I Was There - Where Were You?

What a wonderful post! Thank you for sharing your childhood! I suppose I remember getting 50p a week pocket money (I think that's the equivalent of a dollar at the moment.) I remember when the Berlin Wall came down and I didn't understand its significance until I was much older. I remember people crying and I knew I was seeing something amazing, but couldn't understand why. I remember riding my bike around alone and my mother wouldn't be worried about me. I remember that there was no such thing as a cell phone.

hi dear granny will you permit me to say that to you dear terilee? i am only 22 and you are like my granny. i do appreciate your golden days. and i have a regret that we have not seen those days. who is to be blamed for that? now even the water and the air is not clean enough. the prices are sky high the love is lost. only money matters. well no problem we are still here to survive. we will definitely keep sharing more in these columns.

Thanks for sharing these great (and some sad) memories. When I was a kid, the ice cream man used to park in our driveway and wait for the neighborhood kids to come running. I remember when popsicles were 5 cents, then 6, then 7 cents. Our parents were so upset when they went that "high"! I think gasoline was 29 cents when I started driving, but I'm not certain about that. Back then, they pumped the gas for us, as well as wiped the windows and checked the oil. If you asked, they'd even check the air in your tires - for free. (And if they had to add air to your tires, there was no machine where you had to drop in a quarter or 50 cents for air!) We played outside all day - until the street lights came on. And while we wandered the neighborhood, we could climb my backyard cherry trees for a sweet treat, or grab green grapes from the vines. In a friend's yard, we could get a handful of raspberries or blackberries. In a field nearby, there was a crab apple tree where we could eat a few (but just a few, so we didn't get stomach aches!). And in the woods near our house, there were wild onions growing. We ate them, but never let on to our parents...'cause at home we always said we hated onions. :-) I feel sorry for our kids and grandkids today - both because they cannot do these things that we did as kids and because they would rather be inside playing video games and chatting online.

What great memories you have! I also remember the first moon landing ... just. I was made to watch it, but I didn't really understand what it was about. I remember going and seeing a model of a building that was to become the Sydney Opera House, and I staying in a unit opposite the Opera House on the day it opened and seeing all the celebrations on the harbour. I also remember waiting for hours just to see the Queen that week. I used to visit my Dad at work. He would type something into the computer, and we would then go down to the level below to see it print out. The computer took up two floors, but was less powerful than something you'd fit in your pocket today. There was huge excitement when my Dad brought home a video game ... we fought desperately over that game ... a blip on the screen which we paddled back and forward. I remember when our phone number had six digits. I'll be remembering things all night now ... thanks for a chance to be nostalgic!

you could have been writing about me. i remember everything just about that u mentioned. here's a few more i remember. it cost a quarter to go to the show. we walked tothe movies or anywhere else in town & never thought a thing about it. i remember the night elvis was on the ed sullivan show for the first time. i remember making clover chains for cars to run through on our street & so many other things that my children never got to enjoy.

I'm right there with you. Although I was a child when some of those things happened so I don't remember them all clearly. But I do remember when JFK was killed because I was 5 and I was upset that my mommy was crying. I remember she was watching it on our black and white TV with the rabbit ear antennas. And yes, we only had 3 or 4 channels so programs were very limited. I don't remember the price of gas and such since I wasn't buying back then, but I do remember playing outside and getting all dirty and being called inside when it got dark. We'd be given our baths and sent off to bed worn out from our day in the sun and playing. Life was so much simpler then and happier. I often wish we could go back to that way of life.

I do remember the gas wars, but I don't remember gas for $.10 a gallon. I do remember $.12-.19 and there was always competition for your business! I think a gas war today would be interesting. There are already long lines at some places just for a penny or two difference. I also remember the JFK was shot. I was under the age of five but remember seeing it on TV. I guess it stuck in my mind since that was ALL that was on the tube for a couple of days. The other thing I miss is penny candy! We used to get a big bag of candy for just some pocket change. Those were the days! Oh and a coke was only a nickel!!

Your post brought back a lot of memories. There was also American Bandstand, Drive-in movies, Studebakers, Buster Brown shoes, Burma Shave signs, and Mr. Wizard. I sit and wonder sometimes when kids who are under age 5 now are our age how technology will have changed and what they will have to look back on.

I don't really remember much about the prices, I do remember when JFK was killed, I was 3 and we lived in Mesquite, a suburb of Dallas. I do remember when going to the movies didn't cost much and we could take our own bag of goodies in with us. I do remember black and white tv, and only having a few channels and we watched tv as a family, of course there was only one tv in the house. I do remember when the first video games came out, and we used a typewriter, not a computer program to type papers for school. And I remember playing outside, not sitting in front of a computer, tv, etc. Cell phones, what was that? And no answering machines, if someone called and we weren't home, they would call back later. I also remember party lines, and our phone number when I was young started with BR not numbers lol.

Hi terilee, I was also here for all these things, and remember these prices as well. I'm sure the young people here think that we're old, but we know the difference LoL. It was fun playing outside all day and until dark. I guess we played the same games as our parents had played as kids, but we loved it and I often think of it now. We had no electricity where I grew up and I was in my mid to late teens before I saw TV at all. We had radio which ran by battery, and I can remember some of those radio shows. I find it strange when I hear young people today say that they are bored with all the things around them today. I think it's because we entertained ourselves while today the kids expect others to entertain them. Things will continue to change I'm sure, and when the kids of today are our age they will be nostalgic as well. Blessings.

