Something "kids" today wouldnt know about....

[Dragonlady]

Yes, we ask for waiters to seat us on patios every chance we get. Some allow us to do that from March thru November.

One of our frequented restaurant has mega heaters and will seat you year round.

When we lived on DeGrassi Street in Toronto, the French bakery/cafe at Queen & DeGrassi had heaters on their patio. But it was a small patio.

 

[myhoneyhoney]

Hardly. I lived in Toronto for 30+ years. Every spring we celebrated the return of "patio season". This has been going on since I was a teenager - in the 1960's.

I remember many out door seating in many cafes and bistros in Berkeley, Palo Alto, San Mateo, Hollywood, Oakland, even my sleepy town during the mid 90’s. Before that’s where everyone who had doggies with them eat.

 

[Japanfan]

I still have my Nescafe World Glass Coffee Cups....remember when there were actual toys in your Cracker Jacks box and not some silly sticker? I remember our glass jelly jars being recycled for glasses for whatever we kids were drinking....

I remember Nestle's powdered strawberry and banana milk. I used to call the banana one 'lellow' milk when I was little.

 

[PRlady]

Hersheys chocolate milk both at home and school. Nutrition for kids left something to be desired.

 

[MacMadame]

When you make cakes from scratch many recipes require you to sift the flour. If you don't the texture is not as light as it should be

It's often a step when you use almond flour as almond flour is coarser than wheat flour. I have a sifter but I agree that they don't make them like they used to as it worked like crap and then broke after very little use!

do people still use mercurochrome?

Maybe old people. LOL

I mean you can buy it but no parents I know used it with their kids when my kids were little or now.

 

[Lilia A]

My mother's go-to. That, and calamine lotion.

I saw this and immediately thought kids today don't know or understand chickenpox, but then I remembered something that maybe I shouldn't bring up here because this isn't PI. Floppy disks have already been mentioned, but I just remembered a conversation I had with my SIL a few weeks ago. She and her sister were talking about how they used to burn CD's back in the day, and my SIL's niece and her friend thought they meant actually burning a CD with fire. The kids are about 10 or 11. Can't blame them because most modern computer don't even come with a built-in optical drive anymore.

 

[just tuned in]

We also used calamine lotion for our teenage pimples. My mother's generation was just on this side of snake oil -- Dr. So-and-so's Tonic.

I am sure that grannies are sitting in their rocking chairs tsking how kids today don't have the experience of all crowding around the radio to listen to "The Shadow" or whatever.

 

[Jenny]

I remember Nestle's powdered strawberry and banana milk. I used to call the banana one 'lellow' milk when I was little.

I don't recall the banana one, but as kids we LOVED the strawberry one because if you had a big glass and blew into your straw you could fill it with pink bubbles! Made a fun noise too

 

[Jenny]

We also used calamine lotion for our teenage pimples. My mother's generation was just on this side of snake oil -- Dr. So-and-so's Tonic.

I am sure that grannies are sitting in their rocking chairs tsking how kids today don't have the experience of all crowding around the radio to listen to "The Shadow" or whatever.

Sorry for the double post as this one came in while I was posting the last one. Can we talk teen pimple remedies?

Never used calamine (wasn't in the house) but did try, along with Clearsil of course, hydrogen peroxide straight out of the bottle, some kids said a dab of Crest overnight would do it but I never tried that, Neutrogena clear soap bars, then there was a ton of hype about a new miracle ingredient called benzoyl peroxide and the desperate race to get your hands on some.

And who remembers Bonne Bell (they of the popular Lipsmackers) Ten-O-Six lotion? It was some "tonic" too, ucky colour and odd scent, but it did seem to work at least a little.

In the end, my skin finally cleared up when I started taking birth control pills.

 

[Prancer]

I mean you can buy it

Can you? I thought it was banned because it contained mercury (hence the name).

Ah, I see that they have a mercury-free version now (which is kind of like "wine coolers" that are malt beverages, but I digress), but that the original formula has been banned since 1998. I am honestly surprised that my mom never got mercury poisoning from mercurochrome; she put it on everything and you do absorb mercury through your skin. And she knew that; I broke a thermometer once and she scolded me for trying to scoop the mercury with my bare fingers (which is actually quite fun, if toxic). But anything that happened to her? Mercurochrome . The main reason I know they stopped selling it is I remember her buying some to hoard when the end was near.

When my daughter had COVID a couple of years ago, our digital thermometer broke, so I gave her one of my old (like, older than I am) mercury thermometers to use; she was completely bewildered by this ancient device . When I explained how to use it, she was pleased to finally understand why nurses in movies were always shaking thermometers . She never quite got the hang of reading the temp though.

