This is a polarising one for everyone, depending on your age, but I remember when I started driving the fuel price per Litre in the UK was 86p. Those were the days; topping up with £10.00 on the way to college knowing it would last a whole week, without a care in the world... In fact, I could go one further; I had just turned 15 when the fuel strikes hit the UK and the hassle my parents went through trying to get fuel just to get us to school. I lived near to one of the major fuel refineries and just getting to school was a nightmare thanks to the lorries parked along the main road. Local petrol stations rationing their fuel, bilking was rife and there we were, all trying to find an excuse to miss school. If I had any sense, I'd of drained my mum's fuel tank, sold it to a desperate motorist then kicked back at home because we couldn't get to school. Hindsight; you cruel, cruel bastard.... So no, I'm not THAT old but compared to nowadays when I pay £1.25~ per litre for regular petrol and drive a super(ish) car (if I'm very well behaved, I get 28mpg. If I have the slightest bit of fun, hello <15mpg), I long for the days when petrol was 'only' 86p. Hell, £1.00 would be nice!
In Maine, many old timers remember when decades ago Maine received more snow during the winter...or so they say anyway.
contrary to common misconception, tea is not the beverage of the British people. Nowadays it's larger (pronounced Lar-ger not Large-er) in vast quantities.
Remember when people had to fight mental illness without psychiatric meds because they didn't exist many decades ago? I don't since I was born well-after psych meds started becoming prescribed by doctors. But I cringe at the thought of not having psych meds available to those who really need it.
Remember when a bottle opener was called a church key? Remember when drinking a can of beer required a can opener or other penetrating tool?
How right is this! It's not British to drink tea and think about crumpets, more British these days to get shit-faced on Fosters, necking a cheap curry and having a fight.
I heard Stella Artois is the wife-beater beer of Britain. Is that true? A British friend told me this. I always felt there was something oh-so-British about Stella, even more so than in actual British-brewed la(r)gers. Or is it a pilsner. Well, either way. I like crumpets.
Stella is called 'wife beata' here, yeah, quite wrongly I think because I like it. The real wife beata should be something terrible like Fosters or White Lightening.
I'm British, and still very much enjoy a cup of tea to get me going in the morning. Especially if I've had a lot of lager the night before.
Yes, it was called a coaster brake, and was only(?) used on one-speed bicycles. Remember 3-speed internal-geared hubs?
I think so. There was a little lever on the handlebar, and you chose 1,2 or 3? I rode one of those occasionally, when I swapped bikes with one of my friends, but my favourite bike was a one-speeder. I got it second hand from a much older cousin, and I think it was made in the late 1930s. It was huge, and the tires were about 3 inches wide. I loved that baby, though. It was indestructible! It was the only bike I ever owned, until I got to be an adult with money, and bought a Ross GranTour. Loved that one too. Sigh. Those were the days, when I lived in flat old Michigan, that had wide safe streets to ride on. Scottish bikers all have faces like decorative carp, with the eyes migrating to the sides and out on stalks. These roads are HELLISH. I would never go on one with a bike. Even walking along the side of one, you take your life in your hands.
I remember when I was young, my grandparents gave my dad a hard time back then because they felt that he should've gone to church more often.
Remember when kids played outside all day, out of parental view, and no one worried unless they stayed home instead?
One can tell you are from up North Just recently, I did a test on facebook 'How British Are You?' and I got Maggie Smith aka Frightfully British... Tea and crumpets, porridge, tutting and awkward silences all the way for me.
Hey, I'm all for Northern bashing (if you're above the M4, you're northern in my book) but I can confirm that even in the south, beer is still the national beverage. Except somerset where it is cider mixed with antifreeze.
I'm joking I love the North, first place I lived in when I moved to the UK was in Tyne and Wear, and they told me about all his North-South rivalry. I do prefer the weather down South, though. But you are right, I am partial to a glass of craft ale, I really developed a taste for it. My favourite one at the moment is called 'Duck's Folly' apparently an anagram of 'Fuck Lloyds'. There's a long story behind it, obviously
That's freaky... you just about summed up my youth with those recollections. (Aside from the Beatles—never cared for them.) Can I just add to the list when we finally got Channel 4? We didn't own our t.v. just hired it, and despite the fact that tuning the new channel in was a cinch, my mother insisted I wait for the 'engineer' in case I damaged it. Needless to say the channel miraculously appeared. I'd heard they were showing late night smut and it was too big a temptation to resist.
