When I was a young girl in service in the '20s, the master called all us girls outside one day, where we were given a demonstration of something called a "vacuum cleaner"
This had its pump and dust collector mounted in a automobile van, the suction hose being led away from the machine into the house.
I can recall as if it were yesterday, the mighty roar from the turbine fan, as it frightened the cab horses in the street.
Very interesting at the time, though I doubt they will catch on.
best ever invention
Betamax videos and eight track cartridge players for cars.
I spent so much on em ......doh!
I really was the inkwell monitor in infants school.....
me too what is it about swingers and milk :confused2:
Best developments in order : contraception, antibiotics, plumbing/clean water. Now lets see if we can spread these well established western 'luxuries' into the parts of the world who still find themselves in the dark ages.
On a lighter note - the biggest change I have seen is in communication. A colleague is about to move to Oz with his partner. 100 years ago his adult children would expect maybe 2 letters a year (assuming they could read) and to possibly never see their father again. Now, they may be in daily contact, face to face (almost) and live-voiced via web-cam and . Text messages and phone calls and e-mails with photo attachments. When you think about it - what we can do now to communicate compared to when our grandparents were born is totally, utterly FABULOUS.
Standing up at football, singing at football, watered down lager, manky pies and hot dogs.
What you got now? Seats, no atmosphere, pizza and chips, white wine and a weeks salary just to get in and watch!!!!
until I was 5..my parents could't afford there own house and so we lived with my grandad. There was no bathroom....the tiolet was an outside one and about 20 yards down the yard. A long way to run when desperate. My mom used to wash me in the sink...except for a sunday when they filled a tin bath from the kettle and I had a bath infront of the open fire... So i'm gona say thank goodness for bathrooms !!!
calculators and modern cars.
My first calculator was enormous, about the size of a paperback novel, and shockingly expensive. It could do the basics and that was it. Only a few years later they were giving away credit card sized machines with petrol.
And modern cars! Bliss. Automatic choke, electric windows, warm, quiet, comfortable, safer, very fast and relatively economical.
Does anyone else remember the Nit lotions of yesteryear?, it used to sting your eyes and stink to high heaven :shock: I for one am glad they have invented more user friendly lotions!!.
do you remember gettin up on a winters morning and havin to light the coal fire? Thank goodness for central heating.
I do recall my son in his younger years asking "Did you have scissors in your day"??!! I suppose it could have been worse and he could have asked if I had a pet dinosaur!
But for me ........ automatic washing machines.
Mrs 777 xxxxxxx
omg yes the automatic washer - remember well my mum having a "wash day" and standing over the twin tub all day... also remember my aunt having to use the mangle to get the water out of her washing!!
The shower - all us kids used to share a bath, we even used to get into mums bath water cos as she put it "its a lovely bath and not very dirty". Makes me smile now.
Suze xx
Being a flat capped northerner it may not come as a surprise to find out that our house didn't get an indoor loo until 1982 when my Grandmother's house (I was brought up by her from age 14) had a council improvement grant-funded refurbishment.
Post it notes, whatever did we do without them.
I wonder how much is wasted producing and marketing such things that would be better spent making sure everybody has clean drinking water.
Mind u i feel that about almost everything mentioned on this thread apart form the food, drink and shelter items.
The rich get lots of rubbish and the poor get lots of kids.
I would say a fridge, I couldn't imagine life in the summer without one.
Something a friend had on profile which i love, and yes i have lived.
Just for a minute, forget everything stressful and read
this......
Close your eyes and go back in time...
Before the Internet...
Before semi-automatics, joyriders and crack....
Before SEGA or Super Nintendo...
Way back........
I'm talking about Hide and Seek in the park.
The corner shop.
Hopscotch.
Butterscotch.
Skipping.
Handstands.
Football with an old can.
Fingerbob.
Beano, Dandy, Buster, Twinkle and Dennis the Menace.
Roly Poly.
Hula Hoops, jumping the stream, building dams.
The smell of the sun and fresh cut grass.
Bazooka Joe bubble gum.
An ice cream cone on a warm summer night from the van that plays a tune.
Chocolate or vanilla or strawberry or maybe Neapolitan or perhaps
screwball.
Wait......
Watching Saturday morning cartoons, short commercials or the flicks.
Children's Film Foundation, The Double Deckers, Red Hand Gang,
Tomorrow People, Banana splits, Tiswas or Swapshop?, and 'Why Don't You'? - or
staying up for Doctor Who.
When around the corner seemed far away and going into town seemed like going somewhere.
Earwigs, wasps, stinging nettles and bee stings.
Sticky fingers.
Playing Marbles. Ball bearings. Big 'uns and Little 'uns.
Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, and Zorro.
Climbing trees.
Making igloos out of snow banks.
Walking to school, no matter what the weather.
Running till you were out of breath, laughing so hard that your stomach hurt.
Jumping on the bed. Pillow fights.
Spinning around on roundabouts, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for giggles.
Making Dens. Climbing Trees.
Being tired from playing....remember that?
The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team.
Water balloons were the ultimate weapon.
Football cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle.
Choppers and Grifters.
Eating raw jelly. Orange squash ice pops. Vimto and Jubbly lollies
Remember when...
There were two types of trainers - girls and boys, and Dunlop
Green Flash. The only time you wore them at School was for P.E.
And they were called gym shoes or if you are older - plimsoles
You knew everyone in your street - and so did your parents.
It wasn't odd to have two or three 'best' friends.
You didn't sleep a wink on Christmas Eve.
When nobody owned a pure-bred dog.
When 25p was decent pocket money
Curly Whirlys. Space Dust. Toffo's. Spangles. Mojo's.
Wham Bars. Bubble Gum in little sacks. Top Trumps.
When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny.
When any parent could discipline any kid, or feed him or use him to
carry groceries and nobody, not even the kid, thought a thing of it.
When being sent to the head's office was nothing compared to the
fate that awaited a misbehaving pupil at home.
Basically, we were in fear for our lives but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs etc.
Remember when....
Decisions were made by going 'Ip, Dip, Dog Shit'
Race issue' meant arguing about who ran the fastest.
Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in Monopoly
The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was germs.
And the worst thing in your day was having to sit next to one.
It was unbelievable that 'British Bulldog 123' wasn't an Olympic event.
Having a weapon in school, meant being caught with a catapult.
Nobody was prettier than Mum.
Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better.
Taking drugs meant orange-flavoured chewable aspirin.
Ice cream was considered a basic food group.
Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true.
Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors.
If you can remember most or all of these, then you have LIVED.