I am in the process of writing a syllabus at the moment and I am trying to remember how I managed to survive classes without the three (and growing) pages of legalese we are required to have now.

 

[PRlady]

The smell of Neutragena soap immediately brings back teenaged memories. As does Love baby Soft which they still make. Obsession smells like my first real job in the ‘80s. Dune (the perfume not the movie) smells like the ‘90s.

It makes total sense to me that sense of smell is right next to memory in the brain.

 

[Jenny]

Ah yes, scent memories. Who had these? They still make them, but this is the original styrofoam box that I had (at least I think it's original, who knows?).

 

[once_upon]

Summer Blonde! And fresh squeezed lemon juice on your hair. The extra large orange juice concentrate cans

 

[skategal]

Ah yes, scent memories. Who had these? They still make them, but this is the original styrofoam box that I had (at least I think it's original, who knows?).

My grade 6 teacher had them in the styrofoam box. We were enamoured.

DS has a box of them now even though he’s 13. We can’t throw them away.

 

[made_in_canada]

Ah yes, scent memories. Who had these? They still make them, but this is the original styrofoam box that I had (at least I think it's original, who knows?).

They’re the only markers that write well on ice

 

[Rob]

Making a phone call without using the area code
Calling for the time or the weather
Running out of gas because cars didn't have gas gauges
Encyclopedia sets
Tan-colored M&Ms
Memorizing phone numbers
MS-DOS
Operator, get me the police please.
Flashbulbs

 

[myhoneyhoney]

Summer Blonde! And fresh squeezed lemon juice on your hair. The extra large orange juice concentrate cans

I used to use Sun In spray to lighten my hair.

 

[Amy L]

I mentioned this in the snark thread, but I guess this story fits in here too:

My mom has home phone service with AT&T. She's been having problems with her service for years, but her AT&T equipment is literally breaking down. AT&T won't replace her equipment or even discount her service because they are "moving away from home phones". And I thought that was crazy. Could you imagine AT&T back in the day ever saying they won't service home phones?

 

[just tuned in]

Calling for the time or the weather

555-1212. I used to listen to that for minutes on end. So relaxing.

 

[my little pony]

I remember calling a number for a wakeup call and an actual person called you

 

[once_upon]

411 as information call is fading or faded across the US. I do remember using it once or twice. This story may or may not be true but I love the sentiment that one never knows one's impact on the world

How a Boy and His Telephone Operator Formed a Lovely, Lasting Friendship

In this Reader's Digest Classic, originally published in 1966 as "The Voice in the Box," a little boy forges a strong connection with the local telephone operator.

www.rd.com

 

[skategal]

Movie phone.

 

[Aceon6]

Having two dimes in your loafers at all times that were for emergency phone calls. And spending one of them to get two 4 oz. Hershey bars.

 

[once_upon]

Knowing why a nickel is needed, instead of 5 pennies

 

[Cachoo]

Rushing to buy the newspaper to find put the results of a sporting event that happened the day before...

And not knowing event results in real time. The historic hockey match with the Soviet Union at Lake Placid was taped delayed and hours old when it aired.

 

[emason]

Am I the only one who remembers defrosting a freezer?

I don’t have to remember because I still have to do it - my refrigerator is at least 35 years old.

 

[Cachoo]

I don’t have to remember because I still have to do it - my refrigerator is at least 35 years old.

"Built to last" is not just a saying.

 

[myhoneyhoney]

Calling popcorn the morning of daylight savings time, or the other

 

[millyskate]

Making a phone call without using the area code
Calling for the time or the weather
Running out of gas because cars didn't have gas gauges
Encyclopedia sets
Tan-colored M&Ms
Memorizing phone numbers
MS-DOS
Operator, get me the police please.
Flashbulbs

Some good ones in there... I'd forgotten calling for the time. And who could forget encyclopedia sets and their door to door vendors?
This one is very niche, but catching the hovercraft to cross the channel.
Fiddling with the radio antenna, or trying to stick a radio antenna back together, to catch a signal. Hitting the tv when the signal was lost.
As someone who grew up in France, waiting for the bread van in the morning and finding coins for your mum to go and get the bread / baguette.
Blotting paper.

 

[MacMadame]

Running out of gas because cars didn't have gas gauges

When was that? It has to be in the 50s or earlier as all our cars had gas gauges. OTOH, my first car has a gas gauge but it didn't work.

Knowing why a nickel is needed, instead of 5 pennies

Explain, please.