The Best Days Of Your Life.

[ricktas]

i think the 70's and early 80's for me. Probably the most memorable day would have been September 26, 1983, the day Australia won the America's Cup. The entire country was in party mode, people were walking the streets with boom boxes playing Men at Work's song "Down Under". It was an amazing day where as a Nation, we were truly One!

[PH005]

Some truely great responses folk. I'm sure thinking about this brings back some nice memories. Has the world changed too fast. After all , we have only been here for a split second really. I hear some people say " I could not get by without my mobile phone. Yes you could. We did ! And we probably communicated better back then without them.

[peterb666]

Yep I agree, I could talk for hours on this subject , Maybe one day , When I'm in Sydney , I could tell you some really good stories , "Over a beer or a nice Wine"

It sounds like a good excuse for another AP meet. The Turrimetta/North Narrabeen shoot last year was excellent so hopefully we may see you down here again in the not too distant future.

This is a great thread. I think most of have some great memories and certainly I have a great fondness of the late 60s, 70s and early 80s. Thinks like the pub music scene (Jimmy and the Boys, the Angels etc) , some of the great TV shows - for me - Dr Who, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, The Prisoner (I am not a number, I am a free man), Monty Python, Star Trek (now referred to as "The Original Series") and strolling the streets with my Nikon F and Nikon FM.

Only one point Bill, if you can remember the 60s and 70s, doesn't the saying go "you weren't really there"?

I trust the future will always be better. I have too much to do in too little time. I am probably more content with myself than I have been in the best part of a couple of decades and I put it down mainly to returning to photography and re-engaging with the world after a period which could best be described as my "hermit" days.

Memories are great: but tomorrow is another opportunity.

[ashey]

Memories of the 60s and 70s what a great time was had buy my mates and myself growing up along the Swan River, if they had of filmed it i,m sure they would of called it Smiley and his mates. One thing I will say about today is the lack of respect that a lot of the young ones have today. But all in all I don,t think I would change to much it,s been an enjoyable ride thus far.

[JohnRA]

One thing that everyone seems to have in common & that is the "best years of their ilfe" was that time when they were growing up.
My take on the matter is no different.
A bit older than most here I was 13 when WWII ended & the years 1940 to 1955 were great years.
No problems with employment.
Even as kids we could walk home alone after the movies on Saturday night without any fear whatsoever.
My mother was always at home when I got home from school & "child care centres' were unheard of.
No need for supermarkets as the local grocer would come to the house every week & take your order & deliver it the next day
The chinese market gardener would sell his produce from the back of his his horse drawn wagon.
The ice man would call a couple of times a week during summer.
The milkman would deliver daily & the milk, when left to settle for a while would have a thick layer of cream on the top.
The baker came every day.
The rent man, the insurance man & even the doctor made house calls.
We were free of much of the restrictions that are placed on us nowadays. no such thing as political correctness & people were not overly offended if they were called a name or names that one dare not mention aloud today.
Postman would deliver twice a day & Saturday mornings & the Salvo's band playing hymns on the street corner would wake you up on Sunday morning.
There is much more but you have probably heard it all before ....... Those were the best years of my life growing up in Ballarat.

[PH005]

Well said John. Yes the fight for the cream on the top of the milk bottle. And yes, walking home from a movie. That brings back memories. Thank you.

[William]

One thing that everyone seems to have in common & that is the "best years of their ilfe" was that time when they were growing up.
My take on the matter is no different.
A bit older than most here I was 13 when WWII ended & the years 1940 to 1955 were great years.
No problems with employment.
Even as kids we could walk home alone after the movies on Saturday night without any fear whatsoever.
My mother was always at home when I got home from school & "child care centres' were unheard of.
No need for supermarkets as the local grocer would come to the house every week & take your order & deliver it the next day
The chinese market gardener would sell his produce from the back of his his horse drawn wagon.
The ice man would call a couple of times a week during summer.
The milkman would deliver daily & the milk, when left to settle for a while would have a thick layer of cream on the top.
The baker came every day.
The rent man, the insurance man & even the doctor made house calls.
We were free of much of the restrictions that are placed on us nowadays. no such thing as political correctness & people were not overly offended if they were called a name or names that one dare not mention aloud today.
Postman would deliver twice a day & Saturday mornings & the Salvo's band playing hymns on the street corner would wake you up on Sunday morning.
There is much more but you have probably heard it all before ....... Those were the best years of my life growing up in Ballarat.

Hey John, You forgot the Dunny can man !! Remember the old saying "Flat as a shit carters hat" , I'd forgotten about the Man we called the "Fruiter're who would come around a couple of times a week , Free milk at school morning tea break , If you got into trouble with the Local police , You got a kick up the Backside, Most times they would'nt even tell your parents , Remember the "Saturday Matinee" at the movies , A "white Knight" and a packet of "Panda" potato chips, "Jaffa's , What about Cracker night, "Guy Falkes" night 5th Nov, Canons with a Penny bunger fights , I remember it was a day trip to Brisbane from the Gold Coast, There is still a place called "Halfway Creek" where you would take a break and have a picnic during the trip , No servo's in those days on the Highway

[PH005]

Great memories William.

