I'm old enough to remember when........

[vixen1700]

Dr Jekyll said:

There was a motor show at Earl's court.

Went to my first one in 1972 when I was 6.

My dad was thinking about a Vauxhall Viva, but they had such a long delivery time, he went onto the Citroen stand and thankfully ordered a GS instead.

The nice bloke on the Citroen stand let me sit in the SM and there started an interest in cars.

God forbid, he could have ended up with a Viva and my life would have turned out completely different.

[alfie2244]

I can remember when we spent most of our days either playing football in the street or building camps on WW2 bombsites.

[P5BNij]

vixen1700 said:

Dr Jekyll said:

There was a motor show at Earl's court.

Went to my first one in 1972 when I was 6.

My dad was thinking about a Vauxhall Viva, but they had such a long delivery time, he went onto the Citroen stand and thankfully ordered a GS instead.

The nice bloke on the Citroen stand let me sit in the SM and there started an interest in cars.

God forbid, he could have ended up with a Viva and my life would have turned out completely different.

My Mrs just bought me another book on the SM for my birthday last week and there's a very nice example for sale not far from where we live, it's bound to end in tears...!

Back on topic - I can remember when Series 1 Airfix kits came in little plastic bags with a piece of card stapled to the top, a pocket money buster at 30p, and the 1/24th Spitfire was a whopping £4.95.

[vixen1700]

P5BNij said:

My Mrs just bought me another book on the SM for my birthday last week and there's a very nice example for sale not far from where we live, it's bound to end in tears...!

Bound to end in tears, but when it's working...

My wife knows that's one of my bucket list things to own, and she's quite understanding.

Watching Car SOS recently with the DS and the spares bloke turns up in an SM and she says that we really need one of those.

Either an SM or a Traction.

[Dr Jekyll]

vixen1700 said:

Dr Jekyll said:

There was a motor show at Earl's court.

Went to my first one in 1972 when I was 6.

My dad was thinking about a Vauxhall Viva, but they had such a long delivery time, he went onto the Citroen stand and thankfully ordered a GS instead.

The nice bloke on the Citroen stand let me sit in the SM and there started an interest in cars.

God forbid, he could have ended up with a Viva and my life would have turned out completely different.

I remember there was a 'plane show' at about that time, somewhere on London's south bank I think. Quite a revelation that learning to fly was merely expensive rather than for millionaires only, still took me a couple of decades to save up though.

[RTB]

I guess this is more evidence that increased longevity isn't all it's cracked up to be. We end up with a load of old codgers talking about corona vans and the Blitz.

Having said that, my eldest old son can't get his head around the fact that I'm old enough to have lived in 5 different decades, 2 different centuries and 2 different millennia. To a 10 year old 40 years old is functionally the same as 100 years old

[SpudLink]

Northbloke said:

Having to wait to use the phone because your mother was chatting away on it for hours.

I remember it was a big deal when we got our first telephone. (I can still remember the number.)

I remember when we went round to a neighbour’s house to watch the first colour telly in the area. And the excitement when mum said she’d ordered one, and it would be delivered in a few weeks.

[nicanary]

I used to dread going to my maternal grandparents' home for Sunday visits. They had no WC, just a "drop-bucket" in an outside lavvy. In winter your wotsit would freeze, in the summer the stench was unbelievable. The honey-wagon would visit weekly and empty the thing. What a job.

[P5BNij]

vixen1700 said:

P5BNij said:

My Mrs just bought me another book on the SM for my birthday last week and there's a very nice example for sale not far from where we live, it's bound to end in tears...!

Bound to end in tears, but when it's working...

My wife knows that's one of my bucket list things to own, and she's quite understanding.

Watching Car SOS recently with the DS and the spares bloke turns up in an SM and she says that we really need one of those.

Either an SM or a Traction.

I don't think mine fully realises the consequences of buying me that book last week...

I can remember when there were more than a dozen very busy car dealerships in my town, all the big names, before they became nail bars, flats, offices, supermarkets, low budget tyre and exhaust centres or were just demolished to make way for car parks.

[glenrobbo]

P5BNij said:

Back on topic - I can remember when Series 1 Airfix kits came in little plastic bags with a piece of card stapled to the top, a pocket money buster at 30p,

The first ones didn't have a card header, it was the folded glossy paper artist's impression with the assembly instructions and exploded view inside.
ISTR the price for the kits at first was 1/6d (7.5p)

An eclectic mix:
Spitfire Mk 1
The Golden Hind
1904 Darraq
Fokker Triplane
Bristol Fighter
etc

[Doofus]

Fortunately, I'm not quite old enough to remember when money made no sense.

My missus is, and she says even as a child she thought it was utterly bonkers.

Two tanners in half a farthing, three and five eighths shillings to a groat and all that bks. Who ever thought that made sense?

[The Mad Monk]

Doofus said:

Two tanners in half a farthing, three and five eighths shillings to a groat and all that bks. Who ever thought that made sense?

Me.

[Doofus]

Really?

Can you still do all the complicated maths needed to add up old money?

[vixen1700]

Doofus said:

Who ever thought that made sense?

I'm not old enough to remember it really, but know what you mean. What was it all about?

[The Mad Monk]

Doofus said:

Really?

Can you still do all the complicated maths needed to add up old money?

What's complicated?

Three and ninepence plus four shillings and tuppence equals seven shillings and eleven pence.

[Vanordinaire]

The Mad Monk said:

Doofus said:

Two tanners in half a farthing, three and five eighths shillings to a groat and all that bks. Who ever thought that made sense?

Me.

I'm old enough to remember farthings (quarter of an old penny, with a picture of a wren), tanners,(six old pennies, silver and very small, my mum put a few in the Christmas pudding mix), but groats(which were four old pennies),went out of use somewhere mid 1800's so beyond the memory of anyone living today.

[Doofus]

The Mad Monk said:

What's complicated?

Three and ninepence plus four shillings and tuppence equals seven shillings and eleven pence.

[glenrobbo]

Doofus said:

The Mad Monk said:

What's complicated?

Three and ninepence plus four shillings and tuppence equals seven shillings and eleven pence.

That's 95/252 ths of a guinea.

I think?

[Shakermaker]

vixen1700 said:

Doofus said:

Who ever thought that made sense?

I'm not old enough to remember it really, but know what you mean. What was it all about?

As someone born in 1985 I never experienced it.

But my understanding is that, as with a lot of "old" measurements, they were borne out of their use and needs for the time, rather than having ever been designed as a cohesive system that all works together. You needed money in small enough denominations for your essentials like flour, beer, meat, and then you'd need some larger denomination coins to avoid having to carry around hundreds of small coins (no notes back in the day) and you would need these to pay for equipment if you were a rich business or land owner etc.

Same with all the imperial measurements of distance, volume etc. You could measure "a foot" using your foot. A yard using how far one pace was, and scale up accordingly, with some standards then applied to make sure everyone was playing relatively fairly. A pint was no doubt derived from how much you could drink, or maybe by how much you could divide up a larger measure between a certain number of people?

[silverfoxcc]

glenrobbo said

I can remember Muffin the Mule before it was made a criminal offence.

not only that but a nasty disease was Moby Dick,and i cant begin to explain the treatment needed for Boxcar Willie




Can i do some money changing with you?

I have plenty of pre deicimal coins i can swap at the exchange rate you quote!!!