# Who remembers the 80's?



## carrielou (17 Nov 2008)

Just sitting here reading posts and was wondering how many people out there had to leave the country because of no job.

I was young and I went to London


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## theoneill (17 Nov 2008)

I was only a child in the 80's. But I do remember that my sister was forced to leave for the US and three out of five cousins had to leave also. The only problem now is that there seems to be nowhere to hide from this downturn.


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## gillarosa (17 Nov 2008)

Went to the US as an illegal alien, loved it, the alien part that is!
A woman at my daughters créche was telling me a lot of her friends
from various Eastern European states have left here for Canada since
the summer.


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## olddoll (17 Nov 2008)

During the 80's I remember going into town and seeing young artists/art students drawing beautiful pictures with chalk along O'Connell St. and opposite Trinity College.  They were trying to raise money to keep themselves.  As a result I discouraged my daughter from pursuing her interest in art.


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## Mpsox (17 Nov 2008)

Left in 1990 and lived in London for 10 years, best thing I ever did, made me appreciate Ireland a lot more and my career probably went further and faster then if I'd stayed at home.


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## carrielou (17 Nov 2008)

I came home from London in 1990, had enough of the party .  My salary leaving was £12,500 sterling, wonder what I would be earning now if I had stayed!


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## extopia (17 Nov 2008)

olddoll said:


> During the 80's I remember going into town and seeing young artists/art students drawing beautiful pictures with chalk along O'Connell St. and opposite Trinity College.  They were trying to raise money to keep themselves.  As a result I discouraged my daughter from pursuing her interest in art.



What a shame.


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## starlite68 (17 Nov 2008)

i can remember being in the pub with my friends a lot more than i can afford to be nowadays!


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## Conclo (17 Nov 2008)

left here in early 90's for NY, stayed there for a decade, had a great time, loved every minute of it. Am home here in Ireland 8 yrs and to be honest i know i made the right decision coming back here.......however like one of the other posters said, theres nowhere to hide this time....especially with 2 kids in tow...like the other half says over  and over ...tuf times ahead...........


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## deedee80 (18 Nov 2008)

I was very young in the 80's but when I think back now I see how my folks had to scrimp and save for everything.  My Dads wage was completely accounted for, every last penny, and things weren't just bought for the sake of it or on spur of the moment. You certainly wouldn't be getting yourself into debt for furniture/jewellery/holidays.  If we were going on holidays it was a huge deal and my parents had to save up for it and make sacrifices.  Even with the recession today I don't see this happening too often.  I asked my mam does the recession today compare to what it was like in the 80's and she said she wasn't really aware their was a recession in the 80's - she just thought that everyone was poor!  I guess there wasn't the extremes in that nowadays alot of people had loads of money and then within a space of a year they had lost their job.


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## Blossy (18 Nov 2008)

i remember my dad leaving to 'build' the Channel Tunnel!! he came back after about a year. 

we didnt have a landline at the time so we were like 'little women' all around my mom as she read out the letters to us!


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## Blossy (18 Nov 2008)

deedee80 said:


> I was very young in the 80's but when I think back now I see how my folks had to scrimp and save for everything. My Dads wage was completely accounted for, every last penny, and things weren't just bought for the sake of it or on spur of the moment. You certainly wouldn't be getting yourself into debt for furniture/jewellery/holidays. If we were going on holidays it was a huge deal and my parents had to save up for it and make sacrifices. Even with the recession today I don't see this happening too often. I asked my mam does the recession today compare to what it was like in the 80's and she said she wasn't really aware their was a recession in the 80's - she just thought that everyone was poor! I guess there wasn't the extremes in that nowadays alot of people had loads of money and then within a space of a year they had lost their job.


 
def the same for us!! was simpler times, remember christmas was one big present and a surprise! i remember one year getting a bike that looked very like my dads old one, i was told santa knew i always wanted one just like his so he got his elves to make one exactly the same hahah!! i loved it!!!


