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...the many things that you remember as a kid or teenager...

I love this thread thank you for starting it @Mr Stickyfingers

I read it lying in bed, trying to catch up, but just at page 7 so far, it's a nice slow giggly read
It is a bit like a book/short stories, lovely if you are feeling a bit shit, and if your hands are too sore to post stuff
Could be edited into a fun article or short story one day

Love, love, love how many kids had condensed milk as a treat/desired.....My brother and I used to get a tin each for Xmas

...I’m glad that you like the thread kxk... thanks for letting me know... I started it because nice thoughts of my childhood often popped into my head and one day I thought ‘why write it down so that I don’t forget it’... then I started writing them down for my own self satisfaction... as they started to mount up and become quite a few memories... I thought ‘why not share them with other people and see if they remember similar things?... hence how the thread started!... lol!...

...like yourself... I really enjoy reading other posts that people put up here of their childhood memories... some of them crack me up... I’ve never thought of them as ‘short stories’ before but what a great way of looking at them!... now you have me wanting to re-read this thread just to remember them yet again lol!... thankyou for instilling that great idea into me kxk... again... I’m glad that you like the thread... cheers.
 
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...I remember as a teenager that the worse thing to catch in the early 70’s was ‘the clap’ or something... nowadays it’s the ‘Coronavirus’... I suppose that in about 20 years time you will just look at some sick person and will simply explode into little pieces there on the spot!... cheers.
 
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...I remember as a teenager that the worse thing to catch in the early 70’s was ‘the clap’ or something... nowadays it’s the ‘Coronavirus’... I suppose that in about 20 years time you will just look at some sick person and will simply explode into little pieces there on the spot!... cheers.
I remember as a teenager the threat of nuclear war was a huge worry!
Especially where I used to live, there was a naval base and I found out that Russia had missiles already aimed at it! Got through that one unscathed!
 
I remember as a teenager the threat of nuclear war was a huge worry!
Especially where I used to live, there was a naval base and I found out that Russia had missiles already aimed at it! Got through that one unscathed!
Cold war....fucked up wasn't it growing up, I believed I would not live beyond 30, that we would all be nuked
Plus my evil older sisters had me freaked out about the Yellow Peril when I was about 7
I can still remember sitting in a front tree whilst they sat on the fence teasing me,i had no idea what that peril meant
They would also scare me about spiders, telling me if I ever hurt/killed one the whole family of spiders would hunt me down

Such bastards I had for elders, 3 nasty girls and 1 whacho older brother...he was a very nasty character
He was a thug, and would suddenly appear with his creepy buddies and use us little kids as target practice
Growing up in a big family pretty much sucked, I am 5th of eight, and i made sure to be kinder to my 3 younger siblings
So we 4 were much closer than the mean 4 elders...quite distinct, different groups, different kind of people
 
...I had a ‘pa-ting!... I remember that from when I was a kid!’... moment this morning in the shower... when we were kids my mum used to bathe us each morning in the laundry tub that was in our small flat... she had a shower nozzle attached to the tap and would hose us down for a final rinse... (we used to live in a slum area in the east end of London so you had to make do with what you had on hand I guess)...

...anyhow... I always loved it as a kid when the beautiful warm water used run over my closed eyelids because I always felt cosy and warm and so peaceful at the time... I don’t know why but the running water on my closed eyelids made me feel so great lol!...

...so there I am this morning in the shower and it was like an instant time warp back to when I was about 5 or 6 years old in the east end of London again!... what a truly wonderful feeling it was... so sudden but so wonderful!... it’s funny because I’ve only just realised this morning when it happened that I have been doing the ‘running the warm water over my eyelids‘ thing only ever since I had my last major stroke!... weird eh?...

...geez it was a great moment!... (I know... the smallest things amuses the smallest minds’)... lol!... cheers.
 
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...I had a ‘pa-ting!... I remember that from when I was a kid!’... moment this morning in the shower... when we were kids my mum used to bathe us each morning in the laundry tub that was in our small flat... she had a shower nozzle attached to the tap and would hose us down for a final rinse... (we used to live in a slum area in the east end of London so you had to make do with what you had on hand I guess)...

...anyhow... I always loved it as a kid when the beautiful warm water used run over my closed eyelids because I always felt cosy and warm and so peaceful at the time... I don’t know why but the running water on my closed eyelids made me feel so great lol!...

