As I approch 30

[EFM The Firm, The Voice]

According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids

in 70's and early 80's probably shouldn't have survived, because Our baby

cots were covered with brightly coloured lead-based paint which was promptly

chewed and licked.

 

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on doors or

cabinets and it was fine to play with pans.

 

When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just flip flops and fluorescent

'spokey dokey's' on our wheels.

 

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or airbags - riding in

the passenger seat was a treat.

 

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle and it tasted the

same.

 

We ate chips, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy pop with sugar in it,

but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.

 

We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or can and no-one

actually died from this.

 

We would spend hours building go-carts out of scraps and then went top speed

down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into

stinging nettles a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

 

We would leave home in the morning and could play all day, as long as we

were back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us and no one minded.

 

We did not have Play stations or X-Boxes, no video games at all.

 

No 99 channels on TV, no videotape movies, no surround sound, no mobile

phones, no personal computers, no Internet chat rooms. We had friends we

went outside and found them.

 

We played elastics and street rounders, and sometimes that ball really hurt.

 

We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones but there were no law suits.

 

We had full on fist fights but no prosecution followed from other parents.

 

We played knock and run and were afraid of the owners catching us.

 

We walked to friend's homes.

 

We also, believe it or not, WALKED to school; we didn't rely on Mummy or

daddy to drive us to school, which was just round the corner.

 

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls.

 

We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore our coats by only the hood. The idea of

a parent bailing us out if we broke a law unheard of. They actually sided

with the law.

 

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and Problem

solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years have been an explosion of

innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and

responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.

 

And you're one of them. Congratulations! Pass this on to others who have had

the luck to grow as real kids, before lawyers and government regulated our

lives, for our own good. For those of you who aren't old enough, thought you

might like to read about us.

 

This my friends, is surprisingly frightening......and it might Put a smile

on your face:

 

The majority of students in universities today were born in 1983........They

are called youth.

 

They have never heard of We are the World, We are the children, and the

Uptown Girl they know is by Westlife not Billy Joel.

 

They have never heard of Rick Astley, Bananarama, Nena or Belinda Carlisle.

 

For them, there has always been only one Germany and one Vietnam.

 

CD's have existed since they were born.

 

Michael Jackson has always been white.

 

They believe that Charlie's Angels and Mission Impossible are Films from

last year.

 

They can never imagine life before computers.

 

They'll never have pretended to be the A Team, RedHand Gang or the Famous

Five.

 

They'll never have applied to be on Jim'll Fix It or Why Don't You.

 

They can't believe a black and white television ever existed and don't even

know how to switch on a TV without a remote control.

 

And they will never understand how we could leave the house without a mobile

phone.

 

Now let's check if we're getting old...

 

 

1. You understand what was written above and you smile.

2. You need to sleep more, usually until the afternoon, after a night out.

3. Your friends are getting married/already married.

 

4. You are always surprised to see small children playing comfortably with computers.

 

5. When you see teenagers with mobile phones, you shake your head.

 

6. You remember watching Dirty Den in EastEnders the first time around.

 

7. You meet your friends from time to time, talking about the good old days, repeating again

all the funnies you have experienced together.

 

 

[YB941 5thD EFM ~soul~]

How did I get to be nearly thirty?

You can't see it coming when you're always looking back.

 

 

[EFM The Firm, The Voice]

It's all true though, especially the bits about kids playing outside, you can walk though parks now on a sunny day and not see a soul about!

We weren't worried about anything and nor were our parents!

 

Being a 70's kid rocks!

[Claire!]

LOL!!!!!!!!! OMG!!!!!!!! All those above refer to me as well!!!!!!

 

But we still are able to play in the parks/fields/woods in markyate (well the kids are!!!!!!!)

 

I remember dirty den in Eastenders the first time round!!!!!

 

 

[CANV EFM]

unfortunatly its the kids of the 70's that dont let their kids out now.. sure there is more traffic.. but there are more crossings.. ok there may be some [****!!****] on the streets now but if your trying to tell me 70's seaside towns were some kind of oasis of calm then your on drugs.. its all about risk assesment and parents today [****!!****] thier pants over things that have a miniscule chance of happening .. tell the little fkers to go out n have some fun .. and if plod belts em for being a [***!!***] dont run down the station acussing them of assault, just face up to the fact that little tarquin may have been a [***!!***] or ..horrors of horrors, he has learnt that life isnt fair..

todays 30 yr old are fecking poofs

[Claire!]

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

i still don't think the third decade is classed as old or "over the hill" i think it is the new Twenties!!!!!!!!!

 

 

[Chubbhead EFM]

does that mean that the twenties are the new teens and I have to go through it all again from next year?! <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

 

that stuff about playing outside is rubbish. I was always outside when I was a kid and we used to go to the farm near us and run through the fields. Don't think the farmer was too pleased though!

[Canary Saint]

 

Ah getting old ! - know all about that you young whippersnappers.

 

As time goes by your points of reference change - I realised that I was getting on after I had a heart operation.

 

On the plus side I can vaguely remember England winning the World Cup and City winning the London Senior Cup.

[CANV EFM]

younuns should be sent up chimmneys .. down mines.. or made to join the navy.. fking slackers the lot of em

[Claire!]

LOL!!!!!!!!

 

I remember running about in the fields in Markyate!!!!!!!

 

When i was from say 8 until 14, we would be out the house before 10am and woudn't re-appear until about 7 in the evening!!!!

 

It was great, and most of the kids still do that. I think it is because we live in a small village and everyone knows everyone, and everybodies business is known about!!!!!

 

And i remember the light reflecters on the bike wheels!!!!! I really wanted them, but i didn't have a bike so there was no point!!!!!!!

[Big J R]

Approaching 30 ??????????????????????

 

I did that 28 years ago !

 

You yung-un's.

 

A bottle of tizer and 5 turf cigarettes and a penny change from a bob, (that's 5 new pence to you snipper-wappers!), now they WERE the days !!

 

I JUST remember the end of rationing ! The mind ain't quite gone yet !

[Laz]

Quote:

Claire! said:
I remember running about in the fields in Markyate!!!!!!!

Never far from the caravan though, Claire.

[Claire!]

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

True!!!!!!!!!!!

[Northern Monkey]

Eee I remember when I were a lad.....( insert 4 Yorkshiremen sketch)

it's true tho in those halcyon days of the early 60's onwards there was none of the scum around today was there? we only had Brady and Hindley. Gang violence only happened at the seaside. Then we had the love and peace 70's which saw the proto national front develop in the form of P*** Bashing.and the "white britain" movement.

There is a point in here somewhere!!! UM!