“Dad do you know that you were born before the introduction of the home computer.”

Computers are overrated, not sure they will catch on.

“Before the Xbox. Even before Space Invaders”

I’m still trying to clear the first wave of aliens. One day……

“Mobile phones still to be stuffed in any trouser pockets in your day…”

I wasn’t trusted with pockets. Mum would sew them up.

“Before microwaves made it into kitchens, your ancient Dad.”

I remember our families first microwave. It was the size of St Bernards Dog Kennel. I had to plug it in. The first thing we tried to heat was a cup of water. While I pressed the start button my mum and dad hid behind the kitchen door. They thought it was going to go up like a nuclear weapon. Clearly their youngest son was expendable….

“Before the Rubik’s Cube, did you get one”

No never had one. When people started talking about getting one …. it sounded to be like a new health worry that you had to see a Doctor about. I’ve got a bad case of the Rubiks.

“What was it like being a kid with no cds or DVDs”

A lot cheaper for my parents.

“No Star Wars.”

It was also still safe to go into the sea as well when I was a kid. No shark movies yet. Jaws was still a little goldfish. I remember kids being told to keep off the beach as soon as that movie came out. Poor Jaws would have been a giant ice cube if he had ventured anywhere near the North Sea.

“Even before the Rolling Stones, weren’t you Dad….”

Watch it Hawklad, I’m not that old. Definitely before Taylor Swift was born.

“Your old enough to be her Dad…”

I look old enough to be her Great Great Great Grandad…

“Before The Simpson’s and Spongebob…. You look old enough to be Homers Dad”

There is a definite family resemblance. You never see Homer and Me together in the same room. Just saying.

“Dad what was it like to be around at the same time as the dinosaurs?”

It was fun. Our barbecues had to be a lot bigger. It made country walks a lot more interesting. But it wasn’t fun trying to clean Pterodactyl poo from your windscreen.

Getting older is overrated……

74 thoughts on “Before”

  2. We had the joy of playing outside, building forts, running or biking all over the place, exploring…
    Riding in the bed of trucks, laying in the back window of the car at night, watching the stars or moon…
    We actually LEARNED in school…
    I don’t know about you, but at 52, I feel like the best adventures are ahead of me. I’ve learned some hard lessons, but I remember how to have fun and I plan to have lots and lots!
    💌

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  4. Pingback: Before – A Dad trying to cope with the loss of his Partner and becoming a single parent. – International Badass Activists

  6. Really entertaining post with lots to think about and to laugh about. Talking about mobile phones mine was a Motorola Transportable, transportable if you had a crane, the battery pack weighed a ton and it had a rubber sticky out thing, oh yes I forgot that was the aerial.

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  10. I have often been thinking back and comparing my childhood with my kids’ childhood. It is crazy how fast technology changed and developed within only 20 years. But weren’t we just so content with our lives? My best friend and I talked for hours on the phone (and occupied the line for everybody else)… and don’t talk about the bill… lol. We sent letters and it was exciting to write and wait for receiving them. I had penpals! It was the 80s… what better time to live?!

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      1. Hmm, I understand your feelings. It does feel weird to me too. I was a late starter with email and the internet (in 2006) but meanwhile technology has come too far and you need to keep up or you are cut off the world!

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      3. Haha! I was rather pondering why you mentioned Stephen King than the other way around… lol!
        Of course, it is your life to work with modern technology and trying to keep up with its progress. Yes, absolutely weird. To me AI is rather scary than intriguing.

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  11. your kid still kills me…lmao…sounds like my oldest grandson…after hearing the song ‘eye of the tiger’, asks why the tiger has only one eye….or my daughter when she was young wondered why the thunder stopped during a storm and asked if the batteries wore out….kids…always cracking me up.

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  13. I remember telling the kids, a few years ago, that there were neither tablets not laptops when I was their age. The look of uncomprehending terror on their faces is something I shall always treasure 😉

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  14. Lol … hey man … I’m only 6 yrs younger!

    And yes but we had a lot more freedom in life and also no virus (but don’t mention this lol – I’m only saying to you)

    We also had really awesome shows and toys they don’t make or allow anymore such as lawn darts lol

    Plus we are the first gen gamers – the classics ✌️

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      1. The entire neighborhood of kids used to have kickball tournaments in our cul-de-sac every summer ❤️ was awesome!! We would play til it was dark.

        Times “felt” safer

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      1. My mam never had a fridge till I was 16. I aye mind we had a telly. We were the only ones who did where I lived and she got this twin tub when I was like 8. Then she wrecked it putting the filling hose in the wrong tub.

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      3. So was my dad that night…… Yeah we kept the milk in basins in the summer and we had a cool cupboard. By that, I mean we had a cupboard with an outside wall vent in it . Oh and we had a coal shed too and a cup for drawing lots from on frosty nights re whose turn it was to take the key and go out and fill the scuttle.

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  16. O Gary that made me laugh so much. I still have conversations like that with my daughters – they’re in their 40’s! And as for my grandchildren I don’t think they can quite believe I’m still alive 😃. I’m only 66 but I feel sooooo old!! Thanks for that

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  18. Well I can beat all that…when I was 6 I can remember my school teacher climbing on our desks to ignite the gas lighting…this was in Earl’s Court, London! Somehoe, life was a lot simpler before we got so much STUFF!

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  22. I was okay until the obviously millennial clerk at Macy’s expressed her frustration over my wanting a paper receipt for my rather significant purchase. She smiled at my comment about being old fashioned and wanting paper. Then she said, “We’re all just waiting for you to die off so we can do away with paper.” Smile intact.

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