j4ckos mate

I know you all goin to insert daft things about living in shoe boxes etc


but,

im 37 was bought up in wythenshawe, (turd)

my wife same age brought up in bramhall (football players enclave)


we were talking with the kids about me not having any heating at all, ice on the windows on the inside , which is true, not having a washing machine till we were sixteen, going to the shops on the bus, not having shock horror a car
basically all the tough times that we had,
and my missus says they never had electric and gas meters when they were kids.
does anyone remember them they used to take fifity pence pieces.


can anyone else remeber true hardship from the seventies, just so i can tell the kids tomorrow how lucky they are..

Steve vRS

Hot gravel!
etc.

bob r

iTrader: (46)

I lived in Moss side for my first 5 years and then we moved to Tameside.
I also remember the frost on the inside of the windows, but we had proper Winters back then. We were quite poor aswell and the house always felt cold and damp, that's why I would never have a terraced house again.
I don't miss my half mast pants, 4 stripe trainers, and the Cockroaches.
My mum tells me i used to catch them while she was stood ontop of the table screaming. lol

fast bloke

Going to a new school (college actually ) in 1981 and the only thing that wasn't hand me down was my hair. It was one of those places with 58 rich kids and two clever kids. The following year I got a new blazer with a 38" chest - I was 12. It did the job right up to upper sixth.


We used to get taken to the bog (not the sh1tter) to cut peat all summer so that we had fuel for the winter. Granda had a peat plot in a place called 'the star bog'

corradoboy

I remember our first double-glazing. Wooden frames made by my Granddad with polythene stretched over and nailed to the window frames. No central heating or electric blankets, so I used to keep a hair-dryer under my bed to take the chill off before braving bed. And we had proper winters then. 76-77 was brilliant

KiwiGTI

I can't really remember any 'hardships', I just remember that I was concentrating on being a kid.

I had absolutely none of the stuff kids have today, and we were pretty poor but always had a meal on the table.

fast bloke

spuds and gravy 6 days a week then maybe a bit of bacon with your spuds and gravy on Sunday?

corradoboy

Yup, Mum always cooked (as in COOKED, properly, from ingredients, not boxes, jars and packets) a healthy meal. We always had one good holiday (2 weeks in Cornwall usually), and sometimes a second week in The Lakes or similar in the family caravan. We didn't have much, but were happy, healthy and blissfully unaware that we were near the bottom of the pile. The area I grew up is like Beirut these days, but I never knew anyone burgled, never knew of a car being stolen, had no idea what drugs were, knew just about every neighbor, and knew just about every kid of a similar age for easily a mile in every direction. Happy days !

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

"Bobs Gone Mum!"

Do I remember the leccy meter? Oh yes.

I remember the men coming to take the TV away as my father had lost his job.

I remember my mum standing in the kitchen with piles and piles of washing to do in the twin tub.

I can remember walking home from town with the weeks shopping with my mum 'cos we couldn't afford the bus fare.

The time the shopping bag split and my mum screaming at me to grab all the potatoes rolling down the road as we couldn't do without any of them.

Every other meal being leftovers from the previous one.

Corn beef hash? Cheap and quick for a mother who had to beg favours off friends to look after her three sons until she came back from work.

Keeping us all in food and clothes for £96 a month.

Ice on windows? Oh yeah. Blankets being stiff in the cold. Putting your clothes in the bed to warm them up? Did that as well.

mykp

One of my first memories is when we lived Deeplish in Rochdale and we had no in door bathroom, the sh!tter was outside and if we wanted a bath we had an iron tub which would be filled up in front of the open fire. I also remember us moving up to Hollingworth lake and having an indoor bathroom, and waking up one morning to find snow up to the rafters on the roof and then being snowed in for 5 days.

And the summer of 76 all the water went out of the Lake.

cant remember never having electricity but I can remember going to bed in my coat as it was so cold.

I can also remember playing out on the main road round the lake, if you tried that today you'd be killed within about 20 seconds!

Lisawrx

iTrader: (1)

Well I don't think I'm as old as most on this thread , However, I do remember cling film or something on the windows, foil to block the wall vents up, leftovers making up the next days' dinner, nothing of any real value for presents, and hand me downs were common.

