Posted By Chas According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 50's, 60's, 70's and even 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 child-proof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on doors or cabinets and it was fine to play with pots and 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 air bags - 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... strange how water tastes just like ....well ...water! 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. Your mother MADE ice pops out of dilutable orange drinks. 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 had forgotton the brakes. After running into stinging nettles a few times we learned to solve the problem (dock leaves). 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 and no Internet chat rooms. We had friends - we went outside and found them. We played football and rounders every summer, and sometimes that ball really hurt! We fell out of trees, got cut, and broke bones but there were no lawsuits. We played knock-on-the-door-and-run-away and were actually afraid of the owners catching us. We WALKED, yes 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. We made up games with sticks and tennis balls We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore our coats by only the hood (kinda like a cape, looked cool when you went really fast). 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! (Well done living this long). 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. Check this out! They have never heard of "We are the World", "We are the children", and the Uptown Girl they know is by West life not Billy Joel. They have never heard of Rick Astley, Bananarama, Nena Cherry or Belinda Carlisle The Kinks or Elsie Brooks. 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 only movies. They can never imagine life before computers. They'll never have pretended to be the A Team, or the Famous Five They'll never have applied to be on "Jim'll Fix It" . 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 You are always surprised to see small children playing comfortably with computers. 4 When you see teenagers with mobile phones, you shake your head. 5 You remember watching Dirty Den in East-Enders the first time round. 6 You meet your friends from time to time, talking about the good old days, repeating again all the funny things you have experienced together. 7 Having read this mail, you are thinking of forwarding it to some other friends because you think they will like it too. And finally, remember - you are not old - just fortunate!

Posted By jackw. Hi, you missed a few trick. Like building a raft and sailing it down the local rat infested canal. Not forgetting the grunge, chemicals waste etc. dumped by the local iron/steel works. I was a real sailor only fell in a couple of times. I am sure the water didn’t taste that bad. Don’t forget stealing and then trying to eat crab apples from local gardens… .ok the ones in the posh houses up the road from us peasants on the council estate. Don’t forget too the 6 hour football game..we played in a swing park thus had to negotiate around swings and joy wheels (roundabouts to some. A few cracked heads on the former but hey you only did that once.. then you put in your control measure.. actually look up when you are running around.. Yep the good old days.. When the only thing that brought you home from a days play was hunger pains. Oh statistically we were no more likely to be abducted attacked assaulted etc than to-days kids. Sorry about the last sentence must have downloaded that info from the net.. oh for the simple life!!!!

Posted By Phil.D.Baptiste AH, the seventies.... The Clash, Damned, Stranglers, Buzzcocks, Dead Kennedy's. Me....Mohican, ripped t-shirts, bike jacket, fatigues, doc's and paraboots the eighties, New Model Army, Sex Gang Children, The Nephilim. Me....Mohican, same clothes but sometimes a bit 'gothy' Now....Suit, tie, sensible shoes that don't support my ankles, glasses, paunch, thinning hair....that only got chopped in November when I moved from Arts & Heritage to the 'Home Office' then I leave work....ripped t-shirts, fatigues, paraboots, and wouldn't you know it, every holiday....mohican, thinning but proud! I wonder how a risk assessment for amosh pit would read.....

Posted By John Webster .............and we still had change from half a crown for a bag of chips on the way home.

Posted By J Knight Aye, and kids today, you know what, they don't believe a word of it.... John

Posted By J Knight And there's yet another side to this; my partner's nephew is 13, and like the rest of the family he's very musical; he plays the guitar, his heroes are Jimi (Hendrix) and Jimmy (Page); he can play them an' all, John

Posted By Aidan Toner Laurie, about this drinking the milk thing??. Is this and ould bull story- ?? Did you confuse the t's and the b's. I can see why there would have been annoyance on behalf of the animal in question and you really would be one of us from the 'generation of survivors'.

Posted By Zoe Barnett I've never met anyone who had their arm broken by a swan's wing - and I've never met anyone who was actually clipped around the ear by a policeman either. However I do recall the pride with which we boasted of having gone "over the handlebars" on our bikes - I carried the scabs on my hands for weeks as a badge of honour!

Posted By J Knight Where did the swan's wing bit come from Zoe? It's an urban (or possibly rural in this case) myth in any event. I mean, swans are big b*****s but not as hard as they look really. Why did twelve year olds have their thighs done in paisley? Some sort of group identity tattoo? Anybody remember nearky throwing up on the top deck of the bus because of the smoke? Or was it just me, John

Posted By Laurie My God! Shirts versus Skins. What luxury. In my area it was Vests v Skins. We'd have been flayed alive if we'd got grass/mud stains on our shirts! Nice memory tho'. I'd forgotten that one Laurie