I'm so old I've...

I'm so old I remember when gas station attendants wore snappy uniforms with bow ties and washed your windshield and checked your oil for you. So old I remember our fruit man was called a 'huckster' and sold produce from the back of a horse-drawn wagon. And we had a coal chute on the front of the house down which the coal delivery man ran a metal chute and rattled down the coal into our basement coal bin.

And my grandmother's ice box was just that--and the ice was delivered in big chunks, and the neighborhood grocery store had a huge wooden pickle barrel and it was a treat to get a pickle from it and eat it like an ice cream cone. And coming home from high school, we'd stop in the local Five and Dime that had an old-fashioned coffee shop with a fountain and we'd chow down on cherry and vanilla or chocolate cokes and French Fries.

And so old that my friends and I tried to get on Dick Clark's Bandstand but the regulars elbowed us out of camera range so we never got on camera.

And so very old that during the cold war we all learned how to duck and cover under our desks to protect ourselves from nuclear attacks and--lol--nuclear fall-out. And those attacks were very real if you're old like me and remember clearly the face-off with Russia and the Cuban Missile crisis!

One of my mother's wise pieces of fashion advice was, "If you wore it once, you can't wear it again" (meaning, if a trend comes around again, you look stupid if you wear it).

So, I'm so old I can no long wear:

--bell bottoms
--gauze shirts
--platform shoes
--miniskirts
--macrame purses
--heavy eyeliner paired with pale lipstick

I'm so old I remember actual film in cameras. And buying those disposable cameras were so cool and hip. I know this wasn't THAT long ago but my kids just got their hands on a disposable camera and I had to explain to them repeatedly that 'no, you CAN'T see the pic you just took' and 'no you only have 27 shots, after that it is over-you can't delete some and keep snapping' I had to explain how you take it into a camera store, they remove the film, develop it and we wait a week until we see anything. It is like bizarre-o world' to them

love beads............John Lennon eyeglasses

About 8 - 10 years ago, sister & I were in Newport, RI with a 10-year-old friend, and we somehow got talking about toys. We were astounded to learn that she didn't know what Colorforms were! We popped into a nearby toy store, and asked the teenage clerk if they had Colorforms, because "Can you believe Alissa has never even heard of them?!" The clerk asked, "Why, what are they?"
I have one of those typewriter erasers on my desk. I use it to get breadcrumbs and sesame seeds out of my PC keyboard. The brushes they make for cleaning keyboards aren't stiff enough.
And my 1995 Saturn has crank windows. They work just fine!

We were in Yosemite last week and took the valley tour. The ranger giving the tour talked about the Firefalls. I was the only one on the tram that had seen the Firefalls. They stopped them in 1968.

What a fantabulous thread!

I just couldn't resist adding, I'm so old that when I started school there was a boys side and a girls side as far as playground/school-grounds went. Imagine...

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Originally Posted by freein05

We were in Yosemite last week and took the valley tour. The ranger giving the tour talked about the Firefalls. I was the only one on the tram that had seen the Firefalls. They stopped them in 1968.

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I saw them! I remember them. It's a very vivid memory of a very young child, but I remember them.

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Originally Posted by Mrs-M

What a fantabulous thread!

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I think it's pretty neat, too, Mrs-M!

A few excerpts from my diary:

2/14/65: I went the shopping center and got 5 records and a magazine. I want to get a Granny dress. All the girls in England wear them. All the styles are going back to "granny's" age. No more high, teased hair. We now have long straight hair, with maybe a little curl at that ends and bangs. I'm still waiting for mine to get long. No more spiked heels and pointed toes. Now it is stacked heels about 1 to 1-1/2 inches and rounded toes, "granny" style.

1/17/65: Yesterday I went with Dad to see "That Darn Cat" with Hayley Mills & Dean Jones. It was hilarious!

2/1/66: "We Can Work It Out" has been No. 1 for six weeks! Isn't that fab?

2/10/66: Phooey! We Can Work It Out never made it to seven weeks. Rats!

2/11/66: Today in school, Sallie was putting the nurse's chart in the office when Jimmy walked up to her and said, "Wait! I have to write down somebody's phone no. first." He looked up MY number! The only trouble is, he wrote down my old number, TR4-7133.

3/27/66: My birthday came last night and I had a blast! I got $27 and apple seed beads, two records, a china doll that sings "I Could Have Danced All Night" Ben Franklin glasses, and a granny gown.

4/30/66: On Thursday went to the Post. Got "The Sonny Side of Cher" LP at Sabres. Good day. On Saturday, I went to N.Y. City. We climbed the Empire State Building. It was wicked!

6/14/66: For our class trip we were told we'd be going to Palisades Amusement Park. Of course, that "amused" everybody because Palisades is ONLY the biggest and greatest amusement park in the country!

Fun reliving those times--and that neat-o, wicked language we used!

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Originally Posted by catherine

I think it's pretty neat, too, Mrs-M!

A few excerpts from my diary:

2/14/65: I went the shopping center and got 5 records and a magazine. I want to get a Granny dress. All the girls in England wear them. All the styles are going back to "granny's" age. No more high, teased hair. We now have long straight hair, with maybe a little curl at that ends and bangs. I'm still waiting for mine to get long. No more spiked heels and pointed toes. Now it is stacked heels about 1 to 1-1/2 inches and rounded toes, "granny" style.

1/17/65: Yesterday I went with Dad to see "That Darn Cat" with Hayley Mills & Dean Jones. It was hilarious!

2/1/66: "We Can Work It Out" has been No. 1 for six weeks! Isn't that fab?

2/10/66: Phooey! We Can Work It Out never made it to seven weeks. Rats!

2/11/66: Today in school, Sallie was putting the nurse's chart in the office when Jimmy walked up to her and said, "Wait! I have to write down somebody's phone no. first." He looked up MY number! The only trouble is, he wrote down my old number, TR4-7133.

3/27/66: My birthday came last night and I had a blast! I got $27 and apple seed beads, two records, a china doll that sings "I Could Have Danced All Night" Ben Franklin glasses, and a granny gown.

4/30/66: On Thursday went to the Post. Got "The Sonny Side of Cher" LP at Sabres. Good day. On Saturday, I went to N.Y. City. We climbed the Empire State Building. It was wicked!

6/14/66: For our class trip we were told we'd be going to Palisades Amusement Park. Of course, that "amused" everybody because Palisades is ONLY the biggest and greatest amusement park in the country!

Fun reliving those times--and that neat-o, wicked language we used!

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Catherine, that is so neat (get the language LOL!) that you posted from your diary inserts - could have been mine in most places. I have diaries and journals going back to 1965. I may steal this idea and start a thread for people to post to from their old diaries, for those that have them. Maybe we could pick one day, say June 15, 1968 and have everyone post, (what they want to share only of course), what was going on in their lives that day. Or maybe we should make it a choice of 5 dates randomly scattered because not everyone would have entries on the same day due to age, not consistently making entries etc. What do you think?