Boy, do those things bring back memories! I remember when a brand new car off the showroom floor was under $3000 fully loaded, and pot was something you cooked in, burma shave signs, penny candy, milkman delivery trucks with the little ice cubes that the driver let us kids have for free (they were neat because they had little holes in the middle of each one) cokes in bottles from the vending machine. Oh, don't get me started. Nice to see that others remember the good times too.

If only we could have those days again. I remember gas being 89 cents a gallon and the cars were bigger than my SUV . I remember the television that sat on the floor and almost had to have it's own zip code but the picture was small compared to the size of the thing. I remember Reagan being shot, and John Lennon as well. The crumbling of the Berlin Wall and also the Iron Curtain. The Iran Contra Affair, and Oliver North. The way too many to list airplane highjackings, the bombing of the park which held the summer games here in the US.

I remember all that too terilee. And lots more. I remember scrubbing my baby brother's diapers on a scrub board and remember being so happy when we got a wringer type washer. We had an ice box instead of a refrigerator and had an ice man that came through the neighborhood selling ice. I remember rolling stores. We always watched for the rolling store because Mom would always get bologna, bananas and bread(we called it loaf bread back then) and double colas. Soft drinks came in a bottle and cost a nickel or six for a quarter. I remember riding on my step granddaddy's John Deere tractor to the cotton fields to pick cotton. The pay was usually two or three cents a pound. We didn't have a TV until I entered the ninth grade but some of our neighbors had TV and we would go to their house on Saturday night to watch wrestling, and "I remember Mama" and shows like that. Oh goodness, I could go on and on but you get the idea, don't you. :o) It was fun walking down memory lane with you. Hugs, Nana

Very excellent memories. For everybody, at the bottom their heart, there are something they will cherish forever.Perhaps this is the memory. Nobody in the world have the same memory with others. But for me, memory is just something that I choose from the past.May be happy or greived, but beneficial.

Hi terrilee, Nice trip down memory lane!! Those were the days!!! If only things could be so easy these days, life would be so much simpler. People even got along a lot better then because they knew each other better. The family night was a fantastic thing, it gave everyone a chance to tell the family what their day was all about. Any issues were handled through talk rather than action. Let's talk it over and decide on the best way to handle it. My aunt had a country store and I worked there for some time. It was just an easy going place where people came to buy goods at prices they could afford. She had credit for most people that needed it. Now a days, try to get credit for groceries. Without credit cards, there is no credit. People were so trusting back in the day. Even strangers were treated fairly. As for penny candy..A kid could really go crazy with a quarter..LOL Fantastic topic there Terrilee!! Have a nice day..

hello there. Well, I kind of wondering what would those times were like? I mean prices were low, one just need to be diligent to earn. Simple and low - tech environment. In a way I envy you because you had a chance to witness a transition between then and now, From black and white TV to HDV, from typewriter to broadband internet, things like that. You've also witnessed a lot of events. I just know that back then life was simplier, more opportunities, lesser crimes compared to now. I witness a few of the 80's but back then I was young to enjoy it fully. I know it was simplier and fresher compared to now. I miss those times.

I was right there with you. When I was a teenager, I would buy a Pepsi before a Coke because a big bottle of Pepsi was a nickel, but a Coke cost a whole dime (twice as much). My favorite soda was a Grapette, but I rarely brought one. I didn't think I was getting my money's worth in those little bottles. The bottler must have realized how small they were because the deposit was only a penny. I don't remember 10 cent gas because I didn't pay any attention to the price of gas until I had to buy my own. I do remember 15 cent gas, though. The regular price for gas was 19 cents, but the gas war brought it down to 15 cents a gallon. I made only 75 cents an hour at my first job at Woolworths 5 & 10. When JFK was assassinated, we were driving through Dallas on our way to celebrate Thanksgiving with my parents in Oklahoma. We knew nothing about what had happened until after we reached our destination. I was in my 8th month of pregnancy with our daughter who was 44 years old last January.

I remember when JFK was killed, I was in 6th grade. I remember getting out first color TV and yes TV with antennas that you had to move around or stand near to get the right picture-what a pain! Phones with cords-yeah you had to stand next to the phone-you couldn't walk anywhere. We had typwriters-not even electric- manual-bang the keys hard or nothing would happen. Electric didn't happen until years later-never mind word processors or computers. First video game-Pac Man-played on the TV. Air Travel on propeller planes-no jets. No microwaves. The list goes on.I've seen so many things change in my time. Oh yeah, no cd, dvd, video-we had tapes & records. Like I said those were just to name a few. Prices were so much lower for everything ciggarettes, gas, food. There was Woodstock when I was 16 and my parents wouldn't let me go because I was too young! Those really were the days! Peace and love for all!

Well I'm only 19 so, i'd have to say that the big events so far were of course, Princess Diana passing away, 9/11 and July 7th terror attacks in London, not to mention various IRA bombings! It's kind of sad I think that most of younger peoples memories now are wars/terror attacks etc.

hi there? it seems i was not born yet during the time you mentioned or if i was there, probably i was still in the crib being played by my late parents. How amazing that you still have an intact memory of those events. Some people of your age might not even recall even a single thing. The big events I remember in my childhood were the times when I and late my dad were in the farm. We used to raised a small piggery and oftentimes I was tasked to feed the newly born. We used to plant root crops and other fresh vegetables way back then and harvest some for lunch or dinner. I did not have so many playmates then because I love watching over the farm. That were the best old days I had.