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## Fingalian (18 Nov 2008)

I do, with me Da in massive scrums outside Gardiner Street Exchange to get the ‘labour’ . Brian Lenihan telling us ‘it’s a small island, we all can’t live on it.’ So I took his advice and spent 10 years in America, it was the making of me.


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## ney001 (18 Nov 2008)

I remember everybody wore knitted jumpers - my mam used to pay a woman down the road to knit all kinds of big cardigans and jumpers for us. She'd bring us to the wool shops (of which there were loads) to pick the wool and the buttons that we liked! - everybody seemed to knit back then!.  Also remember two of us being put into the same bath water on a Saturday night - no showers then!


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## DeeFox (18 Nov 2008)

I was only a child in the eighties and so don't have any memories of the recession as such - I grew up in a cul de sac and remember going "oooh get them - they must be _loaded_" when one of our neighbors got a second car for the family.... Ah, innocent times...


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## Towger (18 Nov 2008)

ney001 said:


> I remember everybody wore knitted jumpers - my mam used to pay a woman down the road to knit all kinds of big cardigans and jumpers for us. She'd bring us to the wool shops (of which there were loads) to pick the wool and the buttons that we liked! - everybody seemed to knit back then!. Also remember two of us being put into the same bath water on a Saturday night - no showers then!


 
Them were the days! 70's The woman who knitted our (including cousins) jumpers smoked like a trooper, I remember that is would take 6 months of washes to get the smell out. They were all the same 'Aran' design of different colours, if there were lucky we could pick the colours. In 6th Class in school we got to knit our own jumpers!


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## Caveat (18 Nov 2008)

I remember the 80s but I definitely don't remember a proliferation of knitted jumpers! 

For me the 80s = sweatshirts.  Plain in colour, and probably from _Penneys/Dunnes_.  My hair was probably quite 'big' too.

(not a good look with skintight jeans I might add)


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## jackswift (18 Nov 2008)

starlite68 said:


> i can remember being in the pub with my friends a lot more than i can afford to be nowadays!


 Me too. And do you remember going out on friday night drinking plenty going to a nightclub with £20 in your pocket and being able to go out again on saturday night with the change of the £20 you had on friday night. What are the chances of that happening again?


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## z103 (18 Nov 2008)

> What are the chances of that happening again?


Pretty slim. I'm getting far too old for two nights drinking in a row.


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## Simeon (18 Nov 2008)

Unfortunately my excesses of the late 60s, 70s and early 80's don't allow me to truthfully comment here as memories are vague, multi dimensional, allusive and illusionary. However, I enjoy the posts.


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## Carpenter (19 Nov 2008)

As a schoolchild in the 80s I once remember my mother talking to an elderly neighbour and wondering what, if any kind of job would be available for me when I left school, the future did not look promising on the job front.  I was very much aware of money being scarce but we didn't really want for a whole lot either.


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## joejoe (19 Nov 2008)

I remember duffel coats and canvas shoes, beans and spuds, egg and spuds, turnips and spuds, cabbage and spuds. I don't remember many cars, big houses and designer clothes.

I also remember kids in pubs quite a lot and red lemonade. I remember the troubles and bombings, I remember going to mass every Sunday, I remember feeling hungry and playing sports more often than do children now. I remember the Sega master system and Comador 64, I remember knight rider and the A-Team. I remember 9p bag of crisp, 1p sweets and 10p frozen drinks.

Things have changed alright.

Joejoe


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## ninsaga (19 Nov 2008)

This thread has a touch of.........

"RRRRRRRRRinga ringa rrrooooooossie.....as da lite declines.....
IIIIII'lllll rememba Dublin city in da rare auld times..........."


