Old enough to remember

[onlymark]

I remember when stonehenge was just a set of plans drawn up by some Druid mates of mine one night in a pub over a few glasses of mead.

[slowcoach]

Bixa,

No not quite that old,

prior to the start of the "new age" and all that, there was not much in the way of a fence and around daybreak in summer no one was about you could go and play about amongst the stones. I suppose it was a bit cheeky but fun.

There are many neolithic sites in Southern England and they often look a bit sad.

One would think that these must be the most fiercely dangerous stones in the world to be caged so:



Dolmen at Kit's Coty (near the Pilgrim's Way)

[slowcoach]

Strange, I would have thought it would still have been a bit ice agey that far north and we hadn't built Watford Pier yet, let alone Watford Gap.

[onlymark]

It was cold slowcoach but we were tough in those days. Nothing much stopped us, even the roaming bands of wolves and boars left us alone.
I also seriously remember clambering all over the Major Oak when it was unprotected (for those who don't know it, it's where Robin Hood was supposed to have hidden from the Sheriff of Nottingham).

[mossie]

I remember my pilot telling me how much trouble he had in teaching Pontius to fly.

[lagatta]

The non politically-correct term for a boombox was a "ghetto blaster".

[bixaorellana]

Oh yeah ~~ I'd forgotten about that term.

Mossie, *snork!*

Slowcoach, I would have loved to have romped among the standing stones. Somewhat related: have you seen this thread?

[slowcoach]

bixa,

No I hadn't, so many thanks.

Neolithic monuments fascinate me, I am not sure why. It is a bit of a idiosyncrasy I suspect. The appeal isn't obvious, for the smaller sites at least. Just a few rough stones placed together. I have no idea why the were constructed but they must have meant a lot to the builders. I shall not leave a monument that will persist for thousands of years.

I read your comments there and you seem to feel something similar.

[bixaorellana]

Thank you, Slowcoach -- yes, you definitely understand how I feel in the presence of those places left for us by our remote ancestors. You sum it up perfectly.

[Deleted]

Doing "the twist"!!! It wasn't until 1/4 of the way into the song that the gorgeous graceful woman I was dancing with both realized we needed to twist, and twist we did!!! What a trip!!! It was at a memorial for a dear friend, and, the live band played on into the night. What a treat!!

[Deleted]

I remember how the "Magic 8-Ball" fascinated me as a child but also how we were mesmerized certain nights in university after a bit of chemical assistance before consulting one.

[bixaorellana]

For some reason that brought back intense memories of using the Ouija board with my friend Caroline (r.i.p.) when we were in our early teens .................. staying up late on sleepovers at her house way out in the country.

[Deleted]

I remember when glass bottles of ammonia were a common household product. My mother used to put her jewelry in a bowl of ammonia to clean it.

[htmb]

[Deleted]

We never had one of those in my family. They were considered a luxury for impatient people.

In the four years since my last trip to the United States, I realized this time that road maps are on the verge of disappeaing forever. I visited 2 Wal-Marts, 1 K-Mart, 1 Walgreens and several big supermarkets without managing to find a single road map. I finally got a Louisiana road map at a service station, but they didn't have any Mississippi maps in Gulfport, Mississippi. Later, going north, I was reassured and found a complete rack of maps at a Wal-Mart in hicktown (Wiggins) where I guess not everybody uses a GPS yet.

I do not deny the utility of a GPS even though I don't like to use them personally (this almost caused an argument at the rental car agency), but I do not understand that people don't like to spread out a map in their hotel room in the evening and plot out possibilities for the next day on the road. Google maps certainly does not provide the same satisfaction, because you constantly have to zoom, de-zoom and displace the view to see another part of the map.

[bixaorellana]

I got a Polaroid camera in high school & had it for years. If you had one, it allows you to remember friends and family as amber-colored people with a veil of thick wrinkles.

No maps?! What about in the state-run tourist stops as you pass from one state to another?

[Deleted]

They have maps, but not every state is a small as Rhode Island to make it convenient.

When I used to go see my parents in Florida, at every Wal-Mart, Target or K-Mart, there were maps displayed at the check-out counters, not to mention the Rand-McNally road atlas with all of the coupons in it.

While I think it is probable that there are still maps in Florida due to all of the old people and international visitors, I find it appalling that in another tourist area such as the Mississippi Gulf Coast, maps have completely disappeared.

[htmb]

Apr 6, 2013 21:31:32 GMT bixaorellana said:

I got a Polaroid camera in high school & had it for years. If you had one, it allows you to remember friends and family as amber-colored people with a veil of thick wrinkles.

So true, bixa. My parents bought one for my litte sister once she became ill. She loved taking pictures and really enjoyed using the Polaroid.

[Deleted]

[nautiker]

never had a Polaroid, however I can still remember these:

[bixaorellana]

Is it a light meter?

[nautiker]

exactly - though I used rules of thumb prevalently...

another thing gone, at least over here: TV presenters - I mean those who appeared between programs to announce 'and next we have the children's program' etc. sort of stuff.

[bixaorellana]

I can't imagine the presenters are missed ....... are they?

Remember signing for things from carriers such as UPS? Now there is the miracle of the modern world wherein I can track a package from the time it leaves the vendor right to the door of the recipient. However, I've found it's mostly necessary to tell a person to expect the item, as otherwise it might languish on the front porch if it's a household where everyone exits through the garage door, or if the recipients aren't home when the package arrives. My mother says that the deliveryman rings the bell, then goes immediately back to his truck -- no chance for someone in the house to acknowledge delivery, to say it's the wrong house or whatever.

[Deleted]

May 15, 2013 16:05:50 GMT bixaorellana said:

I can't imagine the presenters are missed ....... are they?

Actually, the presenters are sort of missed in France, too. A special word was invented for the profession -- "speakerine" -- because all except one of them were women, and the man who was hired was just on in the final years.

Television was more personal way back when, and these people were almost part of the family. There were lots of technical glitches in the old days, and they would appear all of a sudden to explain what was happening and to help the spectators wait. My great grandmother (who died in 1965) would not undress in front of the television "because they can see you."

As the old speakerines from the 50's and 60's die off, they always receive major homages on the news, and that's when you realise that they really were a part of the family, because you indeed miss them even if you haven't seen them for 10 or more years.

Now television is just an automated impersonal device.

[fgrsk8r1970]

I found that mostly Borders has Maps nowadays here in the US or AAA (Automotive Club) - I love my GPS for overseas but agree that I could spend hours looking at a big paper map and "walking" through the country/world with my fingers or a highlighter... talking about highlighters .... do people still use those?

We did have a Polaroid but mostly couldn't afford to buy the refill cartridges LOL. My sister had a "pocket camera" like... ritsch-ratsch ... (looking for a pic) the slimmer than a pack of cigarettes that you pulled apart and pushed together to advance the film and had those cube flashes that had 4 uses?
;-)

[fgrsk8r1970]

If you move your mouse over the photo it'll show it opening and closing ;-)
www.lippisches-kameramuseum.de/Agfa/Agfa_mini.htm

[bixaorellana]

Finally looked at the Agfa picture, Skater. I never had one of those, but I do remember seeing them in the dim past. Don't know if they were sold in the US or not, but since we were a military family, it's possible I saw some that people had picked up while stationed in Germany.

[Deleted]

I absolutely loved pinball machines. Actually, there are still a few in Paris if you know where to look.

[bjd]

A friend of ours has a pinball machine in his living room. Whenever they have guests, all the men take turns playing.

[Deleted]

I will see a selection of pinball machines where I am going on Monday, but I am not sure from what epoch.