The Summer of '76

[Monkeylegend]

motco said:

I had an MG Midget and the top was down continuously for weeks at a time.

Same here, had a 1971 Midget in teal blue which we bought so we didn't have to take MiL and FiL out every weekend as they didn't have a car. Within a week they had bought a Ford Capri.It was my first convertible and we had the roof down all summer.

I remember being pulled over by the police after a drag race way from traffic lights with a TR6, straight past a police car, well in excess of the 30 speed limit. He told us to slow down a bit and sent us on our way, those were the days.

Edited by Monkeylegend on Monday 7th July 21:57

[littleowl]

A holiday in Cornwall. The oppressive heat. Ladybirds as already mentioned - hundreds of the bleeders.

The 'save water' bulletins. The 'Save Water - Shower With A Friend' T-Shirt on a particularly well-endowed young lady...I was only seven, but for some reason this sticks out in my memory....

Oh. And these feckers. Seemingly on the radio everytime it was switched on :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb63PdPweDc

[Monkeylegend]

littleowl said:

Oh. And these feckers. Seemingly on the radio everytime it was switched on :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb63PdPweDc

I haven't looked but bet it's Mungo Jerry.

[Sid's Dad]

I lost my virginity (slightly too young) and my Dad bought a beautiful green Ford Executive (slightly too old). Not sure which of us was more excited.

[littleowl]

Monkeylegend said:

littleowl said:

Oh. And these feckers. Seemingly on the radio everytime it was switched on :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb63PdPweDc

I haven't looked but bet it's Mungo Jerry.

Nope. Even more annoying than 'In The Summertime' though (that was 1970).

[vx220]

NeMiSiS said:

I remember the road outside my house melting and also the telephone posts were leaking tar which I gathered with a lollyice stick and spread onto my brothers hair, those were the days.

I was 26.

Cracked me up

[TheChampers]

Oh yes,I remember it well, a plague of greenflies first, then the Ladybirds, millions of them; my parents sleeping with just a sheet on them on the side garden lawn, being cooled down with hosepipes at school, brown grass, lazy days, a holiday in Dunster, near Minehead, going off for whole days with friends, my Chopper bike. I was 10, I liked being 10

[milu]

I remember the ladybirds too,hols in Wales and tons of em..
Got a brown Montreal 76 Olympic sports bag too. Don't know why that sticks in my mind.

[fourpointsixgt]

12 years old, we persuaded our considerably wealthier auntie and uncle to join us ( mum, dad, 4 kids) camping in Woolacombe with their 3 kids for 3 weeks. They still say it was one of the best holidays ever. All us 5 kids got on a treat playing on the scorching beach and body boarding in the surf. We did camp a few times before and after but always got rained on at some point.

[wildcat45]

Halcyon days. Though I was only 6 I remember as if it was just last year.

My Dad had given up his job to chase a dream having been commissioned to write a book by a national newspaper. He had a cash advance and the promise of a dream job at the end of the book.

We just spent that summer pissing around.

Equipped with a brand new Suntor Marina camper* he set off to research his book which was about travelling round England. He'd be away for a fortnight or so, call every night then return and we'd (mum me him and the dog) do off for a few days in the Suntor. Sout West Scotland, East Anglia, Cornwall, all over.

Hot traffic jams on the M5, potato shortages, stand pipes, traffic light lollies, Fresca fizzy drinks.....Bliss.

Nationwide** on the telly each night reporting rising temperatures, It's a Knock Out (not so innocent now we know) and a show called Summertime or Seaside Special
At school we had lessons outside, trips to the seaside, and cycling proficiency lessons from Sgt Crowe in his blue shirt sleeves out in the baking school yard.

Endless days playing on the river bank, or out on our bikes. Sitting in pub gardens while my Dad drank beer and ate a Ploighmans, visiting relatives, and helping my uncle tend the dusty red soil in his bone dry allotment.

Yeah, I remember the summer of '76.

• The Suntor leaked and was swapped for a brand new replacement by the guys at Torcars in Gt Torrington.

• My Dad was interviewed on Nationwide that summer about the book he was writing. The start of the feature showed him parking the Suntor up in a town called Stamford. Next day one of my friends came up to me excitedly telling me "We saw your Dad's car on the telly." Not my Dad, but his car. :-)

[Monkeylegend]

littleowl said:

Monkeylegend said:

littleowl said:

Oh. And these feckers. Seemingly on the radio everytime it was switched on :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb63PdPweDc

I haven't looked but bet it's Mungo Jerry.

Nope. Even more annoying than 'In The Summertime' though (that was 1970).

Yep, sure is

[TwigtheWonderkid]

I was 13. Easy by The Commodores was the song I remember from that summer. Punk was just getting going.

[AMv8 dreamer]

I was 9 and remember my Dad using spring water to irrigate his vegie plot and a neighbour complaining, he didn`t have a spring on his land. The spring did run dry in the end, when people further up the hill taped into it. Also a bees nest in a tree and a bee keeper coming too take it away.

[sebhaque]

Any excuse.

You are all sooooo old. </teenage cliché>.

I remember the summer of 2006. That was a lovely year. I was 16.

[Mr GrimNasty]

I remember Denis Howell was a fast worker.

[kev b]

I remember that summer well, I was 17, still at school and had a brand new Kawasaki 400 triple. It was often so hot I rode in a t-shirt and Brutus denims.

I had two jobs to pay my Dad back for the bike and remember racing along empty roads at 6am going to work at a farm job and tearing back in the evening to my bar job.

Dad died in September just after school started and things were never the same again.

[HOGEPH]

Got my first real six string, bought it at the five and dime...

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

HOGEPH said:

Got my first real six string, bought it at the five and dime...

Still had it seven years later?

[HOGEPH]

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

HOGEPH said:

Got my first real six string, bought it at the five and dime...

Still had it seven years later?

Got my first real six string
Bought it where there's a pick and mix
Played it 'til my fingers bled
It was the summer of '76

[vixen1700]

I was 9 and remember playing out till really late that year as it was such a long hot summer.

Biggest memory of '76 though was going the Bicentenial air-display at Mildenhall and the heat that day, it was a scorcher.