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## Thrifty (19 Nov 2008)

Have to agree. Is a bit nostalgic but interesting to look back on - might learn something.
*I remember the eighties – was a child during them. Also remember when crisps were 9p and you got one present at Christmas. I remember my father building an extension bit by bit – buying a bag or two of cement a week. I remember my mum getting boxes of clothes from my aunts in England as soon as their children had grown out of them. It was like Christmas when they came. Field days and jumble sales were well attended. You kept your good clothes for mass on Sunday and took them off as soon as you got home. We made go-carts out of pram wheels and wood from the local dump. I loved Family Ties because I had a crush on Michael J Fox (my brother watched it for Malory). *

*I became a teenager during the eighties and the coolest people then were those who had managed to get a Saturday/holiday job. Nobody had any money but it didn’t really matter – their wasn’t the same pressure as my younger brother experienced in the nineties when there was pressure to have wear a certain label etc. I think that was the thing I felt pushed things out of control in the boom times – the constant battle/desire to feel you were better off, newer car, living a more luxurious life than the next person. In the eighties people freely admitted to being broke – in the boom years it was embarrassing to do so. *


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## truthseeker (19 Nov 2008)

I remember people had mongrel dogs who were allowed be out on the street all day long to play with kids and no one ever picked up dog poop.

These days you cant move for poofed up pedigree dogs with sparkly collars being walked on fancy leads with a plastic bag attached for dog poop picking up. 

I also remember being sent to the butchers once a week for 'bones for the dog' - which my mother then boiled and used the stock for us and gave the dog the cooked bones (the mongrel dog - who incidently was not let out on the road but got walked on a very cheap lead).

We also got treats of crubeens - still love a boiled pigs foot to this day.

And very cleverly my mother had fooled us into believing that the boiled cabbage water was a great delicacy and we would fight each other to drink it so we'd grow up big and strong - no waste in our house!!


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## csirl (19 Nov 2008)

Anyone remember Yellowpack & Thrift?

Supermarkets full of plain yellow/white packaged goods with large black writing.

Only wealthy people had double glazing. A lot of families had no car. Queues of parents at second hand school book stores every summer  wanting to buy grotting probably fifth hand books.


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## Towger (19 Nov 2008)

Caveat said:


> I remember the 80s but I definitely don't remember a proliferation of knitted jumpers!


 
It was more the 70s. We had central heating, but the house was heated by two Supersers. One in the kitchen and another upstairs, to heat the bathroom on very cold days. Many a morning had ice on the inside of the bedroom windows. I remember being told that the heating was broken, but then found out years later that my father had removed the time clock. We had two cars (rich we were!) the fact that one was an air cooled rust bucket Fiat and you see the road through the floor. I remember my mother giving out to me because I used to pick at the rust holes around the windows. Great fun going up hills, if you did not get a good run.


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## ney001 (19 Nov 2008)

csirl said:


> Anyone remember Yellowpack & Thrift?
> 
> Supermarkets full of plain yellow/white packaged goods with large black writing.
> 
> Only wealthy people had double glazing. A lot of families had no car. Queues of parents at second hand school book stores every summer  wanting to buy grotting probably fifth hand books.



Then my mam would cover them with wallpaper or even wrapping paper that was lying about the house.


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## Vanilla (19 Nov 2008)

Oh yeah, the wallpaper covered school books! This thread is bringing back loads of memories. Mixumgatherum soup ( AKA leftover soup in a well targeted marketing ploy by our mother), a Hillman Hunter with holes in the floor that you could see through, patches on knees and elbows ( and not for effect), no money but happy nonetheless.


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## Towger (19 Nov 2008)

It was always amasing that the poor farmers who never had a penny could afford houses in the big city, for their children to stay in while in collage.  I remember that almost every advert on RTE radio and TV was for farmers and most adverts on RTE TV were static pictures with a voice over telling us the virtues of their latest pour on for mastitis.


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## Murt10 (19 Nov 2008)

More the 70's really

3d for a loose cigarette.

Consulate - Cool as a mountain stream

More Cigarettes & Kojack watches that you had to press a button to illuminate the time in red. 

The pilot with the Rothmans in his hand on the gearstick?? with the smoke rising up. 

The Marlboro cowboy (now dead from throat cancer)

Just shows how strong those ads were that I can still vividly remember them after all this time



Murt


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## cork (19 Nov 2008)

Vanilla said:


> Oh yeah, the wallpaper covered school books! This thread is bringing back loads of memories.