...so there I am this morning in the shower and it was like an instant time warp back to when I was about 5 or 6 years old in the east end of London again!... what a truly wonderful feeling it was... so sudden but so wonderful!... it’s funny because I’ve only just realised this morning when it happened that I have been doing the ‘running the warm water over my eyelids‘ thing only ever since I had my last major stroke!... weird eh?...

...geez it was a great moment!... (I know... the smallest things amuses the smallest minds’)... lol!... cheers.
Memories like that are important.
I've noticed as I've got older, in the wee hours of the morning when I wake up I suddenly remember things from my childhood.
I didn't realise you were an East Ender!
I remember my Dad telling me they all shared the bathwater. You wouldn't want to be the last one if the first two had "warmed it up"!
 
That is not small @Mr Stickyfingers , it's kind of huge, what a lovely moment and memory

Memories of my childhood/teens/early 20s,are all so wrapped up with my many siblings, good and bad
11 of us squashed into an old 2 bedroom suburban house, that is 8 kids, 2 parents and our psuedo grannie, ie our great aunt
she brought up my mum and her sister, for her sister, Mum's real mother was a drug addict/alcoholic/mental health patient

We were bursting at the seams, the church loaned us money to build some bedrooms
When I and my younger bros were very small
I still remember being too little to climb to the 2nd floor, watching my elders up in the rafters having a ball
And my little bros fell in a foundation hole and almost got buried

I think the neighborhood/street kind of hated us
Back then, nobody had trees, they all had lovely manicured lawns and roses
We were the rambling house on the corner with too many kids and surrounded by Mum's messy forrest
We had trees, lots of them and huge some of them
We were like Ma and Pa Kettle, Cheaper by the Dozen, mixed with a bit of Addams Family

The rest of the street was all Brady Bunch.
 
Memories like that are important.
I've noticed as I've got older, in the wee hours of the morning when I wake up I suddenly remember things from my childhood.
I didn't realise you were an East Ender!
I remember my Dad telling me they all shared the bathwater. You wouldn't want to be the last one if the first two had "warmed it up"!
...I used to live in an area in the East End of London called ‘The Elephant and Castle’ which used to run into a slum area off The Old Kent Road (the lowest property on the Monopoly board after ’do not pass go’ lol!)’... we emigrated to Australia as 10 Pound Immagrants 6 days before my 14th birthday... an amazing adventure for a 14 year old indeed!... lol!... cheers.
 
What an adventure for a 14 year old. Was that by boat?
I was a 75 pound migrant at 22 when they were looking for hairdressers. Thankfully that was on Qantas!
Good old Old Kent Road, you could make a lite bit of money buying that and Whitechaple Road as the other players came round that corner!
 
What an adventure for a 14 year old. Was that by boat?
I was a 75 pound migrant at 22 when they were looking for hairdressers. Thankfully that was on Qantas!
Good old Old Kent Road, you could make a lite bit of money buying that and Whitechaple Road as the other players came round that corner!

...actually we came by plane which broke down in Kuwait in Saudi Arabia methinks and we were stuck there in the poshest Hotel all paid for by the airline lol!... it was the hottest that it had been for years... god it was hot!... (and as you know... Pommies and heat do not mix well together lol!)... my brother and I were in our Hotel room on our own because the rooms weren’t big enough to cater for whole families... well...

...the arline made a big mistake by telling all of the stranded passengers that the airline were paying for everything for as long we were stranded there... silly mistake... my brother and I were listening quite intensively... they told them to just ring room service whenever they were needing feeding...again... as I said... the airline were footing the bill... well...

...when the next morning arrived and before mum and dad woke to come in and check on us to see how we fared sleeping... my brother and l had picked up the phone for room service to order our breakfast... they again told us on the phone that we could order ANYTHING on the menu... it was all free!... so... I ordered every single item on the menu!... here we were... watching this endless stream of waiters bringing an endless stream of all the dishes on the menu... my brother and I ate like Kings for about 10-15 minutes until our mum and dad walked into the room to check on us... well...

...my mum let out a distinct shriek at the top of her lungs... dad burst out in loud laughter until he realised the seriousness of what had happened... (I’ll never forget the way mum gave him the filthiest look because he laughed lol!)... once they realised what we (mostly me) had done they both chucked a pink fit as you could imagine... mum started crying and kept saying over and over... “how can WE ever afford to pay for all of this?”... well...

