For those of us born before 1986.....

Berlin

Registered User
Messages
158
According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who
were kids in the 60's, 70's and early 80's probably shouldn't have survived, because

our baby cots were covered with brightly coloured lead-based
paint which was promptly chewed and licked.

We had no childproof lids on
medicine bottles, or latches on doors or cabinets and it was fine to play with pans.

When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just flip-flops and fluorescent 'spokey dokey's' on our wheels.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or airbags - riding in the passenger seat was a
treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle and it tasted the same.

We ate chips, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy juice
with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.

We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or can
and no-one actually died from this.

We would spend hours building go-carts out of scraps and then
went top speed down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into stinging nettles a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We would leave home in the morning and could play all day, as long as we were back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us and no one minded.

We did not have Play stations or X-Boxes, no video games at all.
No 99 channels on TV, no videotape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no DVDs, no Internet chat rooms.

We had friends - we went outside and found them.

We played elastics and rounders, and sometimes that ball really
hurt!

We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones but there were no
law suits.

We had full on fist fights but no prosecution followed from
other parents.

We played chap-the-door-run-away and were actually afraid of the owners catching us.

We walked to friends' homes.

We also, believe it or not, WALKED to school; we didn't rely on mummy or daddy to drive us to school, which was just round the corner.

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls.

We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore our coats by only the hood.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was
unheard of...They actually sided with the law.

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and
problem solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all. And
you're one of them. Congratulations!

Pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow as real
kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good.

For those of you who aren't old enough thought you might like to
read about us.

This my friends, is surprisingly frightening......and it might
put a smile on your face:

The majority of students in universities today were born in 1986........They are called youth.

They have never heard of we are the World, We are the children,
and the Uptown Girl they know is by Westlife not Billy Joel. They have never heard of Rick Astley, Bananarama, Nena Cherry or Belinda Carlisle.

For them, there has always been only one Germany and one
Vietnam.

AIDS has existed since they were born. CD's have existed since
they were born.

Michael Jackson has always been white.

To them John Travolta has always been round in shape and they
can't imagine how this fat guy could be a god of dance.

They believe that Charlie's Angels and Mission Impossible are
films from last year.

They can never imagine life before computers.

They'll never have pretended to be the A Team, RedHand Gang or
the Famous Five.

They'll never have applied to be on Jim'll Fix It or Why Don't
You.

They can't believe a black and white television ever existed.
And they will never understand how we could leave the house without a mobile
phone.

Now let's check if we're getting old...

1. You understand what was written above and you smile.

2. You need to sleep more, usually until the afternoon, after a night out.

3. Your friends are getting married/already married.

4. You are always surprised to see small children playing
comfortably with computers.

5. When you see teenagers with mobile phones, you shake your
head.

6. You remember watching Dirty Den in EastEnders the first time around.

7. You meet your friends from time to time, talking about the
good Old days, repeating again all the funny things you have experienced together.

8. Having read this mail, you are thinking of forwarding it to
some other friends because you think they will like it too...

Yes, you're getting old!!
 
Berlin said:
4. You are always surprised to see small children playing
comfortably with computers.

I decided I was old last week when I watched a 11 yr old configure his PSP to connect to a wireless network in seconds in an office
When I have spent the best part of the last 6 months toying around to get wireless broadband at home working properly

His exact words were "you have wirless broadband here, cool"
Within seconds he was "surfing the web"

I remember thinking the something wrong with the parents when I was the only one able to program the video

stuart@buyingtolet.ie
 
stuart...you might want to encrypt your wireless broadband or you could be providing a free service to half your neighbours! Not to mention it might give the 11 yr old a challenge ;)
 
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