 
Great music, Minor Detail, Auto Da Fe, Light A Big Fire, A House, Howard Jones, Simple Minds,  Deacon Blue, Cure, Smiths, Cyndi Lauper etc.


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## rabbit (19 Nov 2008)

csirl said:


> Anyone remember Yellowpack & Thrift?
> 
> Supermarkets full of plain yellow/white packaged goods with large black writing.


 
I remember that.  And ice on the inside of bedroom windows.   And having to cycle / walk everywhere.    Having to fix bicycle punctures etc.   Sitting in college in wet clothes all day.     Kids nowadays are so spoiled.


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## mf1 (19 Nov 2008)

Ah yes - overtones of Monty Python - You were lucky!

mf


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## cork (19 Nov 2008)

Disposable income was pretty low alright.

Being in collage - the budget was tight.

After rent, transport etc - very little was left.

That said everybody was in the same boat.

Bought a crombie type coat from a 2nd hand store and it kept me warm.

Big jumpers and grand father shirts etc.

That said - depite a crap economy people talked to each other and there was a better sense of community.


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## rabbit (19 Nov 2008)

and we did not even dream of having the mortgages we are saddled with now in our worst nightmares


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## MandaC (19 Nov 2008)

Caveat said:


> I remember the 80s but I definitely don't remember a proliferation of knitted jumpers!
> 
> For me the 80s = sweatshirts.  Plain in colour, and probably from _Penneys/Dunnes_.  My hair was probably quite 'big' too.
> 
> (not a good look with skintight jeans I might add)



I kept my "big hair" eighties perm right up into the 2000's.  


AGHHHHHH!


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## z105 (19 Nov 2008)

> Only wealthy people had double glazing


Sure there was nay global warming in the 80's 

Who remembers Those Nervous Animals, and "My Friend John"? !

And you remember "ah sure we hadn't a pot to **** in.... but we were happy" the rare aul times wha' !!



> Anyone remember Yellowpack & Thrift?



I remember the large can of yellowpack lager ! Ugh, modern version - Dutch Gold ! Or the slops out of the beer taps rather !


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## MandaC (19 Nov 2008)

cork said:


> Great music, Minor Detail, Auto Da Fe, Light A Big Fire, A House, Howard Jones, Simple Minds,  Deacon Blue, Cure, Smiths, Cyndi Lauper etc.




All good! Remember Howard Jones concert and brilliant simple minds gig at Croke Park 1986.


Also, the Blades, Les Enfants and one of my favourites and still have their album Cry before Dawn.

Also, Big Country, dodgy check shirts with leather (plastic) ties on a bit of Elastic, Shoes and Boots from Simon Hart,
going out - Bogies(Blooms Hotel), the Harp Bar, Rainbows,(Happy Cocktail Hour Sunday Afternoon) Rumours(RAF)

Later 80's Going out on a Saturday night (Blooms Hotel) with £5.00 - 45p in on the bus, 45p home on the bus, 1 bottle of RITZ, stop off in the village on the way home for chips, sausage in batter and a batter burger!  Walking home in 6inch stilettos with gold heels!


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## ninsaga (19 Nov 2008)

*Anyone remember Yellowpack & Thrift?*

..... I also remember the spoof band... Maurice Pratt & the Yellow Packs

or was it Maurice Pratt & the Opel Kadetts?


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## Carpenter (19 Nov 2008)

Just to balance all those nice happy, evocative memories: growing up in the "prison  town" I remember the hunger strikers, black flags nailed to poles (telegraph!) and busloads of northerners protesting for political status!


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## cole (19 Nov 2008)

Anyone here ever drink Football Special or banana mineral? Both favorites in Donegal. Football special was great as it kept its head so as young fellows we thought we looked cool drinking what could pass for beer (in a half pint glass of course!).

Big hair was in, grandfather shirts, power shoulderpads (for the ladies)...an great music (for the most part).


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## joejoe (19 Nov 2008)

truthseeker said:


> I remember people had mongrel dogs who were allowed be out on the street all day long to play with kids and no one ever picked up dog poop.
> 
> These days you cant move for poofed up pedigree dogs with sparkly collars being walked on fancy leads with a plastic bag attached for dog poop picking up.
> 
> ...