...I said to her... “don’t worry mum... they told you to order whatever you want because it’s all free!... (aw man!... didn’t she ever give me a massive clout around my ears!... lol!)... dad had to ring the airline official and asked him to come to our room to apologise... explain what had happened... and when he finally got to the room was going to rather sheepishly explain that only being 10 Pound immigrants that we we’re never going to be able to pay for it all... well...

...when the airline official got to the room and dad had explained what had happened he burst out laughing!... mum and dad both sighed with instant relief... and my ears were STILL stinging from that clout given to me by mum!... (you could hit kids then lol!)... the airline just turned it into an all-you-can-eat type of buffet for the rest of the passengers on the plane!... (including most of the airline crew)... well...

...needless to say... we became legends on the plane for the rest of our trip to Australia... we became the stewardesses favourites the entire trip... they made endless jokes about it the entire trip... completely true story... cheers.


.
 
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...I used to live in an area in the East End of London called ‘The Elephant and Castle’ which used to run into a slum area off The Old Kent Road (the lowest property on the Monopoly board after ’do not pass go’ lol!)’... we emigrated to Australia as 10 Pound Immagrants 6 days before my 14th birthday... an amazing adventure for a 14 year old indeed!... lol!... cheers.
Interesting
There is a pub in St Kilda called that, and it is frequented by Brit backpakers
They hold a Neighbours night, Mondays, with different cast members singing and stuff
Dr Carl is a regular

Have always wondered about that funny name
And why/how, did an area in London get called that?
Lots of Indian restaurants or something???

You clearly thrived in your new home, did you ever run into Vanda and Young in migrant hostels?
(Easybeats etc)
Did you go to one of those migrant hostels?

I have a couple of friends with similar circumstances to you, migrating in teens or close to it
Neither have thrived like you, they are introvert geeky types, Australia was too much

You clearly fit right in being a scallywag and cheeky bugger
 
Interesting
There is a pub in St Kilda called that, and it is frequented by Brit backpakers
They hold a Neighbours night, Mondays, with different cast members singing and stuff
Dr Carl is a regular

Have always wondered about that funny name
And why/how, did an area in London get called that?
Lots of Indian restaurants or something???

You clearly thrived in your new home, did you ever run into Vanda and Young in migrant hostels?
(Easybeats etc)
Did you go to one of those migrant hostels?

I have a couple of friends with similar circumstances to you, migrating in teens or close to it
Neither have thrived like you, they are introvert geeky types, Australia was too much

You clearly fit right in being a scallywag and cheeky bugger
...wow! ... fancy that pub being named that!... I think the place in London has been named that since Victorian times or perhaps even earlier... when we first came to Australia we immigrated to Smithfield Hostel in Adelaide (it’s now an Army barracks apparently)... dad had to join the R.A.A.F. in Adelaide due to the fact that there was no other work available at the time... within a year he got posted to Richmond R.A.A.F. Base here in NSW... we were then in the famed Villawood Hostel for a short while... it was like a prisoner of war camp... it was awful... I haven’t met who you mentioned but I may have and not know it... there were so many of us around lol!... scallywag and a cheeky bugger?... who?... liddell ol’ me?... you DO know me well kxk lol!... cheers.
 
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...actually we came by plane which broke down in Kuwait in Saudi Arabia methinks and we were stuck there in the poshest Hotel all paid for by the airline lol!... it was the hottest that it had been for years... god it was hot!... (and as you know... Pommies and heat do not mix well together lol!)... my brother and I were in our Hotel room on our own because the rooms weren’t big enough to cater for whole families... well...

...the arline made a big mistake by telling all of the stranded passengers that the airline were paying for everything for as long we were stranded there... silly mistake... my brother and I were listening quite intensively... they told them to just ring room service whenever they were needing feeding...again... as I said... the airline were footing the bill... well...

...when the next morning arrived and before mum and dad woke to come in and check on us to see how we fared sleeping... my brother and l had picked up the phone for room service to order our breakfast... they again told us on the phone that we could order ANYTHING on the menu... it was all free!... so... I ordered every single item on the menu!... here we were... watching this endless stream of waiters bringing an endless stream of all the dishes on the menu... my brother and I ate like Kings for about 10-15 minutes until our mum and dad walked into the room to check on us... well...