The happiest days for me. You were grateful back then for the most simple of things, down to opening up a new pair of jimjams/nightie at Christmas. Christmas used to seem to be a time to get what would now be classed as essentials, as a treat.

Oh how times have changed, but for all we were not well off, I wouldn't swap it. It has brought me some good family memories.

davyboy

Strangely I was typing a post about how I dressed in jumble sales clothes and was entitled to free school dinners....but we still went skiing once a year?

I must question the parents about that.

j4ckos mate

We never were on diner tickets, but we were quite poor,

my neighbour now, was 1 of 13, no dad, whwn we get together and tell stories or wives cant believe what used to go on.
slot tv fiddled meter, second hand clothes, my pb was getting neighbours gates at bonfire night.

yoza

I lived in the same house in Huyton from years 0-18.

My mum used to tell me my Dad worked on the rigs, on his spells away.

But he never returned with any money..

From what I can remember we were PROPER skint from babies to when we started in Comprehensive school.

My Mum would take me and my brother to CityPets in town, and tell us it was the Zoo.

I remember getting the Crossville buses rear loaders into town and my Mum drilling it into us that we were only 5.....not 6 and 7.

We never had any pets, my brother kept spiders, and I kept snails.

When the tadpoles were out, that was a special treat....tadpoles in a jar.

My Mum collected books, and books, and books, of greenshield stamps for our Christmas shop....they were worth **** all.

We used to enlist in food marketing to try out new foods, and my Mum would fill in a questionnaire as to whether we liked it or not, like guinnypigs, the food was free, but usually rank.

My brother and I used to queue up in the infant school for free meal tickets and milk tokens, and even at that age I felt **** about it.

When the lekkie went off in the winter we would dress for school in the kitchen with the oven on and the oven door open.

My Mum would cry a night if I came home with torn school wear, or scuffs on my shoes, because she didnt have any money for more. I used to wonder why other kids got changed after school from their uniform to other clothes.
Our other clothes were for Saturday and Sunday only.

I used to steal clothes from the lost property department at infant school, to help my Mum. I would think that the mountain of coats and hats/scarfs etc would not be missed, and I would vist regularly.

My Mum worked double shifts at a City Centre Hotel for **** money waiting on.

From Junior school up, we would only see her in the morning before school and the night before bed...

My brother and I were left to our own devices.

We would eat sugar butties for our sugar rush, as we rarely had sweets.

We were never allowed to answer the front door....to anyone, even when my Mum was home. I obviously now know why, meter readers, debt collectors, etc.

My Dads Austin A40 'mint green', had holes in the floor and you could see and hear the road beneath your feet.

He would run it on a mix of parrafin and 4 star, as it was cheaper.


But the important thing is....we were HAPPY.

Things took a big turn for the better when we started Comprehensive school, better cars, bikes for school, motorbikes for the field, full fridge, new TV, Video with semi-remote control..(on a cable ).

But I firmly believe that if you have been through times when you have got nothing, then you appreciate more when you have something...if that makes sence.

My lad now, has never wanted for anything.....and Im not sure thats a good thing.

Jamie

Kin hell yoza i never thought times were that bad

scooby_matt

I'm sat here laughing at some of these, but only because I can relate to some of them.
My experiences weren't quite as bad as some of these on here, but being born in the middle of the miners strike in South Yorkshire was interesting to say the least.

I remember making a 10p mix last about 3 days because it was so rare to have sweets.

Glad I had that kind of up bringing though and wouldn't change anything

bootsy

i was going to post same i remember hiding the tv next door to stop it being taken back.and digging up spuds and other veg at midnight from a farmer field i thought hand me down clothes and toys/bikes was normali was happy as hell playing in the field at the bottom of the road and building dens.i remember get a wack off the neighbor for telling some one to bugger off and then getting another one at home for the samething.and i was convinsed that the local copper had a hot line to mum and dad
our garden alway had at least 2 scraped cortinas in it slowly being pulled a part to keep another one on the road.
i was only saying to the wife the other day about the amount of toys and stuff our daughter has.as a kid i never had a tv in my bed room there was only one in the house.i never went abroad till i was 20.my daughter was in florida on her first birthday.

trouserpress

Is this a Dr Barnados reunion?
My Dad had to buy a second-hand Jag once. The shame was unbearable.

dunx

iTrader: (3)

I too remember plastic sheet double glazing in the 70's.
Zero car crime, zero burglary, no gps/sat-tracking for kids !
and my parents o.d.-ing on **** to avoid having to eat, so us kids could....