Ahhh now come on..... Cabbage water

Joejoe


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## tara83 (20 Nov 2008)

joejoe said:


> Ahhh now come on..... Cabbage water
> 
> Joejoe


 
I love to pour the cabbage water over my dinner if the cabbage has been cooked with the bacon - yum


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## Simeon (20 Nov 2008)

And when there is at least 20% lovely soft white fat hanging to the edge of the bacon. And pig's head is orgasmic! To my taste buds anyway.


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## deedee80 (20 Nov 2008)

god this post brings back memories!  We all had the knitted jumpers, it would take my mam ages to knit one but they were always great when finished!  Oh and Christmas, definitely the one big pressie and a surprise, and there was no asking for something stupid.  My school lunch was always wrapped in the bread packaging (which made it taste kinda weird) the little milk/strawberry milk cartons we used to get in school (I hated them!) The books were always in wrapping paper. Top of the pops was a ritual.  Really big hair!  You were realllllly rich if you had more than 1 car!  I remember my mam heating us in the kitchens while eating our brekkie before school with the superser (sp?).  I had such a happy childhood growing up in the 80's.  Kids today get given too much!


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## Ceist Beag (20 Nov 2008)

cole said:


> Anyone here ever drink Football Special or banana mineral? Both favorites in Donegal. Football special was great as it kept its head so as young fellows we thought we looked cool drinking what could pass for beer (in a half pint glass of course!).
> 
> Big hair was in, grandfather shirts, power shoulderpads (for the ladies)...an great music (for the most part).



Ah yes, Football Special and Oatfield Emeralds, the best exports Donegal has ever produced (not counting people obviously!!).
Memories, hapenny sweets, mobile sweet shop which came around once a week, Grifters (bikes), MTV USA, wallpaper covered schoolbooks, making our own mince (using one of them handturned mincers), Soda Streams.


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## stephnyc (20 Nov 2008)

"Anyone here ever drink Football Special or banana mineral? Both favorites in Donegal..." 

Yes, indeed... spent a very very long summer in Donegal in the 80s during the CIE strike

.. and you can still get Football Special in Donegal


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## Caveat (20 Nov 2008)

stephnyc said:


> .. and you can still get Football Special in Donegal


 
So what exactly is it then and why is it called football special?


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## cole (20 Nov 2008)

Caveat said:


> So what exactly is it then and why is it called football special?


 
It's a carbonated soft drink, very sugary, and when poured into a glass it looks exactly like a half pint of smithwicks. Unsure of why it's called football special. Yummy!


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## MandaC (20 Nov 2008)

.....we were poor, but we were happy........
cue (world's smallest violin)


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## csirl (20 Nov 2008)

joejoe said:


> Ahhh now come on..... Cabbage water
> 
> Joejoe


 

Watched Charlie and the Chocolate factory too much in the 80s, so now cant tell the difference between it and reality


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## Towger (20 Nov 2008)

deedee80 said:


> little milk/strawberry milk cartons we used to get in school (I hated them!)


 
Strawberry milk cartons!. We had small glass bottles of milk and the cream was on the top! I remember sometimes there was blood in the milk as it was not pasteurized properly. We also had free cheese or corn beef sandwichs and on Wednesdays a 'yellow' current bun. Yummy. My stomach still churns at the thought of eating corn beef after finding 'something else' embedded in it!


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## Caveat (21 Nov 2008)

Towger said:


> My stomach still churns at the thought of eating corn beef after finding 'something else' embedded in it!


 
Come on then - like what?


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## Brianne (22 Nov 2008)

Sorry, I remember a morgage of 20.200 Pounds and paying back 286 Pounds a month. Inflation in 1981 was approx 20 per cent and our combined wages were 750 monthly. We thought we were doing well with two jobs, the 18year old morris minor, and a new sitting room suite. All other furniture was second hand and I finally got a new kitchen suite in 1997.We always had plenty of food , and fuel but definitely were careful with money. I had a book to keep track of bills and savings and I remember the hassle of trying to change your work cheque as the bank opening hours were crazy.