...my mum let out a distinct shriek at the top of her lungs... dad burst out in loud laughter until he realised the seriousness of what had happened... (I’ll never forget the way mum gave him the filthiest look because he laughed lol!)... once they realised what we (mostly me) had done they both chucked a pink fit as you could imagine... mum started crying and kept saying over and over... “how can WE ever afford to pay for all of this?”... well...

...I said to her... “don’t worry mum... they told you to order whatever you want because it’s all free!... (aw man!... didn’t she ever give me a massive clout around my ears!... lol!)... dad had to ring the airline official and asked him to come to our room to apologise... explain what had happened... and when he finally got to the room was going to rather sheepishly explain that only being 10 Pound immigrants that we we’re never going to be able to pay for it all... well...

...when the airline official got to the room and dad had explained what had happened he burst out laughing!... mum and dad both sighed with instant relief... and my ears were STILL stinging from that clout given to me by mum!... (you could hit kids then lol!)... the airline just turned it into an all-you-can-eat type of buffet for the rest of the passengers on the plane!... (including most of the airline crew)... well...

...needless to say... we became legends on the plane for the rest of our trip to Australia... we became the stewardesses favourites the entire trip... they made endless jokes about it the entire trip... completely true story... cheers.


.
That's some story, what a memory !
My memory of coming over was Bahrain, 88 degrees f at 6am, I'd never encountered those temperatures before. 16f was a boiling hot day in Watford!
Then Seeing guards with machine guns worried me.
Then an Aussie couple on the plane telling me the last time they flew into Sydney there were kangaroos on the tarmac and they couldn't land! I believed them and hoped to see some kangaroos on landing!
Obviously I was a sitting target!
 
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Having just Googled what 88 degrees Fahrenheit is in Celsius, it's only 31c - how things change!
 
That's some story, what a memory !


...haha!... it was not a hard story to remember lol!... my mum and dad retold that story over and over to friends and others at parties etc... it was a sort of ‘badge or honour’ for them and one of their fondest memories I found out eventually... I think that they liked to remind me of how much I was such a little rogue bastard of a kid I was lol!... they had so much pleasure in recalling that story... I usually just innocently smiled and said little when they told that story... I used to give that ‘would I ever do something like that?‘ look and keep on smiling lol!... cheers.
 
...I just remembered something else with that story that happened before we went to sleep that night before the food escapade... in our room was the biggest ceiling fan (it was so big that it probably helped fly an aeroplane lol!)... and because it was so hot as I said before... my younger brother and of course myself decided to have fun with it... they didn’t have remote controls then so... one of us would have to go over to the door of the room and turn it on over there...

...I said to my brother that I was going to boost him up to one of the fan blades so he can go for a ride... so I lifted him up... there he was... suspended from the ceiling fan... I was at the controls... we started it off on ‘slow’... all was good... then on ‘medium’... not so good... yes you guessed it... it made all sorts of noises... we stopped doing it... needless to say... the fan didn’t work too well after that... it made all sorts of ‘grinding’ noises that it never used to make before... we never told anyone... I have no idea whether the Hotel asked the airline to foot the repair bill for the fan lol!... cheers.
 
LOL your fan story made me think of how we destroyed the hills hoist/washing line
It was our whizzy ride, my older brother and sisters wizzed us smaller kids around
Then stuffed it totally spinning their larger selves
And in summer we made a circular mud slippery slide, water plus all of us running and sliding
made it very muddy and slippery, whizz on the clothes line.....and slide
 
...I was contemplating this morning at breakfast (while playing ‘Forge of Empires’ on my IPad) that how different my life might have been in the mid 60’s to mid 70’s if way back then we had the Internet / IPads / Mobile Phones / Computers / Bluetooth / Wi-Fi etc to name a few things... I would probably never had done such silly things such as ‘go out and play’ or ’find myself a hobby’ like ’painting and drawing’ or in my teens actually ‘go out to clubs and pubs‘ to actually ’meet girls face-to-face’...

...I’m glad that I grew up in the age era that I did... I had more ‘freedom‘ then methinks!... not being a slave to my Mobile Phone or my IPad as I am now lol!... they were great times indeed!... whether good or bad... I’ve lived in a great age era that I’m very thankful for... thanks mum and dad for having that twinkle in your eyes and doing something about it when you did!... lol!... cheers.
 
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