took there kids up the road by there ear!!! If only that was still the case we wouldn't have the unruly little buggers we have today!!!

Suzanne

Yes you're right. Where my grandparents live they still feel safe enough (even in the late 80s) to leave doors unlocked during the daytime and they know most of the neighbours.

This is an absolutely revolutionary idea!
Quick! Send it in to Gordon Brown ~ it's the answer to many of the countries problems and I'm sure it hasn't occurred to him.