[Wayne]

Gee, I look at some of the "bets days" noted by the slightly older than I, and think thank god I wasn't here then. I'm truly a man of convenience, modern tech and all the ease with which many things are taken care of these days that would have been a headache back then. Of course what I would give to be 21 again, growing up, the girls, the mates and with few cares in the world, but like Dylan, I'm hoping there are still many years of good to come. Life has been fairly kind to me, and I am very happy with it.

[PH005]

Aww Wayne. Nothing was a headache.

[JohnRA]

Gee, I look at some of the "bets days" noted by the slightly older than I, and think thank god I wasn't here then. I'm truly a man of convenience, modern tech and all the ease with which many things are taken care of these days that would have been a headache back then. Of course what I would give to be 21 again, growing up, the girls, the mates and with few cares in the world, but like Dylan, I'm hoping there are still many years of good to come. Life has been fairly kind to me, and I am very happy with it.

But Wayne ...... we did have all the high tech stuff for the times.
The radio was just as popular then as TV is today, & a gerater choice of programs too.
We didn't have a car but I had a bike to take me wherever I wanted to go.
A trip down town was a penny 'hapenny .... (3 cents) for the round trip.

Of course there was the down side too .... Just as there is today.
Baths once a week because that's when the copper was lit to do the weeks washing. My mum worked very hard to keep us & the house clean, but we didn't appreciate what she did until later .... Sound familiar ??
Water was bucketed into the bath from the laundry ...... no, that's wrong, it was the wash house then
Winters were cold in Ballarat & so was the house except for the kitchen.
Money was scarce which made everything you got worth protecting, no throw away society then.

William: I didn't mention the dunny man because our place was sewered. But sometimes I spent my school holidays with an aunt who lived in Greensborough. She had an outhouse at the bottom of the yard & the nightcart arrived once a week to take away the can, he was known locally as "Violet" ...

[fillum]

The older I get, the better I was...

[peterb666]

Hey John, You forgot the Dunny can man !! Remember the old saying "Flat as a shit carters hat"

Or for those of us from the slightly posher end of town, the Sanno Man or "Piss Pumpers".

Frank Hardy wrote a harlious book about the exploits of the garbos and the their companions who looked after the cans and sanno tanks called The Outcasts Of Foolgarah set in Foolgararh Shy Cancel.

BTW, I have turned my retrenched concrete sanno tank into a garden bed. It was too hard to demolish.

[Bennymiata]

Compared to when I was young, life is far more difficult today.
From the age of 5 up till I was about 12, I walked about 3km to school and back every day, and I would occasionally meet up with friends and walk together, or I'd walk alone.
No-one thought that I might be picked up by a wierdo, and I never was.

I lived very well without a mobile phone until 1988. In fact, I wish I didn't need to have one now!

The late 60's/early 70's were the best years for me.
I did my HSC in 1972 and every trip to and from school was a dream of lovely young ladies wearing short skirts, and flirting with girls from different schools.
In case you can't remember back that far, if a schoolgirl didn't have her panties showing from the rear, her skirt was too long!
Respect and good manners were something everybody practised and people were "nicer". Not so much in a rush, prepared to help out anyone and be pleasant about it.
Kids actually stood up in a crowded bus to give a pregnant or elderly lady a seat and didn't even think twice about it, because it was the norm.
There were no terrorists, and to board a plane, you just walked on with no security checks etc., because they weren't needed.
Young girls were sent to June Dally Watkins during their school holidays, so they could learn to be a "lady", and you would never see young women drunk out of their minds, sitting in the gutter and chundering to great applause from their friends.
If a young girl did that 30 years ago, everyone would think she was absolutely disgusting.
Tatoos were only on the arms of sailors or prisoners, and any female with one was considered a #####.

Ah yes, it's a pity some of our youth can't be put back to those times.

Probably more important that thinking back to what was, is what it's going to be like in another 30 or 40 years.
Is everyone going to be covered in tatoos?
Will public drunkeness and street chundering going to be the norm on every street corner?
How will people live when no-one has any respect for others, and how will people get along with each other if there is no respect or civility left and everyone only thinks about themselves and not others?

I'm sure it won't end up that bad, but it is certainly food for thought.

[PH005]

Some good points there Benny. You're definately right about the manners and common courtesy. It is hard to find these days. I can remember my mum making me stand up for a lady on a bus. Didn't think twice about it from then on.

[Lance B]

Good post Benny. I too walked to school from 3rd class to 6th class, a journey of about 2kms each way.

[BecM]

Benny you made me think of another thing. I grew up calling every single adult I came across Mr or Mrs (insert surname), if it was a close family friend they were an honorary Aunty or Uncle. All kids these days call adults by their first name. Still doesn't feel right.