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## june (22 Nov 2008)

This is an email I got ages ago but I really liked it. I'm sorry its so long but I didn't want to cut it. Enjoy

Don't ever forget your youth guys, if you grew up in Ireland im sure you
can relate to most of these!! So True!! 

I'm talking about Hide and Seek in the park, the shop down the road,
Hopscotch, Donkey, skipping, handstands, Kick the Can, red rover,
rounders, stuck in the mud, football with an old can, skipping, Roly
Poly, Hula Hoops, jumping the stream, building a swing from a tyre and
a piece of rope tied to a tree (If you live in Dublin the lampost),
building tree-houses, climbing up onto roofs.

Tennis on the street, the smell of the sun and fresh cut grass..

Hubba Bubba bubble gum and 2p Flogs, toffee logs, macaroon bars and
woppas, 3p Refreshers and wham bars, superhero chewing gum with the
"lick it, stick it" tattoos, golf ball chewing gums and liquorice whips,
Desperate Dan and Roy of the Rovers, sherbet dips and Mr. Freezes,
Marathon bars and everlasting gobstoppers.

An ice cream cone on a warm summer night from the van that plays a
tune,
chocolate or vanilla or strawberry or maybe neopolitan.

Wait ...

Watching Saturday morning cartoons ... short commercials, Battle of th
e Planets, Road Runner, He-Man, Swapshop, and Why Don't You?,
Transformers, How do you do?, Bosco, Forty-coats, the Littlest Hobo an
d Lassie, The Muppet Show, MacGyver, Scarecrow and Mrs King, Little Hous e
on the Prairie and Highway to Heaven, or staying up for Knight Rider
and Magnum PI.

When around the corner seemed far away and going into town seemed like
going somewhere.

A million midget bites, sticky fingers and mud all over you, knee-pads
on your jeans, Cops and Robbers, Rounders, Tip the Can, Queenie-I-O,
climbing trees, spin the bottle, building 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, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for
giggles, Being tired from playing... Remember that?

The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team. Water
balloons & eggs were the ultimate weapon. Reflectors in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle.

And don't forget the rich tea sandwiches we'd make by buttering a
couple a rich tea biscuits and stickin' them together. And that quare oul
mixture made in a tall glass with HB ice cream and TK Red Lemonade.

I'm not finished just yet...

Eating raw jelly, orange squash ice pops......

Remember when ...

There were two types of sneakers - girls and boys, and the only time
you wore them at school,was for "P.E.", Gola football boots.

It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends, when nobody owned a
pure bred dog, when 25p was decent pocket money, when you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny, when nearly everyone's mum was at home when the kids got there, when it was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents.

When any parent could discipline any kid 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 student at home.

Basically, we were in fear for our lives but it wasn't because of
muggings, drugs, gangs, etc. Our parents and grandparents were a much
bigger threat! and some of us are still afraid of them!!!

Remember when....

Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo."

Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "do over!"

"Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest.

Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in "Monopoly", the

Game of Life and Connect Four, Atari 2600's and Commodore 64's.

The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was germs.

It was unbelievable that Red rover wasn't an Olympic event...

Having a weapon in school, meant being caught with a biro barrel pea
shooter or an elastic band.

Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better, taking drugs meant
orange-flavoured chewable vitamins, Ice cream was considered a basic
food group.

Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true..

Abilities were discovered because of a "double dare".

Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest
protectors.

If you can remember most or all of these, then you have LIVED!!!!
Pass this on to anyone who may need a break from their "grown up"
life...

I TRIPLE DARE YA!!!


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## S.L.F (22 Nov 2008)

They were the days!


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## Bubbly Scot (24 Nov 2008)

Sitting in the car this morning and my youngest was telling me a story which began..." YEARS AGO....back in the 90's!.."


Those were the days though....the 80's I mean. I remember running through the farmers field with terrified excitement because rumour had it he would shoot any child found in his property.


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