DunxC

njkmrs

I remember many of the things mentioned .
10 kids in a 3 bed terrace .5 lads in one room and 5 girls in the other ,and mum and dad in the box room .
Used to "Bagsy " my dads donkey jacket when he came in from work and would put it as an extra blanket on the bed 3 of us shared at night .Other two had a bunk bed .
I was never last to the dinner table either !!
My mum used to knit us all jumpers and tank tops ,which then got passed down .I remember having a tank top with 88 across it .Being the youngest I wore that 88 tank top from about 4 to 14 yrs old !!!
Brings back memories .
Holidays in Blackpool most yrs .Never abroad .
Rag an Bone man with his horse drawn cart .(or was that just in Heywood !)

john banks

We have cling film on the inside of our single glazed leaky sash windows now! It billows in the wind It isn't cold as long as you sell your soul to Calor gas for LPG though.

worley

This brings back memories - Always walked or cycled to school, even though it was 3 miles away; if it rained I got wet, if it snowed I got cold or run-over when over-shooting junctions.

There was permafrost in the bedroom and we had second hand interior double glazing. We had two gas fires downstairs that heated the whole house. We had to share baths or bathwater when we got a bit older.

I wore had me downs (being one of twins, youngest of four boys).

We gad a B/W telly which could never get BBC2 and we had no telephone.

We grew our own veg and helped out at a friend's farm - we lived in the city at the time.

We helped my Dad re-wire houses to pay for the annual holiday.

I remember at the age of five, all four of us helping my dad change the gearbox on the Triumph 2000 on Boxing day - this would enable him to go to work in the new year. The was no heating in the asbestos garage. Later, I remember my two older brothers dropping a flywheel on his little toe and crushing it into oblivion - they were only nine and ten at the time!

My dad was always on strike which made us even poorer, my mum hated the unions, as they never did a thing for us.

We were happy.


Nik

sa1tnpepper

.................................................. .............................................

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

YouTube - Monty Python - Four Yorkshiremen

scooby_matt

Not one of them can do a decent Yorkshire accent

billythekid

Nope, Bolton too, a donkey stone or a balloon was your choice!

Re Corned Beef Hash, still make it now - costs about £3 to make a massive pan of the stuff and you could make it with fillet steak and it would not taste as good... still, cant quite make it as good as my mum does!

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

Cars! Hollidays! you did'nt have it hard! sounds like you lived in the lap of luxury.. you could afford plastic and secondary double glazing!
we lived in one room with a parafin heater that only went on to cook the dinner and warm a kettle of water which was used for tea and a wash with a flannel untill i was 8 then we lived in half a house with 3 rooms which we only used one in winter with the same parafin lamp till i was 12.
Then we got a modern council house which was like a palace to us with cantral heating and we even had carpets
And we wern't happy and i would change the lot of it if i could.. we were bloody poor
p.s anyone remember glueing new soles on your shoes in september.
that was your xmas and birthday present

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

We were terribly poor, I only had one Pony and we could only afford to heat the pool in the summer, sometimes we had to keep a car for over a year even though it was dirty.

Sometimes we had to fly on scheduled airlines with the public, I tell you, things were tough.

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

F*ck that mate, send 'em round my gaff. I'll moan and complain until the little $hits are balling their eyes out... if you buy me my tea

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Its not exactly true hardship, if you have a roof over your head and food, its just austerity, real hardship is the third world.

To be honest I have seen some very privileged kids that are a lot more troubled and unhappy than I ever was as a kid, we weren't rich, we did ok mainly as my dad used to do "Foreigners" at every opportunity, changin cams on Cortina's mainly, well fed, warm, decent clothes, few toys, some adventure, some attention and loved is what a kid needs, not X-boxes, Maccy D's, an RR Sport to ride in, Designer Gear etc.

I knew there was stuff we couldn't afford, so I didnt ask but it didnt do me any harm.